 
ZOMBIE PLAGUE: BOOK ONE

Zombie Plague: Book One is copyright © 2009 Geo Dell. All rights foreign and domestic reserved in their entirety.

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Some text copyright 2010, 2014, 2015 Geo Dell

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LEGAL

This is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places or incidents depicted are products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual living person's places, situations or events is purely coincidental.

No part of this book may be reproduced by any means, electronic, print, scanner or any other means and, or distributed without the author's permission.

Permission is granted to use short sections of text in reviews or critiques in standard or electronic print.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

MAJOR CHARACTORS

ABOUT THE SERIES

LEGAL

This is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places or incidents depicted are products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual living persons places, situations or events is purely coincidental.

This novel is Copyright © 2010 – 2013 George Dell & independAntwriters Publishing and all rights to this work have been reserved by Wendell Sweet. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means, electronic, print, scanner or any other means and, or distributed without the author's permission.

Permission is granted to use short sections of text in reviews or critiques in standard or electronic print...

ZOMBIE PLAGUE: BOOK ONE
CHAPTER ONE

CANDACE

~ March 1st~

The traffic leaving the parking lot had slowed to a trickle, the lot nearly empty. The live shows were over, the bands packed up and gone, the dancers gone before or at the same time. The club was empty except Jimmy, the club boss, Don, the main door security, and me.

"Why are you still here, Candy," Jimmy asked as he came up to the bar. He was on his way back from the parking lot. It was a short trip across the parking lot to the bank night deposit on the lot next door.

"I had an idea that Harry would be by tonight. He wanted to talk to me," I shrugged. Harry was a Bookie, at least on the surface. Off the surface, or maybe it would be truer to say under the surface, Harry controlled most of the organized crime north of Syracuse. Jimmy... Jimmy managed the club, among other things, but the best description for Jimmy was to say Jimmy solved problems for Harry.

"Wants to talk you into staying here. That's about all," Jimmy said.

I turned away and pretended to check my face in the mirrored wall behind the bar. I wanted to Dance. I had suggested to Harry, through Jimmy, that maybe it was time for me to move on if there wasn't any hope of me dancing. "Anyway, I ended up tending bar. So..."

"So it's not dancing." He dug one hand into his pocket and pulled out a thick wad of bills. He peeled two hundreds from the roll and pushed them into my hand, folding his hand over my own and closing it when I started to protest.

"But," I started.

"But nothing. We did a lot in bar sales. You and I both know it was because of you." He smiled, let go of my hand and stepped back. "It was me, not Harry," he said.

I fixed my eyes on him. I knew what he might be about to say, but I wanted to be sure.

He sighed. "It was me that put the stop to your dancing. You're too goddamn good for dancing, Candy. And once you start?" He barked a short, derisive laugh. "The law thing? Right out the window. What's a cop make anyway in this town? Maybe thirty or forty a year?" He settled onto one of the stools that lined the bar, tossed his hat onto the bar top and patted the stool next to him. He continued talking.

"So, thirty, maybe forty, and what's a dancer make? I can tell you there are dancers here who make better than one fifty a year. And that's what I pay them. That's not the side stuff or tips." He moved one large hand, fished around behind the bar and came up with a bottle of chilled Vodka from the rack that held it just below eye level. He squinted at the label. "Cherry Surprise," he questioned in a voice low enough to maybe be just for himself. "This shit any good, Candy?"

"It's not bad," I told him. I leaned over the bar and snagged two clean glasses when he asked me, setting them on the bar top. He poured us both about three shots worth. "Jesus, Jimmy."

He laughed. "Which is why I don't make drinks. It'd break me." He sipped at his glass, made a face, but sipped again. I took a small sip of my own drink and settled back onto the bar stool.

"So, I said to myself, smart, beautiful, talented, and you have that something about you that makes men look the second time. You know?" He took another small sip. "Man sees a woman walking down the street or across a crowded dance floor, beautiful or not he looks. That look might be short or it might be long. Depends on the woman. Then he looks away. Does he look back? Not usually. But with you he does. There are women men look at that second time for whatever reason, and you're one of them. I looked a second time, and then I really looked, for a third time. And I've seen a lot. That tattoo makes men and women look again." His eyes fell on the tattoo that started on the back of my left hand, ran up my arm, across my breasts and then snaked back down over my belly and beyond. I knew it was provocative. That was the rebellious part of me. I had no better explanation for why I had sat, lain, through five months of weekly ink work to get it done.

Jimmy rubbed one huge open palm across the stubble of his cheeks. "Jesus do I need a shave." He took a large drink from his glass. "It wasn't the tattoo. It caught my eye, but that wasn't what made me look that third time."

"Candy, I took a third look because I saw a young woman that doesn't need to have anything to do with this world. You're too goddamn smart, talented, for this. So I said no. I let you dance a few times, but I didn't want you to fall into it. I made the decision that you should tend bar instead of dance." He tossed off the glass.

"I see that," I told him, although I didn't completely see it. He was reading a lot about what he thought, what he saw, into who I really was.

"Yeah? I don't think so, Candy. And that's a reason right there. Candy... like a treat. When did it become okay for anyone to call you that, because I remember a few months back when you started hanging around, it was Candace, and pity the dumb bastard who didn't understand that. Now it's Candy to any Tom, Dick or Harry that comes along." He saw the hurt look in my eyes, reached below the bar, snagged the bottle and topped off his glass. I shook my head, covered the top of my glass with my hand and smiled. He put the bottle back and continued.

"I'm not trying to hurt you, only keep you on track. I'm giving you the keys. You drive. All I'm saying is set your ground rules. Make them rigid. Don't let anyone \- me, Harry, these boys that work here, customers - Don't let anyone cross those lines. You see, Candy?"

I nodded.

"Yeah? Then why not call me on calling you Candy? I've done it since we sat down. Why not start there?"

"Well... I mean, you're the boss, Jimmy."

"Which is why you start there. I don't allow anyone to talk anyway to anyone that doesn't want that. Let me explain that. You got girls that work the streets. You don't see it so much here. It's a small city, but it happens. I spent a few years on the streets in Rochester, bigger place, as a kid. Happens all the time there." He sipped at his drink. I took a sip of my own drink and raised my brows at what he had said.

"Yeah? Don't believe it? It's true. I fought my way up. I have respect because I earned it." He waved one hand. "Don't let me get off track." He smiled and took another sip from his glass. "So, I've seen girls on the streets... Whores... It is what it is. Would you hear me say that to them? Maybe you would, maybe you wouldn't. If a woman sees herself as a whore, if that's all it is, what it is, then who am I to say different? Do you see? It's a living, or it's a life... There is a difference. Now back to you. You want to dance. Some of these girls," he waved one meaty hand at the empty stage area, "work the other side. Some of them do that for me, some do it on their own. Some don't," he sighed. "Either way you would not see me treat them any other way than what they want to be treated. I mean that. If you believe you are a whore and that is what you see, then that is what you show the world, and that is how the world sees you... treats you," he settled his eyes on me.

I nodded. I didn't trust my voice. I had been down this road on my own. What did it say about me? That it only mattered that I made it? That money mattered more than anything else? Would I be swayed by the money? Was I even being honest with myself about my motivations? I really didn't know. I knew what I told myself on a daily basis... that I wanted to follow my Father into law enforcement, but was it whimsical like so many other things in my life that I never followed through on?

"You are not just a dancer. There is a part of you that is, a part of you that likes the way a man looks at you, likes the money. But there is another part that is the private you, the real you. You need to keep those distinctions." He rubbed at his eyes, tossed off the rest of his drink and rose from the bar stool. "Let me drop you home, Candy," he asked.

I stood, leaving my mostly full drink sitting on the bar top. "I have my car," I told him.

"It's late. Creeps around maybe."

"Jimmy, every creep in my neighborhood knows I work here... for you. Guys stopped talking to me, let alone the creeps." I laughed, but it wasn't really all that funny. It had scared me when I realized who Jimmy was, who Jimmy worked for. In effect, who I worked for. Another questionable thing? Probably.

Jimmy nodded. "Smart creeps. The southern Tier's a big place. Easy to lose yourself, with or without a little help." He looked at his watch and then fixed his eyes on me once more. "So you keep your perspective, set your limits, draw your lines," he spoke as he shrugged into his coat, retrieved his hat from the bar top and planted it on his head, "Don't let anybody cross those lines. You start next week, let's say the eleventh?"

I nodded.

"Take the balance of the time off. By the time the eleventh comes around you should be ready for a whole new world. A whole new life." He stood looking down at me for a second. "The big talk I guess. For what it's worth, I don't say those things often, Candy."

I nodded. "I believe that. And, Jimmy?"

He looked down at me. He knew what was coming. He expected it, and that was the only reason I was going to say it. I knew better than to correct Jimmy V. There were a lot of woods up here. They did go on forever and they probably did hold a lot of lost people. I may be slow but I'm far from stupid.

"Please don't call me Candy," I told him.

He smiled. "Don't be so goddamn nice about it. Don't call me Candy," he rasped, a dangerous edge to his voice. "Look 'em right in the eye. Don't call me Candy. Put a little attitude in your look. A little I can fuckin' snap at any minute attitude. Let me see that."

I Put my best street face on. The one I had used growing up on the streets in Syracuse. I knew that I can snap at any minute look. I'd used it many times. "Don't call me Candy," I told him in a voice that was not my own. My street voice, "Just don't do it."

"Goddamn right, Doll," Jimmy told me. "Goddamn right. Scared me a little there. That's that street wise part of you." He took my head in both massive hands, bent and kissed the top of my head. "I will see you on the eleventh," he told me.

I nodded. I let the Doll remark go.

I followed Jimmy out the back door past Don who nodded at me and winked. Don was an asshole. Always hitting on us when Jimmy wasn't around. But Jimmy was his uncle. I was employing my best selective perception when I smiled at him. I wondered if I would ever get used to him. Probably not, I decided, but maybe that would be a good thing. Of course, it didn't matter. I never saw Don again. Or Jimmy. Or anyone else from that life.

I said goodbye to Jimmy V, crossed the parking lot for the last time and drove myself home. I parked my rusted out Toyota behind my Grandparents house, and twenty-four hours later my world, everybody's world, was completely changed.

Candace ~ March 2nd

This is not a diary. I have never kept a diary. They say, never say never, but I doubt I will. I have never been this scared. The whole world is messed up. Is it ending? I don't know, but it seems like it's ending here. Earthquakes, explosions. I've seen no Police, Fire or emergency people all day. It's nearly night. I think that's a bad sign. I have the Nine Millimeter that used to be my Father's. I've got extra ammo too. I'm staying inside.

Candace ~ March 3rd

I lost this yesterday; my little notebook. I left it by the window so I could see to write, but I swear it wasn't there when I went to get it; then I found it again later on by the window right where I left it. Maybe I'm losing it.

There are no Police, no Firemen, phones, electric. The real world is falling apart. Two days and nothing that I thought I knew is still here. Do you see? The whole world has changed.

I got my guitar out and played it today. I played for almost three hours. I played my stuff. I played some blues. Usually blues will bring me out of blues, but it didn't work. It sounded so loud, so out of place, so... I don't know. I just stopped and put it away.

Candace ~ March 4th

I'm going out. I have to see, if I don't come back. Well... What good is writing this?

Candace ~ March 5th

The whole city has fallen apart. I spent most of yesterday trying to see how bad this is. I finally realized it's bad beyond my being able to fix it. It's bad as in there is no authority. It's bad as in there is no Jimmy V. I hear gunshots at night, all night. And screams. There are still tremors. If I had to guess, I would say it's the end of the civilized world, unless things are better somewhere else. I have to believe that. Power, structure, it's all gone. I mean it's really all gone. This city is torn up. There are huge areas that are ruined. Gulleys, ravines, missing streets, damaged bridges. The damage costs have to be in the billions... And that's just here. There's me and my little notebook I'm writing in, and my nine millimeter. I've got nothing else for company right now.

I've got water, some peanuts and crackers. How long can this go on? What then?

Candace ~ March 6th

I've decided to leave. I can't stay here. There was a tremor last night, and not one of the really bad ones, but even so I was sure the house would come down on me. It didn't. Maybe though, that is a sign, I told myself. And scared or not, I have to go. I have to. I can't stay here. Maybe tomorrow.

Candace ~ March 7th

The streets are a mess. I've spent too much of the last week hiding inside my apartment. Most of my friends, and that's a joke, I didn't have anyone I could actually call a friend; So I guess I would say most of my acquaintances believed my grandparents were alive and that I lived here with them. They weren't. I didn't. I kind of let that belief grow, fostered it, I guess.

I planted the seed by saying it was my Nana Pans' apartment. You can see the Asian in me, so it made sense to them that she was my Nana. But I look more like I'm a Native American than African American and Japanese. It's just the way the blood mixed, as my father used to say. But Native American or Asian, they could see it in my face. And this neighborhood is predominantly Asian. Mostly older people. There were two older Asian women that lived in the building. They probably believed one of those women was my Nana, and I didn't correct them.

I can't tell you why I did that. I guess I wanted that separation. I didn't want them, anyone, to get to know me well. My plan had been to dance, earn enough money for school - Criminal Justice - and go back to Syracuse. Pretend none of this part of my life had ever happened. Some plan. It seemed workable. I wondered over what Jimmy V. had said to me. Did he see something in me that I didn't, or was he just generalizing? It doesn't matter now I suppose.

My Grandmother passed away two years ago. The apartment she had lived in was just a part of the building that she owned. Nana Pan, my mother's mother, had rented the rest of the building out. The man who had lived with her was not my Grandfather \- he had died before I was born - but her brother who had come ten years before from Japan. They spoke little English. People outside of the neighborhood often thought they were man and wife. She didn't bother correcting them, my mother had told me. Nana Pan thought that most Americans were superficial and really didn't care, so what was the use in explaining anything to them? Maybe that's where I got my deceptiveness from.

I had left the house as it was. Collected rents through an agency. For all anyone knew, I was just another tenant. Of course Jimmy V. had known. He had mentioned it to me. But Jimmy knew everything there was to know about everyone. That was part of his business. It probably kept him alive.

So I stayed and waited. I believed someone would show up and tell me what to do. But no one did. I saw a few people wander by yesterday, probably looking for other people, but I stayed inside. I don't know why, what all my reasons were. A lot of fear, I think.

There have been earthquakes. The house is damaged. I went outside today and really looked at it. It is off the foundation and leaning. I should have gotten out of it the other night when I knew it was bad. It's just dumb luck it hasn't fallen in on me and killed me.

It doesn't matter now though. I met a few others today, and I'm leaving with them. I don't know if I'll stay with them. I really don't know what to expect from life anymore.

I'm taking this and my gun with me. Writing this made me feel alive. I don't know how better to say it.

I'll write more here I think. I just don't know when, or where I'll be.

~Downtown Watertown~

He came awake in the darkness, but awake wasn't precisely the term. Alive was precisely the term. He knew alive was precisely the term, because he could remember dying. He remembered that his heart had stopped in his chest. He had remembered wishing that it would start again. That bright moment or two of panic, and then he remembered beginning not to care. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered. And he had drifted away.

Now he had drifted back. But drifted was not exactly right. He had slammed back into himself where he lay on the cold subbasement floor where he had been murdered by a roving gang of thieves. And he knew those things were true because he remembered them. And he knew they were true because he was dead. He was still dead. His heart was not beating in his chest. His blood was cold and jelled in his veins. He could feel it. Some kind of new perception.

He lay and watched the shadows deepen in the corners of the basement ceiling for a short time longer, and then he tried to move.

His body did not want to move at first. It felt as though it weighed a ton, two tons, but with a little more effort it came away. He sat and then crawled to his knees.

In the corner a huge rat stopped on his way to somewhere to sniff at him, decided he was probably food and came to eat him. He had actually sat for a second while the rat first sniffed and then began to gnaw at one fingernail. Then he had quickly snatched the rat up with his other hand, snapped it's back in his fist and then shoved him warm and squirming into his mouth. A few minutes later he stood on shaky legs and walked off into the gloom of the basement, looking for the stairs and the way up to the streets.
CHAPTER TWO

Journals and Diaries

Mike ~ March 8th

I debated with myself about how to start this. Isn't that stupid? Not whether I should start it. I guess that means that I have some hope that I am not the only one.

Actually, I know that I'm not the only one. I've heard gunshots more than once. I've heard a dog barking as well. And I've seen several dogs, cats, squirrels, etc... I've also heard what sounded like a car or a truck, but I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Everything is so quiet; it could be anywhere.

The sound of the river drowns things out. Even so, I haven't seen any other people. None. And, I'm getting ahead of myself again.

I have no idea what has happened, even here in this town. It doesn't really matter either, except to tell you, whoever you may end up being, what happened from my point of view, I guess. Maybe it's the same for you. Maybe writing this out is a waste of time. But, it keeps my mind off shit, you know?

So, I wondered where to start? Today? Last week? Just start, I guess...

I have heat, food, fire. And I've finally gotten myself moved into this cave, so my mind is more at ease. But, again, I'm getting ahead of myself. It started for me last week on the 2nd of March. Only six days, but everything here has changed.

I was having a few beers, watching the coverage of the world countdown party; hey, it was supposed to be a joke, right? And, supposedly, we had a few months to go. It was supposed to be one long countdown party. One minute everything was fine, and the next the power was out.

Then the first quake hit...

I made it through that night and... two more quakes? Aftershocks? Who knows? I was just trying to get through to the morning. Phones were out; Sirens everywhere; No power. But, the closer it got to dawn the less noise there was. The sirens fell off. The rain started hard, and then the lightning came. A thunder and lightning storm in the middle of winter!

It was spooky, and when morning finally came, it didn't make much sense at all. Almost everything I could see in every direction was flattened. The streets had cracked open and had become rivers. The temperature was higher than it should have been. But that didn't last.

By noon the rain stopped, and I kept expecting to see someone. Emergency workers... Power Company... Somebody. Even a neighbor. But I saw no one at all that day.

I guess as serious as it was, I wasn't taking it seriously. At least not the first day. I was still thinking rescue, help, it's on the way. This is the most powerful country in the entire world. Help is coming. So I sat on my ass and drank beer and ate bologna sandwiches and chips, staring out at the street from my front porch, which was perched on the edge of a twenty foot rain gully.

Just before dark, the real quake hit. It had to have been stronger than the previous ones. It felt like it anyway.

I barely jumped off the porch before it fell into the gully. Scared the hell out of me. It wasn't long after that when darkness settled in and I knew I was in trouble. Something in the whole structure of the house was damaged. Every aftershock made it dance, sway around me. It was also now a two foot drop down to the ground since my porch was gone. And I didn't dare leave, because I had no idea what it was like outside. No Streetlights. No Moon. No starlight. No starlight, none! Then the storms came back, and the air turned back to cold.

Every time the lightning flashed I could see the street, or what had been the street. There was no more street, not really. It was a river; wide, and it looked pretty deep, all the opposite side of the street was gone now. No houses, cars, telephone poles, satellite dishes. Nothing. It seemed like the entire side of the street had washed away right down to the river. The water roared past me - just a few feet from where my porch had been - flattened out, and then turned into rapids breaking away to crash into the Black river further down the hill. That was when I realized it wasn't just the other side of the street that was gone. The other two blocks that had been between me and the river were also gone.

Later on, the rain turned to snow, but the lightning kept up. Lightning in a snow storm. How crazy is that? By the morning of March 4th, the river running past my house was down to a trickle, but the snow was piling up. Down the hill the Black was over her banks. There was nothing else to see, a few solitary houses still standing as my own was. But there was no one around anywhere. That's when I got into the hard stuff.

I drank myself to sleep, and when I woke up I'd lost several hours. My watch still worked at that point. When I walked to the front door, the first thing I noticed was footprints in the snow. Three sets, two small, maybe kids or women, one big, going just past my house, no more than three feet from my house, where once upon a time in some other world my porch had been, and I had slept through it. I yelled and screamed for a half hour hoping that someone would hear me, but no one came. No one yelled back and told me to shut up either. Just absolute silence. No birds, just the roar of the swollen Black. Nothing else.

I've thought about the day, the fourth, a couple of times. Was it the fourth? The fifth? Did I sleep more than a few hours? I don't know. And that was the day my watch stopped working, so I don't know. One minute it was working, the next it wasn't. The face was blank.

There were a couple of more aftershocks that day, and I began to wonder if my house would be standing much longer. After all, nearly everything around me was destroyed already. And, I thought, what if that was an aftershock? Like I had thought the first quake was the real one and then the one the next day was so much stronger. It made me realize how stupid I was to still be in that house. And, I thought, no wonder no one is answering when I yell. They were all smart enough to get away from the buildings. Leave. And if I left also, I reasoned, I'd most likely catch up to them, whoever they were, wherever they had gone. That was when I had glanced at my watch and noticed that it had stopped working.

I had been in the habit of looking at my watch all day. Just nervous, I guess. I was positive that I had just looked at it and it had been working. But, when had that been? What time had it been? And when had it been that I had looked at it? How long ago? All I could remember for sure was that the last aftershock that had started me wondering had been at 2:57 P.M. I wasn't sure of anything after that. Even when I thought back on it later, wondering what day it was, I wondered why I had never thought to push the little date button to see what the date had been. Or had I? Had I and then forgotten that I had? Had I only remembered subconsciously that it was the fourth? Anyway, the watch was dead. And what time was it? And where should I go? And how soon would it be dark? After wasting time wondering about things like that, things that were absolute bullshit in light of everything else, I just jumped down into the snow and headed off towards downtown.

There were a few buildings standing in that direction. It was still snowing pretty hard, but I could see the outlines of the buildings through the snow.

There were planes overhead in the night. I know that sounds crazy, but I awoke to hearing them. There was a strange smell in the air, and I was thinking, in my dream? Maybe in my dream or maybe awake. Anyway, I was thinking crop dusters. Like they were crop-dusting. Spraying something. It was weird. Now I could see traces of blue... powder? Something on the snow, and it made me remember the dream. But I pushed it away and walked. Too much to see and comprehend as it was without worrying over bad dreams.

Normally it's no more than a fifteen minute walk to the Square. Watertown has an old New England style Public Square that is the center of downtown. I figured that if anyone was still alive, that was where they would be.

In fact, I told myself, they probably would have some buildings open for shelter. Fire Department passing out blankets, bottled water, hot soup. I could see it so clearly in my head. I was wrong, of course, but that's a story for tomorrow. My fingers are shot. Hey it would be easy to write this on my computer keyboard, but computers are a thing of the past now.

I'm warm. I'm dry. I'm pretty much okay. I survived the day the world ended, but my fingers are sore and I'm tired, so I'll pick this up tomorrow.

Candace ~ March 8th

Fresh snow today. The whole world is covered in clean, white snow. It makes it look like nothing ever happened here.

I'm with a man named Tom. He's crazy about me. I just can't feel the same. I could fake it, but I told myself I'm not going to do that. But I can't keep on this way either. It is too hard on him, too hard on me.

Bob and Jan Dove are also with us. I don't know what I would do without Jan. She is level headed where I am impulsive, a thinker where I tend to just act. A good balance. Bob has an idea of rebuilding his peoples' lands. He's Native American, and so is Jan. It sounded crazy when he first said it, but after I thought about it, it began to make sense to me.

Lydia is the other member of our party. She hates me. That's because Tom wants me, and she wants Tom. Maybe that will fix itself before I have to fix it by leaving and going on my own.

Today we decided to see if the city was any better on the other side of the river. It isn't. We crossed the river, the Black river, on a railroad trestle. There is a traffic bridge, and it looks passable, but it's clogged with cars and some of those cars look purposely placed to block it off. That creeped me out.

We walked across the trestle, carefully, and went up State street. There's a store there, a supermarket, and we found tracks in the snow. One person. A man I would guess from the boot tread.

I can not tell you what that was like. Seeing a footprint left by someone else. Someone else alive in this whole mess. I felt connected to him. I can't say it or explain it any better than that. Like a connection existed forever and I only had to find it. I tried to explain it to Lydia but she just shrugged. We have this thing with Tom between us though. She wants him; he wants me. I don't want him. It could be so Goddamn simple, but it isn't.

Except the footprints. Maybe the footprints are the answer. I think they are. I believe they are. We just need to find the person, the man, that goes with those footprints and... And I don't know. I really don't. But I think he'll know.

The only bad thing today, we came across a dead man laying crumpled by the side of the road. I could have sworn he moved, so I hurried to him. But as I got closer, I could see that he was dead. Long dead. We stood for a moment and then walked on. Later when we came back he was gone, and I thought, was he dead? Was he? But I know that he was. I suppose that wild dogs or something got him. We didn't talk about it, but it bothered all of us.

Mike ~ March 9th

Maybe it's March ninth. I guess I really don't know. But that's what I think it is, so that's what I'm going with.

It's late. I spent today getting food, canned stuff mostly. It was rough. Almost everything is flattened, and what isn't flattened is badly damaged. I spent about five hours a few days ago digging my way into a supermarket on State Street. The roof was down but held up by the tops of the aisle stacks, so I was able to make my way through. I just had to be really careful of broken glass. That was where I went back to today.

I had no flashlight at first, but I managed to get a small flashlight and batteries. I had to take so much stuff out of the front area of the store, that all the impulse stuff they sell was right there, candy, little radios, and of course flashlights and batteries. I tried a small portable radio. Nothing but static on the A.M. and F.M. bands both. I brought it back with me along with some extra batteries. I listened to it a short while ago; still nothing. Maybe tomorrow.

I spent the day at the supermarket digging out canned goods and bringing them back here.

Here is a cave. The cave is down in back of the square, downtown as it's called. I knew about it from growing up here. It used to be bricked up. The quake took care of that though. I was worried about the cave itself collapsing, but it seems to be fine.

It's only about a mile and a half from here to the supermarket, but with no vehicle it's slow going. I've been piling stuff up on a large sled and making trips back and forth.

I found several cars and trucks, snowmobiles, but none of them will run. Most of them have no juice, but even the ones that do just turn over but won't fire up. Maybe if I was a mechanic I could do something, but I'm not. So, it's the sled and a lot of muscle work.

I did notice today, after not going there for two days, that no one else had been there either. No tracks in the fresh snow. It's depressing. No way can I be the only freaking guy here, right? And that made me wonder, what the hell am I writing this for? I mean, if there's no one left, who will read it? I guess those are questions for another day. Another day because, truly, I don't want to deal with them today.

So I spent my day getting food. There are maybe two dozen buildings still standing downtown. But that's where I was when I left off writing yesterday, heading for downtown, so I'll pick it up from there.

When I got downtown there was no one there, only the handful of buildings standing as I mentioned, and two of those went down a short time later from an aftershock. The Police department... Gone. The Fire department out Washington Street... Gone. I know I walked out there. Ditto the high school. All the old houses, the newspaper, the museum. Really, it's all gone.

There were some tracks, but how old were they? I couldn't tell. And I couldn't tell where they were headed either. I got pretty down about it and ended up walking back down to the square and then down towards the river in back of the square. There was a porn shop, still there. It seemed like the dirtiest place I'd ever seen. I mean, why would a place like that still be there, still be standing when almost nothing else was?

Is that a statement or what? Hey, maybe it is. But since I was down that far, I thought I'd take a look at the river, and that made me think about the cave.

This whole area is limestone, caves everywhere. This one just happened to be a big one.

It wasn't hard to find it. It's on an old abandoned road below the level of the square, but a good hundred feet or so above the level of the river. All the brick work that had once closed it off had fallen. The cave itself seemed okay. Some rock had come down, but not much. Most of the rock lying around looked pretty old, like it had been there for some time. Given the buildings, which were still falling, or the cave, I chose the cave. It just seemed to make more sense.

It's quite deep. I have no idea how deep it goes and no inclination to follow it and see. The front area is huge, and dry, more room than I could ever use, so there's no need for me to go into that darkness and find out how deep it goes. And that's funny, isn't it? What is it that I'll need? Might need? Could need? I don't know. I do know I won't be spending the rest of my life living in a cave, that's for sure. But it's winter. I have to stay somewhere for the next few months. Then maybe I'll head south if no one shows up to rescue me. I guess it would be me, there's no one else here. It shouldn't be that way though. There has to be more than me.

I spent the rest of the day looking around. I walked all the way out to Arsenal Street as well as Washington Street. The mall, or most of it, has collapsed. But I should be able to get some stuff out of it. The interstate is car wrecks and bodies everywhere. I could see it from the overpass. I didn't feel a need to go down there to see it in person. I didn't want to.

I hadn't really seen many bodies. Some at the mall, some at the supermarket, a few others here and there, but there is so much ground, houses, things missing, that I think the other people just got swallowed up by the quake. There is a lot of raw earth. Most of the streets are messed up. The interstate is like that in places, what I can see any way, but close to Arsenal Street, it's all wrecks and bodies, wrecked and burned vehicles; and it smells horrible. I could smell it long before I came up on the overpass. I've decided it will take a lot to get me to go back out Arsenal Street again.

The supermarket has that smell also, and I found two people up by the checkouts when I first dug it out, but none since then as I've dug out other parts of the store. Maybe it's the meat department at the back of the store that smells like that.

I spent most of the next day wandering around, trying to start cars and trucks, calling out to the people I had hoped were there. Nothing. I heard something that sounded like an engine running, but it came and went on the wind and I couldn't tell where it had come from. But I took that as a good sign. It has to be someone, right?

I can't imagine being alone.

I tried to start new cars, old cars, new trucks, you name it. None of them do anything except turn over. But at least their batteries are working.

That was the day I realized that the daylight seemed to last way too long. My watch wasn't working, so I can't say for sure, but the sun just seemed to hang in the sky all day, then it seemed to sink in the wrong direction once it did set. And I was sick all day. My stomach. And I was light headed.

The night lasted a long time, and the sun came back up in the wrong place, unless my sense of direction is off. Maybe it is. In any case, I don't know what happened. Maybe it was the earthquakes? I don't know. It could've been, but it doesn't seem possible.

The end of the world books were saying the Earth would stop and then run backwards. Maybe it did, but I didn't feel weightlessness if it did, or at least I don't think so. But I thought about the vehicles, magnetic poles. Maybe because everything is electronic now they can't work? I don't know. It's just an idea, but I'm thinking I'll look for an older vehicle to try out my theory on. Like I said, I wish I were a mechanic, and then I'd know.

I spent a lot of time clearing out the rock and broken bricks in this cave, bringing food in and even some chairs, blankets, things like that. I've collected a lot of firewood and every butane lighter I could find. Paper plates, plastic forks and spoons. And, man oh man, coffee. I found a small metal coffee pot in an aisle with camping gear. It works pretty damn well. I got some heavy duty pots and pans there too.

All of that over the last few days, but still no other people. It makes me wonder about the tracks that went past my house. Where did they go? Where is there to go? I turn the radio on every once in a while, but nothing. Even so, I'm keeping my attitude upbeat. Positive. There has to be other people. Doesn't that just make sense? Winter can't last much past May, and then it will be time to get out of here... hopefully with other people.

Candace ~ March 9th

I saw him! I know there is this other person just across the river. It was while we were on the way back, and I happened to look back across the river from the rail trestle, and there he was by the river bank. Climbing it? I think so, but why? And how can I say it was the same man that belonged to the footprints? I can't. I feel it though. I believe it was him. Who else could it have been?

I wanted to go back right then. Tom refused. There was no reason for him to refuse, but he did. We argued about it. I mean really argued. I hadn't realized or really even thought about what it is about Tom that I don't like. Maybe a better way to say that is, what keeps me away from him. Why didn't I, in all this destruction, hopelessness, just fall into his arms, or love, or whatever would pass for love in this world? Isn't that logical? Shouldn't I have? But I didn't, and the reason is that he's got this attitude about what place a woman has in his world. It came out today when we argued. I think I picked it up subconsciously before that though, and it kept me away from him.

Anyway I'm not going to go there. I'm leaving in the morning to go over there and find the man that I saw. I know that sounds crazy. I know it does, but I'm going. I'm getting up at sunrise, and I'm going. Jan and Bob said they would go with me. If Tom doesn't want to go, he doesn't have to. We're not speaking at all. Lydia seems upset by that. She wants him, but not at my expense. I guess that makes me like her a little more than I did.

I was outside until way after dark looking for firelight on the other side of the river. I didn't see any at all. I don't know that area though. Maybe I wouldn't see a fire over there. Maybe he is being careful. I want to know so much. When will I know it?

Mike ~ March 10th ? (probably)

Another long day. More trips back and forth to the supermarket. The days are definitely longer, but so are the nights. I don't see how that can be, but it is. I have no real way to judge it; it's just a gut feeling. I found several watches by the checkouts. None of them work either. But, I know its true. I feel the longer days. I feel the longer nights. That's all I can say.

A few days back I became sure that the days were even longer, and that's changed. They're not as long as that, but still longer than they used to be.

I was thinking, who are you? I know that's kind of dumb, but you are somebody, right? And you're reading this, right? And, how far away is it in time? Place? Do you know who I am, or did you just find this and begin reading it? Have you been through this too? Is it over and explained? For all I know, no one is here to read this. I can't really believe that though. Man, I really can't... won't. It's the only reason I'm writing this. So that someone, you, will know who I am and that I made it, at least so far. And as I go along, I hope to get some answers. There must be some somewhere. Maybe you have them. Maybe.

So my name is Mike, Michael Collins. I'm a website designer... Was, I guess. I guess there's no more internet, right? Hopefully it'll be back though. I'm twenty-three years old and I live here in Watertown, have all of my life. I'm single, and it looks like I might remain single for a while. That's not funny really. Hopefully I'll find other people soon. I can't be the only one left. But if I do, or if I don't, I'll have this written record.

I dragged about fifty sled loads of stuff down here today. The inside of the market is really beginning to smell bad. No, really bad. And, I found more bodies also, two today. I've been concentrating on canned stuff, trying to make sure I don't get sick. There is a lot of it, and I have a lot of it here now.

I heard dogs today and not far away either. And, there were paw prints in the supermarket. And something had been at the bodies. The dogs, I suppose. I was kind of leery of going in, but they weren't there. And had they been, they probably would've been as afraid of me as I was of them. But I was also wondering, were they dogs? Wolves? I mean, don't they sound the same? Leave the same sort of tracks? Maybe not to someone who knows what to look for in the tracks, but to me they look like dog tracks. And the bodies I had found had been partially eaten. Something was eating them. Dogs? Wolves? I didn't know, but I knew I had to be careful.

That got me thinking about the zoo. What happened to all the animals there? So I walked out State Street, but I couldn't get all the way up to the park entrance. The road's gone. The whole park area seems to be gone. No trees, just raw earth. So, I turned back around and came back. I don't think anything could've lived through that. But lions, wolves, bears? There are a few new things to worry about, right? Can a lion survive in the winter? I don't know. But I walked back from my trip to the park a lot faster than I walked up there.

But I heard dogs... or wolves. I heard them, and if they lived,

other people had to live, right? And a few times now I've felt that I was being watched. You know that feeling you get? Well I've gotten it a few times in the last few days. I still haven't seen anyone though. I've called out a few times; no one has answered.

I haven't seen other footprints, but it's been a little warmer, and the snow has melted. Not all of it, but a lot of it. And they could also walk where I've been walking, in which case I wouldn't see their tracks. But they should have no trouble finding me. I'm not trying to hide or be careful about the tracks I leave. I don't know if that's good or not. I've been thinking about that as well.

I'm not much for guns. I've never shot a pistol or a rifle or gone hunting. But I'm thinking of walking back out Arsenal Street. There were a few sporting goods stores out there. I even took a few things from one of them the other day, but I didn't think about guns at the time. Maybe I'll go tomorrow.

A weird thing did happen today. I was being careful, making sure there were no dogs or wolves, or whatever in the store. Looking around. I was up at the front where the payphones are, there was a time when people used things like payphones. These were still here from that time, and one of them rang. As soon as it did, the other two there rang as well. Only a little jangle. It didn't last more than a second, but it scared the crap out of me. I thought I was dead right there. For some reason, I thought the wolves had sneaked up on me, come up behind me and were about to get me. Don't ask me how I got wolves from a ringing phone, but I did.

I calmed down after a few minutes, and so I walked over and picked up the nearest receiver. Static. Scratchy static. Then it cleared for a second and, it was probably just my nerves, but I could swear I heard someone there. Maybe not heard, I don't know if I heard anything at all. It was more like I knew someone was there: You know what I mean? Like when you get a crank call and the person doesn't speak, but you know that they are there anyway? Like that. Exactly like that. But, then it went right back to scratchy static, and I felt stupid for even thinking it at all. Who could've been there? Who would know I was there? It was just nerves. I know it was.

After I got everything back to this cave, I organized it. I've brought back a lot of stuff. Meat, vegetables, bottled water. I have to work my way over to some other aisles. I need rice, pasta, maybe some instant potatoes. I started on that today. I got part way through the end cap, but the whole roof seems to be resting on that part of the aisle stands, and it's the same way on the other end. That's when I found the bodies. It was so bad I couldn't tell what they had been.

I thought it might be better to go through the aisle dividers. They are solid steel though, and I can't see any way through them, short of a set of torches. Maybe I could find a set, but it seems as though it would be easier to start from the checkouts and work my way through the piles of stuff until I hit another aisle. I have no idea what each aisle is though.

Yeah, I've been there about a thousand times, and I can tell you where the beer and chips would be, paper plates, disposable forks and spoons, but that's about it. I'd hate to spend five hours or more of digging just to reach the toilet paper and sanitary napkins in aisle four. That would be my luck. But there's nothing to do for it except to do it. Or go find a set of torches.

I know I need carbs. Canned meat and vegetables are good, but very low carbs. It's funny, but I need fat, things I'm burning heavy and need to replace. I have nearly constant exercise. My pants are hanging off me. Who knew it could be this easy to lose weight?

I'd also like to find supplements, a good selection of first aid stuff, vitamins, band aids, disinfectant, things like that. I guess that's my next bit of time mapped out for me.

Other things I'm looking for: A wind up watch (Should work right?).

An old car or truck without an electronic brain (My hope is that if it's just a simple distributor/spark arrangement with a carburetor, I should be able to get it to work). I think electronics are shot. They don't work, that's for sure. But I could be wrong. Maybe they will in time.

A battery powered T.V. ; maybe there will be a station on. I know it's a long shot. Everything is digital. Do they even make battery powered digital televisions?

A C.B. or Ham radio. That would let me listen to the state, maybe the world. I should be able to reach someone.

And last, I'm going to check every phone I come across... just in case.

It's early, but I'm tired. I wish I weren't alone.

Candace ~ March 10th

It's late at night. What a difference a day makes. Mike is his name.

We went back today to see if he had been back to the store. I went there first. I hoped to catch him there early, but he wasn't there. Tom dragged his feet. Like he didn't want to go at all. He didn't say that but, it seemed that way to me. Maybe things were just getting to me. Tom's been putting more and more pressure on me to be with him. Lydia's turning up the I hate you attitude. Maybe it's just me, or just was me. Either way, by the time we did get there this morning, the snow was melting, and there was no real way to tell if he had been there at all. I thought about what I had decided yesterday, just going without Tom, but I waited.

We went back to the river and began looking along the banks on that side. I couldn't figure where he had gone.

I backtracked to the store, thinking I must have missed him, missed something anyway. On the way back, I saw him crossing the end of Public Square. I practically screamed out loud, but he didn't hear me. By the time we got there, he was gone.

The day just started to slide away. I began to think I wouldn't find him at all. It depressed me. It was Bob who smelled smoke. All we had to do was follow the smoke, and we found him. Bob found him. How do you follow smoke? Have you ever tried? I mean, if I could see it in the air, sure. But I couldn't. Bob knew how to follow it anyway.

I guess there's a lot more that I could say about today but I'm not going to say it now. I'll say this though, I want him. I want him, and Tom knows it. It's like Tom knew it would turn out this way. Jan knew how I felt, knew how it would be. She told me that today. She said she could see it in me last night. Like this is the way it's supposed to be.

Lydia knows as well. She's happy about it. I saw her face when she figured it out. She looked from me to Mike and back. Then she did it again, this puzzled look on her face, and then she smiled, looked at me and nodded. I think she's just biding her time now. I guess I am too.

Michael Collins. Mike. I think I already wrote his name. I don't know what happens next. How to make it happen. I'm no good at that sort of thing. I've never done it. And my little notebook here, my only friend through all of this, along with Jan, can't help me with that. I can write it here, look at it, but that doesn't realize it.

I still have my father's gun. That has also been my friend the last few days. But it can't help me either, unless I shoot Tom. I guess that's not funny. Tom never liked my gun. It bothered him. Not ladylike? Something like that I think. Mike wasn't shocked at all except to say he should have already gotten one and didn't. It didn't intimidate him in other words.

Tomorrow is March eleventh. I would have started a new life tomorrow. Maybe one I wasn't meant to start. I feel like... I don't know. To be honest, I feel like I'm just a dumb girl pretending to be a woman, a grown up. Does nineteen know everything? No. I don't want to pretend at this. I want to get things right. I don't know what's next. But, does anybody?

Mike ~ March 12th

Things have been really crazy the last few days. I'm not alone anymore. It's funny because that's the last thing I wrote, and two days later it's like an answer to prayer. It happened later on the evening of the tenth. Oh, and it was the tenth. Tom has an old fashioned wind up watch. So does Candace. And, they've both kept track. Kept them wound up too. But, in another way it isn't the twelfth today at all because the days and nights, or the rotation of the Earth that makes the days and nights, isn't the same at all. It's much slower. It's taking about twenty-eight hours to cycle through. But last week, it was up to almost thirty six hours. And none of us knows why, except it slowed up and it's now starting to get back to a normal length of time to cycle through a night and day. So, it's not really the twelfth, and they've just been keeping track of the days as they pass, same as I've been; except for the day I thought I'd lost.

Anyway, as usual, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start from the start; I was organizing stuff. There is a warehouse down closer to the river full of wooden pallets. I went down there a few days ago, box upon box. I have no idea what's in them. I figured sometime I'd just open a few up and see. Maybe it would be something useful, maybe not. What's useful now is radically different from what used to be useful.

Anyway I noticed all the pallets. Pallets everywhere. Some full, some piled high with stuff, but a lot of empty ones; so I went back down with the sled and made a few trips back and forth to the cave so I could stack the canned stuff on them, so they're not sitting on the floor. I was putting them in the back of the cave. I was so wrapped up in stacking the canned goods that I never even heard them until Candace cleared her throat, I guess to get my attention.

It scared me bad. I thought about the gun I had never bothered to go and get, and a lot of other bad stuff. It went through my mind so fast. The first thing in my head was, the wolves got me! They sneaked up on me! Stupid, I know. I knew it was a person, but my head still insisted wolf. It didn't last though, and my reaction scared them too. Lydia said I had a can of peas in my hand, and she was sure I was going to bean Candace in the head with them. For some reason she found it funny that I would bean someone in the head with a can of peas, and she giggled. I just felt embarrassed, and glad I didn't throw the can. I set it down on the stack and took a few deep breaths instead. We all ended up laughing our asses off. Nervous energy. Release, I guess, or something like that. And then, we all began to talk at once.

They had known about me for two days. They had seen that someone was going in and out of the supermarket. They were going out to one on the north side, the other side of the river from where I was. For some reason I hadn't thought to cross the river. They had already been on the other side to begin with, and even though the main bridges seemed too damaged to be trusted, the railroad trestle seemed solid and unharmed to them, so they crossed over on that to get to my side. I was impressed; that is an open trestle, a long way down to the water.

Because the snow on the asphalt was melting, they couldn't figure out where I was going when I left the market. They were actually going back across the river when Candace happened to look over her shoulder toward the opposite bank and happened to catch me going into the cave. She had thought to yell, but over the sound of the rapids, she couldn't get anyone around her to hear her, let alone me.

Once they were across, she talked to Tom; Tom pretty much was their leader (I don't know if I like that. Do we need leaders?), and they decided to come back the next day, which was two days ago, and see if they could find me. They didn't know about the cave. Candace had thought I was just climbing the rock above the river. They searched along the back of the Public Square, or what's left of it, and down towards Coffeen Street. If they had come back down one more road towards the river, they would've found the cave then. Maybe they hadn't realized there was a road there at all; so they just followed the path of the river, thinking I was living in one of the fallen down buildings along the banks.

They had seen me from quite a way off, crossing the square as they were heading back. It looked to them like I was heading for the north side, maybe crossing one of the bridges, but by the time they got there, I was gone. They even began to wonder if I had seen them and hidden on purpose, maybe out of fear. They had searched for a while and then, just when they had been about to quit for the day, Bob realized that he could smell smoke. As soon as he said it, everyone else realized they had smelled it all along as well. After that, it didn't take long to find the cave. They just followed the smell of smoke down to the lower road and found the cave.

So that was that, and now we are six. Tom, Thomas Evans, he was their leader as I said. He's an older guy, in his late thirties. Used to be a truck driver.

Candace Loi (Don't call her Candy. I don't know why.). She's nineteen and was visiting her grandparents. She was from Syracuse. I thought she was with Tom. I think Tom thought so as well.

Bob and Jan Dove. Bob is a little older than Jan, in his fifties, and he said he is a mechanic. Jan does, did, data processing.

And Lydia. Her real name is Marcia George. Lydia is her middle name. She said she always liked Lydia better. She was still in school, local college. I guess she's the same age as Candace, nineteen.

And last but not least, me.

We spent all of yesterday getting their stuff from across the river and bringing it over to the cave. I thought that was weird. Why go get stuff anyway? You can have anything you want. It's all free. But in another way I guess I understand. We've lost everything. We want to hang on to what little we still do have. We're all going to stay here. And we talked about what's next, and what we know about what happened.

I said I had been kind of planning to leave once spring came. Head south or west, somewhere where I wouldn't have to worry about winter. Tom said it may be that, where it would normally have been warmer, it won't be anymore. He said it depends on what happened. None of us really know. He thinks it might be smarter to stay here. We could stock up this cave. We could even hunt. He said he's sure there are deer around. Bob agreed with him, at least on there being deer around.

I told them about the footprints by my house. They said they had seen footprints as well. They had gone out Coffeen Street and seen the tracks of three or four people going in and out of a small store there. They had called out, but no one had answered. They had had second thoughts about calling out too. They weren't armed. What if someone shot at them?

That brought my original thoughts to mind about a weapon. I mentioned the sporting goods store, and we all agreed to make a trip out there soon.

We talked about cars and trucks and agreed it would be good to get an SUV or truck of some kind if we could find one that will run, as they might be the only vehicles that could drive around as bad as things are torn up. They have also tried starting a few vehicles with no success. I mentioned my electronic brain idea, and Tom said he had thought of the same thing. Turns out he's also a mechanic. I guess I can see why they chose him to lead. I feel kind of useless around the guy though. We agreed to try finding an older vehicle. Tom thinks our chances of getting one running are good. We'll see what we can find.

The first night together was good. The best I've slept since this thing started. Just not being alone, you know?

I guess I'll end on that note...
CHAPTER THREE

To Live Again

~March 12th~

Mike closed his notebook and stuffed it down into his pack. Looking around the cave, he was surprised how different a few more warm bodies could make it. It didn't seem as cold, so oppressively quiet, so echo filled with any kind of sharp noise, so... so different. But different in a good way.

Candace had been watching from across the cave where she had made a little area for herself. She hadn't wanted to interrupt while Mike was writing, but now that he seemed finished, she walked over to him.

"This was really nice of you," she said as she walked up. "We were staying in that old school building. None too stable. Last night was the best sleep I've had in a while."

"Funny," Mike replied, "I was thinking the same thing. For me it was just having others around. People."

Candace smiled. She's beautiful, Mike thought. He wasn't normally a fan of tattoos, but she had some sort of tribal stuff that snaked up under her shirt sleeve. Just a hint of ink where her shirt didn't quite meet the top of her Levi's made him wonder just exactly where the ink ended. She caught his eyes and smiled again.

"Mind?" She asked, gesturing at the ground beside him.

"No, sit down," Mike smiled. "I have no manners at all. How long does it take to devolve? I guess a little over a week." He smiled again.

She laughed as she sat down. The silence stretched out for a few seconds, each of them looking around the cave as the others talked or settled in for the night. They both spoke at once.

"Sorry," Candace said and laughed.

"No, really. It's that devolved thing again. Go ahead."

She fixed her eyes on him. "I was just wondering what you were planning on doing. I mean, have you thought about leaving? I know you spoke a bit about it yesterday when you were talking to Tom. But I could see you weren't quite ready to fall in with the Tomites yet." She lowered her voice for the last.

Mike looked at her levelly. "Yeah... I guess it does show. I don't dislike him. I don't even disagree with what he said. I just... I just don't know. We don't click, know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I do." Candace answered. "It's the same with me. I can think. I don't need someone to do it for me."

"Exactly," Mike agreed. "But it's a little more too, like Alpha male shit. This is my tribe. Me chief." Mike finished in a near whisper.

Candace giggled but quickly clamped a hand over her mouth while nodding her head in agreement.

Mike continued. "I'm not really an Alpha male type of guy,

but I'm not a dumb sheep either."

"Me either," Candace agreed, her giggles under control. She fixed him with her serious eyes once more. "So what will you do?"

"Probably like I said, like everyone else said, leave. But I don't see why the south or the west wouldn't be a good direction to go in. We'll all see, I guess, as spring comes on, or as..."

"What?" Candace asked.

"Well, as this goes on. It might not be over yet. There might be more changes ahead. The days have slowed down, almost seemed to stop for a while last week when the sun just hung in the sky. Maybe what was supposed to happen happened? Now the sun's rising in the wrong place in the sky. Did the Earth's spin reverse, that fast? Weren't some people claiming we'd fall off the Earth? Something like that?" He took a deep breath.

"I guess I'm just waiting to see how this goes. What happens next? But in a few months, not far into spring, I'll probably leave. Whatever has happened, is happening, should be over by then," He smiled. "I guess that was a long drawn out answer."

"No. Not really," Candace answered. "I'm in the same place. I'm not sure what happened either, or if it's all over. But, I don't think I want to live in a cave forever either." She looked around, "But who knows; maybe it's come back to that?"

Mike shrugged his shoulders.

"Anyway," she continued. "I... I just wanted you to know I'm seeing it the same way as you. I mean... I mean I want to be on your side of it." She locked her eyes on his and gave a firm nod, then flipped her short, black hair out of her eyes. She firmed her mouth, set her jaw and spoke once more. "I'd like to go get my things, Move over here with you." Her dark eyes settled on his own. "Be with you... I mean be together."

"Quick," Mike said.

She nodded and smiled, "Maybe it's a quick world now. I'm taking you at face value, I guess. You don't have a little harem locked away farther back in these caves, do you?" She smiled.

Mike laughed. "Not hardly."

"Well then," she asked quietly, her eyes serious.

Mike nodded, which caused a huge smile to spread across her face. His own smile answered it. But, he thought, did she really mean...? He didn't complete the thought as she stood and walked across the cave to where she had put her things and spent her first night. She turned and looked back at him. Mike stood and walked over to help her move her things over to his side of the cave.

Several pairs of eyes watched the move.

~

"Guess that settles that," Robert Dove said to his wife Jan.

His wife nodded, a slight smile on her face. For the last few days Tom had been pushing Candace. Jan had disapproved. Let the girl make up her own mind, she had thought.

"Maybe it's for the best," she said now. "That young man is much more likable, Bobby."

Bob nodded in agreement. The fly in the ointment might be Lydia who had been making eyes at Tom since they'd first met, but who, for the last few days, had only had eyes for Mike. Bob looked over just as a look passed between Tom and Lydia. Oh, he thought.

Jan shook her head. She had noticed the look pass between them too. "Maybe if those two get together it will level everything out," she said softly. Tom had made it clear he was interested in Candace, not Lydia, but the girl had made her choice. Tom would have to accept it. Jan felt Candace had made the better choice of the two. She turned her attention back to the conversation she had been having with Bob.

Tom watched as Candace moved her sleeping bags and back pack over to Mike's side of the cave. He didn't see what she saw in Mike, but it was her choice, and she wouldn't get a second chance with him. He frowned at his own thoughts. Don't be an ass, he told himself. It's not that serious. He looked over and caught Lydia's eyes; the question was right there. He nodded, and she sprang to her feet like a rabbit. A mean look on her young, pouty face as she looked towards Candace. The look went unanswered by Candace. She turned her back to the girl as she walked back over to Mike's side of the cave.

~

Lydia quickly gathered her things and moved them over to Tom's area. Stupid bitch, she told herself. She can have the cave man dude. She'd only wanted Tom all along, even the last few days. Chasing after Mike the last few days had only been an attempt on her part to make Tom jealous. Tom would take her out of here. She hated this place and everything to do with it, always had. Tom was tough, tougher than the other guy. She didn't think of it in terms of Alpha Male and territory, but it came down to the same thing. Tom was the top dog. Her top dog.

The fire burned lower as everyone settled in for the night. Some happy, some worried, some undecided, but everyone along for the ride.

~ March 13th ~

Bob leaned around the hood and looked through the windshield of the old Suburban. He nodded. "Try it, Tom."

The motor turned over a half dozen times then suddenly fired and rumbled to life. Tom gave it a little more gas, pulled out the old fashioned choke. The motor smoothed out and began to run a little better.

Bob backed away from the engine compartment, a large smile on his face. "Know what this means?" he asked, raising his voice to be heard above the noisy truck.

Tom grinned and nodded back. "As long as they're not electronically controlled, they'll run. We should find a few more."

Bob nodded in agreement.

They had found the old Suburban in a lot out in back of one of the car dealerships on outer Washington Street. The lot itself was wrecked; the buildings not much better, but hundreds of new cars and trucks sat on the cracked pavement, or pointed their noses or tails at the sky where they were half buried. The Suburban had been set up with a plow, and they all agreed it was probably just used to plow the lot.

Before they had even gone looking for a vehicle, Tom and Bob had gone hunting for a small gasoline powered engine. Lawn mower, leaf blower, it didn't matter, just something small without an electronic ignition or brain. They'd come up with a heavy duty chain saw. Several tugs and a little choke had gotten it running. That had convinced them that it would be worth finding an older, full size truck.

"We could convert one of these newer trucks. It would take some work but if we can find the right parts we could do it," Tom said.

"Maybe," Bob agreed. "Trouble is finding a block that's still the same. Heads, intake, it's a lot to hope for. It would be easier to just fix the old stuff up. New tires, battery, we could even do the axles if we absolutely had to."

Tom nodded his head. "Hmm," he grumbled. "Guess so."

Bob turned away. It was obvious to him that Tom didn't like being disagreed with or second guessed. Yes, parts were parts, and if they were just parts, no problem. There were even kits to convert non-electronic ignition motors over to electronic ignition, but not the other way around. There were motors built mostly for racing applications that were designed to use carburetors and simple distributors. There were things they could do, but it wasn't simple black and white.

He had been seeing more and more of this close minded attitude from Tom since they had moved into the cave. Tom had lost his place as leader. It didn't matter that he had been nearly the only one who had seen himself that way. He had seen the situation that way, and now the situation had changed. He didn't see himself as leader any longer, and he didn't like it. Oh well, Bob thought. He'd get over it, or he wouldn't. There was nothing for it except to watch it happen, whatever way it happened.

Tom let the truck idle high for a few minutes then reset the choke dropping the idle down to normal.

"We got wheels," Lydia said happily. She, Mike, Candace and Jan had come walking back from further down the lot. Pulled by the sound of the truck starting from where they had been searching for other vehicles that would be good candidates for starting.

"We found three others that seem as though they might work out," Mike said. "One's an old crew cab state truck the other two are old pickups. All three are four wheel drives." He grinned at Bob.

Bob laughed. "Well, let's go get them," he said. He turned and started away.

"Hey," Tom said, leaning against the door of the truck, "Wouldn't you rather drive?"

Bob laughed again. "Yeah," he agreed. "Much rather." Everybody piled into the Suburban. Tom pulled out of the back of the lot and headed back in the direction the others had come from.

Mike ~ March 13th

Man, it's been a long day. We walked out Washington Street to the car dealerships. Everything's torn up out there, but there are tons or cars and trucks out there. We found three trucks that we got running, and we drove them back. So we have a pickup truck, a suburban and a big four door state truck, one of those you always used to see along the highway when they were doing road repair. There were a few others we found that also ran, but they were in such bad shape that we left them.

Tom wanted to build one. I mean take one of the new trucks and put old parts on it. I got the idea from Bob that it probably wouldn't work out the way Tom thought that it would. The right parts would be hard to find. I could see the idea, the appeal of a newer vehicle so we wouldn't have to be concerned about break downs. But I could see Bob's point of view too. I think it pissed Tom off though. But it seems that almost everything pisses Tom off.

I didn't write this in here yet, but Candace and I are together. It just happened that fast. I was surprised in a way, but in another way I wasn't all that surprised. Who knows how long this world will last, what it was that really happened? Maybe there is no time for slow anymore.

Candace said that, and once I thought about it, I agreed. Things are so different. And she's right for me. Maybe it wouldn't have happened this fast in the old world. Maybe it wouldn't have happened at all. But everything's changed. It's all different, and this seems right. It seems like the way it should have happened with her and me, the right way for it all to work.

It also seemed to work out for the others as well. By that I mean Tom ended up with Lydia. She's a lot younger than he is, but like I said, it's a different world now. They seem to be happy together. I thought I felt some animosity from both of them at first. But either I imagined it, or they've moved past it, gotten over it, something like that.

We haven't discussed leaving again. It'll come up. Candace and I want to go. I think Bob and Jan want to go too. Tom and Lydia seem to be against it. Lydia keeps talking about how none of us know what it might be like anywhere else, like she wants to throw that out before we even discuss leaving at all. Here we have food, shelter, what's so bad? I guess we have been talking about it without really talking about it at all.

Tom backs up everything she says with a nod of his head. He pointed out we're in an area of mainly limestone, that's what made this cave, and we may not find that anywhere else. At least not easily. Maybe they're right. Hell, they make sense, but it's the attitude. The rest of us bend. They refuse to.

We decided to go out to Arsenal Street tomorrow to the sporting goods store, and also look at some super markets out there, something else I didn't check out while I was out there.

Lastly, I'm glad Candace and I have each other. It makes all of this easier to deal with.

She asked me why I'm writing this journal. I felt kind of stupid. I told her why I started it though, and that I'm continuing it for someone in the future. Maybe a child? Someone to come later on?

I expected her to laugh that off, or look at me like I was crazy, but she only nodded as if that made perfectly good sense. She told me she has a journal too. A diary, she said. Of course Lydia jumped on that as well. At first arguing against it, then saying she thought it might be okay. Tom said he wouldn't do it. He said he's not leaving to go anywhere and if someone shows up here, he'll be here, not some journal. Okay.

It's stuff like that that makes me wonder. And, anyway, I only mentioned it; it wasn't like I wanted anyone else to do it or was trying to encourage someone else to do it. It's that kind of jump on it attitude I don't like, like they think I'm looking to screw them over somehow.

But it's all good. I'm alive. I looked back at some of what I wrote in here. I had no one just a short time ago. I didn't even know whether there was anyone else. Now I have Candace. We have some plans, things we've begun to talk about, agree about. A little ego trouble with Tom is really just bullshit in the scheme of things. I have to try harder to look past that. Maybe I'm too damn sensitive. And anyway things are good. This could be a lot worse.

A thing that bugs me and I can not figure out, where are all the bodies? I mean there don't seem to be enough bodies to match all of those that were killed. It bothers me. Maybe they weren't killed? But that makes no sense. Where would they be? I don't have an answer. I only know it bugs me.

Lydia ~ March 13th

Hi! My name is Lydia. I've never written a journal or kept a diary before. We're all here in this cave. A cave, yes. We're living in a cave. I can't believe it! There are no showers, no toilets, no kitchen. Ha! We're eating out of cans. It's about as hard as it could be. I don't know how cave men did it. Or cave women.

We're all writing these journals to leave them behind in case someone comes after we, or some of us, leave. I might not 'cause I'm sort of with Tom right now, and he doesn't want to go. There are six of us; Mike, Tom, Bob, Janet, me and a girl named Candace. We're all stuck here until spring, I guess.

I guess that you know all about the world ending or whatever it did. We don't know. I don't know. Not really anyway, but hopefully we'll get everything fixed up pretty soon. I mean, a lot of stuff is F'd up, you know? But, like, it could get fixed up eventually.

I had a boyfriend in the old world. His name was Paul, but I don't know where he went. His apartment was gone. The whole street he lived on was gone. So I don't know. It made me feel really bad. Hopefully this will be over really soon.

We have, like, some old trucks now to drive around. We used to have to walk everywhere. That sucked. The trucks are really old, like shit boxes as Paul would've said, but at least we're not walking, right? Paul had an old shit box truck too. These trucks are even older. If we break down we can't call Triple A. Ha, Ha!

There are six of us and Tom thinks more will come to us, probably know we're here and are just waiting. I guess that's cool.

I don't really know what else to write in here. I'll write other stuff down too though. Oh, I'm almost nineteen...

Candace ~ March 13th

I did it. I don't know how I worked it out or where I found the courage to do it, but Mike and I are together. It's like I wasn't breathing, like I was waiting to breath. Something like that. All I know with absolute certainty is that tomorrow looks better. Isn't that all that's important?

March ~ 14th

Everyone was up early and ready to go before the sun was barely above the horizon.

"Yesterday," Tom said to no one in particular. "Thirty two hours long." Silence greeted his remark. Candace checked her own watch.

"So, like, that means things are slowing down?" Lydia asked.

"You think?" Tom asked unkindly.

"Well, something like that," Lydia shot back defensively.

"Why would it go backwards," Bob asked?

"Yeah. Wasn't it supposed to stop, reverse and then start up again?" Lydia asked.

"Maybe," Mike agreed. "But that was all based on theory. No facts involved at all. I think they had some evidence that the poles had reversed at a few points in history before. And some legends that spoke about the Earth standing still for a day, something like that. But even so, that's all theory, not fact."

"Yeah," Tom chimed in. "It's like an asshole. Everyone's got one."

"Don't you mean opinion?" Lydia asked sweetly.

"Whatever. We ready to go, or what?" Tom asked. Everyone followed outside in the uncomfortable silence that fell.

~

"What's up with those two," Candace whispered as she followed Mike outside.

"Who knows," Mike whispered back. Bob met his eyes and raised his eyebrows. Mike shrugged his shoulders and shook his head as if to say I don't know.

"We may as well take all three trucks," Bob suggested. "That way if we find stuff we want it'll save us driving back to get them."

"Easier if we get stuck also," Candace suggested.

Tom shrugged his shoulders. "Fine by me," he said. He headed for the Suburban with Lydia right behind him. Jan and Candace headed for the pickup truck. Bob broke into a laugh and grinned at Mike. "Guess that leaves me and you in the old dinosaur. Want to drive?"

"After you," Mike said laughing. Bob started the truck and pulled out last in line and followed the other two trucks as they picked their way along the edge of the ruined road.

~

"It was me that asked Jan to go with Candace," Bob said as they followed slowly along behind the other trucks.

Mike nodded. His eyes following the sides of the road as Bob drove along. "I thought it was something like that," he said. "What's on your mind, Bob?"

"Well... A lot," Bob said after a second or two. He hesitated a little longer. "I guess mainly to say Jan and I would like to go with you when you leave, and Candace, I assume."

"Yeah," Mike agreed. "I know that probably seemed kind of quick."

"It's a..."

"Quick world," Mike finished. "Candace said the same thing. I don't know how much better off we'll be, but we'd be glad to have you two with us if you want to come."

"We would. Jan and I talked it over. We talked all night long last night. I got nothing personal against Tom; he did alright by us, but he's a little too..."

"Demanding? Aggressive?" Mike supplied.

Bob looked thoughtful. "I don't know... Something like that. I just don't see him being able to see this through. I feel like if we came back here in ten years we'd find him still holed up in that cave. He's... I don't know... too immature to talk to about it. He has only one way of looking at things. That can't work."

"You're probably right. He'd still be here with Lydia, probably with a couple of babies running around. But, maybe that's not such a bad thing. Maybe that's a good thing." He shrugged. "The immaturity... I don't know... It's there though. Maybe he'll move out of that. Maybe it's just the situation."

"Maybe," Bob agreed. "But that's exactly the time he should be mature, isn't it?"

Mike nodded. Bob continued.

"So, maybe it's a good thing, maybe it's not. But not for me. I don't want to stay here. Nor Jan either. I wouldn't want to quit this unless I knew this was all there was. I mean, this couldn't be worldwide, could it?"

"I don't know," Mike said softly. "But I agree. I know what you mean. Candace and I talked about it last night too and came to the same opinion. It could be better elsewhere, and whatever is right for Tom or Lydia isn't necessarily right for us. I was for going from the start. I have to know if this is really the end. If there's anything else. If it is, I'll deal with it, find a place to settle down. Thank God I have Candace, you and Jan. Maybe we'll meet others on the way to... well, wherever."

"I think so," Bob said. "There are people, other people around. We just got to find them. Or them us."

"Yeah, we got to remember rifles or pistols. I hate to say it, Bob, but we may need them."

"Yeah," he nodded. "Yeah."

They continued on in silence as the small caravan made its way past a collapsed building partially blocking what was left of the road.

"I think... It's not my business," Bob said, "But I think you made an enemy of Lydia. She was thinking you would be with her."

"Yeah, I could see that, Bob. I don't think Tom was any too pleased either."

Bob nodded. "Nope, none too. Him I wouldn't worry about though. Her, she's pretty spiteful. I've only known her for a week, but it's enough. That child did pretty much what she wanted to, I'll bet. Used to having her own way, getting what she wants when she wants it."

"Yeah, I can see that. But last night we talked about the journals; I'm keeping one. Candace is too. Lydia said she would. Something to leave when we leave."

"It's not a bad idea," Bob agreed. "I'm not much for writing myself, but Jan might like it."

Mike nodded. "Well, Lydia liked the idea. She didn't say she'd go, but she might. So, hate me or not, she might be with us."

"Oh," Bob said. "I see that. Maybe she'll be okay. She's a kid; maybe she'll change."

"Guess we'll have to see," Mike agreed. "Guess we'll have to see."

Bob worked the truck up and over a huge slab of up-tilted asphalt and followed along behind the other two trucks as they made their way down Arsenal Street.

"What did you think of the idea that Tom had of fixing up one of the new trucks?" Mike ventured after a few minutes.

"Won't work. Or at least it won't work without a lot of trouble. The new engines are computer dependent. We could probably find ourselves another motor, maybe even a new crate motor at a parts store somewhere around here," Bob said.

"What's a crate motor?" Mike asked.

"It just means a new motor, all crated up when it was sent from the factory. They sell them. Race cars, old rebuilds, like that. But, even if we couldn't find a crate motor, we could find enough parts to rebuild anything we would need to rebuild on nearly any vehicle. So really, when we're done, we'd have what amounted to a new vehicle. Tom wants to oversimplify that. He thinks we can just find the parts and swap them out on the motor that's in the truck. Maybe we can. I'm not that good though, and I don't think he is. I think we should stick to what we can do for sure, utilize what we have - the new parts."

"That what you think we should do? Build a vehicle?"

"Yeah. Maybe two. Four wheel drive, of course. Go right through them top to bottom, everything new. It would take a few weeks, but we've got that and more. Meantime, you could work on your Ham radio idea, "Bob finished.

"Can you get electric? Those big Ham radio outfits need regular power."

"Yeah, that's not a problem. We'll just find a generator. That will give us all the power we need. We could even hook up a power inverter to give us one twenty in the vehicle," Bob added.

Mike nodded. "So we're going to jump right into this thing? Get ready to go?"

Bob nodded. "I'm with you. I'm not spending next winter in a cave unless I have to. There's a place in Tennessee, maybe Kentucky." He closed his eyes for a split second as if seeing something only he could see. He shook his head, frowned and then continued. "If not, I'm thinking the coast. Southern or western, either will do, whichever one looks to be the better bet. And who knows how hard it'll be to get there, so the sooner we're ready to go, the better."

"I agree," Mike said. "I'll talk to Candace."

"And I'll talk to Jan. But we already talked."

"So did we," Mike agreed. They both laughed.

Bob angled the big truck around a final piece of asphalt and into a cracked and buckled parking lot. The two other vehicles sat silent, waiting for them.

As they left the truck, Mike noticed that the store hadn't seemed to incur any more damage since the last time that he had been there. The roof was bowed inward; it had been before, but there were plenty of upright pillars that supported the roof and they all appeared intact. At least the ones he could easily see. The supports were spaced about every sixteen or so feet.

"Safe?" Tom asked.

"Looks the same as it did the last time," Mike allowed. Candace and Bob looked at him, and he shrugged. "I'd say so. It looks the same as it did the last time I was here. It doesn't even look as though anyone has been here."

The scattered, powdered snow seemed undisturbed around the shattered doorway that lead into the building. Mike snapped his flashlight on and led the way inside.

The inside of the store told a different story. Someone had been there during the time Mike had last been there. Several of the glass display cases that held the weapons had been damaged. They were locked, who ever had made the attempt had made it halfheartedly. The glass was safety glass of some sort. It had cracked and spider webbed, but it had not broken and caved in.

"Guess someone tried to get in," Bob offered.

Tom held up a discarded crow bar. Even in the weak light they could see the streaks of scarlet on one end. Tom let it fall to the floor. The clatter was loud enough to make Lydia draw in a quick breath in the broken silence that followed.

"Jesus, Tom," She sputtered. Tom only grinned.

"Why does someone go through all of that when they could've taken a simple screw driver and just popped the locks?" Candace asked.

"Well," Tom started.

Candace had walked behind the counter, taken a screw driver from her pocket and began to jimmy the lock mechanism. It was a cheap sliding set and easily bent to one side far enough to slide the glass door open. Candace smiled.

"Learn that up in the big city, Miss?" Mike asked with a smile.

Candace smiled back, reached inside the case, careful of the glass that had sprayed in small slivers from the spider webs in the top, and withdrew pistol after pistol, setting them on a wooden topped case next to the cash register.

"Forty five caliber, Nine millimeter, a cheap one though. Three eighty, kind of nice, though small. Here's a much nicer Nine Millimeter." She set several more guns on the wooden top, looked up with a crooked grin and asked, "Well, gentlemen, lady, what'll it be?"

"You really know about this kind of shit," Lydia asked in an awed voice.

"Obviously well enough to know what's what," Tom said.

"That's right. Obviously well enough," Candace agreed. She gave no further explanation.

"What do you think, Candace?" Jan asked.

"Yeah, what would be the best?" Mike asked.

Candace shrugged. "It depends on what you like. I like a three eighty myself. It's small, not as heavy as a Nine millimeter." She pulled her own Nine Millimeter. "This was my Dad's. A good gun, but I liked the Three Eighty I had. A Three Eighty won't really knock somebody down, not like you see in the movies. But a nine millimeter won't always do that either. It'll just make a bigger hole. If you want to knock somebody down, you need this." She held up the bigger forty five caliber pistol. She held the mostly black pistol easily in one hand. "This will knock somebody down and kill them. And, on the off chance that your aim was bad and you didn't immediately kill them, believe me, they are not going to feel like getting back up." She grinned. "It's still not like the movies. You know, where you see them flying backwards through the air. But, it will knock them down and keep them there."

"Jesus, Candy, I'm like in awe," Lydia said.

"Candace," Candace said, "and thank you."

"So how do you know all that? Like for real, how do you know all that shit?"

"My dad was a cop, not in Syracuse, before we moved there. He had a thing for guns. I just caught it. When he knew I was going to be like him when it came to guns, he sent me for training, safety stuff mostly, but I liked it so much I started buying my own weapons. I took the test. Eventually I would've had my foot in the door in Syracuse. That's a good department. I would've been in already if not for the economy."

"The thing is, I love to shoot. I'm good too," she sighed.

"So... what'll it be?" She let the smile return to her face, reached over and began to jimmy another of the locks on the sliding glass doors.

They spent the good part of two hours in the store. Camping gear, rifles, pistols and ammunition, Mike began to feel like they were equipping their own private army before they were done. Even so, by the time they left, everyone was carrying at least one pistol, and several rifles and boxes of ammunition had found their way into the back of the pickup truck. Candace, Mike noticed, had added a matte black forty five caliber pistol to the Nine Millimeter. She wore them in webbed holsters on a wide leather belt.

"I thought you preferred a Three Eighty," Mike said half jokingly as he replaced the Nine Millimeter he had decided on into the side holster he had chosen.

"I do," she said, "For shooting. But like I said, a Three Eighty can't knock somebody down." Her eyes met his.

"Yeah... There is that," Mike agreed quietly.

They spent a short amount of time looking through a small convenience store in the same parking lot. There was very little left. Most likely cleaned out, Bob voiced, by the same folks who had tried to take the guns. This was evidenced by smears of maroon on the counter tops. Even so, they managed to find boxes of stuff in the storage area. They finished filling the backs of the trucks with basic First Aid stuff and several boxes full of candy bars and junk food too.

The sun had been standing overhead for what seemed like hours. Bob spoke.

"Hotter," He said. "You can feel the heat. And," He motioned with his hands, "the snow is melting faster as well."

"Got a theory on that?" Mike asked.

Bob shook his head.

"Maybe the whole process takes time," Candace said.

"Maybe," Tom agreed. "Maybe it's not so easy to start something spinning in the other direction. And we don't know if it really stopped or not. The sun's coming up in the north, or it was, but that seems to be changing too. I don't think it stopped all the way. I think it's just got a different spin now, and maybe a different path."

Bob nodded, as did Mike. "I guess we'll leave it for the scientists... long as we don't fall off the Earth." He chuckled a little.

"Call it a day?" Mike asked.

"Yeah," Tom agreed. "We still have to unload all of this."

There were a few halfhearted complaints, but everyone piled into the trucks, and they made their way slowly back towards the heart of the city and the cave that lay behind the Public Square.

Janet ~ March 14th

We are six people who have managed to stay alive through whatever it is that has happened to our planet. My husband Bob and I were fortunate enough to be protected by our spirits and brought through all of this.

I am Janet Dove; my husband is full blooded Blackfoot and a very proud man. A very good man as well. And not just to me. He treats all people well.

My mother was Cherokee and my father was French. I don't mean French transplanted to this country. My mother met him in France. We are looking forward to whatever the Great spirits purpose is in this.

We have many young people with us. Michael Collins. He's mixed race, like many of us. He probably doesn't realize it, but he is in fact our leader. He's in his early twenties. I guess the mixed race stuff doesn't matter anymore, but I lived with it for so long that it's hard for me to let it go.

Bob has suffered worse with those prejudices. Many other people besides me. Maybe the world is at that place where all of that stuff can be let go now? I hope so.

Candace Loi is a beautiful young woman. Her father is African American, her mother Asian. She has her father's dark skin blended with her mothers features. Striking. I enjoy her company. She reminds me of my daughter. I don't know how she fared in all of this. I suppose we're all wondering similar things.

Tom. Thomas Evans. And, Lydia, Marcia George fill out our party. We are planning to leave here in a few months and head south, or west. The direction isn't decided, only the realization that we need to go. The thinking is that we should head south, somewhere warmer. After all, there is no electricity here, and we are living in a cave. It's not a bad cave, and we're lucky to have it. Almost the entire city has been destroyed. The buildings are unsafe to live in.

When we leave, we'll leave all of that behind us. This is who we are. We will most likely continue to the south. We are currently looking for a Short Wave radio set to try to get in touch with others around the world. You, whoever you may be, may be able to reach us where ever we have gone to now.

Bob believes in the Nation. That the people will once again live on the earth the way they used to. Bob believes it, and so I believe it. I'll continue to keep this book up while we're here and include any useful information we can pass on to you before we go.

Candace ~ March 14th

I guess I should start this the right way. I hadn't thought about it when it was just me to think about. But it's more than me or even those of us that are here now. It's the ones who might come. Or will come after. So even if you figured out almost all of what I'm about to write, I'll write it anyway.

I read back over what I wrote and it doesn't even seem like me, like I wrote it, like those things happened to me

My name is Candace Loi. I was living here when all of this happened. I'm not from Watertown. I actually did live here for a while last year, but that's a long story. The point is I'm not really from here like the others are.

My man is Mike Collins and we are with two other couples; Jan and Bob Dove, and Tom Evans And Lydia George. I came here with them; Mike was on his own then. I was too, even though I had people around me. I guess if you've read all of this diary you know what I'm talking about. I had Jan as my friend, this diary and my father's gun. I Thank God for what I had, especially Jan.

Jan and Bob are older. They are really good people. Tom and Lydia are younger. Well, Lydia is. Lydia's even younger than I am, but Tom is quite a lot older. I don't think anyone cares about that anymore though. At least nobody here does.

We are going to leave here sometime in the next few months and try to make it down to the Gulf coast. We don't know for sure how that will go. I'll keep this updated though until then. We're going to leave these behind us. Hopefully they will be useful to someone. But I think I'll keep my little Notebook. It means something to me.

Things we know: You can get trucks and cars to start as long as they are older ones that don't have electronic brain boxes, as Bob put it. That is how we intend to go before winter or just after winter really lets go. Otherwise, we'd really have to wait for summer to settle in before we could chance travel.

There are several sporting goods stores in the area. We're all carrying guns now. It seems smart to do. Maybe I should say it would be stupid not to. We think it only makes good sense.

This cave we are in seems stable, but many of the other structures in the city aren't safe to live in. We don't know how deep these caves go.

We're going to try to reach others with Ham Radios. We're also trying to find a battery powered television set just to see if anything's on the air. We're hopeful. We're also going to pick up some hand held F.M. Radios, walkie-talkies, Bob calls them. That way we can speak to each other when we're separated.

The sun is rising in the north. Really the North West. The days were long, then short, now going back towards long again. We don't know what that might mean, where it will end or even where we will be when it does end. And maybe end is the wrong word to use. We don't know what began or ended; might begin or end.

I re-read that, I guess it seems melodramatic, at least to me, but it's honest.

I will write more as we go along.

~ March 15th ~

Early morning darkness held the road that fronted the cave. The moonlight, sparse, reflected off the rapids of the Black river.

A shadow moved by one of the pickup trucks. Another moved by the Suburban. The sound of sand gritting beneath the sole of a shoe came clearly in the shadowy darkness. The door of the pickup squealed loudly as it was carefully opened. The shadow paused, looking towards the Suburban. The shadow there appeared to be fighting with the door to no avail. The shadow next to the pickup gestured quickly with both hands, and the shadow next to the Suburban gave up on the door, crossed to the pickup and quickly climbed inside. Once they were both inside, silence returned to the small patch of asphalt that fronted the cave. A few seconds later the pickup roared to life. The headlights snapped on, the wheels turned hard left and the driver launched the truck down what was left of the shattered roadway.

Voices were raised in alarm from inside the cave, and within just a few moments everyone inside was outside. Lydia, gun in hand, unloaded a full clip at the fleeing pickup truck. Both Tom and Mike snapped off a single shot, more in startled response to Lydia's' shots than with any real hope of hitting the retreating pickup truck.

"Jesus," Lydia said breathlessly. "They stole our truck!" She turned and looked at Mike with wide, frightened eyes. "They stole our Goddamn truck," She repeated. "How could they steal our truck?"

Tom headed for the suburban and pulled the keys from his pocket, preparing to unlock the door.

"Tom," Mike called. "Where are you going, Man?"

"That's our Goddamn truck. I'm going to get it." His eyes were wild, the truck keys in one hand, a pistol in the other, no shirt, sock-less shoes, laces trailing.

"It's an old truck, Man," Mike said.

"It's my old truck," Tom said defensively. "And if I catch that fucker..."

"Fuckers," Lydia said.

"Huh?" Tom asked.

"Fuckers, as in I saw two heads. Two of them. Not one," Lydia said. Her voice held a breathless, excited quality to it that Mike didn't like. She was dressed in jeans and a thin T-shirt. She shivered slightly, whether from the cold or the excitement, Mike couldn't tell.

"Either way. One, two, how would we catch them? And then what? Are we going to shoot somebody for stealing an old truck? Is that what things have come to?" Mike asked.

"Look, don't get moral on me," Tom said. He leveled his eyes at Mike. "I do things my way. You take from me, you pay for it."

Mike just stared back at him.

"You're soft," Tom said. But his fists, still clenched, dropped from the truck door and he walked away from the Suburban and back into the cave.

Lydia threw Mike a nasty look, finally managed to fish a replacement clip from her overly tight front pocket. Ejected the empty one into her hand and slid the new one into the pistol with a solid click. "Soft," She echoed as the clip clicked home. She turned and went back inside the cave. In the distance, the muffler of the truck began to fade. It was hard to tell which direction it had gone.

Bob stepped up beside Mike where he stood with Candace and Jan. "I'm not going to kill anybody over an old truck," he said.

"Me either" the other three said in near unison.

"Guess we better start making sure everything's locked up tight," Mike said.

"We're going to have to start keeping a watch," Jan said.

"We will," Candace agreed. "What if the next thing they want is a woman?"

"That's not funny," Mike said.

She leveled her dark eyes on his, silvery moonlight reflecting from them. "I wasn't trying to be funny. Now that they know we're around..." she shrugged. "Lydia may have overreacted, but maybe not. Who the hell would pull a stunt like that anyway? Everything's just lying around. Want a truck? Go get one. No... It's a mind set. Someone who takes like that doesn't take because it's easy; they take because they like it, because they can." She lowered her voice, "Truck, woman... might all be the same to them."

No one answered.

~

Tom and Lydia sat talking in low tones as the others walked back into the cave. They had rebuilt the fire, and the warmth and light spread out, glowing on the stone walls. "Tom," Mike started.

"Listen," Tom said. "I shouldn't have said that... I didn't mean to say that. And, no, it would be stupid to go chasing after a goddamn truck in the middle of the night. And, no, I don't want to kill someone over stealing a piece of shit truck," Tom said. "But that kind of shit can't happen. I mean, what's next?"

"Yeah," Mike agreed. "Yeah. I guess what's next is locked up trucks. No keys left in them. And..." He looked over at Candace. "I guess a guard at night. Candace said... She thinks someone who would come to take a truck might come to take a woman too."

The silence held only for a second.

"Fuckin' A," Lydia spat.

She looks positively rabid, Candace thought. "What I mean," Candace said, "A truck... Maybe one of us... Who steals a truck when everything's just lying around free for anyone who wants to pick it up?"

Tom nodded his head.

"Well, as soon as it's light I say we follow the tracks. If we're careful, it should be no problem at all," Mike said.

"Goddamn right," Lydia said.

"Should be armed. I'm sure they will be," Candace said.

"Not you. You're not going are you?" Mike asked.

"I'm the best shot we have," Candace said. "It's that simple. If we don't go after them," she shrugged and then shook her head. "No," she said. "The more I think about it, they'll probably come back. And they'll probably come back armed as well, hell, maybe they were this time." She looked at Lydia.

"Lydia saw two in the truck, but how many more were there? Or back where ever they went to," she finished seriously.

"So. The idea is to take it to them before they bring it to us?" Bob asked.

"Got a better idea?" Tom challenged.

"No... No... But I'm no killer. It's still just a damn truck."

Bob finished.

"Yeah, tonight it was a truck, tomorrow it might be me... Or Candace... Or Jan," Lydia said.

Bob stayed silent, thoughtful. He sighed. "What a damn mess," he said at last.

"It's that," Tom agreed.

"I got to agree, Bob," Mike said. "It's not the same world. What if they do come back? Do we decide then to do something? It might be too late."

"Honey. I think it's best to go get them," Janet said quietly, her eyes on Bob's own. Those eyes looked frightened, Mike thought. He supposed a little of that fright was resting in everyone's eyes right now.

"I don't like to be bullied or pressured into anything," Bob said.

"Hey," Mike said. "It's no pressure, Man. It's real. It really just happened."

Bob nodded his head yes, but a frown remained stamped onto his mouth. Deep lines scarred his forehead. His hands twisted restlessly in his lap. He suddenly brought his hands together firmly. "Okay," he agreed. "Okay. I see the point. I've done a lot of hunting. I'm a good shot with a rifle. I'd like to go too."

~

When the sun began to peek over the top of the ridge on the opposite shore of the Black river, everyone filed out to the two remaining trucks. It had been decided that Mike and Jan would stay behind while the others went in search of the stolen truck. They switched on and tested two sets of F.M. radios.

"The range is normally only about two miles or so, but it's not like there's anything to interfere with them anymore," Tom said. "We'll take three with us, and you keep the other here to monitor us, or if they come back here," Tom finished.

"Do you think that's a possibility?" Janet Dove asked.

"I doubt it, Dear," Bob told her with a reassuring smile. "It's just to be safe."

Mike walked over to Candace. Her eyes met his. He kissed her softly, and her arms slipped around him.

"Don't worry," she whispered, "I'll be careful. And I'll make sure they're careful." She kissed him and pulled back.

Mike stared at the face of the two way radio for a long second and then watched her get into the Suburban. Bob got into the front seat with her. Her eyes met his once more, and she smiled reassuringly, then started the Suburban and fell in behind Tom as he drove the big State truck out across the pavement.

Mike and Janet stood quietly as the two trucks drove away. Neither of them wanted to go back inside the cave. The sun was up and warming the old asphalt of the road where it passed in front of the cave, and what little snow remained was already beginning to melt.

"Left here," The radio squawked. It sounded like Lydia.

"Behind you," came an answer that sounded like Bob.

Mike shifted the 30-30 Deer rifle he held in one hand and thumbed off the strap that held his Nine Millimeter in his web holster. Janet Dove grimaced and then thumbed the safety off the shotgun she was holding. A short clip protruded from the base of the shotgun, just forward of the trigger. She had two more clips in a small pouch on her side, as well as a fully loaded Three Eighty in a tooled leather side holster she wore.

What must we look like, Mike thought. Aloud he said, "They'll be fine."

"Really?" Janet Dove asked. "I truly hope so. I truly do."

~

The next twenty minutes went by slowly. Occasional squawks of directions came from the radio, and in the distance the sound of both trucks could still be heard. The silence broke all at once.

The radio squealed in Mike's hand. One word jumped clearly from the static... "Jesus!"... Mike couldn't tell from whom. A crashing sound accompanied it, and in the far distance gunfire erupted in the still, previously quiet morning air.

The squeal from the radio abruptly cut off and it fell back to low static. In the distance the sound of gunfire continued for what seemed like ten minutes, but was probably no more than thirty or forty seconds in reality. Mike keyed the radio, "Candace," he screamed. "Candace?"

Gunfire broke out again in the distance. The fast... POP, POP, POP of semi automatic gunfire, but the sharp crack of a heavy rifle too. No answer came back over the radio. Janet Dove made a small strangled sound in the back of her throat and a low sob slipped from her mouth. "No, God, no," she whispered.

"It's alright, Jan," Mike told her. He didn't believe it himself, but it was what you said. It was how you lied to yourself when you were pretty sure that things were far from fine. Life didn't work that way in his experience. The gunfire had stopped, but the radio maintained its teasing static as his mind continued to assure him that nothing at all was right and nothing ever would be again. Just as he had the thought, the radio in his hand squawked once again.

"You guys okay?" a panicked sounding Bob asked.

"We're good... We're good, base. We're all good. Everything's okay," Tom answered.

Beside Mike, Janet broke into a sob. He reached over and pulled her close to him. "It's okay," he soothed. "They said they're all okay," Mike repeated dumbly, like the words were some magic mantra.

"I need you to come over here," Bob said over the radio in a tight, controlled voice. Fear quickly spiked in Mike's heart.

"Yeah... Uh, you need... Uh, yeah... Okay... We're coming... We're on the way," Tom replied.

Mike pressed his button down. "What is it?" he asked. He spoke with more calm than he felt. "What's going on?"

"Mike... Mike, we got a little problem here... Give me a second and I'll get right back to you," Tom told him.

"Standing by." Mike forced himself to say. Now Janet was hugging him and the fear gripped his heart hard, refusing to let go.

~

"I'll kill you. I will," The kid said. He held his gun sideways like some banger kid from a bad Hollywood movie. Blood trickled slowly from one nostril, as well as from several deep cuts up the left side of his face. His eyes were focused and hard.

"No," Candace said quietly. Her own forty five was held in both hands aimed at the kid's chest. He looks like he's only about thirteen... Fourteen, she corrected.

The kids lip curled at her. "You think I won't do it, Bitch? I will... I will, Bitch... I'll do it."

"No," Candace repeated quietly. "I drop it and you shoot anyway. No way, Kid. No way." She watched as Bob shifted to his right, drawing farther away from Candace so the kid couldn't keep both of them in sight.

"Stop fuckin' movin'! Stop fuckin' movin'!" the kid suddenly screamed. The gun barrel wavered a little, nervously jittering up and down, the kid's finger lightly, compulsively caressing the trigger as Candace watched.

Tom and Lydia worked their way up silently behind the kid, past the bodies that lay on the ground, one a young girl.

Behind Tom, Lydia dropped the barrel of her gun and sighted on the kid's back. Tom stared at her dumbly for a second and then followed suit.

The seconds played out as the blood continued to slowly leak from the kids face. His tongue darted out and tasted it where it ran from his nose. He tried to push it away from his lips where it ran and dripped down onto his chin.

"Last chance, Bitch," he said. He brought the barrel of his gun down towards her. At the same time Bob took another step sideways. The kid's eyes darted to Bob. The gun dipped and swiveled towards him. "I told you..." he began.

All four guns spoke at once and the kid seemed to do a quick tap dance before the gun fell from his hand without firing. He tried to suck in a breath but collapsed onto the dirty asphalt instead.

Before anyone could react, the silence was split by a scream from across the river. A young boy stood silhouetted by the rising sun on the opposite side of the river facing them. Something shifted from his side. "I'll kill you... I'll kill you... You killed my brother," the boy screamed in a high falsetto. His arms came up quickly.

"Hit the ground," Candace yelled as the kid opened fire with the deer rifle he had in his hands.

Everyone hit the dirt except Lydia whose face registered astonishment as she turned slowly to the river to face the kid.

Candace yelled again as she raised herself to both cut and bruised elbows and began to fire back across the river.

The kid managed three shots before Candace hit him. He slowly toppled over and splashed into the river. Lydia stood. Her mouth open wide, staring across the river to where the kid had been.

Candace raised her eyes to where Lydia stood, and they caught on the ragged, gaping hole blown through the back of her t-shirt. She continued to stand. Seeming to still be looking out over the river. Her mouth working.

"Lydia," Candace whispered.

Lydia slowly turned, her mouth still working but silent. A small neat hole wept blood down the front of her shirt. Her chest hitched and her eyes fluttered.

Tom lunged to his feet, his eyes dazed, and ran to her, catching her as she slumped forward. Her eyes flickered once more as he eased her to the ground.

A small tight smile came to her mouth. "Killed me," she wheezed. Her eyes closed, and her chest stopped its struggle for breath.

~

The silence seemed to go on forever as Mike and Janet waited. Sudden gunfire erupted in the distance again. Janet moaned and Mike pulled her closer to him. "Ssss alright," Mike told her. "Alright." He didn't believe it anymore than he had the last time he'd said it. The burst of gunfire came and went just that quickly, and then silence fell hard on the still morning air.

Janet held herself rigidly. Mike could feel her tremble against him. He patted her head. A stupid, useless, meaningless thing to do, he told himself, but he continued nonetheless, patting her head and stroking her hair. Useless, but if nothing else, it seemed to help calm him.

He drew a deep breath, and the radio squawked. "Mike?" Bob asked.

Mike took a deep breath and swallowed hard before he trusted his voice to answer. Jan let go of her breath in a deep whoosh and drew in a long, deep shuddering breath. Mike stroked her hair once more.

"Yeah," Mike answered quietly.

"It's bad," Bobs voice broke as he spoke. "It's bad, Mike. It's bad."

In his head Mike could already hear the words he didn't want to hear. He had heard everyone's voice except Candace's. It only stood to reason... Still, he didn't want to hear it.

"It'll be okay," Jan told him. She pulled him tight. Her own hands trying to pull his head against her breast. "Mike... It'll be okay."

"It's Lydia," Bob said. His voice choked with emotion.

"Candace?" Mike asked. He hated himself for asking. He hated the weakness in his voice. How could it be Lydia, he asked himself. I just heard her voice. How could it be?

"I'm here, Babe," Candace said through the crackle of static. Behind her voice they could hear what sounded like sobbing. The sobbing came across clearly as she stopped talking. "We're on our way back... We're coming back... It's over," Candace said. She held on to the button for a split second longer, the smooth silence spitting quietly, then the radio in Mike's hand went back to solid static once more.

~

"Be careful, Honey. Be careful." Mike's voice came through the radio in her hand. She nodded, and then keyed the button, "I will. We're coming back." She looked around her.

Tom sat cradling Lydia in his arms. Bright, thick blood covered the ground under her chest and the side of Tom's pant leg. The three other bodies lay close by. Bob stood, ashen faced, his gun still held tightly in one hand.

The pickup truck idled noisily about a hundred yards away from where Candace stood. The doors hung open. The Suburban and the State truck rumbled from behind her. Maybe, she thought, five minutes had passed since they had spotted the truck and stopped behind them. The kids had come out shooting. Just like in the movies, Candace thought. Exactly that. Hell! They had acted like it was a movie. Five minutes and four people dead. She shook her head slowly.

Tom looked up from the ground and met Candace's eyes.

"Let's get her in the truck, okay, Tom," She said softly.

Tom's head slowly nodded.

"What... what about these... these others?" Bob asked.

"Fuck them," Tom rasped. "Fuck them! They can rot right there. They're not going in the truck!" He looked at Candace defiantly.

"Okay," Candace agreed. "Okay... Bob?" She waited until Bob's eyes left Lydia's body. "Help Tom with Lydia?"

Bob nodded and started towards Tom

"No," Tom said quietly. "Don't need help." He swiped a blood covered hand across his eyes, leaving a bright smear of scarlet across his forehead as he did. "I'll do it. I'll take care of her." His voice shook at the last, but he got to his feet, carefully holding Lydia in his arms, and headed for the pickup truck.

"Bob," Candace said, motioning to the bodies.

Bob looked at her questioningly.

"In the river. We can't just leave them here."

Bob nodded, and together they bent to pick up the first body.

A few minutes later Candace let the last body slip from her hands and plunge over the cliffs and into the river far below. She turned her palms upright and stared at them for a second.

"Candace," Bob said. She nodded, and followed Bob to the truck.

Tom sat behind the wheel, Lydia slumped on the passenger seat, her head resting against Tom's shoulder. "You okay to drive?" she asked.

Tom nodded. His eyes met her own. They were red, and tears perched on the bottom lids waiting to spill down his cheeks. He cleared his throat, started to speak and then cleared his throat once more. "I'm going to drive out of the city. There's a small little place out by Huntingtonville. My parents were raised there. There's a cemetery there..." He trailed off, and Candace saw the tears that had been perched on his lower lid begin to course their way down his cheeks. He started to speak again, shook his head and gave up momentarily. Candace turned her eyes up to the clear blue morning sky and waited. Tom's voice came to her quietly a few minutes later as she watched the empty sky.

"There's a shed... In the Cemetery... I thought." His voice choked up again.

"Yeah. Yeah," Candace said softly. "You go. We'll stop and get Jan and Mike. They'll want to be there."

Tom nodded. His hand fell to the shift lever on the steering column. His eyes, tear-filled and overflowing, swept up to her once more.

"You'll be okay to get there?" Candace asked.

Tom nodded, not trusting his voice to speak. He turned his eyes back to the road.

Candace nodded. "We'll meet you there." She stepped away from the truck and watched as Tom pulled slowly away.

Mike ~ March 15th

It's been a very long day in more ways than one. We are five now. Lydia is gone. It's crazy, but true. Tom is in bad shape, sitting by the fire reading Lydia's diary.

We buried her today in Huntingtonville, a little place outside of the city. There's a cemetery there right by the river. Tom's parents are buried there. Now Lydia is too. It took a lot of work; the ground is still frozen a few feet down. It could've been worse. If everything wasn't melting, we would've had a much harder time digging the hole. Tom couldn't bring himself to do it. Bob and I did it.

To make the explanation short, we were ambushed. I shouldn't say we. I wasn't even there. Neither was Jan. We were left behind to watch the cave.

It started in the night; these kids came and stole one of our trucks. We didn't know they were kids of course. It turned into mess. Three kids are dead. Young kids. What a waste. We don't even know why they did it, why they chose to shoot at the others. None of it.

Everyone is messed up, me included. Jan too, because we weren't there. But it's over. This part's over, but really it's not over at all. I don't know what's next. None of us do. The day has already lasted fifteen hours so far. The sun doesn't seem to be moving at all. We don't know what to make of it. Everyone just wants to get past this day, for it to be over.

Lydia ~ March 15th

Lydia is gone. They took her. I can't believe it, it's like a nightmare. I can't deal with it. I won't forget it. Tom.

~Huntingtonville~

The moon rode high in the sky. Frost gleamed from the freshly turned dirt that lay scattered across the gravel of the road that lead into the cemetery. Silence held, and then a scraping came from the ground, muffled, deep.

At the edge of the woods, eyes flashed dully in the over-bright moonlight. Shapes shifted among the trees and then emerged from the shadows onto the gravel roadway. One dragged a leg as he walked, clothes already rotted and hanging in tatters. A second seemed almost untouched, a young woman, maybe a little too pale in the wash of moonlight. She walked as easily as any woman, stepping lightly as she went. The third and fourth moved slower, purposefully, as they made their way to the freshly turned soil. They stopped beside the grave, and silence once again took the night, no sounds of breathing, no puffs of steam on the cold night air.

"Do you think...?" The young woman asked in a whisper.

"Shut up," the one with the dragging leg rasped. His words were almost unintelligible. His vocal cords rotted and stringy. The noises came once again from the earth and the four fell silent... waiting...

Her hand broke through into the moonlight. A few minutes later her head pushed up, and then she levered her arms upward and began to strain to pull herself up and out of the hole. She noticed the four and stopped, her pale skin nearly translucent, her blond hair tangled and matted against her face and neck. Her lips parted, a question seeming to ride on them.  
"It's okay," the young woman whispered, "it's okay." She and one of the older ones moved forward, fell to their knees and began to scoop the dirt away from her with their hands.

"It'll be okay," Lydia mumbled through her too cold lips.

"It will. It will," the young woman repeated.
CHAPTER FOUR

More Is More

~ March 16th ~

Mike sat quietly on a small pile of brick outside of the cave entrance and watched the sun come up. Forty-three hours from sunrise to sunrise. It made no sense at all, at least not to him.

The air was warm, not warming, but warm, and a heavy haze hung on the horizon where the sun was beginning to rise. Northwest still, but it didn't seem as far to the west as it had been just a few days before.

We need something to track that, he thought. And then, maybe not. After all, what good would it do to know if it was a little more to the East or the West or whatever?

His thoughts were broken by a soft step beside him. He turned as Candace came up beside him carrying two mugs of hot coffee. She handed him one of the mugs and then settled beside him.

"Thank you," Mike said. She smiled back and then blew lightly at the hot coffee in her mug. Steam lifted off the rim of the cup as she did.

"How long?" She asked finally, and then took a small sip.

"Forty-three... Give or take a few minutes." He kissed her lightly on one cheek.

"What was that for?" She asked with a smile.

"Because I wanted to," Mike told her. He blew on his own coffee and then took a small sip.

"You okay?" she asked in a more serious tone. Her eyes met his.

"Yeah. It... I don't think it's sunk in yet." She nodded.

"It's like," he continued, "when my parents were killed. I knew it. I accepted it as well as I could, but there was really no time to process it... or, maybe I refused to process it. Anyway, it was years later before I ever really dealt with it. That's what this reminds me of. Someday, once this all settles down, we'll process it. Until then, I think we're just on cruise control."

"What was it?" She asked softly.

"Car accident. It was fast... for them anyway." He seemed sad thinking about it.

"My mother died a few years ago. My dad right after her. They were older when they had me. Hard life... Bad genes. Heart attacks for both of them," she finished quietly.

"I'm sorry," Mike said. "It must have been hard."

Candace nodded. "So I know about the taking the time to process it later thing. I don't think I've dealt with all of it yet. And this," She lifted her eyes and swept them across the sky, the river, the rocks, the road that ran past the cave and the cliffs that rose on the other side of the river. Her eyes settled on the sunrise. "This isn't over by a long shot. Who knows how or when it will end? I guess we'll deal with what we can and keep the rest moving, you know?"

"Yeah. They were just kids though... even Lydia," Mike said.

Candace nodded. "But they weren't sweet little innocent kids. I've seen gang bangers all of my life. I grew up with that. It's really a way of life. Sometimes, for some kids, it's the only way of life there is. I ran myself for a while." She frowned.

"All I'm saying is, they weren't sweet little innocent kids. And, believe me, nothing you could've said, had you been there, would've changed anything. Believe me. I tried to talk to one of them. No good. And the other one I shot didn't even bother to try talking."

Mike nodded, took an experimental sip from his mug, then a longer satisfying drink. "I see it," he said. "This city has a lot of drugtrade what with the base so close by. I've never been in a gang or knew what one was really about until I was introduced to that life in Rochester as a kid. When I came back here, I saw more and more of it. Now it's everywhere you look." He seemed startled for a moment. "Was... Was everywhere you looked," he added thoughtfully.

"There is still good in the world. This didn't just take the good people and leave the bad," Candace said. She took another long sip from her coffee. Her eyes met Mike's own; he leaned over and kissed her lips softly. She smiled and took the coffee mug from his hands, set it down, took his hands and pulled him to his feet.

"Come on," she said and kissed him once more. Mike kissed her back and pulled her body closer to him. His hands encircled her waist and rested on her hips. Her tongue probed gently as her own hands found the back of his head. She drew back, giggled and then pulled him toward the river and the screening growth of trees and bushes farther down the road.

~

March sixteenth, Mike thought, would always be remembered as the day that didn't quite happen. The sun never really rose. A half light lit the sky for the next forty-two hours, but the sun itself never made an appearance through the thick, black clouds that blocked off the sky from horizon to horizon, dark and moving swiftly across the skies.

The sun seemed to creep around the perimeter of the horizon from the West where it first appeared, to the East where it finally sank, setting the sky on fire with it's pink-red light only to fade away without ever actually rising.

The air became warmer throughout the day, and what little snow remained melted away. Everyone noticed a queasy feeling in their stomachs, and a few commented on feeling something similar a few weeks back right after the first earthquakes had hit.

As the day wore on, a fine gray ash began to fall from the skies. The skies grew even darker as the ash fell down faster, like dirty snow.

After several hours, the landscape around the cave looked as though everything was covered with a thick coat of dust. Everyone fashioned cloths around their mouths to avoid breathing in the thick haze of ash.

The ash was followed by a slow dirty rain that turned the piles of ash into a slushy, runny kind of mud, and just before the sun finally fell in the East, the rain began to fall harder, the air turned cold, then colder still, and lightening began to stab at the gray and sullen skies above the cave.

~

Everyone huddled around the fire in the cave, talking very little. They shared a meal of canned beef stew and crackers. The stew was hot and drove away the cold that had returned, but it did nothing to lift their spirits.

Bob offered to take the first watch, Mike volunteered for the next and Tom offered to take it from there if the sun wasn't up.

Mike held Candace in his arms and drifted off to sleep, thinking about what the day might mean and what the morning down by the river with her had been like.

Tom ~ March 16th

I've never kept anything like this in my entire life. I don't know why I am, really, because when the rest go I'll be staying.

I can't even give a good reason for staying, except that there's shelter here, and I know there are other people here as well.

I know that all the others are going. They'll follow Mike. What can I say or do about that?

I feel so responsible about what happened to Lydia. She was just a kid. A kid, Jesus. I can't really think rationally about it. I can't deal with it. I can't believe how fast and how deep my feelings went. I've heard about things like that, but I had never experienced something like that before Lydia. I've heard that can happen in relationships that are formed in situations like this. Crisis... What else could be like this? Nothing. Anyway, I didn't believe it could work like that, but it did.

I thought she would be here with me. They could go, she would be here. I could deal with that. This has almost made me cave in and say yes to going. But I can't do it. Something inside of me won't let me do it. It's not that I don't respect Mike, or like him. I was a little jealous, maybe still am, a little. I had a thing for Candace, and I still do. That's another reason I can't go. I would end up hating him. Her too. But, it's not really any of that. I have to run my own railroad. That's all. Very lame. Probably very dangerous in this new world as well.

Maybe I can change. I'm open to that. What I'm really hopeful for is other people. When the other four leave, I don't want to be alone. I spent the first few days of this alone. I didn't like that. I don't want to go back to that.

How do you develop such deep feelings for someone so fast? Right now I'm trying to get past that. I guess what I need to do is freeze everything else out for now.

I don't know what to say about how I felt about Candace, or how I still feel. And I can't explain how I could feel that way about her and still feel the way I did about Lydia. Am I kidding myself? Was Candace just temptation and Lydia the real thing? No. That's hard to say, but true. I would have walked away from Lydia for Candace in a heartbeat. That makes me feel even worse about things. Even so, I loved her... Love her.

As far as this journal goes, I can't share it. I don't think I can write deep, personal things about myself and then share them with anyone. I never could... I won't begin now. But I can write them here. I can see where this can help me to work through things, help me deal with this. This can bring me through this, just writing it out. So I'll do it for that reason, and no other.

~ March 17th ~

The storm kept up through the longer than usual night. Twelve hours into the night the first quaking of the Earth shook the ground. Everyone was up at the same time. They stood outside in the cold, pouring rain just moments later, huddled under a blue plastic tarp while the lightening split the sky and the ground continued to shake and tremble.

Everyone was sick. Every movement seemed exaggerated, uncoordinated. Between the tremors and the sickness it was nearly impossible to remain standing, but Mike, Tom and Bob held the outer edges while Candace knelt in the center holding Janet Dove who seemed to be having a harder time with the lightheadedness and the sickness than anyone else.

The first large Earthquake came a few hours later. Some sounds were off in the distance, the sounds of buildings collapsing. Other sounds were closer and came to them over the sounds of the storm, wood snapping and cracking, brick and concrete, already loosened by the previous quakes, crashing to the ground, the Earth itself trembling and moving.

The three men finally gave up the fight to remain upright and sank to the ground with Candace and Jan, all of them huddled close together in the cold rain, hanging on as best they could to the moving ground beneath them.

The night dragged on. Aftershocks came and went. It was hard to tell which were the main shocks and which were the aftershocks. The lightheadedness and queasy stomachs became intolerable, yet they had no choice but to endure the sickness. The cold rain continued to fall.

Occasionally someone would thrust an arm out into the light of a lightening flash to catch a glimpse of the time, but somewhere in the night the wind up watches even stopped working. The second hands seemed to shake and shudder back and forth. Not actually ticking the time away any longer.

Mike watched as the Suburban began to shake and skitter sideways during one of the Earthquakes. It caught the unprotected edge of the road and then crashed through the brushy trees that fronted the cliffs and skated off the edge into the river below. Shortly after that, the sounds of destruction in the distance began to taper off.

Sometime later on, the sun appeared about to rise once again. A dull, pink glow lit up the horizon in the North, but for the second day in a row, the sun itself never rose. Once again, the light seemed to skate around the very edge of the horizon and then disappeared back into blackness. Shortly after that, Bob told everyone that his watch seemed to be working once again. Everyone quickly checked their own watches to find them working as well.

Twenty five hours into the darkness something changed.

It came on slowly, but eventually they all noticed that the lightheadedness was abating. The queasiness was letting up as well. No one felt like jumping up and running around, but after so many hours living with the sickness, it felt good to have it going in the other direction. Janet slipped in to a light sleep in spite of the relentless, cold rain.

Everyone was soaked, but the tarp did provide some protection. Shortly after the strange sickness had passed, another series of Earthquakes, or aftershocks, hit. Not as strong as any of the ones that had come before, but one of them caused some nearby damage they could only hear. Something, it sounded like part of the cliff side close down by the river, split away. The sound came to them clearly, and the roar of the rushing Black increased in intensity for several minutes before it slipped back into its previous roar. Buildings continued to crash in the distance, lightening stabbed at the rain flooded ground and the small, tired group huddled beneath the tarp, sleeping when they could.

"What if the sun never comes back up?" Bob whispered.

Mike glanced at his own watch during a brief flash of lightening, thirty hours had passed. Not counting however long the watches had not been working.

"It will," Candace whispered.

"Yeah," Tom echoed tiredly.

~

When the sun finally did rise, it rose from the South and slowly made its way across the sky on a ponderous course that saw it slipping back down into the horizon several times and then seeming to hang dead in the sky for long periods of time.

The rains stopped, the temperatures began to rise rapidly and soon the tarp was discarded. Steam began to rise from the wet asphalt and the roadside vegetation surrounding the cave. Mike found himself looking around as everyone else was.

A large section of the bank that had held the old road was gone, and the Black's waters churned muddy brown, coming closer to the upper roadway where the cave stood.

All three vehicles were gone. Over the edge, and presumably washed away, Mike thought. The sun continued on its unsteady, drunken course, seeming to be desperately angling for a sinking somewhere in the northwest, but it was hard to tell. A few minutes later, it once again stopped and seemed to hang in the sky, a huge, swollen, yellow-red orb shimmering in the hazy sky.

"We should eat, or at least drink something," Candace said.

"No way. I can't even think of food," Tom said.

"I know. Me too, but we'll get dehydrated, possibly already are, and that's very dangerous. I'm going to see how the cave is... Get some bottled water, maybe some of those energy bars. Did anyone think to bring a flashlight with them?" she finished.

Everyone shook their heads. Candace stood on shaky legs, and the dizziness returned quickly. She squatted down to the ground as everyone else struggled to their feet and also sank back down to the ground. She took several deep breaths and then stood again, slowly, taking deep breaths as she did.

"It's okay," she told the others with a shaky lopsided smile, "Just do it slowly."

The men made it back to their feet, standing, shaking, but Janet remained sitting, her head in her hands. Bob sank back down and circled her shoulders with one arm, pulling her to his chest.

"I'll wait here with Jan," he said quietly.

The others nodded and headed slowly to the cave entrance.

Mike noticed as they walked that if they had come this far out onto the asphalt, but to the right or the left of where they had ridden out the night, they would have ended up in the river sometime during the night. Tom and Candace were also looking over the destruction on either side of the cave entrance. Their eyes met briefly, acknowledging the apparent, and then turned to examine the entrance to the cave.

A few loose chunks of stone lay upon the ground, but the pile of loose brick seemed none the worse for the long night, seeming to Mike to be in the same place they had been. Not one brick had tumbled from the pile. How could that be, he asked himself. Tom voiced his thoughts.

"Those bricks look untouched," he said it softly like such a thing could not possibly be true.

"I noticed that too," Mike said aloud. Candace simply nodded, passed the pile by and stepped into the dark mouth of the cave.

Within a short time she located a box of matches, and lighting small little sticks of flame, found her way to one of the big heavy duty flashlights where it had rolled to a stop among a stack of canned goods that had shifted and toppled over from one of the wooden pallets.

Other than a very small amount of stone that had separated from the back wall, and a few more toppled piles of stored goods, the cave looked good.

"What do you think, Mike?" Tom asked.

It was one of the few things Tom had asked Mike's opinion about, and it surprised him.

"I think if it was going to come down, it would've already," Mike assured him. Candace nodded her head in agreement.

The lightheadedness was still with them as they moved about the shadowy interior. Candace set about building a small fire while Tom and Mike went out to help Bob bring Janet back into the cave.

Candace passed out bottled water and energy bars once everyone was back inside, and their stomachs seemed to settle down, but the water only woke the queasiness back up, and no one wanted to try the energy bars. They remained untouched.

~

Tom wandered back outside the cave, rested his head against the coolness of the stone that fronted the cave, and watched the sun in the sky. It described a crazy course across the sky and did not seem to pick up speed and become more stable as it headed for the Northeast.

Eventually Mike and Candace wandered out with coffee, bringing a cup for Tom. He sipped at it cautiously, but his stomach seemed to accept it better than it had the water earlier, and it did help to clear his head.

"Bob's with Janet. They're both sleeping," Candace said between sips of coffee. She looked up at the sun where it seemed to hang in the sky.

"It's reversed," Tom said. "Going backwards; or nearly backwards."

Mike and Candace both nodded.

"Maybe this is it," Mike said. Tom raised his eyebrows at him.

"It, as in maybe it's done and finally about to start rotating in one direction. You know, stay that way."

"Maybe that situation will straighten out the magnetic poles," Candace said thoughtfully. "Maybe electronics, circuits, will work again."

"Is that what it was," Mike asked?

"Maybe," Tom said.

"I don't pretend to know," Candace said. "Only the Earth wasn't spinning right, or at all for a while, and none of the electronic stuff worked. Maybe now it will."

"Yeah. Yeah. But even after it started back up again nothing worked. At least not when we tried it," Tom said.

"Did we?" Candace asked.

Tom looked puzzled.

"Hey, you know what? She's right. We didn't really check again. We just assumed it wouldn't work. At least I didn't check. I assumed it wouldn't work. I mean it didn't, why would it?" Mike asked. "Did you guys think the same thing?"

"I did," Tom agreed "First day or two, but not after."

Candace nodded in agreement. "If that's what caused it, the Earth not really rotating, maybe it will work now. Or, maybe it's something else," she finished.

"That dust or ash," Mike said. "I've never seen volcanic ash, but I've read about it, and it seems that's what it was."

"Yeah, I thought that also," Candace said. "Really, if there weren't volcanoes going off somewhere, I'd wonder. All this Earthquake activity, volcanoes just make sense. Wherever it happened, it worked its way here on the air and was dumped on us."

They looked around at the nearly dry asphalt. Small areas steamed as the moisture made its way back into the air. Mike noticed that both Candace and Tom's shirts were soaked through with sweat. His was no different.

"Yeah," Tom agreed. "Getting hot." Mike and Candace both shrugged. Who knows, the gestures said.

They all leaned back against the sun warmed stone, sipping at their coffee, watching the bloated sun stagger across the sky.

It was Candace who first noticed the small group walking across the steaming pavement towards them. Her gun seemed to magically appear in her right hand. Lying alongside her thigh, just out of sight.

~

Mike and Tom were nearly as quick getting their own guns into their hands, but not nearly as subtle.

"That's close enough right there," Tom said.

No one spoke for a moment. The two groups of people appraised one another carefully in the silence.

The group was small, four women, and two men. One of the men was no more than a boy, Mike though, but, after the shootout with the kids a few days prior, no one was about to take any kid lightly.

"We saw you from way back," one of the women said. She pushed sweaty brown hair from her eyes as she spoke. "If we meant trouble..." She let the implication hang in the air.

As she finished, Candace raised her weapon from her side to let the group know she had also seen them, and had been ready for them. They smiled uneasily at one another. The woman held out her hands, and the others in the group did the same.

"We don't want a problem," she said softly. "I'm thinking you are part of the group that took care of those kids from the north side the other day. We heard it."

"If you could hear it, why didn't you join in to help us?" Tom challenged.

"Good question," Mike echoed softly.

The woman who had spoken first nodded. "We have two guns between us. One's a twenty-two rifle, the other is a Three Eighty which we only have eight bullets for. We didn't realize how things were going to go bad so fast," she looked up at the sky where the sun continued its curving, staggering climb. She looked back at Mike. "We just want to talk for now."

Candace got to her feet, holstered her gun and walked towards the small group.

"Candace," she said, holding out her hand.

"Patty," The young dark haired woman answered. She turned to the others behind her. "Sandy, Nell, Tim, Lilly and," she pointed to a young dark skinned man who was standing slightly back and apart, "That's my man, Ronnie."

As she finished the introductions, Bob and Janet came to the cave opening. Candace made the same introductions ending with Mike and making it clear he was also not available.

As her eyes caught Mike's, he seemed slightly amused by it. As she turned around, she poked her tongue out slightly at him and made a silly face as she walked towards him, inviting the others to sit down.

"Does that make me your bitch," Mike whispered as she sat back down next to him.

"Ha, ha," she whispered back. "...Bitch," she giggled, but she didn't allow the giggle to pass her lips. Mike stifled a laugh, but a smile rose to his face. He turned to the small group.

"We've got water inside, maybe some more coffee made, bottled soda."

"Some coffee would be nice," Patty said and smiled gratefully. Mike left for two cups of coffee and some bottled water as everyone began to sit down. The party had been traveling with backpacks and gear, and it came off now, making a small pile as they sat down. When Mike returned just a few minutes later, the silence still held. He handed out the water and coffee and sat back down next to Candace. All eyes turned to him. He glanced over at Tom, but Tom seemed to be studying the small patch of asphalt at his feet. Mike found his voice.

"So..." He let the question hang, picked up his still warm coffee and took a reassuring sip.

Patty seemed to hesitate, so the girl she'd identified as Lilly spoke up. She flipped loose blond curls away from her face before she spoke.

"We want to join you," she said finally in a quiet yet firm voice.

Patty, whose hands had been clasped tightly together, parted them and raised them to her shoulders palms up in a 'there you go' gesture.

Candace was amazed at how much Lilly looked like Lydia. She even sounded like her. It must be that age, Candace said to herself. Everyone acts alike. She looked over at Tom to see if he had noticed, but his eyes were already locked on the young woman. Patty continued.

"We've been living in a collapsed apartment building over off State Street. We couldn't find anything better. Now that's come the rest of the way down. To be honest, we're afraid to go into any of the buildings. There's a lumber shed over there, just a roof really. We spent most of last night under that trying to stay out of most of the weather. Not much to it. We figured we could get out quick enough if it came down." She took a deep breath. "That's where we're at," she finished.

When the girl finished speaking, Candace's head was bowed as if in thought. She raised her head, met Patty's eyes, and then the others one by one. She let her eyes wander around their own group. One by one they all nodded. Everyone on this side was for it; it was easy enough to see. Tom's eyes were still on Lilly, so it was clear what his feelings were.

"You are welcome here," Candace said. A small chorus of welcome from the others echoed her own words. "There's plenty of space here, and in a few months most of us will be leaving, so there will be more room after that."

The small group of newcomers all seemed to heave a sigh of relief at the same time. Nervous laughter followed, and smiles lit up their faces.

Candace stood along with the others and motioned towards the mouth of the cave. "It isn't much," she said and laughed. "But it's home." The group picked up their gear and backpacks and followed her inside.

Mike ~ March 17th

It's late, and it's been a very tough few days here. We are eleven now, and I'll get to that. We've also been through several more Earthquakes and aftershocks, rain, the world stopping, or being messed up worse. I guess I'll start from the start, and you can compare it to your own experience. Maybe it will be helpful.

First yesterday, the sun never really rose at all. It barely came up and then went right back down. The night wasn't too bad at first. It stormed, but then it got worse. Colder, harder rain, lightening, thunder, and then ash started falling from the sky.

That was crazy. But then the rain came down even harder later on and washed all the ash away. Then the earthquakes came. We had to leave the cave, we didn't know if it would hold up or not. All around us things were crashing and collapsing. Our trucks are gone, fallen into the river. Swallowed up and gone. The road just washed away beneath them. If we had chosen there to wait out the storm...

We made it through to dawn though, but it wasn't much of a dawn. The sun came up and has been staggering across the sky. It's erratic. That's the best description I can come up with. We think the Earth finally stopped and reversed. Or, maybe stopped again and reversed. The truth is, we don't know. And, the way things are, I don't think anyone else knows either.

We were all sic, light-headed, sick to our stomachs. It reminded me of going to the fair as a kid. I rode this ride that spun around in a circle. It made me sick, and I stayed sick for a few hours. It felt like that. Exactly like that.

The jury is out. The quakes have stopped, at least for now. Hopefully for good, but we don't know if the Earth is done changing directions or even if that's what it did.

So, we are eleven. We were joined by six people tonight. A young woman named Patty. She seems to be their leader, spokesperson. It seems to be like that now. Someone has to take control. No other way around it.

Patty is young. Maybe eighteen or nineteen, dark hair. Small but rugged looking... determined? I don't know. Likable, that's for sure. She and Ronnie are together.

Ronnie is her man (Her words), young too, dark brown skin. He was a carpenter. I like him. He's quiet. Doesn't say a lot,

but what he does say is worth hearing. I know that already.

Lilly is around the same age. She's young, blond, looks so much like Lydia, even talks like her. It's spooky. Tom is already attracted, you can see it, and she looks interested too. It seems unhealthy, or it could be, would be... I don't know though. Tom has to live his life. The world is so different, but you know that.

Tim is just a kid, Patty's brother. He worships Ronnie, you can see it in his eyes. Seems like a likable kid as well.

Sandy is Native American, like Bob and Jan. Not from their people, but they clicked immediately, knew the same people back when the world was... well, the way it used to be. She's a nurse; that's like solid gold. How many nurses or doctors are there?

Nell is a small, Spanish woman. She looks to be in her twenties. She was stationed here with her husband, but he had left last month for overseas duty. She has no idea if he is okay.

They're moved in. The cave is large, so eleven people is nothing. Plenty of room. Everything they owned or had been on their backs. They lost everything else when their building collapsed yesterday during the earthquakes and storms. So, it was pretty simple for them to move in.

Patty and Sandy have both asked about our plans for leaving, so later on we'll probably sit down and talk about it. Nell and Lilly seem more interested in staying. Nell is afraid to leave the area, as if her husband could somehow get back here, and if he did this is where he would look for her. It seems unreasonable to me, but she has the idea in her head. There doesn't seem to be a way to shake it, at least not yet. Lilly is captivated by Tom. Tom has never made any bones about the fact that he doesn't want to leave. This gives him someone to be with him. I suppose that's a good thing.

We knew there were people around, but in the last few days it seems like we've met both the bad and the good. I would like to meet more, but no more bad ones.

Candace ~ March 17th (Late)

I know Mike has written tonight, much earlier, so I won't go over the same things that I assume he wrote. It's been a nasty couple of days, and we don't know if the bad things are over or not. We have new people with us. I really like Patty. I can talk to her, and it's been awhile, even back in the world, since I've been close to another woman like that. Relationships seem to form fast now. It's just the way of the new world. We're just taking life as it comes, at face value I guess. There are no directions for us.

Patty, her man and her brother have decided to stay. They also decided they'll leave when Mike and I do. They don't want to face a North Country winter in a cave. We are not cave people and don't want to be. But we talked about that too. We may end up in some other cave. It could be the quakes have caused devastation everywhere. If so where else would it be safe? We talked a lot. We talked ourselves out. There's always tomorrow to talk some more.

If the day is anything like normal tomorrow, we may go out looking for vehicles. Ours were swept into the river during the storm. We'll see what's left.

After the meeting broke up, I spent some time talking to Jan, another woman I became instantly close to when all that I had, had been this notebook and a gun to depend on. She really likes Sandy. Sandy is enthusiastic about returning to the land. So are Bob and Jan. I think returning to the land is fine, except a mowed lawn is okay as well. I guess there are no more lawns to be mowed though.

I gave my father's gun to Lilly. I don't know why I did that. I thought that it meant something to me, but whatever that was has passed on. She noticed it, liked it. I showed her how to shoot it; what was left to do? Besides, and I'm being honest, after this stuff with Lydia, after having to shoot someone, I decided I'd rather put on another forty five. I have an exact mate to the one I was wearing on me already. I picked it up the other day. I asked myself tonight, would it have made a difference if I was wearing it the other day? One on each side? Well I am now. It makes me feel safer, more ready to deal with whatever comes at me.

Anyway, Jan and Bob turned in, as did Sandy. Mike's long gone to sleep, and I've been sitting here thinking about the last few days, thinking about Lydia... everything. So, I wrote something, if I had a guitar (I intend to get one) I'd put it to music. I have the music in my head. I have, had, a note book full of little songs that I wrote. Sometimes I would get ideas once a week, sometimes a few a day. They just showed up. I would see or feel something, and it would come out as a song. Some people do that with stories. It's the same isn't it? Writing is writing.

I heard more than once I should do something with them. Maybe I would have made a better singer/guitarist than dancer? It's all art isn't it. Maybe I'll resurrect some of those lyrics when I have the time. Meanwhile, I'll write them out as they come to me.

It's a new world, rust falling from the skies

It's a new world, scales fallen from my eyes.

Everything gone in the blink of an eye,

got time to hurt, but no time to cry.

Got to keep moving just to stay alive,

take it day by day and try to survive.

It's a new world, death calling from the cities empty streets.

It's a new world, mind skipping, heart missing beats.

Life passing by in the space of a dream,

moving too fast to know what it might mean.

Changes and changes, new every day,

looking for answers, don't know which direction they lay.

It's a new world, got my heart in your hand.

It's a new world, time's spinning through my fingers like sand.

Yeah It's a new world, rust falling from the skies

It's a new world, scales fallen from my eyes.

Everything gone in the blink of an eye,

got time to hurt, but no time to cry.

Kind of corny, I know, but I like it. It says how I feel. I think it's the way we all feel, we're eleven tonight, not five anymore. I'm going to bed and hold my man.

~East of the City~

They were fifteen now. The old factory was a perfect place to hide. There were two who could bear the daylight, who did not need the darkness, and they kept watch through the long days.

There was no hunger, no real need. The dead were everywhere. The living were everywhere. And then there were themselves, the UN-dead. Those that had tasted death but had somehow come back from death, and there did not seem to be anything to take this new life away from them.

They were very few right now. Some died, and some died and then found life once more. It was a mystery. No way to know which would and which would not come back. They often waited to see, sometimes triumphant in their slow, quiet way, sometimes shuffling away, dejected, but with the knowledge that more would come.

They traveled together at night, avoided those that lived, scavenged the dead and marked their time. Change was on the wind. Big change. It came on the wind. A scent of forever death, along with the stench of the living. It came from the South, and as soon as there were a few more, they would leave and make their way south.

There was no leader. They just felt the same things, knew the same truths, realities, felt the same things inside where their life force was. It was like a collective conscious, a hive. The workers and no queen. But there might be a queen. That was the promise that came on the wind. The scent that tempted them to travel south. It called to them.

~ March 18th ~

With more warm bodies to help guard through the night, everyone slept better, or at least longer and with fewer interruptions, Mike thought.

The night had been another long one, well over twenty hours of darkness, but once the sun did come up, it crept slowly upward on a straight arc across the sky, the wandering, drunken course of the day before was gone.

Mike stood in the early dawn light sipping coffee, back leaned against the rock of the cave entrance, watching light spill over the tops of the cliffs that cradled the opposite side of the river as the sun crept higher into the sky. He felt someone at his side and turned expecting Candace. Instead, it was the young boy, Tim.

"Tim, right?" Mike asked.

The young man nodded his head, seeming pleased that Mike had remembered his name. "Tom sent me. He said he'd like to walk out Arsenal Street today, or maybe Washington Street, and look for vehicles."

Mike nodded. "Good idea. Tell him I want to change into some boots and let Candace know I'm leaving, and I'll be ready to go." Tim nodded, smiled and darted back into the cave. Mike finished his coffee in a few quick gulps, poured out the dregs and walked back into the cave to find Candace.

~

They decided on Washington Street, simply because of the sheer volume of car lots that had been in that area. The sun rose steadily into the sky, maybe not as quickly as they were used to, but faster than it had been and in a straight line, rising from the South and looking, Mike thought, as though it would sink in the North or Northwest somewhere.

Six of them had come. Mike, Tom, Candace, Patty, Tim and Ronnie. Candace had already wondered privately to Mike where Lilly might be. It hadn't escaped the notice of anyone that she and Tom had spent the night together.

Candace walked with Patty, keeping up a fairly constant flow of conversation as they walked along.

"So they think the new stuff will start now then?" Patty asked.

Candace nodded. "They think it would've started before if we had thought to try it again, but none of us did. It also may have had nothing to do with it at all. We may have just picked bad vehicles to try."

"Seems unlikely though," Patty said. "After all, you had no trouble with the other three, and what are the odds of finding three old vehicles that would be able to be started and driven?"

"Yeah. We thought the same. We just don't know what was causing them not to work." They both fell silent for a moment.

"So, was Mike your guy before all of this happened?" Patty asked. She flipped her black hair away from her face and studied Candace seriously.

"No," Candace answered. "I met him when we came to this cave. I knew as soon as I saw him though. It shocked me. I've never been like that. But I knew. I decided, and I told him. He decided that fast too. You think that's wrong... weird?"

"No," Patty answered. "It's almost the same with Ronnie and me. I knew him. I liked him. We lived in the same apartment building. When it happened, he came and got me and Tim. I'm not the kind of woman that feels as though I have to have a man around for protection. Hey, for a while there I was a feminist. He just helped, and he wasn't an ass about it either," she shrugged, "A couple of days later we were together, and I'm not sorry at all. He's a good man. He's quiet. Thinks the world of Tim." She paused again.

Candace nodded. She understood perfectly. It did seem as though Patty had some distance in her words, like something wasn't quite true. But it may be the same way it was with her own situation. It was brand new. Sometimes it was hard to believe that it was the truth. They walked in silence, looking at what the latest quakes and torrential downpours had done to the small city.

~

The ground that had been torn up had been leveled out. The roads had vanished in places under a layer of dirt. The vague outline of the street itself could be seen under that layer of rubble, and here and there a building or part of a building still stood.

Cars, trucks, a few stalled city buses, an occasional glimpse of asphalt where the road rose higher than the water had flowed. Tom, Ronnie, Mike, and Tim had stopped ahead. They were close to where the old high school had been. All that remained on the left side of the road now were a few walls and, strangely, a large oval track that seemed untouched. The parking lot, most of it anyway, still remained and was full of cars.

On the right was a small strip mall, also with a parking lot full of cars. The men were off the road in the strip mall parking lot standing next to what looked to be a nearly new four wheel drive sport utility vehicle. As Candace and Patty caught up, Ronnie turned and smiled.

"Keys are in the ignition," Ronnie said grinning. Tim tapped the horn, a hard metallic blast sounded.

"Battery's up," Mike said, his grin as big as Ronnie's.

Tom slid into the driver's seat through the open door. "Well," he said. He turned the key.

The motor spun and caught immediately. The truck kicked up to a high idle. The stink of burning gasoline filled the warm air.

"I forgot what that smelled like," Patty said. Everyone was smiling and laughing at once.

"Let's say we ride the rest of the way," Tom suggested. No one needed a second invitation. Doors were opened and everyone piled in. Tom shifted into four-wheel low, eased the truck down off the slight rise that lead from the road to the parking lot, bouncing the truck on its springs as it trundled down the rise, over the sidewalk curb, and onto the dirt and asphalt road below.

A small cheer went up inside the truck as Tom made the road, turned right, and headed slowly up the big hill towards outer Washington Street and its miles of car lots.

~

By the time the sun stood straight overhead, eight hours of the day had passed by, and a small caravan of six vehicles were snaking their way back through the debris and devastation, making their way back to the cave.

Although a wide section of the old asphalt roadway had toppled into the river, a large area still remained. They parked the vehicles in under the small overhang of cliffs above the cave opening. The cliffs extended a little more than thirty feet beyond the caves then dropped down towards the ground, leveled out and disappeared into a small wooded area populated with scraggly, undernourished trees. On the back side of that wooded area was a huge parking lot that ran up and behind the cave. It had once provided parking for the downtown area of Watertown.

Everyone who had stayed behind wandered over from some project they had been working on in front of the cave to admire the vehicles. Three new Chevy Suburbans and three new pickup trucks. The pickups were mismatched, one Ford and two Chevy trucks. The Chevy trucks were different models, one a full size pickup, the other a smaller one, all the trucks were four wheel drive. Bob wore a heavy apron stained with blood and was carrying a large butcher's knife as he walked over.

"Deer," he explained as everyone gaped at the blood stained apron. "Wandered right down the road. Had to be about ten of them. I got one and Sandy got one. Fresh steaks tonight, and that isn't all." He pointed towards Lilly and Nell where they stood over what looked to be a make shift fireplace of some sort.

It was built up from the asphalt with three layers of thick stone that formed a base. From there the back and sides rose to support a huge wire rack that had been appropriated from somewhere. A good bed of coals glowed under the rack and several ears of corn roasted above them on the rack

"You guys have been busy," Tom said.

"Never mind that," Patty said, "where did you find corn?"

Nell laughed. "There were cases of the stuff in the stock room of the market. Won't be good for much longer, but it is now."

"We took a wagon, one of those little kid wagons," Lilly said. She looked around. "We filled it up. It's still cold in there... It might last a few more days."

A small, red child sized wagon, still loaded with overflowing boxes of corn, sat off to one side. It made Candace smile when she saw it.

"I built the oversize Barbecue," Bob said. "I remembered that there was a little rib place down off the square. Wrong time of year to be cooking out of doors," He looked up at the sky and smiled, "Well, used to be... But, I remembered that place, and I remembered that they had always cooked outside on a huge grill all summer long. So I went and took the grill. I took a few other things too," He held up a large pair of tongs that had been shoved in a side pocket. He re-pocketed the tongs. "So... the electronics are working again?" He looked embarrassed at the attention and relieved to be able to hand the conversation off to someone else.

"Might have been before," Mike started. "Just didn't think to check. But they're sure working now. The hard part is finding vehicles that aren't all smashed to hell. All of these have their war wounds. But it's just scrapes and dents, nothing serious."

Bob nodded and then went back to cutting up the venison and piling it onto two huge platters. One contained much smaller pieces.

The smaller pieces were long and thin. Janet and Sandy were stringing them over a second smokey fire that had been built just past the stone grill that Bob had built. A makeshift steel roof kept the smoke and heat close to the ground and the meat that hung on the racks. Tom walked up to admire the work.

"It's all from the Barbecue place," Bob admitted. "I'm just using it a little differently, to smoke the meat instead of cook it."

"You know how to do that?" Candace asked. She seemed impressed.

"Oh yeah," Janet told her. "Bob taught me. He always makes his own jerky, cures his own hams. Knows his roots and herbs as well." Bob seemed even more embarrassed than he had been a few moments before.

"It's stuff The Nation taught when I was a child... to preserve our heritage. We pass it on to the next generation. The legends say the people will come back to the Earth Mother. There will come a time when the people will need the old knowledge again." He grew serious. "Guess that's now," he finished. He began to place the thick roasts of Venison onto the grill rack beside the roasting ears of corn.

The group spent the afternoon into the early evening enjoying each other's company, eating and filling each other in on the details of their day. The sun sailed smoothly across the sky, sinking into the Northwest after about fifteen hours of sunlight.

For the first time in several nights the stars came out, glowing brightly in the cloudless sky. The moon seemed to be in the wrong area of the sky and almost totally eclipsed by the Earth's shadow.

"Think that was too long?" Patty asked Tom.

"We'll have to wait and see when the sun comes up," Tom told her. "But I'd be willing to bet it's back closer to what it used to be. And we don't know what normal will be now. Maybe longer days... maybe shorter days," he finished.

"Yeah," Ronnie agreed. "It would seem a little too good to be true if it could stop, reverse, and come right back to something close to a twenty-four hour day."

"Yeah. That probably isn't going to happen," Bob agreed.

"We'll just have to see where it levels out," Patty threw in.

Candace nodded, looked over at Mike, took his hand and smiled. "This was a pretty good day," she said. "We have our own little community here. It's nice."

"I was thinking that also," Mike said. He squeezed her hand lightly and pulled her close. The day had cooled off, and the night had cooled off even more after the sun had dropped from the sky. It reminded everyone that, despite the weird weather, it was still late winter; spring was a month or more away. Janet and Sandy kept the smokey fires burning under the drying meat, joining in the conversation when they had the time or opportunity. Lilly and Tom were involved in some sort of heavy conversation, while Bob, Ronnie and Patty were talking about hunting, herbs, folk remedies and what kinds of structures they would like to build for a home. Candace laid her head against Mike's shoulder and looked up at him. "I'm tired, man of mine." Mike smiled at her.

"I think I have to put my woman to bed," Mike said to Patty who sat closest to him. Ronnie laughed and Patty smiled at him. Tim sat on the other side of Ronnie, his eyes heavy lidded. Everyone said their good-nights.

As Candace and Mike got to their feet, Tim trailed along behind them, following them into the cave, leaving the rest of the group to their quiet conversations. The stars shone above. The sky was clear and inky black.

Janet ~ March 18th

Today has certainly been a better day for all of us. Mike, Candace, Tom and some others went looking for vehicles today hoping they would find that the ones with electronic brains would be working. Electronic something. Brains, I guess. I have no real idea. Give me a database and I could tell you something, but I don't understand anything at all about engines, except they're working again.

The rest of us stayed back and worked here for the day. We made a few trips around the area. Nell and Lilly went to the Market on State Street and came back with ears of corn that were still good. Bobby and I and Sandy went a little ways down this road to where an old outside restaurant Bob knew about was. They cooked or grilled food outside in the summer. In the winter I guess they cooked inside.

We took all the outside grill pieces to build a grill outside the cave. A big one too. It took a lot of work, several trips back and forth. We found some wheeled carts, probably used to move stuff around inside the restaurant, and wheeled all the stuff we found back down to the cave with them. We got everything back and Bobby set it up.

Sandy and I collected loose rock from the cliffs and river banks to build the back and the sides to hold the racks. The smoking racks were easy to build. The large roof we used had hung over the whole outside grill back at the restaurant. There were long, thin metal rods to hold it up. Sandy and I worked on that as Bob worked on the sides and back of the grill.

We found extra long metal rods and used those to hang the meat on. Here we were dragging all that stuff around, and Bob talking about going hunting so we could have something to cook on the grill besides corn, when down the road we hear some light tap-click tap-click, and the deer showed up just as if the Gods had sent them to us. They saw us about the same time we saw them, and Bobby and Sandy opened up.

I don't think people hunted Deer much in the old days with hand guns, but it was what they had, well to hand. They each got one.

About then the others came back with six new trucks as our old ones dropped into the river during the storms. We spent several hours talking and eating, just enjoying each other's company, and then almost everyone turned in.

Sandy and I watched the drying racks. I took the first watch anyway, so Sandy's catching a little sleep as I write this.

We are, several of us, planning to leave once the spring is here and go on our way. We haven't yet gotten around to talking about how we'll do that, or where we will go, only that we will go.

Bobby and I are very enthusiastic about Sandy. She is all for going back to the Earth, building the people up again. Where there are three of us, there has to be more. I guess that's the same, nearly, as where there's a will, there's a way. Our people have always had the will. Now we have the way. I truly believe we'll collect more people as we go.

The sky is starry bright. The world seems to be settling down. I'm sorry that all of this had to happen, but I'm happy about where my life is now.

Patty ~ March 18th

It's late. I took this notebook outside to write by starlight; it's that bright. Janet Dove has the watch, I have the next anyway so I figured why bother to try to sleep. It's something I've learned about myself; if I can't get to sleep in the first few minutes, I may as well get back up. Janet came over and talked for a few minutes, brought me some roasted meat. I've never had anything like that. It was so good. I should be happy. I should be contented. I'm not. I'm not, and I realized today that I can't be, and I don't know what I can even do about it. I can't even write it here. What if someone read it?

The stars are so bright. It's cold, but not like it should be. I am so messed up. I will only say... No, I can't say that. I was going to say I never suspected this, thought about this, but I did. I just never dealt with it. Now I have to, and I don't know how. I guess this is my sounding board, maybe even my conscience right now, and the part of me that is trying to be unselfish says leave it alone. I will, but for how long?
CHAPTER FIVE

City of Dead

~March 19th~

Sunrise once again found Mike seated on the small pile of bricks at the cave entrance watching the sky. Candace sat quietly beside him. They both sipped at their coffee as the new sun colored the sky a light pink on the far horizon behind them.

A low fog hung over the river. There was a distinct chill in the air, and both of them were wearing jackets.

"So, about twenty-nine hours sunrise to sunrise is pretty good, or at least better than we've seen in a while," Mike said softly. He sipped at his coffee.

"Might be the new norm," Candace elaborated.

Mike nodded. "Could be," he agreed.

The rising sun finally touched the cliffs across the river and turned the fog into a glowing yellow-red mist which began to drift apart with the early sun's heat. They sat in silence, leaning against one another, and watched the colors paint the cliffs.

Off to their left, Janet and Sandy watched the fire and sipped at their own coffee, talking quietly with each other. Closer by the river Patty stood watching the road and bridges that serviced the North Side. She had given a half wave as Candace and Mike had come from the cave. Candace had waved back; Mike had nodded.

The smoke from the fires rose slowly into the air. The smell of the smoked meat was on the air and most likely drifting for miles. Several times during the night whines, growls, scuffling and the clicking of nails on asphalt had come from the darkness. As the sun rose further, it outlined a small, mixed breed dog lying about thirty feet from the fire, nose on paws, looking forlornly at the fire.

"So, there you are," Sandy said.

The dog lifted its head and vigorously wagged its tail but remained where it was.

"Got an admirer I think," Mike called over.

The dog focused on Mike and Candace and wagged its tail even harder.

Sandy reached for a piece of meat that was already tough and stringy and tossed it to the dog. The dog was up and after the meat before it hit the ground near where it had lain. Candace put two fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly. The dog stopped just short of grabbing the meat, spun around and sat down staring from the piece of meat to Candace.

"Go on, Boy. You can have it," Janet encouraged. The dog seemed to think about it, glancing from Janet to Candace, but he only hesitated for a few moments, hunger won out and he lunged for the chunk of meat, snatched it up, then retreated down the road where he sat holding the meat between his paws, gnawing hungrily at it.

Everyone fell silent watching the skinny, yellow dog gnawing at the piece of meat. The sun continued to creep into the sky behind them, burning off the fog and painting the cliffs on the other side of the river with brilliant yellow-red light.

The small dog finished the piece of meat and looked back over at Sandy hopefully. Sandy took another piece of meat off the drying rack. This time, the little dog's eyes stayed on Sandy and the meat, paying attention. She threw it, and the dog caught it in mid-air, spun around a few times, causing everyone to laugh, then lay down once again, holding the chunk of meat between his paws and chewing with great delight.

"Probably been pretty tough for you, huh, Boy?" Jan asked. The dogs ears pricked up and its tail thumped against the asphalt, but it continued to worry at the meat it held between its paws.

"Well," Candace said, "we're going to use the vehicles to run for supplies today. Looks like we better pick up some dog food as well."

"Already have some," Mike said. He jumped to his feet and disappeared inside the cave. He reappeared a few minutes later with a can of chunky beef dog food and a small can opener. He opened up the can, dumped the contents onto a disposable plastic plate, poured some bottled water into a disposable Styrofoam bowl and carried them over towards the dog.

The dog stopped chewing, its ears flattened back, but it didn't run. Mike stopped about five feet away, set the plate and the bowl down on the asphalt and then returned to the brick pile with Candace.

"Did you have a dog before we came," Candace asked?

"No, but I saw a few tracks, and I heard them too. I could hear them at night. I was hoping one would come by. I spent a lot of time alone. I didn't like it at all, and truthfully, I thought, well, if a dog could eat it..." He trailed off.

"You were going to eat it?" Sandy asked.

"Lots of seniors ate it all the time," Janet said. "It's meat."

"That was my reasoning. I couldn't... hadn't found a lot of meat at that point. I was thinking about protein," he shrugged.

"Yuck," Sandy said.

"Double yuck," Candace agreed.

"Well, I didn't. It was just a sort of emergency thing," Mike said defensively.

"It's okay," Candace said. "I love you anyway."

Mike looked at her and smiled.

"Yeah, I know. I said the L word."

Mike continued to smile. He kissed her back as she kissed his lips.

"I love you too," He said and kissed her once more.

"Get a room," Sandy said. Everyone laughed, Mike and Candace included.

The dog, having finished the venison, had discovered the chunky beef and was now busily wolfing down the plate of food.

Candace leaned close and sniffed at Mike's breath. 'Nope. I guess you never did eat it," She said seriously. Mike smiled and smacked her shoulder lightly.

"Anyway," he said, "I only got one case of it, so I suppose I better get a few more." Everyone agreed. The dog looked up guiltily, wagged his tail, slurped some water from the bowl and then went back to eating.

~

An hour after dawn the entire cave was up and getting ready for the day. Sandy and Janet would stay to continue curing the meat, but everyone else would be going to collect food and other items they might need. They were all armed, and no one would be going anywhere alone. One team of four would go over to State Street and the grocery store that Mike had been bringing food from, the same one Lilly had brought the ears of corn from. The other group of five would head out Arsenal Street searching for food items, as well as anything else that might be useful to them.

"More flashlights," Nell reminded.

"The Ham radio you guys had talked about, and a few C.B. radios too. We can put those right in the trucks," Ronnie contributed.

"Uh," Lilly said. She bent and whispered to Patty. Patty nodded.

"We need to find a drug store too... for some personal things," Patty said. Lilly turned red but smiled through her embarrassment.

"More dog food," Janet reminded. The stray had moved over to the fire where it had curled up close to Sandy and had fallen asleep.

"Battery powered radios and a T.V., just in case," Mike added.

"I thought you tried that," Tom asked.

"Only the radio," Mike agreed. "But the batteries are dead."

"Do you really think there will be anything on the T.V.?" Nell asked.

"Honestly? No," Mike said. "But we should make sure."

"Do you think," Tim asked, every bit as embarrassed looking as Lilly had been, "That a little battery powered C.D. player and some music would be okay?"

Candace and Patty both laughed. Tim instantly looked worried, as if he wished he hadn't said anything.

"No, Tim," Patty said, waving her hands at him. "It's a good idea. There's nothing wrong with it. It just surprised me that none of us had thought about it. It's okay to need or want things for ourselves."

"We need to get some good footwear... good socks. Like that," Bob said. "Our feet are important."

"We need sizes," Mike said nodding.

"Got it," Candace said. A pen and a small note pad appeared in her hand. She'd been writing down other suggestions as they were made. Now she copied down the shoe sizes as they told her. "Babe," she looked at Mike.

"Eleven," Mike said.

"More first aid stuff," Janet said.

The suggestions went on for a few minutes and then began to taper off. Candace folded the cover on her small notebook and slipped it into her shirt pocket. "We'll think of more stuff I'm sure. Just write it down when you do, or if you're somewhere where you can get what you thought of, get it."

The two groups split up, climbed into their vehicles and headed out; splitting off where the broken and twisted River Road ended, one road heading towards outer Coffeen Street, where they could cut over to Arsenal Street, the other turning abruptly up a small rise and back towards the public square where they could access State Street. Two of the trucks headed in that direction, Mike, Candace, Patty and Ronnie in those vehicles. The other three headed for Arsenal Street, carrying Tom, Lilly, Bob and Tim as well.

~ State Street ~

"This was all me," Mike said as they stood just inside the shattered front windows of the supermarket. The large piles of debris he had pulled out of his way as he searched through the rubble seemed to frame the dark opening that led into the interior of the store, piled high on either side of the twisted steel frames. They formed a dark, forbidding tunnel.

"Maybe it's a little worse for wear and tear from the rain and the last earthquake." He looked around and shook his head. "Maybe not though. It doesn't look any worse at all. Doesn't look like the rain got in."

The smell was strong though. It made Mike wish he had removed the bodies the last time he had been there. Patty, Candace and Ronnie all had faces on, wrinkled noses, squinting eyes, partially turned away from the darkened tunnel and the aisles that were barely visible in the gloom.

"It's pretty bad," Ronnie said.

Mike simply nodded.

"I shopped here a few times," Candace said. "I know the basic layout." She looked to the left then to the right. "Mostly canned vegetables, canned soups, stews, that sort of thing?" She pointed to an area Mike had cleared out.

"Yeah," Mike agreed, impressed. "I was trying to remember which way to go." All three of the others were nodding in understanding.

"Patty, did you and Ronnie come here? I think we want to go to the left. I think the next aisle is paper goods, utensils stuff like that." Candace said.

"A few times," Ronnie elaborated.

"All the time," Patty added. "He doesn't like to shop if I remember correctly."

Ronnie laughed. "Pizza delivery for Two C," he said and laughed. Then, "yeah, it was easier to get something on the way home, have a pizza delivered. I think my refrigerator had two or three boxes with leftover pizza, and a couple of six packs... maybe an old jar of Mayo." He looked apologetic.

"Stuff'll kill you," Mike said.

"Yeah. Yeah, but it tastes good," Ronnie laughed.

Patty rolled her eyes. "Yeah... Paper stuff... Toilet tissue. Some medications, gadgets, you know, like little can openers, oven timers."

They all looked at each other.

"Good a place as any to start," Ronnie said. They all nodded and started to work clearing the debris from the front of the aisle, piling it outside the shattered front windows.

Everyone wore heavy gloves to protect themselves from all the broken glass and brick, so the work went quickly. They had pulled the trucks as close to the front of the building as they could, so once they reached the aisle it was easy to retrieve and load what they chose to keep right into the trucks.

Moving the debris that blocked the aisles went much faster with three extra pairs of hands. In no time at all they had progressed down the aisles and were nearing the back wall of the supermarket.

"The end," Patty said, thinking out loud, "Breads, Cakes, fresh produce..."

"I think so," Candace agreed.

The closer they got to the back of the store the stronger the odor of corruption became.

"Bad," Patty said.

"Yeah... I think that's lunch meat... Produce..."

"The butcher shop is back there also," Ronnie said.

"Storage?" Candace asked.

"Probably where Lilly got the corn. She probably used the back door though," Mike said.

They had already come across two bodies as they had dug their way through the aisles. Rather than leave them there as Mike had done, they had dragged them out of the market and covered them with a tarp at the front of the store. Despite that, the store didn't smell any better than it had. Rats, mice, and bugs had infested the market.

"Both the Suburbans are packed. The pickup nearly is," Ronnie said.

"Yeah," Mike said. "I'm thinking, what else is there here that we could need?"

"Duh," Patty said and smacked her forehead with an open palm. "Hang on. Follow me," she turned and walked down to the destroyed front window area and stepped out into the bright sunlight. The others followed, stopping to blink their eyes rapidly in the overly bright sunlight. Slowly adjusting after so long inside the dark interior.

Patty made her way along the front of the store, in the same direction they had been walking inside. Just about twenty feet from the end of the store a single steel door rested.

"The back door," Patty said. "It used to be a drug store, but when it was closed the supermarket snapped up the lease on that space. They took out the front windows and bricked it all up, put in this steel door unit. We can get into the back storage area from here. That's what they used it for, more storage. I remember reading about it in the paper. One of those days when I was so bored I read every story in the paper." She laughed. "You know, in a small town, everything's a big story."

Ronnie looked over the handle with its inset lock. "This can't be the way Lilly got in," he said.

"No," Candace agreed. "There's a whole different warehouse area at the absolute back of the store. Different area."

Ronnie nodded. "I don't know if it wouldn't still be easier to go through from the inside though." He looked over the door. "That's a steel jamb. And that," He pointed down at the inset lock, "Is probably a deadbolt. It's going to be tough to get opened easily."

Mike left, walked to the Suburban and came back a few seconds later with a massive sledge hammer and a long heavy crow bar. He set the end of the crowbar into the steel jamb at the place were the lock-set was. He tapped it lightly a few times to wedge it into the door. After the easy taps he swung hard twice, driving the heavy bar into the door. The door easily dented inward, the lock-set pieces flying out onto the concrete of the sidewalk as he drove the end of the heavy crowbar home.

The door itself bent out of the frame with a soft squeal of metal.

Mike started forward into the small circle of light when the odor from inside the space suddenly leapt out to assault him. At the same time, a distinct sound reached his ears, the sound of dozens of buzzing flies. Mike moved back quicker than he had thought to and nearly tripped over the others as he did.

Ronnie stepped forward, snagged what was left of the door and pushed it shut. The broken lock mechanism jammed in the steel door unit and held it closed.

Ronnie's face was gray. Sweat popped out along his brow. He had seen dozens of bodies inside, just within the small perimeter of light that had come through the open doorway, and what looked to be dozens more just beyond in the shadows.

"Jesus," he managed as he quickly made his way past the others, around the side of the building, away from the odor. He almost kept his breakfast down, but as the picture of the devastation inside replayed in his head, he lost the brief struggle. He came back after a few minutes.

Everyone had walked further down what was left of the sidewalk, away from the door. His face was still pale, but he felt marginally better.

"All right," Patty asked as she rested the back of her wrist against his forehead. Her eyes were worried.

"Better," Ronnie said. "I just wasn't prepared for that. I've never seen anything like that."

"Looked like they were stuck in there," Candace said.

"Except they could've just knocked the lock off like we did." Mike's eyes met Ronnie's. They had both been close to the door as it opened and they had both seen the same things. Weapons scattered everywhere. There had been some sort of battle in there.

"What?" Candace asked. She looked at Ronnie.

"Looked like a lot of weapons just lying around by the bodies...like maybe a gunfight took place and then the ceiling caved in. But they were dead before that... shot for some reason. Shot each other?" He looked over at Mike.

"Maybe," Mike allowed. "Or shot and then whoever did it just shut and locked the door and walked away." He shrugged helplessly.

"Well, they must have killed each other," Patty said.

"Maybe," Ronnie said. "But like Mike said..." He shrugged too. "Some weapons looked like they might have been thrown in on top of them... It doesn't fit."

Mike nodded.

Candace looked from Mike to Ronnie, a look of disbelief on her face. She glanced back down at the door, back at Mike once more, then spun and walked back down to the door.

"Candace," Mike called. He started after her, but she reached the door and tugged it open before he reached her. "You don't," he started.

She drew in a short breath; her hands came up and cupped her nose and mouth. Her legs were planted firmly, her posture rigid. "It's true," she mumbled through her hands. Mike leaned past her shoulder and took a closer look at the room.

There were many more bodies than his first quick look had shown him. The weapons were lying on top of the bodies, as though they had been shot and then someone had tossed the weapons into the room, shut the door and walked away. Just as it had seemed to both he and Ronnie in their first short view.

What hadn't appeared in their first short view were the other things that were, at first, not readily seen.

They had, every one, been shot in the head. But that was not the only thing. It was the way some people's hands weren't showing. That in itself didn't actually register for a few seconds until he realized no one's hands were showing. Then his eyes took in the bodies in more detail than his eyes had wanted to provide, and he realized the reason their hands were not showing was because they were behind their backs.

He saw two people that answered the why of that. Bright glimpses of metal showed between the bloated skin of their wrists. Handcuffed... His mind had supplied tied, but it was not tied, it was handcuffed. And handcuffed was not a mistake. Handcuffed could not shoot back at all. They had been herded in here, for whatever reason, handcuffed and shot... Murdered, his mind supplied.

"Come on," he said quietly to Candace. "We don't need to see any more of this do we?"

She shook her head, turned back towards him, and then suddenly found herself running around the side of the building the same way that Ronnie had. A few minutes later, she came back out and joined the others. Everyone was silent. The morning had moved on and the afternoon was bright sunshine and warmth on the cracked sidewalk, but none of that warmth seemed able to touch her.

"Probably never know why," Ronnie said after a long silence. He spun the cap off a bottle of water, took a deep drink, rinsed his mouth, spat and then drank again. They were all gathered around the trucks.

Mike stared off down what was left of State Street. The street itself was more dirt and sand than pavement. The buildings that were left tilted crazily. Some looked almost untouched until you got close to them. From here they looked fine, just like from the sidewalk the steel door hadn't seemed to be hiding anything special, his mind jabbered.

"There's another drug store up the street," he said, just to be talking. "I didn't check it. I wasn't thinking about it. It's an actual drug store... So I was thinking what could there be there that I would need. But drugstores sell all sorts of things. We could go see."

"Let's go see," Patty said.

They all piled into the trucks like they had only been looking for an excuse to go. As they drove away, Mike knew he would never come back to the supermarket for anything. Silence held as they maneuvered their way over the shattered pavement and made their way down the street.

~ More Trouble ~

Tom and Bob were loading up the last of the space that was left in one of the pickup trucks when Tim came running in their direction.

"People," he gasped, pointing to the side of the building. "People with guns and stuff!"

Bob and Tom both reached inside the truck and grabbed their rifles. Bob reached out and snagged Tim by the wrist before he could tear off around the side of the building again.

"Calm down. Take a deep breath," Bob said in a calming voice. "Where are they?"

"Coming into the parking lot. They're on foot," Tim said. Both Nell and Lilly stepped out of the shattered back door that lead into the department store, their arms loaded down with clothes in various sizes.

Tom sighed in relief, reached down and unsnapped the strap that held his gun in its holster. Checked the safety on the rifle, flicked it to off and turned to Nell and Lilly. "We have visitors," he turned to Tim "Did they see you?"

"I don't know... I don't... I don't think so, but I'm not sure," he answered, still breathless.

A frightened look came into Lilly's eyes. "How many, when? Are they armed?" she asked.

"Two guys... A couple ladies and some kids... Little kids... And a dog too," Tim said. Thinking as he went along.

"Okay," Tom said. "We'll all walk out. Have your safeties off. You may really have to shoot. For Christ's sake don't shoot yourself... Or me... Or one of us. Point at who you want to hit, and shoot, like Candace showed you. But don't shoot unless you have to. Maybe these people are okay." He waited until everyone had nodded.

Nell and Lilly took the safeties off their guns, held them briefly and then returned them to their holsters. Nell kept touching the curved metal butt of her pistol nervously.

"Bob, you're up front with me. You guys in back of us. If you have to shoot, shoot," he told them again. "Just make sure we're not in your way... Jesus... I hate this," Tom finished. He took a deep breath "Everybody ready?" he asked. No one answered except Bob who nodded quickly before his eyes darted back to the corner of the building and the bright sunshine beyond.

Tom stepped around the edge of the building, his rifle aimed at the ground, his finger resting on the trigger guard.

~

The drug store and a small convenience store took up the space in the small strip mall building. An auto garage occupied the building next door. Both buildings were damaged. They walked around the exterior of the store building and looked it over.

The large front windows were spider webbed with stress fractures but were still intact. The front door to the convenience store was bent outward at an odd angle, the top of the door actually out of the frame, the bottom still jammed tightly in it. The brick wall that fronted the building was warped but still upright. The frame had apparently twisted as the wall had warped.

It was difficult to see into the darkened interiors through the spider webbed glass, but both stores appeared to be uninhabited. They chose the convenience store first. A few well placed blows from the sledgehammer and crowbar combination popped the twisted door from the frame. It sprang inward and caught on the floor, screeching to a stop.

Mike put one booted foot against the warped wall and pushed experimentally. The wall didn't budge. It didn't even creak or groan like he expected that a wall about to fall down might do. He looked around at everyone, shrugged and stepped inside, snapping on the big flashlight as he did.

The interior seemed in remarkably good shape. Some metal shelving units that had served as dividers had toppled their merchandise to the floor, but it was much better than the supermarket had been, or most other places he had wandered into.

"Looks safe," He said, and the others stepped inside.

Case upon case of bottled water, soda and sports drinks found their way into the trucks in the parking lot. Boxes of crackers, candy bars and other snacks went in as well. In a short period, the remaining space in the trucks was filled up.

"Well," Mike checked his watch. The sun was not yet overhead. The watch was really no indicator of actual passing daylight, only elapsed time. Looking into the sky and judging the position of the sun was probably a better indicator of relative daylight left than looking at a watch was. "Probably better than half again as much daylight left."

"You sound so sure of yourself," Candace teased.

Mike smiled. "We could go unload this and probably come back for another load." Everyone agreed. Mike and Ronnie muscled the door back into its frame away from where it had wedged into the floor. Then they started the vehicles and drove slowly down lower State Street towards the Old River Road and the cave.

~ Death And Sin ~

Tom took the corner wide, allowing Bob to emerge at nearly the same time as he did. The others were right behind them, spread out slightly. He spotted the small group immediately: Two men; three women, and two small kids walking warily across the cracked parking lot towards the store they were in. All five adults were heavily armed.

The dark skinned young man in the lead wore military fatigues and carried what looked to Tom to be a military issue rifle of some sort he was not familiar with. The next man back was dressed in jeans and a lightweight jacket, but he also seemed to be carrying a military weapon. Both men had their weapons in their hands like they were on patrol, Tom thought.

The women came next, the first one carrying a lightweight pistol, small, possibly a three eighty, Tom thought. The other two women carried the same sort of small light duty pistols, Tom saw. He tried to get a better view of the pistols. They could be Nine Millimeters, he told himself. It was hard to tell, and he was no judge of weapons like Candace was. It was about then that the dark skinned man stopped. His eyes were fixed on Tom. Tom took a deep breath and waited.

The two men swiveled their rifles around quickly pointing them at Tom and Bob. Tom and Bob already had their weapons up. Suddenly there was a stand off. Silence descended and held. Tom could hear every little noise clearly: sand and small pebbles gritting beneath his boot as he shifted position, birds calling from the tops of nearby buildings and the occasional tree, even the far off sound of the river which was still running higher than normal.

The young man in the lead wore reflective sunglasses; the sun shot darts of light off the lenses hiding his eyes.

"We aren't looking for a fight," a tall, light haired woman in back of the two men said. She stepped out away from the other two women and the children when she finished speaking. The lead man said nothing; only stood allowing the light to arrow from his glasses, reflecting the strong afternoon light.

"We aren't either," Bob said. He kept his rifle barrel pointed in their direction, his finger still resting on the edge of the trigger guard, his voice strong and steady.

The time played out for a few seconds, both sides waiting for the other side to lower their weapons first. Finally, the young woman stepped forward, past the two men, holstered her own weapon, and then turned to face the young man in the military fatigues.

"We aren't looking for any trouble," she said.

It seemed unclear to Bob who she was talking to, them or the guy with the reflective glasses.

"They aren't either," she continued, and it became clear she was talking to the young man and not them.

Bob's finger slid a little closer to the trigger. He waited.

The man tilted his head toward the woman who stood before him. It was impossible to see what his eyes were saying. He didn't speak aloud, and for all Bob knew he may not actually have even been looking at the woman at all. He may have never taken his eyes off them, only tilted his head to make them think he had.

The face moved slightly again, as if he was looking back toward Tom and the others: Moved again as though he were looking back at the woman once more.

"Jesus," Bob said under his breath. "It's like he doesn't want to."

"Tim, Nell, Lilly... Get back to the edge of the building... Now," Tom whispered loudly. "Stay there. If anything happens, hit those trucks and light out."

The head moved slightly once more. Coming back in their direction again. Maybe he'd seen the movements behind them as the three moved back around the building as Tom had told them to, Bob thought.

"Sin," the woman said.

Sin, Bob thought. What...? Was that a name, he wondered to himself. The man's name?

"They said they don't want any trouble," The woman repeated.

"I fucking heard them," the military man growled softly.

He seemed to deliberate. His head turned back towards them and he spoke. "Where did the others go?"

"Back around the corner. You look a little shaky to me," Tom said truthfully. "I sent them out of it. We don't want any trouble... Seems like you don't want to believe that."

"Didn't say I did, didn't say I didn't," The young man said. His rifle stayed steady, which forced Tom and Bob to hold their own weapons steady.

"Jesus," the woman said. "Nobody wants trouble. Nobody..."

The young man's face shifted slightly back toward the woman once more. The nose of his rifle jerked.

"Jesus, Bob," Tom started.

The young man's rifle swung quickly and Tom saw the young woman's jacket puff outwards from her back and watched a hole appear just below her shoulder before he actually heard the shot. A split second later the young man spun hard to his left stumbled backwards, and then collapsed to the pavement. Bob stepped forward, his rifle still tightly held against his shoulder, walking forward, and sighting on the other young man as he walked.

"Drop it, Son, or I'll put you down the same way I put down your friend there," Bob told him in a deep, authoritative voice.

Tom stepped away from Bob, his own rifle up and aiming at the young man. The woman who had been shot slumped to the ground. One hand clutching at the hole in her upper chest. A low moan of pain escaped her mouth.

The second young man looked as though he might do anything.

"I don't want to hurt you, Son. There isn't a reason to get yourself hurt. After all this, there's been enough hurt," Bob said reasonably.

"I didn't know he was going to do that," the young man said. He looked down at the crumpled body. "I didn't know."

"Nobody's saying you did," Bob said calmly. "Isn't your fault. Just point that gun at the ground... Set it down. Don't need anybody else to get hurt, right Son?"

The guy nodded slightly, looked around like he was surprised to see that both of the women behind him were still holding their weapons, although they were both pointed at the ground. He finally realized how it might look to the man with the rifle. Sin was crazy, he told himself... Had been crazy. Sin was dead now. Crazy didn't matter anymore. All that mattered was that Sin was dead. He was laid out on the ground, blood leaking from his mouth. His breath caught in his throat, a sob tearing from his mouth.

"He was nuts. They'll tell you that," he told Bob. He reached forward, leaned over and laid his rifle out carefully on the ground before him. "Nuts," he said once more. He raised his hands over his head into the air, then thought about it and lowered them to his sides, finally clasping them in front of himself, unsure what to do.

~

When Mike turned into the asphalt area that fronted the cave, he knew that something was wrong. Sandy had one of the two way radios on and was listening intently. Mike reached for his own where it sat on the dashboard, mentally berated himself for not having checked in on it, although there had been no plans to do so, turned it on and listened.

Tom was talking calmly.

"...can't reach them... Already tried."

Mike keyed the button, "Tom, it's Mike, what's going on?"

"Jesus, Mike. I couldn't reach you... We got ambushed. None of us got hurt, but we got one guy dead on the other side. A woman they shot looks awfully bad... And I got a guy I don't trust and don't know what to do with."

"You want us there?" Mike asked.

"Yeah... And, hey, Sandy's a nurse, right?"

"Yeah," Sandy herself answered.

Mike got out of the truck. Behind him Ronnie, Candace and Patty had switched the other radio on and were listening in.

"Maybe Sandy, you, Candace and Ronnie," Tom said.

"That's all of our shooters, Tom..."

"Ah... Yeah..." Tom seemed unsure of what to say.

"Tom, I'll send Candace, Sandy and Ronnie. That's our best shooter. I can't leave this place alone," Mike told him. Candace nodded at him, he turned and caught Ronnie's eye who nodded. Patty looked worried, and her eyes slid away from his when he tried to make contact. Sandy was already nodding when he looked her way. "They're on the way, Tom," he finished.

He handed Candace the rifle he had been carrying. She hurried into the cave and came back out with her pair of Forty Five caliber pistols. She also came back with something that was advertised as a hunting rifle but looked more like an assault rifle and took a clip. She holstered both of the Forty Fives, tossed Ronnie the assault rifle and set Mike's rifle between the seats in the truck.

Sandy climbed into the back as Ronnie took the front passenger's seat. Tom was speaking on the radio, giving Ronnie directions. Candace was nodding, "I know where that is," she said. She started the truck, dropped it into reverse and began to back away from the cave.

"Candace," Mike called. He ran to catch up to her. She leaned partway out the window and he kissed her quickly. "I love you. Be careful," he told her.

"I love you too," she told him. "I will." She took her foot off the brake, backed around in a tight circle and drove quickly away.

Mike and Patty walked to the fire where Jan still stood, radio in her hand, and began to wait.

~

The radio hissed silence for so long that Mike was convinced that they were probably trying to call and something was wrong with the radio. Maybe the batteries were dead... Something... Maybe...

"It hasn't been that long, Mike," Patty told him "It just seems that way."

Mike smiled nervously, "Shows, huh?"

Patty shrugged. "All of us." She looked over at Jan who continued to re-position slices of Venison on the drying racks. Her mouth was set in a tight grimace as if she was in pain. She looked up as though she had felt Patty's eyes upon her and nodded. Patty smiled at her and Jan answered it with a smile of her own.

The radio crackled...

"Got them," Ronnie's voice called over the radio as the static smoothed out. "Give us a minute or two."

"Read you," Patty told him.

"Okay," Ronnie's voice came back. "All of our people are fine. The guy that started the whole thing is dead. You could say he's not fine at all. There was another guy, but he took off. There are two women and two kids here... Oh, another woman took off... We're coming back... The one woman's been shot... Hang on a minute..." The radio switched back to choppy static then came back.

"Okay... We'll talk about the rest when we get there... Uh, those other two aren't armed... We don't know where they went..."

The radio switched back to static.

"Be careful," Mike told him.

"Oh yeah," Ronnie came back. "Oh yeah." He clicked off.

~

The three waited silently by the smoky fire. None seemed able to meet the others' eyes. They were all worried about the same thing. Where were those other two? Those trucks could be sitting ducks if they were out waiting to shoot them up on their way back, running loose and still wanting a fight. But each of them knew there was nothing they could do but wait.

A half hour later, the lead Suburban pulled onto the pavement in front of the cave, cut a wide circle and parked nose out. The other vehicles pulled in and parked to one side of each other. Everyone climbed out of the trucks and gathered in front of the cave.

Patty walked over to Ronnie and kissed him. Bob went to Jan by the fire, who only now seemed unable to hold back her tears, and pulled her into himself holding her tight. His own eyes seemed red and troubled.

One young woman and two small children stood off to one side. Sandy walked slowly up to Mike.

"The other one didn't make it. I didn't want to leave her there. She's in the back of the Suburban," Sandy finished. She had blood smeared across the front of her white nylon windbreaker and soaked into one leg of her jeans.

"All right," Mike told her. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah... Pissed off, but okay." Sandy answered.

Mike nodded and slipped his arm around Candace as she walked over to him, drew her to him and kissed her.

"Thank you," he whispered.

She looked at him.

"For coming back safely," he said quietly.

She hugged him back. Tom walked over. "We could take her out to Huntingtonville," he said.

"No... I think that's a bad idea," Mike said. "We've got to talk this out." He raised his voice so everyone could hear him.

"Listen... If we've got people willing to kill us, we've got to take this a lot slower. We've got to sit down and talk this all out, talk it over, make some new rules." He nodded his head. There were several murmurs of assent.

"Ronnie, help me," Mike asked.

He and Ronnie walked into the cave and came back carrying a zippered sleeping bag. They opened the rear of the suburban and carefully zippered the still warm body into the bag.

"We have anybody who knows something to say?" he asked.` His voice was choked with emotion.

"I'll say something," Lilly said. Mike nodded to her. He and Ronnie carried the zippered bag over to the edge of the broken pavement. The brown water roared past several feet below.

Lilly wore a serious face. She closed her eyes; her lips moved silently for a moment, and then she began to pray.

"Lord... Jesus, be with us. This body may not know you, but I know that you know her. Her name is Emma." Lilly then recited the Lord's prayer with nearly everyone joining in.

Mike and Ronnie picked up the sleeping bag carefully, reverently, and as gracefully as they could, swung it outward toward the river so it would land in the fast flowing water and not tumble down the cliff face instead and let go. The current grabbed it, and it quickly sank out of sight.

Tom, Patty, Janet and Nell began to gather things for a meal. Candace walked Mike over to the two children and the young woman.

As the young woman looked up at Mike's approach, he realized that she was not much more than a child herself, a young girl closer to Tim's age. She had a hard, worried set to her face that made her appear much older than she really was.

"Annie," Candace said, "This is Mike. Mike, Annie."

Mike nodded. "Ann, nice to meet you," Mike said. "You okay?"

"Yes, sir," She answered.

"Just Mike," Mike told her.

She smiled. "Just Annie, "she told him.

"Annie it is," Mike agreed.

She remained grim, but the smile played around the edges of her mouth.

"This is Brian and Janelle," Annie told him.

The little boy had large round eyes and a shock of thick blonde hair. The little girl had light brown skin and dark brown, nearly black hair. They both looked up at him with serious expressions on their faces.

"Sin shooted Miss Bev," The little boy said seriously. The little girl nodded her head solemnly.

Mike nodded back. "I'm sorry for that, but there isn't anyone here to hurt anyone now." He squatted down on one knee, eye level to the children. "It's okay now. No one can hurt you here, okay?"

They both looked quietly around, then nodded slightly but didn't say anything else.

"Ann. Annie?" Mike asked. The young girl raised her too serious eyes to his own. "If you want to, you can take them inside the cave. It's warmer in there. You can get some sleeping bags, make a place to sleep. Candace will show you where everything is, okay?"

"Yes, Sss... Mike," Annie said. She smiled like she wasn't used to smiling at all. She took the little girl's hand as Candace took the little boy's hand. Her free hand slipped easily into Candace's free hand and they walked off into the cave, talking low as they went.

~ Evening ~

Dinner was eaten without a great deal of enthusiasm. No one found themselves too far away from their weapons. Mike made a point of talking to everyone during the meal, just a few words to see how they were doing, what was on their minds, or at least the most pressing thing on their minds.

Everyone was concerned about what could happen next. Two people had run off. Yes, they had set their weapons down, but there were weapons everywhere that they could pick up any time they wanted, weapons much nastier than the ex-GI who called himself Sin had gotten for them.

Mike had looked the two rifles over. They were both the same. A carbine that held a fifty round clip and was either semi or fully automatic with the slide of a small button. If the first guy hadn't gone right down, he could have cut down Tom, Bob and the others easily. The second guy had laid his rifle down without firing a shot. What if it hadn't gone that way? What if it didn't go that way the next time? Those were the questions that mattered to everyone.

The second man and the woman had turned and run. Tom had berated himself for not stopping them, but as everyone had pointed out to him during the evening, what could he have done? Shoot them? Certainly that was not an option. But then Tom had said what was on everyone's mind. What if they came back? What if they came back with Machine guns? Hand grenades? Or even, what they had the first time which were really very close to personal machine guns anyway, as far as Tom was concerned. Knowing that, and Tom had thought about most of that as they had suddenly bolted, but knowing all of that, that he or one of them may very well have to deal with those same two people again in the future, shouldn't he have shot... To kill? To maim?

No one had answered at first when Tom had tossed his own doubts out and asked, but Mike had been about to. Before he could, Patty had spoken up.

"That's a maybe, not a fact, not an absolute. And you can't see the future. Maybe, maybe, someday we'll have to deal with them. That doesn't make killing them an option, doesn't make it right. I mean, I'm scared too. They could come after us. Do they know where we are? But," she lowered her voice which had risen with her passion, "It's only fear. They might, they might not. If they do, I'll shoot to kill. But until they do...

Do something... I couldn't," she finished.

Mike had let the conversations run their courses and nearly everyone had had something to contribute. But it became apparent that after dinner was over they were going to have to discuss it more fully, decide what they wanted to do about the situation, what the group wanted to do.

Mike looked around. The sun was setting slowly in the North East. The day had been a long one with nothing settled yet. The trucks had been unloaded and the supplies carried inside the cave. The back of the Suburban had been cleaned up. Dinner was over. The dog, which was still lacking a name as far as Mike knew, was nosing around playfully with the two children, wagging his tail. The children were smiling, coming out of themselves already. Mike was surprised, but happily so. The chill of the night was moving in on the air that rose from the river and flowed across the asphalt and dirt at the front of the cave.

"Why don't we take this inside?" Mike said at last. "We'll all get comfortable and figure out what to do, how we want to handle this." It seemed that everyone had been waiting for that announcement. Within just a few minutes everyone was picking up items and heading into the cave out of the growing darkness.

Mike watched the two children laughing as they ran into the cave with their newest friend close at their heels, tail thumping against their legs. Mike looked over to where Annie walked with Patty and Candace. She was smiling also, in spite of the day. In spite of the heaviness of his spirit, he felt a smile rise to his own face. He hurried to catch up to Candace and the others, walking into the cave with them.

~

Tom went first. It was obvious to everyone that he blamed himself for letting the two run off, but it was also clear that no one - some after hearing what Tom had to say, some after giving it more thought - had placed the blame on Tom, except Tom himself.

Janet Dove went on for quite some time about it in an obvious attempt to cheer Tom up, but that didn't look to be possible, Mike thought. Then Nell spoke, relating what the woman who had been shot had told her before she had died.

"She told me he had been stationed at the base, but he'd been A.W.O.L. for quite some time before things went bad. No one knew his real name; he went by the handle Sin. The other guy, the one that ran off, called himself Death. It was some sort of private joke between the two of them," Nell grimaced, as if to say she saw no joke, private or otherwise. "No one knew whether they had served together or only ran into each other once things got bad. But they had both been soldiers, and they decided to walk back out to the base for weapons."

"They never did make it back out there though, but found the two rifles they were carrying somewhere in town. The other woman that ran off was Death's woman. They all met each other on the street. Emma, and Wanda, the one who ran off, had met Death and Sin. The four of them had found Ann and the two smaller children a few days after that. She just kept telling me Sin wasn't a bad guy, just wired," Nell finished. A low murmur greeted her last words. Mike looked around.

"She didn't say she thought that; she said the woman thought that," Mike said. Annie spoke up in the silence that took over.

"Did a lot of cocaine," she said quietly. "All the time. Death did a lot of speed. Between the two of them you never knew what they might do. Sometimes they mixed it. They tried to get me to do it..." Her voiced trailed off to nothing.

Mike shook his head, bad thoughts running wild through it. "There was nobody else, Annie," he asked?

"No," she answered.

"Well, that's something," Bob said.

"You think so?" Lilly asked. She looked pasty sitting next to Tom. Too pale. Too fragile. Too young to be involved in all of this.

"Well, it's only two is what I mean. And they saw there were more of us than them," Bob finished.

"Maybe, maybe not," Candace said. "They saw a few more. And they're only two. There are probably others. That's what we really have to talk about... others... the fact that we could've already had this problem several times over. Who knows how many little groups are wandering around out there? Are they all like that? Probably not, but how are we going to be now?" She looked around, "Trusting? Naive? I hope not either. But we will be some way. We have to be. We can't close our eyes and just tell ourselves there aren't people like that out there, because there are."

"So, that's it," Mike said after a few moments of silence. "We need to discus it. What options do we have? Who has some ideas?"

"Better weapons," Tom said.

"At least that," Ronnie agreed.

"No more going out on trips split up," Nell suggested.

"Maybe we should leave now," Tim threw in.

"Maybe we should," Lilly agreed.

Tom had lowered his head as he often did when he listened. He would turn his head toward the speaker and listen as they spoke. His head shot back up and his eyes focused on Lilly, but he said nothing. Candace shot Mike a quick look. Mike shrugged his shoulders.

"No guarantee that we wouldn't run into the same type of people no matter where we might go," Mike said.

"Probably would," Patty added.

Candace nodded. "Bad is bad. It'll be everywhere."

"If we went back to the land," Bob said, "Far enough out, who would there be to bother us?"

"But," Candace said, "Not everyone wants to do that, Bob."

"Maybe it's the only way," Bob came back.

"I don't want to do it," Patty said. "But I don't want to live in a cave either, and here I am. I also don't want to live in fear of what someone might or might not do."

Mike raised his hands palms out in a gesture of conciliation. "We can talk about leaving," He said.

"Maybe we're all not wanting to go to the same place," Janet Dove said.

"Maybe," Mike agreed. He tried not to show it, but her remark surprised him. He knew she wanted to go back to the traditional Native way of life, but, hell, everything was nature now, wasn't it? Wasn't that the same thing?

"I didn't really want to go," Tom said. "But," he looked over at Lilly, "Now, I don't know."

Even Candace's head shot up. It seemed everything was a surprise tonight, Mike thought.

"Maybe," Mike said, "We need to air all of this out." He waited until all the little side conversations that had sprung up fell silent.

"It seems everyone has something on their mind. Maybe this is the best time to get it off your mind. Speak your mind. Let it go. We should work out where we all are, where we want to be, where we're going to, what we're working towards... I'll be honest," he paused, "I was surprised twice in a couple of seconds. What I thought I knew about some of you... What I had thought you had said, turned out to be wrong. We can't... No... I can't tell you what to do, but we shouldn't do that to each other. We should all know what page we're on. True?"

"It's not like you can't change your mind," Candace said. "It's your mind, your life. But to plan for all of us, we need to know where we're going, where we are, don't we?"

Bob spoke: "You're right, of course. I guess once Sandy came along we started to think more about the real kind of life we wanted to live. I have always wanted to live, but I think I speak for Jan and Sandy too, I have always wanted to live the Native lifestyle. I want to go back to the land... I mean really go back. I don't want to live in a cave either. And I'm not saying I want to live in a longhouse even. It's the way of life I want, the stories I heard as a child. Only do it right this time, not give up our land, live on it... with it. Can you see that?" He seemed defensive but enthusiastic.

"I can see it," Mike said. "I can't say it's for me, not yet. Maybe it will be someday," he shrugged his shoulders, "But... But I don't know what else might be left. Could the world really be destroyed? All of it? Everything? I can't imagine it, not all of it. Not everything. I'm not saying I want my T.V. back, but I'm not sure I want to move into a cave either." He grinned and looked around. "But I did. I'll admit that. It's the first thing I did. Maybe that says something... and not just about me. But that's me. If Bob's not talking about living in a cave or a long house..." He shrugged again. "I don't know... We each have to make up our own minds. You have to live true to you, because if you don't, you are nothing." Silence held. Bob nodded his head a few times.

"So... What are you going to do, Bob? What are you really talking about? I mean, say it so we know," Patty said.

Bob looked from Janet to Sandy. "We have to decide, but we will go - we just haven't decided where yet - back into the wilderness... the lands... somewhere isolated. But we want to bring more people. It wouldn't work with just a few of us. So we would like to go with you with the understanding that we would eventually go out on our own," Bob finished.

"So you would try to recruit people from the people we meet along the way?" Ronnie asked.

"You make it sound like stealing," Bob said.

"No. No," Ronnie said. "I don't mean to make it sound that way. But it makes it kind of hard to get behind. Here we would be trying to bring people together, and you would be trying to convince them to something else. We'd be trying to get them to work with us, and you'd be trying to get them to work with you. It might drive them away if they think we can't even agree how it should be between us," Ronnie finished.

"Stealing," Bob said again.

"No... It's... This is a community," He looked to Mike and Candace who nodded for him to continue.

"So... it's a community and we would be trying to get everyone to work together. You see?"

"Are you saying you wouldn't have us because of that?" Sandy asked.

"No one said that at all," Candace said.

"Certainly not," Mike agreed. "It's not like that. If you want to come, you come. I can see where you would be an asset to us. I can also see your need to do this thing you want to do. I can see where you would need more people to do that. I can see where I might be convinced to go with you. Let's not shut doors. Let's not start mistrusting or trying to read things into what we say. Ronnie asked the questions any of us might have. In fact I would have if he hadn't. The people you need for what you want to do are probably not going to be the same people we need for what we want to do. It's a different type of life. Different people... Different ideals... Different purpose, dreams, directions. How could that hurt either of us? I don't see where it could. Let's not go back to the old world view, fear of what we don't know about each other; let's just let it be. No one has decided yet to go with us or you. We don't even really know if we're on opposite sides yet," Mike concluded.

"I agree," Ronnie said. "I didn't mean to imply that I have some great plan or idea. I could find myself wanting to go with you when the time comes too. Mike makes sense. Maybe we don't want the same things, maybe we do. And after today, I think it would be safer if we all travel together. Less inviting to trouble."

Bob nodded, satisfied. Silence held for a few seconds.

"He's not coming back. I know that," Nell said. Her eyes teared up. "My husband," She added after a short pause. "I lied to myself, you know. I don't want to believe he's gone. But I don't want to wait here, stay here; I want to go with you guys. This place is... like a city of dead," she finished.

Make that three surprises, Mike thought to himself.

"I want to go," Tom said. "I... I want to go."

Mike nodded.

"I want to go," Lilly said.

Mike had been sure that if Tom had said he wanted to stay, Lilly would have wanted to stay too. Now he wasn't sure. It seemed now it might be the other way around.

Annie was looking from face to face.

"I don't want to stay here," she said at last.

"You could come with us," Tim said. He smiled. "You want to, right?" he asked. His smile faltered a little.

She answered him with her own smile. "I want to."

"Good," Tim said.

Mike looked around. Amazing, he thought. "I'm amazed," he said. Echoing his own thoughts.

"When?" Bob asked.

"Today changes it. Doesn't it?" Patty asked.

"Does it?" Mike asked.

"I think so," Ronnie said.

"I do too," Tom agreed.

"Yeah, it has to," Sandy agreed.

"Well, then it does," Mike said. "What do we... what do you want to do? Leave sooner?"

Yes, they all answered in unison. He blinked, surprised again. "My concern is winter," he told them. "I don't like this situation either. We could have two people out there with weapons waiting to come after us... Coming around, maybe taking shots at us," He shrugged. "Or maybe they're as scared as we are. Just as scared. And maybe we shouldn't over react because of that fear. In any case, the days are colder. It's still winter. It could snow at any time. We have shelter here. Yes, it's a cave, but we're not cave men because we're living in a cave. It's shelter. We know the area. We know where to get gas for the trucks, food, supplies."

"It's close to April," Patty said. "Just a few days really."

"So we could shoot for getting ourselves ready to go by April first," Mike said. "Supplies." He looked around at the supplies in the vast cave. "April first. If the weather's good, we go," He paused. "Everyone agreed?"

Another chorus of Yes answered him. Even the dog barked and wagged his tail. The looks on nearly everyone's face showed relief. The dog's enthusiastic and well timed bark caused most of them to break into laughter. Relief, Mike thought.

"Until we go," Mike waited for the talking and the laughter to die down "We only go somewhere together, and we take one of these carbines when we do." He held up one of the rifles they had taken away from the two young men just hours before. "The other stays here to protect the cave. Double the guards at night, starting tonight." He paused again, but no one spoke out. "Guess that's it," he said quietly. "We've decided."

Janet ~ March 19th

We are going. We have all decided to go. Bob announced our plans for a new Nation of people. They are not all for that... yet. But I know some will be.

We all agreed on April first. Thirteen days. I hope that is not unlucky.

We have three more with us from a horrible incident that happened today out at the mall on Arsenal Street. A woman was killed and Bob had to kill someone. That is the main reason we are going.

Tom even changed his mind about going. He has changed a lot in the last few days. He's very different from what he was when we first met him. We will leave these journals behind us for others to find, I guess. We didn't really discuss that part of things. I'm not sure I want to.

We are all nervous about today. There are two more people out there still on the loose that may want to hurt us and they may know where we're at. Tom and Mike have posted a double guard until we leave... APRIL FIRST!

Candace ~ March 19th

If there was any doubt in anyone's mind who is leading us, there isn't now. Mike does it so easily. I sometimes think he doesn't realize how much faith people put in him.

Tom surprised everyone tonight; he's with us now. Bob, Janet and Sandy are not. They have an idea of reestablishing the Native Nation, going back to the land. It has its appeal. And, it's clear to see they are not just talking about it. They, Bob and Janet at least, have thought it out. Janet told me later on that Bob has a place in mind. He has had that place in mind for years. Years... That is how well planned it is in his mind, how serious he is about it. Never say never, but I can't see myself there.

Mike said he doesn't want his T.V. back, me either, maybe, but was it all bad? No. When he said that I thought of an old song, Dire Straits, with a line "I want my M.T.V." Don't ask me why that popped into my head, but it did. Must be the musician in me. My point is, it wasn't all bad. It wasn't. Why throw it all away? Why not get rid of the bad shit and save the rest?

Mike said to me later, when we were alone, that he thinks that's what Bob really wants to do, get rid of the bad shit and keep the good shit, and if he does really want to do that, then Mike is for it. And, really, so would I be.

So, we will leave April first, Bob with us, and we may split or stay together at some point after that.

Ronnie made a point which I thought was a good one: It could be a draw on us as a people as Bob takes some away from us. I mean, they make it sound so good, who wouldn't want to go? Ronnie made that point later when it was just he and Patty and Mike and me. During the conversation we all had, he skated up to the same statement, but Bob didn't like it right out there bald like it was.

Paradise? Living off the land? Living as one with Nature? Mother Nature? Doesn't it sound good? Living in harmony with God. Almost as if it will not be work at all. No one shouting at you... Anyway, Mike made a good point too: If we go towards a way of life more like the old world, technology, we would not be attracting the same people anyway. So, what will we have lost traveling together? Maybe people we would eventually have lost anyway, and it will definitely be safer to travel together. When and if the split happens, we can worry about or deal with it then.

April first... If there is no snow... If it's safe. We still have to decide where we are going, but there is time.

Tom ~ March 19th

I changed my mind today. It was a bad day for me today, but

a worse day for the man Bob had to kill. It's all we do anymore, kill. That's not completely true, but it's close. It's a harder world.

I'm going. Lilly is going with me. We're going together, maybe that's the best way to put it. We have fourteen of us now to be worried about. Mike is younger than I am, but more solid. I think I didn't like him for that at first, but it is what it is. I work better... I mean, in my head it's easier, the way things have been lately with him in charge.

We decided on April First to leave Watertown.

~In the Moonlight~

They came from the shadows, the smell of blood pulling them. The young man in the lead approached the body where it lay on the pavement. They had watched it far into the darkness, but unlike some, it did not come back. He walked up to the corpse and toed it with one heavy work boot.

"Done for," he croaked. Two in the small crowd behind him whined. He stepped back from the body. "Go ahead," he said in a rasping whisper, "Go ahead."

The small crowd of seven fell on the body and began to feed.
CHAPTER SIX

Best Laid Plans

~ March 20th ~

"...it's not the same every day," Tom was saying as Candace came out of the cave entrance. She looked a question at Mike and Ronnie where they sat listening.

"Length of the day," Mike explained.

"Yeah," Tom agreed. He nodded at Candace. "Yesterday, twenty-six hours and a couple of minutes. Day before, twenty five and forty-two."

"Pretty close though," Ronnie said. "Starting to become uniform. Beats the days when it was closer to forty hours or more."

Tom nodded.

"We don't know what it means anyway," Candace said. "Even a scientist would probably give us about ten hours of song and dance and then hand us the same old bullshit theory based on some other theory, based on, well, you know."

"It's colder again," Mike said. "But it doesn't feel cold enough to snow." He looked up to see if anyone held a different view.

Janet Dove and Sandy walked out of the cave with the young girl, Annie, and the two little ones trailing her. A few seconds later Tim came out of the cave too, looking around until his eyes fell on Annie. Candace smiled and glanced over at Janet Dove who was also smiling. "Good morning, Janet," Candace said. "I see you've got lots of help this morning." Everyone carried boxes filled with odds and ends. They set them down, and Annie and Tim began going through them.

"I do at that, Candy," Janet said. "We're sorting through the stuff we brought back, to see what we'll take with us, what else we need." Candace smiled and nodded back.

"Candy?" Mike mouthed when she looked his way. She rolled her eyes.

Bob walked over. "I thought we should make specific lists. Janet's going to make lists of what we'll really need and what we have, so when we go out, that way we're not out a long time. We're going for exactly what we need," Bob said.

Everyone nodded agreement. "I guess we should all be thinking like that," Mike said.

"Yeah," Ronnie agreed. "What we take, or have to have, we may end up carrying. There's no guarantee that there will be roads in good shape, or roads at all."

The conversation bounced back and forth for nearly an hour, everyone contributing ideas that they thought should be on the lists: food stuffs that were high in protein, clean, bottled water, back packs, the big ones hikers use, tents. Candace produced a pen and Patty, who had joined them, wrote it all down. "That way we're all on the same page," Candace said.

"I think we should dig in with Janet," Mike said. "See what we need, what we got, what we need to get."

Mike ~ March 20th

We spent the day getting organized, everything we have, everything we need, what we need to get. Janet got us moving, and it turns out we've been bringing back a lot of the wrong stuff. Candy bars, canned stuff, things that would be great if we were going to stay here - well, maybe not the candy bars, but they have their attraction - sneakers instead of boots, that sort of thing.

But we have a list of what we need now, stuff we can carry on our backs if we have to. If there are no roads, we can't drive. If we can't find gas, we can't drive either.

We discussed whether we should even bring the trucks at all. It's a temptation, but only so we can bring more stuff with us. And we might make a few more miles a day, but does that matter? Do we need to get anywhere in a hurry? So we've left that as it is for now. We'll take them. We'll pack them full of all that extra stuff we would like to have, but I suspect the first time we get stuck or the roads disappear, or after the seven hundredth flat tire, dead battery, hole that gets in our way or punches a hole in the oil pan, we'll probably leave them. We may even decide, before we go, to go without them.

Twelve days to go. We're only going out in heavily armed teams to get what we need. We also set up double watches through the night. Switch off every four hours. I was with Ronnie for my four and got to know him a little better. He's pretty solid. Our four hours went by fast. We saw nothing at all, heard nothing at all. The dog came out and hung out with us. Lifted his head a few times and looked off into the night, but whatever he heard wasn't enough to make him growl.

Everyone just calls him The Dog. No one seems to want to name The Dog. Maybe the dog doesn't need a name after all. Maybe The Dog is name enough.

We also decided to take these with us; The journals and diaries I mean. I know Candace, Tom, Janet, and myself write almost every day, but a few others want to write too, or already have. Candace felt it could be something for the future, for our children. That's a sobering thought. Keep them for the children so they know what happened. That actually makes sense.

That made me think of kids. Children. I don't know about that. I don't know what to feel about that. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. But it keeps my head straight to write this out...

Lilly ~ March 20th

I decided to write this for the baby. Tom knows, and he's okay with it. It must have happened with David just before all of this happened. I don't even know how I feel about it completely yet, but it's a baby. A baby needs a home, security. I talked to Tom about that. My baby will have a safe home, Tom said so.

I guess Tom was with Lydia before. I hear others make comments, mention her name. She looked like me. Tom says only a little. I say it doesn't matter, not really. He's with me now. He says he loves me. I believe that. He knows about the baby. He says he won't leave me; what more is there to need, or ask for? I just don't want my baby to be unneeded or unloved, abandoned like I was. I know how that feels.

I don't know about Lydia. I'm sorry she was killed. So much has happened. I've seen people killed right in front of me. I guess I need therapy... That's supposed to be a joke... Not a good joke, I guess. We've all seen a lot, but there are no shrinks left to talk to. Another poor joke, I have a million of them, all stupid. I guess the real stuff is Christ. Christ is what gets me by. Christ is what I believe in. Christ is who will help me to take care of my baby. I mean, if there ever was a time to lean on Christ wouldn't it be now?

I was not religious before this happened. I didn't go to church. And I'm not religious now, not really. I simply believe in Christ. That's a belief, not a religion. A belief can last, religion fails sometimes, and I can't afford to be part of a failure. I need absolute. I need something sure. I need belief, and that's what I have.

Don't get the idea that I'm fanatical, I'm not. I guess if we're keeping this for the children then this will be for you, my baby, my girl, my boy, someone who I have not yet met. That gets so deep. I don't want you to misunderstand who I am or what I believe in. Eventually there will be all this space between us and this night when I sat down, thought about you, how much I love you before I have even met you, and how I want things to be for you. I know things will not be as I see them. I know that time changes everything so easily. I just want you to see who I am right now. Not a crazy; not a fanatic. I am just a young woman who believes that all that is left is Christ to see us through.

I'm going to tell Sandy about the baby. Tom agreed. She's a nurse. She knows things, and I'm a little afraid of how it will be.

We are going to leave April 1st. That's not long. I can't wait, really. Nothing, almost, nothing good has happened here except the baby and Tom. I don't mind going...

Patty ~ March 20th

I'm not good at this sort of thing at all, but Ronnie and I thought it would be good for our children, you, who are reading this. I'll have faith for that. I'm not pregnant; auntie came to call. And besides, we got some pregnancy tests the other day, just in case. But, we're trying. We thought this winter, where ever we are, would be a good time to have a baby. I guess it would be the end of winter. At least not in the spring or summer when we're traveling.

Who is your father? Who am I? Ronnie's people came from down south, Alabama. A little town called Pritchard, outside of Mobile. That's on the Gulf coast. I've never been there, but Ronnie says it's nice. And who knows, we may end up back there before we are settled down for good.

Ronnie came up here a few years ago with a construction crew to build housing for Fort Drum which is an Army base just outside of Watertown, Black River really, and he stayed, so that's how he happened to be here when all of this happened.

I've lived here all of my life. Married young. Divorced young. Married again, and still was when this happened. I haven't seen Randy since two weeks before this happened. It was about to end though. I guess I didn't have good luck like that.

I knew Ronnie. We lived in the same building. We got together after this happened. Nearly everyone here is like that except Janet and Bob Dove. What I mean is relationships that didn't exist a few weeks ago.

We're going to leave here on the first of April, as long as there is no snow. Some - Bob, Janet, Sandy and I don't know who else, maybe Lilly? Tom? - But some are pushing to leave vehicles behind. The rest of us aren't sure. Ronnie says Mike and Candace are right, vehicles could be a big asset to us. But they also believe they could become more time consuming than they are worth. If so, we should leave them behind. I guess we will have to see how that turns out.

It has been tough here. There are people running around with guns shooting at anyone. We know. There was a young girl with Mike and Candace who was killed just before we came to be here ourselves, and two killed just the other day. It's a different world.

I have Ronnie. I have Candace, she's, like, my best friend. Even more than that. Like a girlfriend that I never had. She's so smart... beautiful. I mean really beautiful. She makes me feel like I belong though, doesn't make me feel stupid. I have a great deal.

Married twice, I've never caught pregnant. I wonder what you will be like?

~ March 21st ~

The morning had dawned gray and overcast. By the time breakfast was finished, fat flakes of snow were falling to the ground outside the cave. Within an hour the snow was nearly horizontal and starting to stick to the ground. Everyone had taken some time off from sifting through the pallets to inventory what they held to check the outside conditions. By the time the faint glow began to fade from the gray, announcing nightfall, they had been through everything in the cave and had new lists of what they needed. Even those lists changed several times throughout the evening as they checked with one another and crossed off or added to the things they needed. They ended up with lists that concentrated on warm clothing, coats, gloves, boots and concentrated foods items, if they could find them.

"Well, things like beef jerky, peanuts, trail mix, nutrition bars. Things you see in the drug store or up by the counters when you check out," Janet Dove said. She seemed to have taken the task of the lists to heart, made it her grail.

"No way are we going back to that store on State Street," Candace said.

"Not a chance," Mike echoed.

"Ditto," Patty added.

"No way. Uh, uh," Ronnie threw in.

"Bad?" Bob asked.

"Bad enough... That was when your thing popped off, so you don't know about it. But somebody did a bunch of people up down there... In the back of the store... The store room," Ronnie said.

"A lot," Mike echoed. "It's worth going elsewhere, that's all."

Bob nodded. "Well, we could go back out Arsenal Street. There are several places we could check out there."

"I don't like it," Candace said. "Yes, they could be anywhere, but that's where the whole thing happened. That's where those two were. I talked to Annie. She said that's where they hang around... forage, so to speak. Living in some old warehouse down there, or they were. But if that's where they want to be, are likely to be, let's leave them to it."

"Can't run forever," Sandy said.

"Run?" Candace asked. "It's not running, first of all; it's prudence. We don't know shit about those people except what Annie has told us. And I'll tell you... what she said, if I had known and been there, then I would've killed them both. The rest of it, the stuff I suspect and Annie won't talk about, Jesus... Are you kidding yourself that you don't know, don't understand it?" She stopped, took a deep breath and massaged her neck.

"You know as well as I know. I don't want any of us to go down there for any reason." She broke off, looked down at the ground and then continued in the silence. "Second: We're not here to fight. We're leaving. There isn't a single possession here worth fighting for... maybe dying for. It's all free, so I ask myself what sort of person would still feel the need to take, to kill? I don't think they'll be stupid this time. I think they'll try to take us from cover. They'll be afraid. They'll believe Annie told us things she couldn't bring herself to tell us. They'll know we want to kill them. They'll believe it. I told you I do. How do we fight that? You don't. No way to fight it. So, it's not running. It's asking myself what's really important. Being smart." She looked up at the shadowed ceiling of the cave. "Excuse me," she said after a second. She got up, pushed aside a hanging jumble of blankets and tarps that closed off the cave entrance from the falling snow and stepped out into the twilight.

Sandy cleared her throat and looked down at the stone floor. "It's not about you," Mike said.

Nell wandered over as Mike tugged up the zipper on a heavy jacket and stepped outside.

"That guy... that Death guy. I was watching him. He wasn't thinking about giving up; he was weighing the odds, sizing us up, wondering who would or wouldn't shoot. Maybe even who could or couldn't shoot. He would've killed us all if he'd thought he could and still keep himself alive. Once he knew others were coming, that was it. That's why he laid the rifle down and ran. I don't want to go back down there. Let them have that whole place," she finished.

Sandy seemed more than a little put out, but she said nothing at all. Nell went out through the hanging blankets and tarps, and a few seconds later Mike came back through. He stomped his feet on the stone floor, knocking off the snow.

"It is really coming down," Mike said. He tried a smile on his face and walked back over to where Patty, Ronnie, Tim and the others were still standing. Sandy had walked away towards the back of the cave.

'She okay?" Patty asked.

Mike nodded.

"She's a problem," Patty said.

Mike shrugged. "For whatever reason, they don't like each other. They just rub each other the wrong way. But it is a problem. I'll have to do something about it... I just don't know what. Nell's talking to her now."

"Yeah, well," Patty said as she stood and tugged her own jacket on. "It can't work this way."

Mike nodded as Patty bent down, pecked Ronnie's cheek and walked out through the hanging barricade herself.

The silence held for more than a minute.

"Washington Street," Mike said at last. Everyone looked at him.

"When we went to get the trucks, the first one we got to start was in a parking lot across from the old High school. It used to be houses, most of it anyway, now it's strip malls. There has to be a lot of the stuff we need there. It's close by." He turned the last into a question of sorts and Ronnie, Tim, Bob and Tom all nodded their heads.

"That will work all the way around," Bob said.

"Tomorrow, if the snow lets up?" Tom asked.

"That's what I was thinking," Mike said. "So, what else?" he asked.

Patty poked her head in through the hanging tarps. "Hey," she said loudly. "There's a truck out here."

Everyone grabbed up their weapons and rushed out into the snow.

~ Dark ~

The truck was idling low, stopped about two hundred yards down the road back towards the area where the restaurant was and the road swung back out to the square. The headlights were on, high beams lighting up the roadway.

Mike looked at Candace.

"Just drove in there a few minutes ago and stopped. Hasn't done anything since. It's only been a few minutes though." She looked at her watch. "Maybe three. That little."

A few of the others went back inside to get jackets for the cold. Ronnie came back out and handed Mike his own.

"Thanks, Ronnie." Mike watched the idling truck where it sat.

Although no longer horizontal from the wind, the snow was still coming down hard. The wind still gusted occasionally, but the storm was nowhere near as fierce as it had been throughout the day. There was maybe two feet of fresh snow on the level, drifts well over two feet on the roadway between the cave and the idling truck.

The headlights suddenly snapped off. It took a few moments for their eyes to adjust to the dimmer night light. The engine remained running. The driver's door opened, and someone stepped out into the night.

"Don't want no trouble," a male voice called out.

"You armed?" Mike called back.

"Isn't everyone?" The voice called back.

"How many are you?" Mike called back.

"Just one. Just me for now," The voice called back.

"Come on then," Candace called. She unsnapped the leather straps that held the Forty Fives in their holsters, pulled them free one by one, thumbed off the safeties and returned them to their holsters. She seemed so calm. Patty followed suit and then moved sideways and a little away from Candace, making it clear she'd follow whatever Candace wanted to do. Candace looked over and nodded at her. Some sort of unspoken instructions passed between them as Mike watched. Patty slipped a couple feet further to the west and stopped, feet planted wide apart, her eyes on the darkened roadway. Mike turned his own attention back to the road.

"I'm not looking to get shot," The voice said.

"Neither are we," Candace called back smoothly. "And, we aren't looking to shoot you."

Mike stepped closer to Ronnie. "If it comes to shooting it looks like Candace and Patty got a plan. Leave it to them. I guess we'll cover them," He whispered.

Ronnie nodded as he stepped up closer to Mike.

"He must have pulled the fuse in the truck. The light never came on when he opened the door," Mike said.

"Saw that," Ronnie agreed. "Says he planned on this."

Mike nodded.

The mans shadow made its way along the roadway through the blowing snow, and as he came closer they could see the outline of a rifle held loosely in the mans left hand.

The dog walked stiff legged past Mike and Ronnie and began to growl deep in his throat.

"Jesus," the man said suddenly. He stopped in the road. "You got a dog?"

"Easy Dog," Sandy said. The dog turned and looked back at Sandy where she stood in the shadows of the cave entrance, looked back toward the road and the man, then turned and trotted over to Sandy.

"Dog won't hurt you," Sandy said.

Mike watched the rifle outline, which stayed pointed at the ground. The man stepped forward; close enough to be seen through the heavy snow, maybe seventy feet away in the shadows, Mike thought. He was sure Candace would have no trouble hitting him if she had to.

"Maybe we could step inside?" The man asked.

"Maybe," Mike allowed. "Why'd you leave your truck running if you planned on coming inside?"

"What's that got to do with anything?" The man asked.

"With the truck running, quiet as it is, we'd never hear anyone coming on foot," Mike answered.

"Why'd I do that?" The man asked.

"I didn't say you would. I said if that situation occurred, we'd never hear a thing."

"Not much with trust, are you people?"

"Nope," Tom answered quietly. "We're not."

The man paused, then turned around and walked back to the truck and shut it off. Again the light stayed off as the man opened and closed the door. He trotted back to them, the rifle still loosely clutched in his left hand. "Good?" He asked.

"Better," Tom agreed. "But that doesn't tell us what you want."

"Just a talk, catch us both up so to speak." The man answered.

Candace stepped forward from the shadows. Patty watched her closely. "I'd like that weapon," she said.

"Why's that?" The man asked. He stepped forward a little more. He wore a heavy jacket, a hooded sweatshirt under that with the hood pulled over his head, tall, thin, face cast in shadow. Not much else to see.

"We've been through some stuff. I don't want that weapon in your hands. You want to come in, give up the rifle. If not..." She didn't finish.

"Kind of pushy aren't you?" He asked.

"Want to go that way, you can get right back in your truck," Mike said. "This is our place. You came here. You came here with a weapon. You seem on edge. Some way or another, you disconnected the interior light in your truck so it wouldn't come on when you open the door, like you didn't want us to see you, or maybe the inside of the truck. Maybe both for all I know."

Mike walked closer to the man as he spoke. His own rifle, he had grabbed one of the assault rifles, held in both hands. The index finger of one hand rested lightly against the trigger guard, caressing the cold steel of the trigger, feeling its curved shape as it slipped past the ridges of skin on the edge of his finger. It made the rifle feel alive to him. The other hand was wrapped tightly around the stock. "You don't look stupid, but it must be that you are. Or you think we are. If you've been close by, you know there's been trouble. One of ours was killed a few days back, and you want to talk like a smart ass to my woman."

The man stayed silent for a moment. When Mike had finished talking, he had continued to walk until he was no more than five feet from the man, facing him, his eyes hard.

"I took the fuse out. Otherwise, every time I open that door at night, I'm a sitting duck. Maybe it looks another way to you," he paused. "I didn't know she was your woman. Not trying to make excuses. I'm not used to being talked down to by a woman, I guess."

Mike saw Candace lean back into the shadows once more, her hands fall to her sides, the guns within easy reach. It was clear how the man's words had made her feel. His reaction was not much different. Ronnie stepped forward and rested one hand on Patty's arm. She had taken a step forward.

The man cleared his throat, oblivious to the drama playing out around him. "I came to ask your plans. What's next? There's six of us, none in the truck, all close by. I'd be stupid to come here without them close by."

No matter how Mike looked at the situation, he didn't like it. He was uncomfortable with it, the man, his motivations... whatever they might be. He didn't want to let the man inside to see how the cave was set up. If he wanted to join us, he told himself, he would've already asked us. And we wouldn't have him anyway. No, this is something else, he told himself.

"We can talk here. There are children inside," Mike said.

"You're not inviting me inside?"

"No," Candace said from the shadows.

"That so?" The man asked.

No one answered.

"We knew you had trouble," The man said at last. "We've had some trouble ourselves. You came out alright."

"And?" Mike asked.

"And, I'm just making conversation," the man answered. He sighed. "Okay, we're trying to get ourselves in shape for next winter. You got this big cave. It's easy for you. We're in an old abandoned factory up on... Well, forget where. It don't matter. What matters is we're trying to look ahead. We don't want trouble. We got gas to trade. Fuel oil, good for heaters. We can find other things too."

"There's gas free for the taking everywhere," Bob said. "Same as the other stuff you mentioned."

"Not really," the man replied. "At least not out State Street there isn't."

"Plenty of gas stations out there," Bob disagreed.

"Didn't say they weren't there. They're ours though." The man said.

"Really?" Bob said.

"Really," The man replied.

"And?" Mike asked.

"Well, you got vehicles, you'll need gas."

"Uh huh, and what's it you're looking for in trade?" Mike asked.

"Listen," The man said. "I see your setup here. It looks good. I see this is your show. I'm not trying to step in either. I run my own show too... really."

"What do you want?" Mike asked, losing patience with the man.

"Women... I need a few women. We talked to Sin about that woman that was with him and he was saying..."

Mike cut him off with a wave of his hands, but Tom spoke over him. "What?" Mike asked.

"You knew that Sin guy?" Tom asked.

Candace stepped out of the shadows. Patty moved away from Ronnie. Both of them walked to within a few feet of the man and stared him down.

The man nodded at Tom's question. Tom also moved closer to the man.

Tom swore lightly, and his rifle started to come up. Mike reached out and lightly rested one hand on the barrel. Annie spoke from the darkness. No one had known she had come out.

"Sin planned to trade me to him. I remember him," She sounded on the verge of tears. Nell rushed from where she had been standing over to where Annie now stepped from the shadows.

Mike watched Candace's hand come up and then drop onto the butt of the Forty Five closest to him.

"So, you think we'd trade that little girl for some... what, gasoline?" Mike asked. He seemed to be the only one who could still speak. Everyone else had fallen into a hard silence.

Candace released a deep breath, turned and went to Annie and Nell. She squatted in front of Annie and looked into her eyes, freezing everything and everyone else out.

"Honey," She said softly, much more softly than she felt. "That man is not going to touch you. Not going to, you see?" She waited until Annie nodded through the tears that had begun to spill over the bottoms of her lids and course down her cheeks. "Oh, Baby, don't cry," Candace said. She reached out and pulled Annie into her arms. She held her as she sobbed against her breast. "I promise, Annie. I promise," she pulled away and looked in her eyes. "Okay?"

Annie nodded. Candace raised her eyes to Nell. "Nelly, take her inside, would you?" She reached forward, kissed Annie, hugged her once more and then waited until Nell took her inside, past the hanging mass of tarps and blankets.

Tim stood glaring at the stranger from the side of the cliff face where he had been standing next to Annie.

"You good, Tim?" Ronnie asked now.

"I can't believe that guy came here to hurt Annie. I hate him," Tim said.

"Now wait a minute," The man said. "I didn't come here to hurt anyone at all."

"No. Just come to buy a woman, a little girl, like you would a dog," Candace said. She was walking slowly back toward the man as she spoke.

"It's a different world, Miss," The man said. He looked at Mike. "I thought that some of you folks saw the way it is."

"You're in this with Death?" Mike asked.

"I never said that. I see him... I've seen him. I..." He began to stutter.

"Lately?" Tom asked.

"Well," The man said.

"Since the murder?" Patty asked. Fury in her voice.

"Well... Yeah, maybe," The man finally answered.

"Get out," Candace said. She had walked to within a few inches of the man. Her eyes were unblinking. Her left hand was closed around the butt of one Forty five. Her voice sounded low, controlled, but Mike could feel the emotion on the air like electricity before a thunderstorm.

Before the man could speak again the gun was out of her holster and in her hand. "Get out."

"Listen, I..." The man started.

"It's loaded, the safety's off, get the fuck out," Candace said softly.

The man hesitated for a second. Candace began to raise the gun. He turned and began to walk quickly back towards his truck. "Wouldn't shoot me in the back, would you?" He asked in a high, crazy voice.

"I don't know," Candace said. "And leave the truck where it is. Walk out."

"That's my truck, Bitch!" The man stopped and began to turn.

"Not anymore," Candace said. She sighted with the pistol. The man turned and walked past the truck, disappearing in to the storm.

Candace shook with anger. Mike pulled her into his arms. There were tears in her eyes. He held her as she shook. He caught Ronnie's eye and nodded towards the truck. Ronnie nodded and he and Patty walked off towards the truck. Bob and Tom walked along beside them.

A few minutes later, the trucks lights came on, the engine started and the truck rumbled the short distance down the road to where Mike still stood holding Candace. Candace pulled away as the truck pulled up. Ronnie jumped down from the cab; Patty came around and stood next to Candace.

Ronnie and Bob held out two of the carbines with the clips like the ones they had taken from Sin and Death.

"Could have been someone else in that truck," Ronnie said. "Or else why would they need two of these?"

Bob nodded. "Could have done a quick fade."

"I guess we better keep a hard watch tonight," Mike said. "No telling what they might do." He bent and whispered in Candace's ear, "Go inside?"

She nodded "I'll be back in a little while," Mike said. The three men nodded.

Candace ~ March 21st

A long, bad day. I almost lost it today. Maybe I did a little. There are men here trading women, children! They think they own them, really; that's what it comes down to. It made me understand stories my father's granny used to tell me about the slave days, and it made me feel every day of my life where someone has hated me because of the color of my skin or the shape of my eyes, or because I'm a woman. And this man wants the world to be that way. Jesus, I was so disgusted. And he was with the others, the ones who had Annie and the two little ones. God only knows what that girl has been through, but she refuses to talk about it. I know that too. I've been there too. Fear? Shame? Both?

I am so fucking mad about it. I wanted to kill that man. I wanted to do it. And at one point I think he was going to say something else that would have pushed me over the edge, then changed his mind. Lucky. Smart for him. I was right on the edge at that point. I wanted to kill him because I know what would've happened to Annie, what may have already happened to Annie. And I was mad, mad after five years because of what happened to me.

Mike held me. I couldn't tell him. I will though, or maybe I'll let him read this. He's smart though. He probably knows, or has a good idea. I pray to God I never see that man again.

March 22nd

Mike awoke with Candace curled into him. He lay quietly for a few minutes listening to the silence in the cave, holding her loosely, listening to her quiet, slow breathing. He closed his arms around her and pulled her closer to him, stroking her hair lightly, feeling the warm press of her body against his own. She mumbled in her sleep, pressed her face more deeply into his chest and quieted back into sleep once more. Mike lay still, content to hold her, feel her body against his own. He was in no hurry to get up and get the day started. It could get started on its own, he told himself.

He glanced at the hanging collection of tarps and blankets. No light seeped around the edges, so it was not sunrise yet. There was no rush.

He had only spent a few short minutes with her the night before when they had come in. She had spent most of that time talking to Annie. He had finally left the two of them alone. It seemed to be what Annie needed. He had gone back outside where Tom, Ronnie, Bob and Patty were keeping watch.

"She okay?" Patty asked. Mike had told her she seemed to be and that she was talking to Annie right then. It was clear to Mike that Patty wished she were inside talking to Candace and Annie, so Mike had told her to go, that he'd be happy to stand watch for a while.

Awhile turned into a four hour shift with Ronnie, Tom and Tim. Bob had gone back in shortly after Mike had come out. They had talked on and off through the hours, but most of the time they spent looking around themselves at the darkness, even watching the cliffs above them that led up to a large, paved parking area at the back of the public square.

Twice in the distance they had heard a motor running. But it had faded in and out so quickly that they couldn't place the direction it had come from. Ronnie thought it had come from someplace out State Street. Tim was sure it came from Washington Street which ran out of the opposite side of the square from where they were. Once they had heard voices raised in anger, or distress, it was hard to tell. But nothing came near them during the night.

He had finished the four hour shift, and when he had come back in, Candace had been asleep. She had awakened briefly when he had crawled in beside her, told him she loved him and then fallen back asleep with her head resting against the rise of his chest just as she was now. He had lain awake then for a long time, just holding her, stroking her hair, unwilling to fall asleep. Now he was unwilling to get up and start the day. It was the same thing. The same feeling of the night before, an overwhelming need to hold her, to let the day go wherever it might go on its own.

As he lay holding her, he realized the cave wasn't silent after all. It was quiet though. Small noises from the other people as they slept: the rustle of blankets, soft breathing, the quiet sounds of someone getting up and moving around, softer sounds, sounds he couldn't quite identify. They were comforting sounds. He was completely content to stay right where he was and listen to them.

There was a little light from the fire, really only small curls of flame casting just enough light to make out the contours of the walls and the other sleepers.

Sometimes, like this, he could feel the weight of responsibility on his shoulders like some impossibly heavy load, something he could not ever hope to bear, and he felt like an imposter. He was no leader. He had no idea why anyone would want to make him one or listen to anything he had to say. But they did. And not only did they listen, they were prepared to follow too. And he had no more idea than anyone else where they should go, what the future held. None at all.

No idea if there would be other people, a place to live, food, more crazies like they had run into here. He felt as if he knew absolutely nothing at all, yet here he was responsible for fourteen people. Fourteen people! The number alone made him feel panic, and what if what the others thought was true? What if they did pick up others along the way? What then? Could he be responsible for fifteen? Twenty? Thirty? Where would it end? And what would they think if they knew he was not as calm, cool and collected as everyone else thought he was?

Candace moved, one hand tracing along his side. Her body pressing more firmly against him. He felt her lips against his ear as she whispered to him.

"Make love to me."

Tom and Bob had both made jokes about learning to make love in near silence. He pushed the thoughts out of his head, lowered his mouth on Candace's own and pulled her closer to him. Candace pulled him over on to her, and he quit worrying and lost himself in the moment, when he awakened again it was much later. Candace was gone, the smell of coffee was on the air and hunger was gnawing at his belly. A dull gray light was seeping around the edges of the tarps and blankets that hung over the entry way.

He lay for a few minutes thinking about how much he loved Candace, wondering how funny it was that he had lost so much yet gained so much, something he had never had and had been in no hurry to go out and find. He wondered how he had ever managed to live his life without her in it. He wondered over how deep his love was in such a short period. It seemed like it was just yesterday when he had first met her. He had remembered how he had never really found tattoos attractive on a woman, but she had this tribal thing that started on her left hand, wrapped around that wrist and then sleeved her arm, disappearing under her shirt sleeve. It was one of the first things he had noticed, and when she had been reaching for something he had seen another piece of the same work that came down across her flat stomach and slipped below the waist band of her jeans. While he had been wondering if it was a second piece or part of the same piece, she had caught him looking. Her eyes had settled on his own and the next thing he knew he was thinking about her in an entirely different way. Thinking about making love to her, about being with her. Thinking that could never happen, Tom was obviously interested. And then she had walked over and changed his entire life.

He couldn't be without her now. The man he was becoming had a lot to do with her, probably would have never existed without her, and he had never even known she existed, never even known that love could be like that. The entire world was destroyed, but he had found himself. And she loved him too. He could feel it, see it. It was every bit as strong as what he felt for her. Not clingy, just real. Total.

"Hey," Candace said. His eyes had slipped closed; he opened them to see her standing over him, a cup of coffee in one hand.

"Coffee," He said.

"Good," she said. "It's alive. Were you going to sleep the day away?" She handed him the coffee carefully as he sat up.

"Something wore me out," He grinned. "You okay?"

"More than okay," She answered. She leaned over and kissed him.

~

The snow had finally stopped falling sometime after Mike had come off shift. A blanket of wet, slushy snow covered the ground outside the cave. Mike examined the truck that had been left from the night before. It was a new sport utility, but someone had put more than a little work into it: a lift kit, larger tires, brush guards. It had much more ground clearance than any of their trucks.

"This looks as though it could go anywhere," Mike said.

Bob and Tom were going over it.

"It could, nearly. And whoever did it did a good job. They must have a garage somewhere with a pit. And they had to have done it all with standard stuff too, no air tools," Bob said. He looked and sounded impressed.

"Changing suspension parts without air tools?" Mike asked.

"Not hard," Bob said. "Also, it's a new vehicle. The nuts and bolts aren't rusted on yet. A couple of years up here and they would be a lot harder to turn. But, now? No big deal. That's what they make breaker bars and three quarter inch socket sets for," he finished.

"You know," Tom said, "If we did this to a couple of our trucks, we wouldn't have to worry about leaving them if we got stuck, or drove a rock through an oil pan. Those things wouldn't happen."

"We could drive around almost anything," Bob added.

Mike nodded. "Yeah, but how long does something like this take to do?"

Bob was staring at the cave. "You know. Even lifted, these trucks could fit right in there," he said.

"What?" Mike asked.

"What?" Bob asked. They both laughed.

"I asked how long it would take to do this to our vehicles," Mike said.

"Oh, well, Tom's a good mechanic too, so there are two of us, maybe a few other pairs of hands that have some skill attached to them. We could do one a day, easy," He said.

"So would that set your mind at rest that they wouldn't bog us down or get stuck on us?" Mike asked.

Bob nodded. "All we need is parts and tools. See?" he squatted, motioned Mike down, and pointed at the rear suspension. "The back lifts are mainly blocks... Re-arched springs... Swap out the shocks for larger, longer travel units... New U bolts..."

"Bob... you lost me, Man," Mike said.

Bob grinned. "The answer is yes. It would set my mind at ease. It would allow us to go virtually anywhere. And, it wouldn't be tough to do the work at all. We could get all the parts today. Want to do all of them?"

"Probably should, shouldn't we?" Mike asked.

Bob nodded.

~

They spent the rest of the morning and the afternoon picking up the parts that Bob and Tom needed and working off Jan's master list at the same time. The strip malls out Washington Street and the auto garages at the dealerships had everything they needed. They left the other pickup trucks behind and took three nearly identical G.M.C. pickups they had found on one of the lots. Bob felt it would be easier to have three identical trucks to work on. Once they worked out what to do on the first truck, the next two would be easy. On top of that, the three Suburban's were Chevy products, General Motors. G.M.C. was also General Motors and Bob felt that would be the best way to proceed. The same motors, transmissions and nearly all the other parts too. The trucks could swap a lot of their parts, they would have interchangeable parts. It made good sense. They could carry spare parts that would fit any of the trucks.

They took three trucks wherever they went: One truck with three people in it waited outside while the people from the other two trucks went in to fill the lists. The ones in the first truck kept the clip rifles at the ready. They encountered no problems.

Just before evening they called it a day and headed back to the cave. There were three on guard duty there too with the remaining clip rifle. They spent some time clearing the entire area near the front entrance of the cave so that the following morning Bob and Tom could begin working on the trucks.

Tim was impressed with the size of the tires they were going to fit to the trucks. Bob promised to show him how they would fit the tires to the new rims without a tire machine.

"I grew up on a farm," Bob had told him. "We did it all the time. In fact, I didn't realize there was a machine to do that until I was out of my teens and living off the farm," he'd said.

"No," Tim had said. "You're kidding?"

"Nope, I'm not," Bob had told him.

Jan spent the evening checking off items from her master lists, and making new lists for the next day.

By evening, all but the snow in the corners and cracks that the sun couldn't reach was gone, melted. The night was clear and the stars shone brightly, diamond chips in the inky blackness.

~

"It bothers me more than a little that they haven't come back," Mike said to Candace, Nell and Ronnie. The four of them had the watch up to midnight.

"I can see that. It bothers me also," Ronnie said.

"Maybe they're scared," Nell added.

"I would've said no, that they don't seem like the type that could be frightened off, but if they're with the other two, then they've told them how Sin was shot down. The one that came here got a lesson I'm sure he won't soon forget. They know we're not bluffing. And, I'm sure they're afraid of what Annie might say. She did too. She had a lot to say, if only to Patty and me. So I imagine they're scared to death. But I don't think that will hold them forever. Maybe for a while. Maybe long enough for us to be gone by the time they decide to come at us... retaliate," Candace finished.

"I hope that's true, Babe," Mike said. "I really do."

"Yeah. That would be good," Ronnie agreed.

Nell was looking at Candace. She caught her eye. "Bad?" She asked.

"Yeah," Candace said. "Bad."

"Fuckers. They better not come back," Nell said.

Sandy ~ March 22nd

The days are moving. I've decided to contribute to this diary-journal idea as well. It does make sense. It's something to show the children. There is no world without them.

We have Brian and Janelle, and Ann is still a child. Really Tim is as well. But Brian and Janelle are our hope right now, and the ones that come when we build a new world for them, a new Nation.

We know we have so much opposition to overcome, but we will gather as we go and build ourselves back up. At one time the tribes of the Nation were spread across this country. They will be again. I believe that.

It hurts me that some people can be so cruel towards us. I mean Candace. Petty. Cruel. Mean. You would think that this world had mocked her, used her, every bit as much as the rest of us. You would think that would make her see this clearly. But, she doesn't. She doesn't see it at all that I can see. How can that be? How can anyone who is not white not be affected by this white world? She should be on our side. She should be an asset. She should be with us. I'm confused about why she isn't, and hurt as well. I can't do anything about it except stay away from her. I can't say anything to her. She jumps all over me when I do. Maybe she hates me? Maybe she sees me as the enemy somehow? I don't know. I just don't know.

Bob says that somewhere on the other side of the Smokey Mountains we'll find the land we need, want. There is so much forever wild land there that we should be able to reestablish ourselves easily. The land should not be poisoned. It should be waiting for us.

He says the climate will be warmer there. But not too warm. Easier than life here. He says things have changed. The climate will be different. I believe him.

We're hoping for more people as we go. Bob says we'll have thousands eventually. Thousands. It's hard to picture. He doesn't know how many we'll pick up on the way there, but he believes the others, Mike, Ronnie, Tom, Patty and yes, Candace too, will join us. He believes they will come around. I hope so. I'm discouraged by Candace's attitude though, yet at the same time I'm encouraged by the opportunities that lie ahead.

Nell ~ March 22nd

Another first for me. My first world ending. My first crack at life without a man telling me what to do. And my first journal. I said Journal, Sandy said diary and looked at me like I was crazy. Why should it be diary? Why do we get hung up on things like that? I guess I know that reason.

The other girls say these are for the children. I have no man. I see Candace with Mike or Patty with Ronnie, and I think that is rare. I've never known love like that, not for any man anyway. I got married because I was expected to get married.

I remember my mother saying, "You think I don't know, but I know. You think I don't see, but I see." Of course, I denied it. But my mother knew. She told me it was hard enough to be Puerto Rican, everything was against us, but Puerto Rican and a lesbian? No. She wouldn't stand for it. She knew.

So I married and I hated it. And that was about all that there was to it. Hate. Despair. Depression... All parts of hate. Hate from others. Hate for self. Hate. But now the world has ended and everything is possible. Would I have a child? I would sleep with a man like Mike or Ronnie to have a child. But I won't ever again take a man to be my lover.

It's funny, but I feel so free. It's also funny, but I wonder about Sandy. She looks at me sometimes. I've seen her. I haven't caught her, you know, as in let her know that I know she's looking. But I may... probably will. The only thing is, she has this dream. She wants to live in the middle of nowhere. I don't want to live in the middle of nowhere. But, I told myself not long ago that I would wait here for my husband. I told myself that and I intended to do it. Well, that changed. I'm leaving, so, maybe I'll live where my feet take me. Maybe I'll just live and let life take care of itself. I wonder who said that? I wonder if it matters? I don't think so, as long as I believe it. I could have love. Where I live and what I do would become secondary to that.

I guess this must be a shock, or will be a shock, or will it? Isn't it only my own sensibilities of what is taboo, what life is that my mother instilled in me, that makes me think that someone who read this would be shocked? I think so. I think other people do as they please. I think they live their lives, and I haven't been living my life at all.

I would just like to be held the way I've seen others held, or hold. I would just like to be made love to with the passion I've heard between Mike and Candace, or Janet and Rob, Patty and Ronnie. So I think about it. And I see Sandy looking at me, and I think I'll have to take the chance and catch her. Maybe it will make us both happy.

~The North side~

She slipped from the shadows and ran along from house to house until she reached the end of the block. She had expected to hear the gunshots behind her, expected to find herself falling to the cold ground, a bullet in her back, but the bullet never came. Randy must have stayed asleep. She had put a handful of sleeping pills in his food, mixed them right in with the canned spaghetti, and he had wolfed them right down. Never had a clue.

She stopped at the end of the street, caught her breath leaning against the side of an old pickup truck and then took off once more at a fast walk.

She was halfway through the block when she realized someone was following her, and her heart sank like a stone. Randy. Had to be. She stopped and peered back through the shadows and dark. The moonlight was bright, but it was still not easy to see. She thought she saw movement at the corner of a house two houses back. She screwed up her courage.

"Randy... Randy don't be sore... Don't..." She stopped and squinted into the gloom. Two people had come from around the edge of that house. Two, and neither of them looked anything like Randy. She swore under her breath and turned to run.

He caught her under the arms. He must have been standing right behind her all along, she realized.

"Hey... Hey, there's no..." She stopped mid word and began to scream at the rotted face that angled down at her own face. His hands clawed at her throat, closing off her screams and then his teeth found her and he began to tear and bite.
CHAPTER SEVEN

War

~March 23rd~

The cave was up early the next morning. It seemed as though everybody had some task to complete, some job to fill the day.

The open space of the large limestone cave accommodated all the people and all the supplies and possessions they had accumulated over the short period they had been together. Now it also held the first truck that Bob and Tom were going to convert. Everybody found a reason to stop and look at what they were doing as they went about their chores.

Bob and Tom would be left behind for the next several days as the others continued to search out items on Jan's lists as well as a few parts Bob and Tom had been unable to find.

Mike was working on getting some coffee into him when Tim and Annie came back into the cave in a hurry, looking around. When Tim's eyes fell on Mike he headed straight for him. Mike glanced from Tim and Annie to the covered entrance way but no one else came through it. "Ronnie wants you," Was all Tim said. His frightened eyes said more than his words. Everyone had seen Tim and Annie rush into the cave and they looked at Mike now, wondering what had caused them to hurry in. Mike shrugged his shoulders and headed for the entrance way, Candace and Patty behind him. Everyone else paused in what they were doing; waiting to learn what was going on.

Mike stepped outside into the early morning quiet. Ronnie,

Nell and Sandy were staring down the river road toward the old restaurant that graced the end of the street. Mike walked up, but before he reached them, a volley of gunshots reached his ears. It sounded to him as though they had come from lower State Street, just off the square, very close by.

The sound of a revving engine reached his ears at nearly the same time, and a speeding truck raced by the end of the road about a quarter mile away. The shots came heavy and hard. It sounded like a war zone.

"How long's this been going on?"

"About fifteen minutes or so. That's the third truck that's gone by the end of the street," Nell said.

The gunfire sounded even louder if that were possible. Squealing tires on pavement, straining engines.

"The gunfire is new. The trucks have been going by though. Somebody's at somebody," Ronnie said. "Maybe with those people we had the run in with."

The sound of a crash came to their ears followed by what sounded almost exactly like machine gun fire, a steady, heavy crack, and that was followed by what sounded like another heavy crash; and then another heavy explosion shook the earth. A fire ball lit up the sky towards lower State Street., possibly closer even than Mike had thought, just off the square. The sound of the explosion was deafening. The ground continued to shake.

"Okay!" Mike yelled to get his voice above the gunfire and screaming engines. Everyone had come outside in the last few minutes. He had no doubt they had both heard and felt the explosions inside the cave. "Get back inside. Everybody except Bob, Tom, Candace and Patty. You get the clip rifles, shotguns and the deer rifles too... and ammo." He paused and looked around. No one had moved yet. "Nell, Sandy, start moving the trucks. They can't get in here from the other end. Run these down and block the road."

He began walking rapidly back towards the cave entrance as he spoke. Nell stayed with him, Sandy hesitated only briefly and then sprinted to catch up with the two of them. "Wait until we have firepower to cover you. Drive those trucks about..." Mike stopped and his eyes shot rapidly up and down the road, gauging the distance. "About 200 feet down from the end... where that little cliff juts out," he motioned with one hand. Candace came back and tossed him a clip rifle.

"Turn them sideways, block the road. Let's go." He sprinted towards the trucks with them, split off and wound up with Nell. Candace climbed into the other truck with Sandy. A few seconds later, both trucks were moving fast. Mike watched the roads and the cliffs as they went. It seemed as though the people who were fighting were too caught up with killing each other to worry about them. Fine. Let it be that way. But when they did remember them, the road would be blocked, and there would be no easy way for them to get to them.

Nell cut the truck hard left. Sandy, who had been watching, cut her own truck in and the two trucks nearly collided as they came to a stop blocking the road completely side to side.

They jumped from the trucks and found that Tom and Ronnie were less than a hundred feet away covering them. Mike and Candace put Nell and Sandy between them, covering them as they ran back towards the cave.

At the mouth of the cave, Mike took a second to gather his thoughts as everyone gathered around him. The sound of the fight on the square and lower State Street was louder than it had been. More gunfire, more explosions. Mike leaned towards the three men.

"If they turn down this road, open up on them. Don't wait. Light them up!" he turned to Ronnie. "We're going up."

"Up?"

Mike nodded. "Up to the parking lot above the cave. We can climb up quick enough from down here. There are some scrub trees, bushes... Should be good cover. We'll watch from there. Stop them if they try to come at us that way. You got this. Nobody else, you." He leveled his eyes on Ronnie's own. Ronnie nodded. Mike looked around.

"Lilly... Tim," They were both standing near the entrance to the cave. "You two check on Annie and the two little ones."

Another explosion rocked the ground. Rocks and loose gravel sprayed down from the cliffs and the parking lot above the cave. A pair of vehicles, chasing each other, went roaring past the end of the road heading for the damaged bridge and the north side of the city. They exchanged gunfire as they went. Just after they passed the mouth of the road, the sound of screaming tires came to them and the sound of one of the vehicles as it crashed.

Mike turned back to Tim and Lilly, "Then come back here. Candace and I are climbing to the top. You're covering us as we go. Make sure no one gets in back of us, sneaks up on us." He looked at them. "You can do that?"

"Yeah, I can," Lilly told him. She seemed so calm it spooked

Mike. Tim echoed the same sentiment, and then both of them turned away and raced inside of the cave.

Mike leaned back against the cliff face and watched the end of the road. Their four remaining trucks were now parked down the road, closing it off. Bob, Nell, Patty and Sandy crouched behind the trucks, using them for cover. Another vehicle went flying past the end of the road heading into the square. A small car of some sort, Mike saw as it flew past. The sound of the car locking up its brakes came to his ears no more than a split second after it passed the end of the road. The transmission whined and the cars engine screamed. A second later the car flew back past the end of the road in reverse, locked up the tires again, and turned onto the river road, two young men hanging out of the back windows. What looked like wire stock machine pistols in their hands.

Before the car had rolled more than ten feet onto the River Road, Patty and Bob were up and firing. Tom came up next; Candace socketed a clip rifle into her shoulder and opened up. Mike raised his own rifle, but the car was disintegrating before his eyes before he ever pulled the trigger.

The windshield starred and then blew inward. The two young men who had been hanging out the side windows of the car preparing to shoot never got the chance. The car suddenly veered left, accelerated hard and smashed into the cliff face. Everybody ducked low below the trucks. Mike, Candace, Tim and Lilly threw themselves to the ground. Flames shot up the cliff face. A second after that the gas tank blew.

The car lifted completely off the ground. The concussion from the explosion took Mike's hearing for the next two or three minutes. The car crashed back down, burying its nose in the dirt at the base of the cliffs. A body flew from the interior and lay burning on the ground. The car jumped back up as something else beneath it exploded, came back down, skittered to the left and landed on the burning body, snuffing the flames out. One of the rear tires blew with a loud wham, then another one went, and the car dropped closer to the ground at the rear.

Tim grabbed his sleeve from behind, startling Mike momentarily.

He and Lilly stood, one holding a deer rifle, the other holding a Forty Five caliber pistol. Candace headed for the wall. Mike glanced over at Ronnie so he would know they were going.

Two minutes of easy climbing, and they were in the scrub brush at the back of the parking lot.

From the square side of the parking lot it probably looked as though there were nothing at all at the back of the parking lot. Fine, Mike thought. He only hoped none of them knew what was below the parking lot, but he didn't believe it. Anyone who grew up here knew what was at the edge of this parking lot. Anyone here now knew they were in the cave down on the Old River Road. Mike believed it was only a matter of time before they came for them. When they did, he would be here waiting.

Before the thoughts were completely formed in his head, three people came running straight toward them where they stood within the scrub brush. Four heavily armed men were pursuing them. Firing as they ran. The three runners appeared to be unarmed. Mike stepped from the screening scrub. He had given it no thought at all. He stepped nearly into the path of the lead runner. Her mouth flew open in surprise; a small spatter of blood tattooed one of her cheeks. Mike stepped easily around her, took aim at the first of the four chasers and shot him just as he was slowing down to bring his own rifle up. To his side Candace crouched and began popping off at the other three as they continued running, perfectly aimed shots. She took out two. Lilly dropped the last one. The lead man's momentum carried him forward another fifteen feet before he realized he was dead and fell end over end onto the blacktop.

One of the remaining chasers managed to pop off one last shot before he went down. The last runner collapsed in a heap. It was over in less than a second. Five people lay dead. The lead runner looked around in wonder, saw the last runner laying dead and began to cry hard, her chest hitching as she tried to hold the tears back. Candace stepped forward and grabbed her as she stumbled. Lilly helped Mike grab the last woman. They faded back into the brush not knowing if anyone else might be close by or not.

"It's okay," Candace said. "It's really okay." She pulled the one woman close to her and held her as she shook. Lilly held the other one. They were both breathing heavy, sobbing. The one Candace held struggled to catch her breath. She turned to Mike.

"You," she managed. "You're from the cave?" She turned to include Candace in her statement. Turning in her arms. Too beaten to struggle free if the answer should be no, trusting that Candace would not hurt her.

"Yeah," Candace told her. "Yeah." She pulled her close, holding her as the woman began to sag towards the ground. The panic and fear left her face.

"Thank God," she breathed. She turned around, still allowing Candace to hold her, looking back through the trees into the parking lot. "We... We were trying to get here... To here... You..." her voice faded as she saw the other woman's body crumpled on the ground. "Fuck," she breathed. "Fuckers," she screamed.

Candace pulled her closer and held her as she cried, whispering to her, calming her, pulling her further into the scrub brush.

Mike and Tim both scanned the area. There was gunfire, but it was from farther away, the other side of the square, hidden by the toppled and crumbling buildings. Mike looked out at the machine pistols and ammo the four men had been carrying.

"Hey," Mike said. Tim looked over at him, his eyes round and hard. He's too young for this, Mike thought. Too young. "Cover me? I'm going to get that ammo. Those machine pistols."

Tim looked out over the parking lot. His eyes trying to take in everything. He looked back at Mike and nodded. The forty five in his hand came back up and he turned back to scan the parking lot as Mike ran out on to the pavement. He was back in just over a minute with all four Machine Pistols. Ammo belts looped over his shoulders, looking like some strange refugee of war, he supposed. The self image made him laugh, but he choked it off before it could become much more than a ghost of a smile on his lips. He tossed two of the guns to Tim and then faded back into the scrub brush where Candace and Lilly waited with the two women.

~ Sudden Quiet ~

The first skirmish lasted the better part of an hour, and then, as quickly as it had started, the gunfire fell off. Cars and trucks both raced by on the Old River Road heading back across the bridge there to the north side of the city, a bridge, Mike thought, that was about to fall into the river, or so it seemed from looking at it. Crumbling supports, buckled decking, but they were running back and forth across it like it was as good as the day it was built.

Other vehicles raced back up State Street. Several burned out vehicles continued to spew dirty, black smoke into the air. There were too many burning wrecks to count scattered around the Public Square and the streets that led away from it.

Patty and Bob scouted down to the still burning car that had turned onto the road, a Nissan it turned out, and picked up the two machine pistols that lay close by it.

Ronnie and Tom moved two of their own trucks back to the bare area in front of the cave as Nell drove the truck they had appropriated the night before down to within a hundred feet of the burning Nissan, turned it sideways blocking the road and left it. Patty and Bob trotted along the side of the road, covering Nell as she parked the truck, and then came back with her until they reached the safety of the cave. The other trucks that had been moved were pulled back into a V that further blocked the road, but mainly provided a barrier to shoot from. It was where they had taken out the Nissan from.

Mike came to the back edge of the scrub brush and called down softly. Annie came from the shadows on the side of the cave and looked up expectantly. "Get Patty or Tom," Mike told her. Annie nodded and was off before Mike could think to say anything else.

Patty and Tom both appeared a few moments later.

"Everything okay?" Mike asked.

Patty nodded along with Tom. "You?" she asked.

"I got two women up here. I'll explain it later; in fact I really don't know all of it except they were headed for us when we stepped into a mess up here... Or they did, or we both did..." He paused and rubbed the bridge of his nose for a second. "I'm going to send them down, okay?"

Patty nodded again. "Send them, Mike," she said, but it ended up being easier to say than it turned out to do. Neither of the women wanted to attempt climbing down the cliff face. Of all the things they had collected or had in the cave, they had no rope. Tom scouted further down the road, checking the cliff face.

When Tom had been a kid, the Old River Road had been in daily use and was then connected to one of the bridges. He thought that he remembered another old road that came into Old River Road. It was an old blocked off road even then. The road had come down from the back of the parking lot, most probably long before it had been made into a parking lot. The road itself was gone, but the long, gradually sloping area that had once held the road was still there, overgrown yes, but an easily walked path down to the road from the parking lot if you knew where to find it. Tom smiled after finding the place. He followed it nearly to the top to make sure it was still passable, and then he turned around and went back down the road to where Mike was waiting for him.

"There's a place farther down the lot, the end of the lot. You'll see where the slope down to the River Road becomes more gradual... There used to be a road. The road itself is gone, but it's easily walked. You can send them down that way, or I can come up," Tom said.

Mike followed Candace through the overgrown trees down to the old road bed. "You going to stick up here?" Candace asked.

Mike nodded. "I think we ought to for right now, who knows what's next. Send Ronnie up if you can spare him."

Tom came into view down below and Mike raised a hand to him. The two women looked drained, numb, probably still in shock, Mike told himself. Candace leaned into him and kissed him. "I'll send Ronnie," she told him. "I love you."

"I love you too. Be careful, and let me know what those two have to say."

"You know it," Candace said. She turned, and with the two women in front of her, she made her way down through the trees to where Tom waited.

Mike stepped closer to the edge of the trees and stared out at the square. There were spaces where the buildings had collapsed, a huge area that had been undeveloped for years. Most of the square was in sight from this end of the parking lot.

His eyes moved across the jumbled and leaning buildings, the vehicles that burned where they had crashed. The square looked like a battleground. Greasy, billowing smoke hung in the air like a black cloud descending on the downtown area. He heard Ronnie coming up through the trees. He turned away from the square and waited for him to top the rise, and then the two of them walked back towards the opposite end of the parking lot where they could watch the entrance to State Street, most of that end of the square and both the edge of Factory Street and Mill Street as it began its run across the damaged bridge to the north side of the river.

"What's going on? Can you see anything?" Ronnie asked.

"Some. You'll see in a few minutes. What happened with the car?"

"Dead. Got three more clip rifles though."

"So they were down with Sin and Death?"

"Looks like it to me. Same rifles, anyway."

Mike was nodding. "I guess I knew it."

Tim and Lilly stepped out of the shadows and nodded as Mike and Ronnie walked up.

"Quiet," Lilly said. Tim nodded.

Mike handed one of the Machine pistols to Ronnie.

"Nice... Illegal, but nice," he said.

"Takes standard Nine Millimeter ammo." Ronnie started to hand it back. Mike shook his head. "Hang on to it," he looked around at the parking lot. "I'm convinced they'll be back."

Ronnie nodded. "Four up here?" he asked.

"Five. They killed one of the women trying to escape." Tim and Lilly had dragged her back into the woods while he'd been gone. He had seen the vague shape off in the thicker woods as he and Ronnie had walked up. "How many in the car?"

"At least five," Ronnie said.

"Jesus... This is so stupid." Mike said. Ronnie nodded and then went back to watching the greasy smoke rise up into the air.

Mike walked over to the edge of the tree cover and looked down over the cliff. The road looked deserted. He knew it wasn't, but it looked that way. The four of them all had the machine pistols now, he, Ronnie, Lilly and Tim. They were better than the weapons they'd had. He wished they had found some of their own. He whistled long and low, waited a few seconds and then whistled once more. Bob stepped out of the shadows behind one of the trucks and looked up. Mike motioned him over and one by one he passed down the weapons they had brought up with them.

"Whoever needs them, Bob." Bob nodded, and a second later he was gone. Mike walked back through the stunted trees towards the rear of the parking lot and began to wait for whatever might come next.

~

Candace had Tom run up two of the radios an hour later. Mike berated himself; he had never even thought of it. A short time after that Janet Dove sent up food in the form of energy bars and cold, tinned beef. A package of stale cookies made a meal for the four of them, along with some bottled water. It was quiet, so Tom stayed to talk for a few minutes before he headed back down.

"Those two women are okay," he said. "The one has a scratched up face, but Sandy says they're okay. They talked to Candace and Patty... Sandy... Janet as well," he added. "Those guys were trying to recapture them. Kidnap them."

Mike nodded. "That much I guessed."

"They didn't say anything else?" Ronnie asked.

"Yeah, they did. They asked me to leave though. I guess it was really bad," he surmised.

Ronnie and Mike both nodded. "I imagine it was," Ronnie said quietly.

"Guess I better go back," Tom said. He started to turn. "Oh," he remembered, "Here," He reached into his pants pockets and pulled out two boxes of Nine Millimeter shells. "I almost forgot. Candace would be mad."

"Thank you, Tom," Mike said.

"Alright," Ronnie told him as he turned to walk away. An hour later the second gunfight began.

~ On Again ~

The first noise came from the north side.

"Trucks coming," the radio squawked. It sounded like Bob.

"From the north?" Ronnie asked.

"Yeah," Patty's voice answered. "Sounds like at least three, coming from deep over on the north side, like somewhere past the bridge, but coming fast," she finished. The radio spat choppy static.

Mike moved back through the trees to see if he would be able to get much of a view towards the North side, but the river cliffs and the trees and brush that lined both sides of the Old River Road blocked his view.

He walked back to where Ronnie stood waiting just inside the trees watching the parking lot quietly.

Ronnie looked up as Mike made his way to the edge of the trees and the view of the parking lot.

"I was hoping for a better view, but it's no good," Mike explained.

Ronnie nodded. He pressed the radio's send button. "Let us know," He said.

"Coming now," Patty said, "Coming fast."

The sounds of the vehicles came clearly to Mike and Ronnie on top of the cliffs.

"Four," Patty said, "Just blew by us heading for the square... They're all small cars," She finished.

"Got you," Ronnie told her.

A split second later they heard the cars gearing down to slow as they entered the square. But instead of entering the square, they braked hard, drifted right, tires screaming, and blew into the parking lot.

"Fuck," Ronnie muttered.

"Fuck is right," Mike agreed under his breath.

"They're up here," Mike said into the radio. "We'll get back to you."

All four cars sped into the parking lot and spread out; taking up what looked to be predetermined positions. It was obvious that none of the four realized that the four of them were inside the tree line watching them. One small, black Toyota screeched to a halt no more than thirty feet away from where Lilly and Tim were. Mike and Ronnie were just beyond that. Lilly and Tim both raised their machine pistols and trained them on the car.

The car was a four door model, four men inside of it, one driving, the other three hanging partway out of the windows, machine pistols in their hands, looking hard at the parking lot.

"Let's move into the tree line a little deeper," Mike mouthed as Lilly looked over at him. He motioned with his hands to make his point. Lilly nodded and Mike saw her bend and whisper into Tim's ear. A moment later they both began to fade back into the tree line. Mike and Ronnie faded back about ten feet themselves, hoping to disappear into the tree line.

A radio crackled inside the car and a voice spoke. The driver reached down, came back with a hand held radio unit and began to speak.

Mike thumbed a small switch on his own radio, switching between the two channels his radio received and transmitted on. No voices came through on either channel. Almost too late Mike remembered to cut the volume on his own radio. Ronnie followed suit. A bare second after that Bob's voice came through the speaker. Ronnie pressed his radio tightly to his ear and listened carefully, nodding as he did.

He turned to Mike. "They're picking them up on a C.B. in one of the trucks. They were talking as they were on their way over, still are," Ronnie said in a whisper. He spoke softly into his radio as Mike finally remembered to put his own radio to his ear.

"No. Don't send Tom. They're here, right here in the parking lot." He turned to Mike. "They were going to send Tom with a hand held C.B." he whispered.

Mike heard the acknowledgment on his own radio.

"Seems like a bad idea with them so close," Ronnie whispered. Mike nodded in agreement.

"I wonder why the other side isn't using radios," Mike whispered.

"Maybe they are," Ronnie said. He left the balance unsaid. The pair Mike and Ronnie were using were F.M. This group was using C.B. What else was there, Mike wondered? If they were listening, they could be picking up on one or both of the radio systems. Mike watched the same thoughts go through Ronnie's mind. They both shrugged and focused their attention back on the parking lot and the cars that sat idling.

The sun was close to sinking in the North East, behind them as they faced the parking lot, putting any visual advantage in their favor. No bright sunlight in their eyes.

At the edge of the square through a gap in the buildings, Mike thought he saw a shadow move. He pointed, directing Ronnie's attention to it. He turned to alert Tim, but his eyes were already locked on the same place. Mike turned his eyes back to where he had seen the movement. A second or so later, a man slipped slowly around the edge of the building and looked sidelong into the parking lot. He was still deep in shadow, probably hard for the men in the cars at ground level to see, but easy for Mike and the others to see. The car closest to them would have their view blocked by the buildings. The man moved quickly from his shadowy hiding place, surveyed the parking lot in its entirety once more and then faded back into the shadows again.

In the dark area of shadow, it was nearly impossible to see the man. The sun glinted off something in his hand. One of the men in the black car caught the glint of sunlight nearly at the same time that Mike and Ronnie did and opened up. The second gunfight began, and the man in the darkened alleyway who had hidden himself so well, became the first casualty.

Within seconds fighters appeared in and around the Square. One running figure stopped, lit the rag that hung from the neck of the bottle in his hand, and then tossed it at one of the cars on the far side of the parking lot. The bottle hit the roof line, shattered, and flaming gasoline splashed onto both men hanging from the rear windows. Within seconds everything inside the car was burning. The driver accelerated, maybe thinking he could somehow outrun the flames, but the speed turned the flames into a blow torch. The car continued to accelerate, flaming like a torch. It jumped the curbing, plowed into a tilted section of sidewalk and became airborne. It crashed nose first into one of the plate glass windows of the porn shop that graced the shadowy west end of the parking lot, and the whole lower floor became an inferno.

The car closest to them began to open up on the bottle tosser with everything they had. They had delayed, frozen as the car followed its flaming destiny into the porn shop. Now they were firing on anything that moved in or around the square.

In the distance, they could hear the sound of engines coming closer, big V8 engines, not the small insect whine of the cars the men from the north side were driving.

One of the cars backed up and then took a running start at a wide sidewalk that cut up to the square. The undercarriage scraped across the concrete as the car flew over the curbing and slammed down onto the concrete sidewalk, showering the walkway with sparks. The car raced up the wide sidewalk toward the square, careening from side to side as it went. The occupants hung from the windows spraying automatic gunfire into the surrounding buildings as they went.

One of the other cars began to chase after the car heading for the square when a group in one of the buildings on the square side of the parking lot opened up on it. They heard a steady plink, plink, plink as the bullets found their way into the cars thin body, then a heavier coughing bark a split second later as a bigger gun found it.

The car spun around in a circle as the driver was hit. One of the guys leaning out of the back window was thrown forward under the spinning wheels and then run over. The driver straightened and gained control of the car for a split second only to lose it again as he was hit once more. His foot pressed hard into the floor board.

The front end of the car was aimed slightly off center of the parking lot which would take it a few hundred feet down past where Mike and the others were hidden in the trees. It would probably miss the overgrown woods, crash over the edge of the cliff and down onto the Old River Road. Mike keyed the hand held and called to Bob.

"Bob! Listen," he said, "We got a car coming over the cliff at you. Get out of the way... Now!" About the same time he finished speaking the Toyota jumped the curb and became air born. It sailed into the low, winter dead shrubs and brush at the end of the wooded area. The front end caught and began to tip downward as the shrubs and the trees snatched at it. The back of the car lifted up over the trees, engine still racing as it began to tumble, and then plunged down toward the Old River Road. The noise of the crash from the roadway was deafening and seemed to go on forever. Candace came over the radio. "Missed us... Hit the other truck," static for a second "Those guys are wasted. They're done," she finished.

The two remaining cars were nowhere to be seen when Mike and Ronnie turned back to the parking lot. The one had disappeared up the sidewalk into a hail of gunfire, the other had simply disappeared.

"Out the end of the lot... Maybe headed back to the north," Tim said anticipating his question.

"One just blew by the end of the road heading back over the bridge," Patty said from the radio, confirming what Tim had told them.

"That's got to be the other one. Good job, Tim," Mike said.

A second later, the engines they had heard coming entered the square from lower State Street and Factory Street.

Two vehicles that had probably not so long ago been ordinary pickup trucks but were now lifted and wildly modified, screamed around the edge of the square from lower State Street, nearly going up on two wheels, and headed for the bridge. The cabs each held four men, machine pistols gripped tightly in their hands as they rode out the curve of the square. Once on the straightaway to the bridge, the men were leaning out the windows and firing wildly at the fleeing cars.

The last truck careened off Factory street, a half dozen men riding in the open bed, holding onto the roll bar, and fell in behind the other two trucks. Mike listened as they accelerated and headed for the north side.

"Trucks coming at you," Ronnie was saying as Mike watched the trucks roar past the edge of the square and drop down the short hill that lead to the bridge.

"Hear them," Patty came back, and a few seconds later, "Got them. They just passed the end of the road headed for the north side." The radio went back to static.

A fourth truck roared down Factory Street and slewed around, nearly tipping over as it tried to make the turn down the little hill to the bridge. Up on the square, the car that had shot up the sidewalk to the square, came back around the edge of the square and opened up on the truck.

The truck was caught off guard. The nose came up as the driver floored the gas pedal in an effort to get away, and then bounced back down on the asphalt as the engine died. The small car screeched to a stop and opened up on the truck, the occupants in the truck kept up a steady fire back at the car.

As Mike watched, Ronnie nudged him and pointed out a building in back of the small car. A young woman appeared at the edge of the roof line, a gas filled bottle in her hands. She lit the rag and tossed it down at the small car. The bomb hit the roof of the car and liquid fire spread from end to end, dripping down onto the shooters. For a second there was nothing, and then the interior of the car bloomed into flame. The car accelerated across the space between itself and the truck. Mike could hear men screaming inside the burning car from where he stood watching the events unfold.

The shooters in the truck opened up on the small car filling it with lead, but the car never slowed. The car hit the truck broadside and both vehicles erupted in flames. Seconds later, the truck's gas tank blew. The rear end of the truck lifted from the pavement with a wham and then crashed back down, a twisted, flaming wreck. It landed partway onto the roof of the small car, crushing it inward, adding its own flames to that coming from the car. The cars gas tank went next, and the screaming stopped abruptly.

Flames shot up into the night sky. The only sounds the crackle of flames and the steady pop, pop, pop as bullets exploded inside the burning vehicles.

Ronnie keyed the hand held radio. "Two of them just blew up here. There's a lot of people still on the ground though. Keep a watch out."

Mike was watching the buildings. "They're hiding in the buildings. Maybe they're going to ground," he told Ronnie. As he watched, he saw several shadows slipping between the buildings.

Bob came back on the radio. "Listen, we've got to get that car gone. It's burning... Caught the truck it hit as well. We've got to push it off into the river before it blows."

"Do it," Mike said. "Be careful."

They heard the sound of one of their own trucks starting down on the Old River Road just seconds later and listened to the screaming and screeching of tires as the truck pushed the two burning vehicles over the edge of the cliffs and into the river. "Done," It was Candace who called to tell them. Bob had gotten in the truck and done the pushing himself.

Thank God, Mike thought. "Got you," he said aloud.

"Trucks are coming back," She said next.

A few seconds later the sounds of the engines came to Ronnie and Mike.

The screaming engines reverberated off the river cliffs as they came. They crossed the bridge, blew past the burning wrecks and disappeared up State Street in a roar of engine noise and a flash of brake lights.

Evening came on in silence.

~ Runners In The Darkness ~

Two hours after sunset the fires were still burning, casting the parking lots in yellowed shadows. The thick, cloying smell of burning pork hung in the air, mixing with the smells of burning gasoline, rubber and hot metal.

The last gunfight came then, directed at them.

~

Ronnie saw the first one coming and nudged Mike. The shadow of a runner broke from one crazily titled building and ran towards the tree line and Mike and the others.

As the runner grew closer, they could see one of the machine pistols clutched in his hands. As he jumped the curbing, heading for the tree line, Mike, Lilly, Tim and Ronnie all opened up on him. He spun off to one side, fingers squeezing convulsively on the trigger, and collapsed just past the curbing. His shots went wild into the air in a short burst, breaking the silence, stabs of bright white light stitching the yellowed shadows where the four hid in stark relief, painting their faces in washed out white.

The radio squawked, "What's going on up there?" Candace called. In the brilliant stabs of bright white, all of them had seen the dozen or so men hiding in the shadows of the buildings. They knew for sure they were here now and where they were.

"Send two up the road to back us up," Mike called. "But don't give up your positions down there. Keep your eyes peeled. We got about a dozen of them on us up here."

He clicked off and turned his attention back to the parking lot. All the men he had seen were gone now, hidden once more by the shadows. The would be assassin lay crumpled partway onto the sidewalk, hanging over the edge of the curbing, his legs still in the parking lot. The machine pistol lay next to his open hand. Silent. Everything was silent. But the silence only held for a moment, and then the men they had seen in the shadows opened up on them.

They returned fire as they threw themselves into the dirt, but after a few short seconds, those hidden away on the other side of the parking lot stopped returning fire. They faded away, either deeper into the buildings or out of them and off into the square somewhere. Mike suspected they hadn't intended to run into them in the tree line, that they had assumed there would be nothing between them and the cliff face down to the cave. They had sent only one man, after all, and he had run directly at them, as though he seemed not to be aware that they were there.

Three or four men in one building at the edge of the parking lot began to suddenly return fire. For whatever reason, they decided not to retreat along with the others.

Mike, Tim and Lilly shifted further to the right. Ronnie moved off to the left, running hard for several feet then crashing to the ground and reloading, preparing to return fire.

Answering fire crashed into the tree line where they had been. The four held their own fire, waiting. When no return fire came, the gunmen rushed from the shadows, running the hundred yards or so towards the tree line.

Mike slammed a fresh clip home and took aim on the runners. Return fire came from Lilly and Tim to his left, and Ronnie off to his right. Now, because of the change in position, they were firing into the side of the running line of men. A second barrage of fire came from the far right. Most likely, Mike thought, whoever had been sent up to help them.

All four runners were cut down before they reached the tree line. Silence descended again, and the third and final gunfight of the day was over just that fast. Smoke hung over the parking lot from the gunfire, drifting into the tree line with the light breeze that was blowing through the empty, tilted buildings.

"Cover me," Mike said. He ran quickly out onto the blacktop, using the drifting smoke as partial cover, and retrieved the machine pistols and clips. No gunfire came from anywhere. He collected the four weapons and hurried back into the tree line.

~

Two hours later Mike sat sipping coffee, replaced up top with a two man guard that would immediately call on the radio for backup if anyone showed up, and before sunrise a fresh team would be sent up ready for a fight. Candace sat next to him. Tom, Ronnie and Patty sat with them too. Sleeping on the far side of the cave were the two young women from the day before. Candace filled Mike in on their story.

"They had been doing their best to avoid those guys for four or five days... maybe longer."

"How could they not know how long they had been avoiding them?" Mike asked.

"Because they think the men were spying on them for a few days before they became obvious," Candace explained.

"Okay," Mike answered.

"They finally made their move. These two women were part of a group of six, two men and four women, living in some railroad cars out Massey Street."

"There's an old rail yard out there," Patty said.

Mike nodded. He remembered playing along the tracks as a kid. The rail yard had been a major employer at one time, but like everything else, its time had come and gone. Trains became too slow, too expensive, at least here, and the yard had closed.

"They attacked them. Killed the two men outright and one of the women. They think killing the woman was an accident." She paused. "The three remaining women managed to get away, but they had been tracking them down. They finally caught them two days ago. They had thought things would immediately be bad, and in some ways they were, but not like they expected. Not rape, not that, but what was about to happen was that they were going to be traded off for something big. They didn't know what, just something big," Candace paused.

"So, something happened yesterday and suddenly everybody is shouting. And in the middle of that they decided to run. They thought they might never get another chance. They had talked it over and agreed if the chance did come they should take it. They knew what was coming after all. Rather than face that, being sold and used like a piece of meat, they decided they'd rather take the chance. If that meant death... well, they were ready to accept that."

"So," Candace continued after another pause, "they ran and the men chasing them didn't want to damage the merchandise, so they chased instead of just shooting them dead. Molly, that's the one that nearly ran into you, said when you suddenly appeared in front of them, they thought it was over. But they knew about us. They knew where we were. That's where they were trying to get to." Candace rubbed at her eyes and then the bridge of her nose. Her eyes were streaked with red, Mike noticed. He supposed his eyes didn't look much better. It was also obvious that talking about what the two women had told her angered her.

"The other woman, Susan, had overheard them talking about us. She told the others where we were, how to get there, which way to run." She paused again.

"So they were discussing us?" Mike asked.

"Afraid so," Candace said. "They want to take us over. They want the cave. They want us too... the women," she finished.

"No doubt," Ronnie said, "But that won't happen. As my Daddy used to say, that dog won't hunt."

"Yeah, but it's a problem," Mike said. "And it tells me they were coming for us. No doubt about that at all."

"So?" Patti asked.

"So... I don't know. But we're not going to stand by and wait for them to take us out. Now that we know... Did they say how many? Any idea how strong they are?" Mike asked.

"They couldn't tell. They were locked up and kept away from the others most of the time. Even so, they said they saw over twenty different men. Maybe twice as many when both groups were together. But now the two groups are fighting, so." She stopped.

"Women?" Mike asked.

"Not too many. Maybe a dozen, but most of them are with them... I mean, down with them. I know that sounds crazy, but they're in it with them. They knew of one other woman they sold to the group on the north side, but none that are being forced to be there except that one and themselves."

"Well that's something at least," Mike said. "I'd say we've put away a few ourselves, and of course they've been killing each other all day long. If there were a little more than twenty, there can't be more than ten after today, maybe twelve... Can't be. We can handle that. I'd rather not handle that, but we can. And they've had their asses kicked a few times today. I don't see them coming back for anymore surprise attacks tonight, maybe even tomorrow. So we sleep tonight. We only have a few hours to do that, then we have to relieve the others, I'm sure they're beat too."

"We sleep, and tomorrow we try to contact them by radio. See if they want to end this before they lose more. At least what they're bringing at us," Mike finished.

"What made you think of radios?" Candace asked.

"Because," Ronnie answered, "It was like they were listening to the other guys and us too. They knew what was going on, where the others were, where we were too. Why else did they come at us up top? They might just be laying back, playing stupid, but I think they're listening," Ronnie finished.

"I think so to," Mike agreed. "I don't think they thought we'd be up top, if so they would've come at us harder. They didn't expect us to be there, but I know they were looking to sneak up on us. They thought they had us. I hope they take out each other. They started to do that today." He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. "I think they're listening on the radios too. They showed up way too fast, and why would we think of radios and not them? The other group was using it too. It makes no sense that they wouldn't have been, but if they tried it, why weren't they talking today?" He shook his head. "I'm convinced they were using it as a tool to catch the other group out there, us too. So, I say tomorrow we test that theory out. Prove it, or disprove it. That's easy enough to do. We can decide what to do from there," Mike finished.

Everyone nodded thoughtfully.

"Good. I'm beat. Let's get some sleep while we can," Mike said.

Janet ~ March 24th Early Morning

I spent the entire day in fear, nonstop. It almost would've been better to have been in the fight yesterday. Instead, I was on the sidelines always wondering what was going on.

I volunteered to go up top tonight and watch. I spent four hours and saw nothing, heard nothing. Well, almost nothing. I guess it depends on what your view of nothing is. I saw nothing to do with the men who have attacked us, but there are packs of wild dogs, or dogs that have gone wild. I don't guess that would be the same thing.

It was dark. I could hear them, but I couldn't see them well. I suppose they could even have been wolves, or some other wild animal. It was just dogs that came to mind, because I have seen packs of dogs running wild from time to time, down along the river bank, weaving in and out of the shadows of the buildings almost everywhere we go. Right there, but hidden too. Sneaky. And they sounded like animals... like I imagine ravenous dogs would sound.

They came for the bodies. They fought over them, and it was bad. The sounds, snarling and ripping in the darkness. Sometimes they sounded almost human in their frenzy. It was horrible. I wasn't sure I could take it, but of course I did.

I hadn't even known there were bodies up there. I mean we would take care of our bodies, why wouldn't they? But there were bodies. I could see some of them just laying in the moonlight. There were some in the burned out cars and trucks too. I didn't know those dogs would come for them like that. And I didn't know you could smell blood like that... when there is so much. I'm no drama queen; I write what I feel.

I dealt with it. What else could I do? I find myself dealing with a lot of things lately, and I don't know how I do it. Even with the dogs, or wolves... the bodies... I wasn't as scared as I was today... down below... safe (ha, ha). It's not funny, except I only meant relatively safe. There is no such thing as really safe. I was more afraid earlier than I was up top because of not knowing, not seeing. I was with the kids, the little ones, reassuring them. Still, I would've rather been in it. I would've rather known.

This place has gone so bad, and it seems the more we plan, the worse it turns out. Maybe we should just leave. But no one is going to listen to me. I'm not strong willed. I don't argue my points. I don't really stick up for myself or my ideas.

When I was a girl, my uncle Delbert and my aunt Edna would sometimes come over. He was fine, except when he drank, and he drank all the time. Maybe you could say he was fine for those first few hours between smashed and gone.

He would run my aunt Edna down, call her names. Bitch... worse... In front of everyone, even us children. Sometimes my father would say, "Delbert, you can't truly mean that," and he would answer that he did. He did truly mean that; that she was a silly bitch, and, when he was really drunk, a silly cunt. That was what she was, and there was nothing else to say about it as far as he was concerned.

She had no back bone. Neither do I, and I have no self confidence either. Bob treats me well, but I wonder, does Bob ever think that way about me? I ask because I do. Sometimes I pity myself the same way I did Aunt Edna, and I think I'm just a silly bitch. Maybe even the other word... Sometimes.

I'm upset. I shouldn't write when I'm upset. I hope I'm not stuck inside and afraid when anything goes on.

It's probably only a few hours before dawn. I'll try to sleep. I don't want to be a silly bitch, but I don't want to be afraid either. I don't know if I can sleep. I guess I'll try...

~The outskirts of the city~

They stood in the shadows and listened to the night. The living were at war, and it could only mean good for them. The moon rose high into the sky. The sounds of fighting from the city had ceased, but fires burned in the distance. Fires were heat. Fires were bad. Fires frightened them all, and they wanted nothing to do with them. Several times they had been tempted to go down into the city and feed, but the fires had been too frightening, too frightening even with the smell of so much fresh death on the wind. So tempting... So tempting, but the fire was fierce, a pain of its own. Heat was for those who lived. For those who were dead yet lived, heat was an enemy.

Pain. Corruption.

They stood and silently waited, sniffing the wind. Some whining lightly, deep in their throats, others growling, salivating in their own dry way, eyes running as they scented the air and waited.
CHAPTER EIGHT

The Morning of the Day

March ~ 24th

The plan was simple enough; it just took a little while to set in motion.

They had guards posted above and at both ends of the road. While not entirely sure of either of the two new women, Mike split them up and allowed them to work with some others. It was probably clear to them that he didn't entirely trust them, but they had to know what was at stake and probably wouldn't think much of anyone who would allow two outsiders to come in and be given weapons, trust and the responsibility of helping to guard their territory.

In the best of circumstances, they probably wouldn't be guarding anything at all. But these were not the best of circumstances, and were not likely to be any time soon, Mike told himself. So he'd split them up. He didn't really believe that the other side could be so deceptive as to plant them, especially the way they had come to them. The fear he had seen in their eyes had been real.

While they had been working on Janet Dove's master list, radios of all types had been collected and brought back. Some had been tested, some had not. The idea they had thrown around was to have a system they could depend on once they began to travel. Base units and hand held units, everything they had found came down to just a few different choices, either centering around an F.M. system, or on a C.B., Citizens Band radio system.

Both offered several channels and two way talk. And both could reach and remain clear for well over a mile. Mike had been unable to conceive of any circumstances where they would need more than that. So it was a matter of portability, and what everyone else might have. That had become much more important after what had happened to the two groups, both of which had been able to eavesdrop on the others broadcasts.

Most people were familiar with Citizens Band, but not with the small hand held mobile F.M. Units, so they had decided to switch from the F.M. units they were using to the more familiar C.B. Radios.

What Mike suspected was that they were using one of the C.B. radios, but without knowing what channel they were using, it seemed it would take a lot of trial and error to locate them. But a hand held scanner had solved that problem.

Bob had also installed five mobile scanning units in the vehicles they were going to take. They operated like a standard Citizens Band radio, or they had a scan feature. They flipped from channel to channel looking for activity, probably good for long haul truckers looking for conversation to keep them awake at three A.M.

Bob also had a few scanning F.M. models. They could pick up, or used to be able to pick up, most fire, police, taxi, rescue, things like that. They also scanned a great many channels used by cheap hand held F.M. WalkiTalkies, even some cell phone conversations and, in this area, Military conversations. Now, all the bands were silent.

Bob and Tom installed the units. Less than an hour after sunrise both types of radios were up and running, scanning the channels for conversation.

There was still some time involved to scan every channel. Twice the C.B. stopped on channel eighteen but caught only a click before it moved on. At first it had seemed like it was all static, but the second stop convinced them. Bob stopped the scanning and set the radio on channel eighteen. Twenty-two minutes later a voice spoke and let them know they had chosen the right channel.

Overheard on C.B. Channel Eighteen

"Nothing yet,"

"'Kay,"

"Good job, Bob," Mike smiled.

A few moments later the F.M. caught the end of another conversation...

"...Can't tell..." Answered with only a click.

Bob isolated that channel as well.

"None of the hand held F.M. units we have, have that channel. That's police... Or used to be," Bob said matter-of-factly.

"That's how they got it then," Ronnie said. "Hey, there are abandoned cop cars all over the city. I've seen a few myself. Smart."

"Was smart," Mike said, and smiled again. "We've got them both now."

"But which is which?" Bob asked.

"That's what we're about to find out," Mike told him.

~

Twenty minutes later Mike, Bob and Nell were ready to roll. They were inside the cave where they were sure they couldn't be observed or overheard. Mike felt it was impossible for them to be able to get close enough to the cave to overhear anything that they said, but better safe than sorry, he'd told himself. They had already surprised them by attacking, maybe listening in on the radios in the first place. It was best not to underestimate them. They had discussed it while they worked installing the radios.

They hadn't heard any talk on either radio about what they were doing at the cave, working on the trucks to install the radios. "I don't think they're that close to us, not able to directly observe us... If they're observing us at all," Bob had said.

"Yeah, could be they're just listening to each other," Mike had agreed. "But after yesterday, I think they'll both be keeping an eye on us. They have to know where Molly and Susan got to, so if they're not hidden across the river watching us from the cliffs, they must be somewhere down the road watching our exit so they have an idea of where we are and when we leave."

"So," Mike said now, "we're going to head out to outer Washington Street. We're going to make it look good. If we hear them talking about us, we'll know that that is the State Street bunch, because the North side bunch wouldn't be able to track us. That will tell us who's using which channels. We'll pick up a few things from Jan's lists and we'll be listening. If it sounds like they're about to come after us, you guys sit tight. We'll take care of them. We'll be ready. We'll deal with them and then come back here as fast as we can." He paused for a second and looked from one set of eyes to the next.

"If, on the other hand, it sounds as though they're going to attack here we'll double back just as fast. We have eight machine pistols. We're taking three with us. I want two up top and two at the block on this end, the last one for the other end. I don't see anyone coming from that end though." Mike's eyes were serious.

"Listen, it's a shoot first and ask questions later situation. None of you should be thinking about what they might be doing, second guessing yourselves. Just shoot," he said. Everyone nodded, and there was a low buzz of conversation as Mike continued.

"So we should know pretty fast which is which. I still believe they've been listening to us as well as each other, so everybody might start yakking here in a few minutes," he finished.

It was just a few minutes later when they rolled through the road block, the two trucks they had left angled across the road, and then rolled out the end of Old River Road. As soon as they made the right hand turn onto Old River Road, one of the radios came to life. The C.B.

"Coming... Coming at us," A voice said.

"Who?" Another voice asked.

"Them cave people," The first voice said.

Then the F.M. Started.

"They're talking...Uh, tracking them others," a voice said.

"Where at?... Coming at us?"

"No... No, negative. Going at them... They're talking it up on eighteen," the voice said.

"Guess that answers that," Mike said. "But we'll make it look good."

Within a few seconds, a war of words had started on the radios. It became obvious that each side was aware of the other side's transmissions. Now they were doing their best to block and interrupt each other.

"Maybe we won't get much after all if this keeps up," Bob said.

Mike agreed.

When they reached the small strip mall area on outer Washington Street, Mike found what they were looking for and parked in front of the buckled doors to the shop, the passenger side door just a few feet from the door to the shop.

The sign over the leaning front entrance way had collapsed backwards onto the roof, but looking through the front window, Mike was sure he would find what he wanted.

The front windows were cracked and spider webbed so badly that Mike was surprised they were still in their frames. Most likely, Mike thought, if they had not been heavy safety glass they would have ended up in the parking lot or scattered across the show room floor long before, glittering diamonds scattered everywhere.

Dozens of boats covered the large, open floor space inside the building. Part of the ceiling had collapsed, but Mike was sure the things he needed would be here.

"Listen as best you can," Mike said. He switched positions with Bob, putting him in the driver's seat, handed his machine pistol to Nell, thumbed the safety off the Forty Five caliber pistol in his holster and worked his way over Nell to the passenger door. "You guys got it. I'll be back as soon as I can," he said. He opened the door and stepped out into the shattered doorway.

It took only a few minutes to find what he wanted. Several trips later there were no more to be found. He made his way back to the truck carrying a large marine style battery for show. Bob got out, came around and unlocked the back of the suburban so Mike could set the battery into the rear compartment area. Mike made three more trips until four of the large, deep cycle batteries graced the rear cargo area. One last trip, and a high powered charging unit went into the back along with the batteries. But the real stuff, VHF Marine radios, Nell brought in through the open passenger door unobserved.

After they had loaded and fussed with the charging unit and batteries, they got back into the truck, eased it off the shattered sidewalk and headed back toward the cave.

The radio games were still ongoing, each side trying to block the other, but a few snatches of conversation came through.

"Looks like batteries..." Clearly came through. Since they knew the context, it was easy for them to understand, probably not easy for the North side crew to figure out.

"...something... trees," the F.M. Squawked.

"Wha..."

"Batteries..."

"Oh for fuck's sake," came through clearly.

Nell laughed, Mike and Bob joined in.

"I guess they'll do more to keep each other screwed up than we can do to them," Nell said.

"Think so," Bob agreed.

The radio battle began to die down as they drove back to the cave. The initial wave of blocking either too hard to sustain or not as interesting to them as it was at first.

"They just got some heavy duty batteries," a voice on the C.B. Said.

"Copy," another voice replied.

"They followed them somewhere and they picked up heavy duty batteries... Don't know why," a voice on the F.M. Said.

"What kinda batteries?" another voice on the F.M. Asked.

"Vibrator batteries for yer old lady's dildo," another voice cut into the F.M. and heckled.

"Fuck you," the first voice said. And the radio war was back on. Squawks and squeals accompanied them on the drive back to the cave.

~

The two trucks rolled back smoothly and let them in. Bob drove the truck down to the entrance, parking the same way Mike had at the boat store. Nell unloaded the radios and walked them into the cave as Bob, Mike, Ronnie and a few others from inside fussed over unloading the batteries and charging unit.

Twenty minutes later they were looking over the radios in the cave. Mobile units, hand held units, and a very impressive base unit that had the scan feature of the C.B. and F.M. radios. They had nothing to power it with, anymore than they had anything to power the battery charging unit with. But Mike hadn't wanted to leave it. He hadn't wanted to leave any of the VHF radios in the store, convinced they would take a look inside to see what else they might have taken.

He was sure they wouldn't miss the radios if there were no others around, but if there had been one left to make them think about radios in the first place, maybe they would. They would buy the battery excursion, maybe to get deeper cycle batteries to use in the trucks, and since they now had them, that was exactly what Bob intended to use them for. He would make a public event of it out in front of the cave so that they would see him.

By mid afternoon, Bob had hooked up one of the base units in the truck inside the cave. It flipped quickly through the channels one by one. Smooth static.

Later in the afternoon, after scanning for hours with no more hints of conversation, Jan had marked the C.B. radio with South side, North side on the F.M. unit. She had spent the morning on guard duty up top, and instead of sleeping when she had come back down, she had helped Bob install the radio, handing him the wire cutters, or the screw drivers, a roll of tape, sometimes seeming to know what he wanted before he even asked for it.

Mike had watched her briefly. She didn't seem overly upset, but she did seem a little worried. There were circles under her eyes. He supposed they were all losing a little sleep just lately. She'd caught him looking at her and smiled a question at him.

"You just look tired, Janet," he had said.

"Not too bad," she had replied.

He nodded, not really knowing what else to say.

She looked at him. The little worry lines he had seen from across the cave returned. "We... We're not going to let this stop us from leaving on the first, are we?" she asked.

Mike shook his head. "Not if I can help it," he answered.

"Good," she said and handed Bob the electrical tape.

"Well," Mike said now. "Let's test it." He depressed the button on a hand held unit. "Test... Testing one two three."

The scanning model in the truck caught testing and followed the rest, then waited in the smooth silence for more conversation. After a few moments, the scan feature kicked in and the radio went back to scanning all the channels.

The C.B. and the F.M. remained silent. He had sent radios down to the truck block and up top, as well as the other end of Old River Road where it dead ended.

"One," he called now. "How do you read me?"

"Clear. One out," Tim's voice said.

"Two," he asked. "Can you read me?"

"Got you," Patty said.

"Three, you there?"

"Three, got you," Tom's voice said.

"Okay. From now on this is base and we're on if you need us. Base out."

"Read you," Tom said.

"Okay," Tim said.

"Two reads you," Patty said.

Mike listened to the other two silent radios. Both in scan mode, both picking up nothing. "Well," he said. "If they did catch that, they're playing it real cool."

Bob shrugged "I don't think they understand cool... or subtle, if the earlier stuff was any example."

"We still don't know what set that off yesterday," Mike said. "And that bothers me a lot. I don't want to believe that they're so unpredictable that they'd just snap at the drop of a hat."

"It seems to me like it was about them, not us. Maybe us as a secondary, but it seemed like they tried to take each other out," Bob said. "It just didn't go the way they wanted it to go. Maybe they'll think twice this time... especially when it comes to us."

"Maybe," Mike agreed. "Maybe." He paused. "I'm going to go see my woman. Spell Patty so she can spend a little time with Ronnie," Mike said. He pushed away from where he'd been leaning through the truck window listening to the radio.

"I'm going to finish this truck up," Bob said. "May as well. We got two sitting here. I'll get them done, then I'll swap these two for the ones out on the block and do those two, like that."

Mike nodded. "Okay. You know where I'll be."

~

Mike was gone little more than an hour when the VHF portable he was carrying squawked at him.

"Mike," Bob called.

"Yeah," he answered.

"I'm sending someone to relieve you. Uh, you probably want to be back here. Something's going on, on the radio," Bob finished.

"Like?" Mike asked. "This is secure, Bob."

"It isn't that, Mike... it's... I don't know what they're doing. Maybe working out a truce, but they're also talking about us. You'll want to hear it, Mike. You should hear it."

"On my way," Mike said, returning the radio to his belt.

"Love you," Candace said.

He kissed her and then left reluctantly.

He passed Lilly on her way to share the post with Candace. She nodded shyly and said hello on her way by.

Bob was the only one sitting in front of the radio as he walked in. Everyone else was either on watch, sleeping while they could, or preparing the night meal. The two little ones, Brian and Janelle, tired from a day of hard play, lay curled on a stack of sleeping bags close to the truck. The dog raised his head and wagged his tail from where he was stretched out beside the children. Mike settled in, took a cup of coffee Jan brought to him and began to listen.

They were talking on one of the F.M. Stations.

"...... Wasn't." One voice said.

"Someone shot first... It wasn't us... We were happy." A voice answered the first.

"They haven't said their names yet," Bob interjected.

"Well," the first voice continued. "We had everything to lose. It was one of the others. Probably sneaked up to ambush us. Someone broke those women out of where we had them... had to. My guys said they saw someone, couldn't give much of a description, but we saw them again later after they gunned down some of our guys. They were trying to catch those three women. Tall... Thin... Dark haired young white guy... Shot them down, run right out and took their rifles too. Must have been others with him. Bunch of shots came all at once, but they only saw the one. Them shots took out three of mine... They killed one of the women too," he finished.

"Why would they do that?" The other voice asked.

"I ain't them. How would I know? My point is they killed my guys and one of the chicks. The other two bitches they got," he said.

"So?" the other voice asked.

"So is this... That was probably the plan, to get us to fight each other, I mean. Then they can steal the women, see?"

"What I see is, you got a dozen machine pistols and I was supposed to get three women. Not only didn't I get three women, but I gave you weapons you turned around and used on my own men... You see how that makes me look?"

"Yeah... Yeah... And just what in fuck would you do if you was shot at?"

"Okay. Point taken," The voice said. "What you wanna do?"

"Well, stop killing each other to start, then go after them that did it... Get them others. If we come together, we can take them easy. We figure that they got maybe thirty people... Maybe thirty five tops. We can't take that many on our own."

"These guys are sure full of it," Bob said.

"Thirty," Mike asked. "Maybe it's good they think that."

"Maybe," Bob allowed.

"How many you got that can fight?" One of the voices asked.

"How many you got?" The other voice from the F.M. Asked.

"I don't want to play this fuckin' game," the first voice came back.

"Yeah... I tell you, you know... You know how strong we are. You attack."

"And I could say the same."

"...Ten," The F.M. voice said.

"Oh come on. I say nine, you say ten. Cut the bullshit. You only had seventeen to begin with... counting kids and women. You lost some just like we lost some."

"...... Seven," The voice said.

"So if we get together we got nineteen. Nineteen against thirty... maybe thirty five."

"Yeah," the other voice said quietly.

The radio fell silent. Crackles and pops of static spitting into the silence in the cave.

"I got to talk this over with my people. I'll get back to you in... Say an hour from now?" the first voice asked.

"Me too... But you better be straight with me. I'm gone," The first voice said.

Mike and Bob sat in the silence listening to the pop and crackle of the static.

"Well?" Bob asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine, but they're lying to each other. One of them started that fight. The one, whichever one that would be, knows that, knows it wasn't us. So I'd say that person is setting up the other side. Has to be, because we know for a fact it didn't go down the way they're trying to paint it," Mike said.

"But... How does that help us?" Bob asked.

Mike shook his head. "I don't know yet, Bob, but I'll figure it out. We've got an hour before they decide. We've got a little time to get our heads around it."

Bob nodded.

Mike stood. "I'm going around to everyone on post... let them know... lay it out. See how they all feel and listen to the feedback they got for me. You think about it while I'm gone, Bob. Talk to Jan... the two new women too, Molly and Susan. Feel them out about it, what they think, what they feel, whether they think they really will come for us. I'll be back, and we'll have our own plan regardless of what their plan is."

"Okay," was all Bob said.

The radio continued to spit static. Bob reached down, pushed a button and switched it back to scan mode.

Mike thumbed his own radio. "One... Two... Three... I'm coming around in that order. We'll talk about this new thing." He released the button.

"Got you... One."

"Two, got you."

"Three, standing by."

"Alright, Bob," Mike said. He turned and walked out of the cave entrance. The daylight was fading; night was coming on. The air was cold, not snow cold, but cold nonetheless. He walked down to the truck barricade.

~

The radio crackled to life a little over an hour later.

"You there?" The first voice asked.

"Yeah," the second voice replied.

"What do you figure to do if we do team up with you? What I mean is, who gets what? Like the cave... them women?" the first voice asked.

"What I understand, it's a big cave. We could share it, I guess," the second voice said.

"No... Can't do that. That's like making us all one people. My people are my people. We got the North side sewn up. You can have the cave. We got something over here. But, let's say you get the cave... Should be a better split for us on the women, is what I'm thinking... See?" the first voice asked.

"...That sounds fair. But, we don't know how many there is," the second voice said.

"Don't need to. We only need to know the split. First off, we get the first three picks... Then... Let's say there's twelve women, we get eight you get four," the first voice said.

"Sure... Sure, when pigs fly. I was born in the day time, but it wasn't yesterday, you know what I mean?... No... Listen... You get the first two picks. If it's twelve we go fifty, fifty, like that, 'cause you know you're gonna take the best looking bitches anyway. You know it, so do I. Probably there will be six ugly or old ones and we'll get stuck. You wouldn't want them anyway. This way it's fairer. And it ain't like the cave's an issue. You said you don't want it," the second voice said.

The radio hissed static.

"When," the first voice asked?

The other voice laughed. "That's good... What say we get together tomorrow... Early... Talk out what to do and how to do it?" the second voice said.

"Okay... Peace out," the first voice said.

"Peace out," The second voice repeated.

Bob and Mike looked at each other.

"That's that," Mike said.

"Yeah," Bob said.

Mike stood, "I'm going to make the walk, let everyone know."

"Everything they said? About... About the women too?" Bob asked.

"... Yeah," Mike decided. "Everything. About the women too. Everyone's in it. They should all know the truth," Mike finished as he began to walk to the front entrance.

"Okay," Bob said softly.

Mike walked off into the darkness.

~ March 25th ~

It was three hours before dawn. Everyone except Candace, Ronnie and Tom were up and gathered in the cave. The three of them were still at their posts, but Mike had talked to them earlier. They knew what this conversation would be about. Mike had also spoken to Bob, and Bob and Tom had spent part of the night finishing the work on the remaining four trucks, three pickups, one other Suburban. Now everyone was waiting quietly for Mike to speak.

"We've decided what to do. When I say we, I mean all of us. I've been around and talked to everyone. I listened to every idea that came at me. I know you look to me to lead, and I do, but this is not a decision I could make on my own. It affects all of us too much."

"If you noticed that Candace, Ronnie and Tom weren't here, be assured I got their feedback and opinions, and it weighed into the decision. Here's what we've decided to do..."

They listened while Mike spoke, and when he was finished, there were no questions. Mike had thought there might be. There were also no dissenters... at least no vocal dissenters. If anyone thought it was a bad idea, they kept it to themselves.

"Alright then," Mike concluded. "Let's go get them."

Everyone had a job to do, and they got to it. They talked to one another in subdued tones as they did.

~ Overheard on C.B. Channel Eighteen ~

"They're moving," the first voice said.

"Check... uh...Check," The second voice said.

"Looks like... Two Jimmies or Chevy Suburbans... Two people in each one... Looks like they're heading back out... Back out Washington Street...... Lost them, they......Shit... Okay... Okay, got them... That's four; two pickups coming by as well. Okay... That's me... Six will pick them up in a little..."

"Uh, yeah, good... Anything yet, Six? Look like they're up to anything?"

"Still waitin'," Six replied.

"Um hmm......"

"... Six... Yeah, um, okay this is Six... Two and two... Nope. Looks like they're going out to the dealerships... Maybe... I don't see nothin' funny... Looks legit."

"Yeah. I read you, but two and two and another two and two... So eight... Eight out of thirty, thirty five? What kind of sense does that make? Does it make any kinda sense?"

"Naw. It don't... Maybe, though, they just want more a them batteries...?"

"Okay... Eight?... Eight?"

"Yeah... I hear them but I don't see them yet."

"Okay Eight... Just let me know. Uh... Keep advised."

...a few minutes later...

"Uh base this is Eight... Just passed me... Blew by the boat place and went right up the hill... We ain't got nobody out there."

"I know that... Don't matter. Just watch for them to come back..."

"Uh base this's one."

"Yeah, one?"

"Holy shit this's good... Go to channel ten... They're talking on channel Ten, Base."

~ Overheard on C.B. Channel Ten ~

"Well... Just keep your eyes open while you're going," Bob said. "Those guys could be anywhere, anywhere at all."

"Got you... Listen... You care what kind of trucks we get?" Mike Asked.

"He said he doesn't care. Just pickups. Trucks are trucks. Those Suburbans are too hard to handle bringing stuff back.... What ever runs, I guess," Bob said.

"Got you," Mike Agreed.

~ Overheard on C.B. Channel Eighteen ~

"Okay... Okay, good One, good... You guys watch for them to come back... Sounds like they're just swapping out trucks. I could see where those bigger Suburbans could be a pain in the ass, I suppose... Let me know when they're on the way back again... I'll monitor them here too... Base out."

"One, got you."

"Six standing by."

Base clicked once to acknowledge both.

~ Overheard on the VHF Band Radio ~

"Okay," Mike said, "We're here... We'll be coming back at you in about a half hour with two pickups... Is everything okay back there?"

"Seen nothing at all," Bob said. "Like there's nothing going on."

"That's a good thing," Mike said. "I'm standing by... Switching to the hand held."

"Okay," Bob said. "I'm here when you need me."

~

Mike pulled the trucks off the pavement and headed towards the tree line about three hundred yards behind the dealership they had chosen. There were many game trails, snow mobile trails and off road tracks that cut through the woods at random. Some of them were well used off road trails that had been established for years.

He found a trail that would be easy to locate again from the dealerships rear lot, and nosed the Suburban down the trail and out of easy sight from the tree line. He drove about a quarter mile down the trail and pulled the suburban off to one side. The second Suburban coasted to a stop behind him and shut down. Nell, Patty and Molly climbed out of the Suburbans along with Mike.

"Let's go," Mike said as he started back down the trail at a trot. "We've got to find two more Suburbans and then two more pickups. And we can't take too long, they'll get suspicious."

The others fell in behind him as he made his way back down the trail to the dealership.

Finding two pickup trucks was easy; finding two more white suburbans was not so easy. They settled for a white one and a light gray one. Mike and Patty pulled the two trucks to the rear of the lot, side by side; took the keys they had located inside the dealership and tossed them into the nearby field. If anyone came checking, it would look like the two suburban's they had driven out from the caves and abandoned. Mike paused, took one of the hand held VHF radios from his belt and keyed the mic. Button. "Ninety-nine," he called.

Tim's voice came back. "We're fine," he said.

"Hang tight," Mike told him.

"Okay," Tim answered.

Mike re-clasped the radio to his belt and he and Patty hurried over to the pickup trucks where they idled waiting for them. A few minutes later they were making their way back down the hill into Watertown.

~

The posts observed the trucks on their way back into Watertown. The groups in the pickups were unable to hear them on the way back, but Mike heard from Bob who was keeping track of the conversations concerning them from the front seat of one of the pickup trucks parked outside of the cave.

There were no problems, and they pulled back past the two truck blockade and onto the front asphalt area that fronted the cave and shut down the newly acquired pickup trucks. Mike walked over to Bob.

"And then there were seven," Mike said and smiled.

"And then there were seven," Bob Agreed.

Twenty five minutes later, the remaining suburban rolled off the end of Old River Road. Behind it the two pickup trucks re-blocked the road. Mike pulled away from the mouth of the road and headed into the square, around the traffic circle with its cracked and missing pavement, and headed out of the square onto Washington Street.

~ Overheard on C.B. Channel Eighteen ~

"Uh, Base...?"

"Go."

"Uh, Base. They're at it again... And they're talking again too... You copy?"

"Yeah... I got it... We're listening... Stand by One... You also Six."

"One clear," One said. "I mean standing by..."

"Six standing by," Six said.

~ Overheard on C.B. radio Channel Ten ~

"... Okay... One more new pickup coming up," Mike said.

"Okay. Everything back here is good... Nothing going on," Bob said.

"All the lookouts too?" Mike asked.

"Quiet," Bob repeated. "We've seen nothing all day."

"Okay... I'm heading out Washington... I'll be standing by."

"Four," Bob said.

~ Overheard on C.B. Channel Eighteen ~

"You North side boys there?" Base asked.

"You know we are," a voice replied.

"It's business as usual for them, looks like," Base told them.

"You been watching them?"

"Yeah... They're just swapping trucks... Something easier to get around in," Base answered.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Suburbans or Jimmies... Ditching them for pickup trucks. Earlier four went out, four came back. This time two went... Two will come back."

"So... Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow," Base affirmed.

~

Mike keyed the button on his VHF unit. "Okay. We're here." He said. "Give me a little time to find something that's not all smashed to hell and back," he said.

Bob keyed his own mic. "Got you... everything's good back here."

~ Over heard on C.B. Channel Ten ~

"Okay... Got a good one... We're going to head back, but we're going to cut cross country... Come back Massey Street or maybe Coffeen. See how everything is there. Might be something out that way we can use," Mike said.

"... Okay... Base standing by."

... A few minutes later...

"One check in," Bob called.

"One here... Nothing... All clear," Candace said.

"Two?" Bob asked.

"Two clear... Dead here," Ronnie said.

"Three check in."

"All clear here too. Has been all day," Tom said.

"Base standing by," Bob said.

... About a half hour later...

"Coming in the back door, Base," Mike said.

"Be careful of that section; it's not stable," Bob warned.

"Already past it... At the front door," Mike called.

"Base standing by."

Silence on C.B. Channel ten...

~Overheard on C.B. Channel Eighteen ~

"They're back," One called.

"Good... What's all that coming in the back way shit?... Had me worried," Base said.

"Well, they're back," One repeated.

"You see them?" Base asked.

"Of course not... We ain't got nobody where they went... But... You heard them same as we did... Right?"

"Right... Right... Just called their posts again... Little while back.... Listen... Keep your eyes and ears open, okay?... You heard... We're taking them in the morning... I was just concerned they'd be out getting more weapons, people, something, but they're just gonna sit there and wait for us I guess."

"Well... Maybe they think they can get away with what they did to us," One said.

"Yeah... Well, they got a surprise coming if they think that," Base said. "Come tomorrow... Anyway... You hear something you let me know... Base standing by, One."

"One clear... Shit... Standing by, Base... Goddammit You know what I mean."

Base laughed. "I hear you."

~

Mike sat in the suburban as it idled behind the dealership listening to the exchange on channel eighteen. When they signed off, Mike hit the power button on the hand held C.B. and turned it off. He looked over at Bob sitting in the passenger seat holding his own C.B.

"I guess that's that," Bob said. He switched his own unit off.

"Okay folks." Mike turned to the back of the Suburban. "All clear. Looks like they bought it. Let's go. We got stuff to do."

Nell, Patty, Candace and Molly popped their heads out from under a tarp in the back, climbed over the seat back and stepped down onto the parking lot.

"There are three G.M.C's with the keys in them over on the other side of that garage." Mike pointed. "Keys are under the mats... didn't want to make it too obvious," Mike finished.

Candace and Nell stayed behind. The other three were back with the three G.M.C's a few minutes later. Lining up behind Mike's own.

Mike looked around the field once, dropped his own truck into drive, rolled off the broken pavement onto the grass and dirt and headed towards the trail hidden at the tree line. The three pickups followed behind him.

~ Earlier that day: The cave before sunrise ~

Mike looked around. Everyone was quietly waiting for him to speak.

"Here's what we've decided to do. They're going to come for us... Some of you have heard that because you were listening in when they discussed it. They've decided they want the cave... and more... And some of us have discussed that." Mike didn't think it bore repeating with the two children there and listening to every word that he said. And there was no place to put them where they wouldn't hear.

"This is their fight. Those two groups of men will fight it out. They each want to control this area, and us too." He paused.

The silence held in the cave until Mike began to speak once more.

"So... Do we fight? It's not our fight. It's their fight. And, we already decided we were going to leave the cave in just a week or two anyway, so there's nothing to fight for. I can't see any of us getting hurt... Or worse... And all for something we don't even want... Didn't ask for."

The heads started to nod.

"We can't surrender though, and we can't give up, that's equally stupid. They'll hunt us down and kill us... Most of us..." He deliberately didn't look at anyone, but focused on the hanging tarps at the entrance to the cave for a few moments.

"So, we decided to be as sneaky with them as they've tried to be with us. Everything we need is pretty easy to get on the road. Believe it or not, almost all of you in here right now are going in these two suburban's, hidden in the back... under tarps of course. We'll pack some stuff in with you. It'll be tight, but we'll be able to do it. We're going to drive out Washington Street and make it look like were going to trade these two Suburbans in. What we'll really do is run you all out one of those trails where you'll wait for us to finish setting them up. Ronnie and Tom know about the trails and where you'll be waiting for us. We'll leave you there and get two other trucks. Then we're going to do it one more time. While you wait on us, we'll go back and get the ones we left behind at the cave..."

He looked around at the cave. "We'll leave this place empty... We'll, empty of people. Oh we'll pull the trucks back across the highway. Make it look like we're still here, but we'll be heading for you." Mike paused.

"Lilly, Sandy, you two drive the Suburbans. Tim, You'll let them know when it's clear. When Bob calls for ninety-nine, that's you. Just answer and go." Mike waited. Each of the three nodded.

"Well. That's the plan. Maybe it seems too simple... Maybe it seems like running. Hell, maybe it even is, but it's what we got. By the time they wise up, we'll be long gone... Safe," Mike finished.

"Where do we drive to?" Lilly asked.

"That trail you'll be on just runs through the back woods," Mike said. "It comes out by Adams Center near Route Eleven. We have no idea what shape it's in. We'll have to wing it. We don't know if there's anyone out that way either. Keep the F.M. and the C.B. on as well as the VHF. We'll be about two hours behind you. Wait for us in the woods at the end of the trail."

~ Present Time ~

Mike came into a small clearing about an hour later. The two suburbans sat waiting. Everyone gathered around. There were pats on the back, hugs, and more than a few kisses too.

The C.B.'s and the F.M.'s had remained silent. They had left their own VHF units silent as well; although Mike was convinced that if they had been listening on the VHF channels they would have attacked them already. It wouldn't have been hard to figure out that they were up to something, if only by the fact that they were talking on the VHF systems. Everyone split up between the trucks. They had bottled water, food supplies, but they would have to pick up other things as they went along. They had not been able to pack anywhere near as much into the trucks as they had wanted to. They would head for Adams Center and hope to pick up some of what they needed there before they moved on to somewhere further along where they would spend their first night.

Janet ~ March 25th

We have finally begun, myself, Robert, Sandy and a new young woman named Susan. We also have the two little ones, Janelle and Brian. I've taken care of them, taken them in. They will go with us when we go, I expect.

Sandy had some sort of falling out with Nell. She won't talk about it, but she's been upset all of today, and she was upset most of yesterday. She did seem better tonight though, laughing and talking with Susan. I have an idea. Relationships on their own can be difficult, especially now. But I could be wrong. Maybe it's only the stress we're all dealing with. Maybe it'll be easier now.

I am trying hard to keep myself in check as well. People seem to expect a lot from me. I know that. I see that. I do everything that I can do, but I never know what is right or what is not. We're sleeping in a field. Better than a cave? Some think so. Soon a longhouse?

Lilly ~ March 25th

The last several days have been really hard. So many crazy people.

We have two more women. I don't have to worry about either of these two around Tom. Not that I do. I'm really not that insecure.

I was one of the ones today, I mean the ones with some responsibility. I used to laugh at that. But it made me feel good today to be entrusted.

I drove one of the trucks. Mike gave me some juice. It was nice. Sometimes I think he thinks of me as a little girl. Maybe that will change? I Hope so. I'm almost the same age as Candace after all.

Goodbye cave, hello road.

Candace ~ March 25th

It's late. Mike is sleeping. I'm about to be; I just wanted to write this down.

We escaped today. Really that's what we did. It was bad back there, but we are no longer there. I'm glad for that.

We may have a lot of traveling ahead, or we may not. We made good time tonight, but in places the road or the ground was a mess. We passed a bridge that was embedded in the ground at a ninety degree angle. It goes straight up if you can imagine that, two lanes of perfect blacktop shooting up about fifty feet into the air. Who knows how much of it is buried in the ground?

I am so tired but so glad we are on our way. And safe as well. I'm glad we're safe. Who knows where we will end up? I can't think about it now. I'm just grateful to be alive, not caught by those men back there.

I'm going to stop writing and crawl under the blankets with my man. I'm glad we're all here and okay...

Patty ~ March 25th

We are free. Mike told me what those bastards intended to do. Unbelievable, or it was until I talked with Molly and Susan. We, Ronnie and Tim and I were over on the North side. They would have gotten us eventually. Maybe even could have, but they didn't. They didn't, and here we are camped out in a field of hay and Watertown is long behind us. The people I love are safe, and tonight that's enough to be right with the world, as messed up as it all is...

Tom ~ March 25th

I see so many people writing tonight. I guess it's been that kind of day.

I thought it would be better to stay. I was wrong. I had no idea how bad things could get. I must have been looking at some alternative world, not the real one. I've been like that all through my life. Overly Goddamn rigid! But I'm learning. I have already learned a few things.

I'm not good with this journal stuff, but when I looked around and saw so many others writing, I decided it didn't matter. It's like an outpouring of some kind. We are free, really free tonight. It's unbelievable, but it's true. What else is there to wish for?

I have Lilly. I'm in better shape than I've been in for a long time. I can sleep at night. I mean real sleep, not that toss and turn stuff I did in the old world. And I'll do that later on tonight. Meanwhile, I have one of the first watches. I don't mind. You know, I don't pray much, but thank you God.

Sandy ~ March 25th

I have never had three days like this in my life before. Emotional highs and lows. I was positive we would be killed. I know that is morbid, but I was. I could see no way out; I mean you have to fight, right? I am not upset that we ran, but I would've fought. Honor is more important than life to me. But it was not my decision. I had a say, but my say was in the minority. In fact, it seemed like I was the only one.

Another thing happened. It was horrible, then beautiful, then horrible, and now unexpectedly beautiful again... I think. I won't write personal, personal things here though. Even so, I had a chance at something, but I couldn't do it, couldn't let myself feel it, so I lost it, but I have another chance it seems. The world is a funny place.

One more thing, just to remind myself. A certain person who thinks she's so perfect, can do no wrong, she seems to look down on me. But today I saw the way she looked at someone else... Another woman. I know what I saw from both of them, but I don't think either of them knows it about each other. My point is, how can she look down on me? How can that be?

Nell ~ March 25th

We made it, which is the really big news for all of us. We've made it.

I don't know where we are going. I don't think anyone else does either, but we are free of living under siege.

It was such a good plan. If he was free and I liked men, I would go for Mike. He's not your typical man. I see the way he treats Candace. Of course Candace is the type of woman who would not take any other sort of man... Or woman? I think so.

But it's not just Candace but all women he treats that way. He treats men the same way. He has natural abilities when it comes to people. He is a leader. Anyway, the plan worked perfectly.

In other news, we are not together like I had hoped. I had written that I had finally talked to Sandy but she denied everything, seemed really embarrassed. So was I. I thought maybe I was wrong, and I guessed I must have been, but that's the way the world is. Sometimes we are wrong. What I saw may have been only curiosity, something else, I told myself. But, it turns out I was right the first time. I'm getting ahead of myself.

When she shot me down I was upset, but I went with it. What else could I do? But they say there is a reason for everything, and three nights ago I found out why. I met Molly.

Molly was one of the women that escaped from those men. She had a really bad time with them, went through some bad things, but that didn't influence who she is, or what she is. She is still herself in other words; the other part of that explanation went much deeper.

She wanted me to know that she had always been attracted to women, not men, that nothing they did to her changed her from some other woman into the one I was meeting. It was important to her for me to understand that. I guess it was important to me too.

She says she has known who she was since junior high. It was amazing to me to meet someone with that kind of confidence. We were talking about real things, heart and mind things, within just a few minutes.

She and Susan had just not clicked. They like each other, but not on that level. But Susan knows who she is too, and has for a long while. I feel like I am the only one who had to take the long way around to finding out that I am who I am, or admitting to myself who I am... I guess there is a big difference in those two statements. I was hiding out for so long. Living in this little city. My life was so structured. I was married to a man, for God's sake. Molly was something else. Is something else.

The next morning, at breakfast, she caught me looking and that was that. We were sitting outside talking a little while later, and she just kissed me. Stopped all of my words and nearly stopped my heart too. And then she smiled, and I kissed her back.

Sandy came out of the cave a few minutes later, saw us and she just knew. I could tell by the way she looked at us. She was so mad at me. I felt guilty too, but she had said no. She had said that I was mistaken, wrong about her. So not a good way to find out that I was right. Sandy had lived in her shell longer than I had. In the end, we talked it out. We're okay. We worked it out.

Molly and I are together. It was just that fast, and it's good. I feel like I've never felt. And we're free now. And last, my heart is lighter. I saw Susan and Sandy talking and laughing together all night tonight. It made me feel better. I think everyone has seen Molly and me together, but as of tonight we are actually together, as in living together, as in partners, as in sleeping in the same space together... figuring out where we're going to go... together.

I'm not going to waste any more of my life. I won't say love. Love takes time, but it is so close that it may as well be.

Mike ~ March 25th Late Night

It's late, but we've finally settled down for the night. We have tents, food, and of course we can build a fire for warmth. The basic stuff, right? I think so.

We drove two hours into the darkness and then pulled off into a big, empty field. We're in a small town somewhere north of Syracuse. If anyone is here, we haven't seen them. There's a small general store. It's wood framed and in horrible shape, but it's standing, or most of it is, and the canned stuff is all there. So if there was someone here, they never touched anything inside the store area.

Animals have been in and out. Anything that could be eaten has been. Nearly everything's been gnawed on. We put together a good meal with canned stuff though. We took as much as we could carry in the trucks to top off what we had. I say we, but it's really Janet who's done the work, gotten people motivated to do something. She's good at that. A good organizer: meals, children, lists, you name it. She's one of the most 'on the ball' people I've ever met. I wish I had half of her confidence.

We're too far away to pick up anything on the radios from Watertown. Even so, we've picked up bits and pieces of conversation as we've traveled. Not enough to know where it's from, but some people somewhere are communicating.

We discussed big cities - Syracuse is not far away - and decided against them. All that concrete and steel, people. Disease alone could be a problem.

Almost everyone approves of what we did today. Approves, that's a funny word to use, but it's what it is. There were a few; I could sense it, who wanted to fight. The two new women, Molly and Susan... I shouldn't try to read minds though.

But I do understand it. And if I'm honest, I wanted to fight too. It was my first impulse, but that sobered me up, the fact that it was an impulse. No matter how I looked at it, after I cut out the emotional response, it made no sense at all. Even so, I find myself second guessing it. I'm not entirely sure I've done the right thing talking everyone into going on the road. It could go bad. It could be bad. But I tell myself maybe I'm just unaccustomed to leading.

What if there were others that were being forced to be there? Hell, there probably were. I remember seeing a woman heave a gasoline bomb from the roof on the square. Was she with one or the other side or fighting to be free? No way to know, and could we have won if we had fought them? Could we have helped those people if it did turn out that they needed help, or would we simply have gotten ourselves and them killed trying? Or captured? And we know what that would have meant for the women in our group. And the men? Probably would've just killed us. I did what I thought was best. No, I won't second guess it, I did the right thing.

Where are we going? I don't know. We haven't had the time to talk it over. And on a personal level it matters to me what Candace wants to do, where she wants to go.

Tom: I don't know what to think about Tom. Sometimes I feel like he's fine with me... We'll be fine. And I wasn't all that sure that we could ever get to that place for awhile. And, I'm still not always convinced. Sometimes I see him looking at Candace and I think, if there isn't something, some sort of feeling still there, then there is some sort of resentment there. He'll look at Candace then me; one reminds him of the other, and not in a good way. And, you know what? I think I'm being excessively hyper critical. I'm reading too much into it. I just don't know. I want to trust him. Hell, he's smart. We need him. Is that a reason to walk the line? Does that make me any better than any of those fakes in the old world that I hated? I don't think it does. I'm just trying to be real. I guess I'll keep it real with him, but I'll have to keep an eye on him because I'm just not sure.

Bob: Bob is straight forward. Bob wants the Nation restored. Bob wants all the native peoples back together living in peace. But where are they? He believes they'll find us. Maybe they will. He believes in what he calls the Rainbow Tribe; People that feel the call but aren't completely native, or maybe have no Native blood at all. But they want the life, and he believes they will come to where ever the spirit leads him. What can I say to that? It could be. For all I know that is exactly the way it's supposed to be. And maybe Jesus will show up too... I don't mean that sarcastically. A month ago I thought I would spend the balance of my life in Watertown. I liked my life. I didn't see this. I didn't believe this when people said it might happen. But how often has some whack job predicted the end of the Earth? Too often.

Even so, here I am. I'm leading people. Other people. They believe I'm capable of doing that. You couldn't have sold me that story a few weeks ago, that's for sure. So, Bob? Could be his dream will become a reality. I only know he's level headed, pretty solid, and he knows more about surviving this kind of world than all the rest of us put together because of his native background.

Ronnie: Probably going to be the best friend I've ever had. In the world I had friends, and I thought they were real friends, as tight as I could imagine, but this kind of world makes for a kind of friendship, at least for me, that could never have been in that old world. He's solid. Loyal. Smart. I need him too.

I've started to do this thing over the last few days. I think things out loud, bounce them off him. He seems to think of the things I don't. That's important. I may lead, but this is not a one man show.

Candace: I suppose she'll read this someday. Or at least if she wanted to I would let her. I was by myself. I don't mean I never went out; I did, but there was no one special, no one I was serious about, and I don't think there ever would have been. I was used to who I was.

There is nothing she doesn't know about me, and I'm pretty sure I can say the same thing about her. She told everyone, me included at first, that she was here visiting her grandparents. It's not true though. She was living here. She had wanted to go into Law Enforcement like her father, but she hadn't been able to make the college end of it work out yet. So, she was here dancing. That's why she doesn't allow anyone to call her Candy, except Janet who can do no wrong in Candace's eyes. She was saving for college. She was dancing here hoping it never got back to anyone who knew her in Syracuse. I love her. It doesn't hurt to say that, but it scares me.

Patty: She's got this distance thing with me. Not cold, not mean, not anything like that. I don't know what it is. It baffles me. Even so, I don't think it will affect us or the group, and maybe it's me.

Sandy: She has something against Candace, and that means she has something with me by proxy. It's just that way. I don't know what the deal is. Maybe it'll work itself out, maybe it won't.

Nell: Nell is solid. I like her. Annie, Tim, good kids, not really kids either. Janet... I should like her and I do but I have this reservation in me about her. There is a part of her that bothers me.

Lilly: I can't help but like Lilly. She is real all the time. Where Bob believes in The Great Spirit, she believes in Jesus. She calls herself a Christian. She says she's not religious though, and that Jesus wasn't either. She believes he's coming back, but probably not for a while, not in her lifetime.

Molly and Susan: I tried not to like them, to be reserved. But they are too likable, too honest, straight forward. They'll be assets to us. I like them in spite of my fear of just accepting anyone at all at face value. I don't know what to make of the world outside of Watertown.

I do know that this little drive has been enlightening. There is so much destruction everywhere I look, but then I see other things as well. Herds of deer and cows everywhere, a few horses, and packs of wild dogs as well, and we've traveled only a few miles, really. What will the rest be like?

So many animals, so few people. Looks like we've adapted ourselves right out of existence. I guess those are my thoughts. They seem kind of small written out like this, but at the same time frightening... huge. We're down for the night, on the road to where ever tomorrow.

~State Street Hill~

They came from the barn and made their way out to the twisted and buckled road. Thirty all together, and now they did have a leader. They had a leader, and they were becoming less and less afraid of the living.

The fires that burned far below in the city were another matter. They could not overcome the panic and the fear that leapt into them every time they saw the flames leap far below or the smell of smoke came to them on the air currents that floated up over the city and up to where they were.

He came last from the barn, slow, but not slow because he needed to move slow, or because he was missing parts of himself like so many were. He moved slow because he chose to move slow. He moved slow because there was no need, in his mind, to move fast. Slow worked.

He walked through the others where they had gathered looking down at the city and the pall of smoke that hung over it. He walked to the edge of the road where it curved into the dip that began the long, steep fall down into the city. He stood for a long time... scenting the air... thinking.

The moon continued across the sky. Time slipped by; the noise from the city did not return, and yet he stood still. Finally, he turned and faced them. He shook his head slightly, raised his eyes to the moon and then looked back down. "No," he said. His voice was smooth, seemingly unmolested by rot and decay. "No," he said once more. "Not yet." He walked back to the barn slowly. The others hesitated a few seconds and then turned and followed him back to the barn.

The moon continued its trip across the sky, shining its silvery light down upon the earth.
MAJOR CHARACTER BIBLIOGRAPHY

ANNIE

Annie came to the others after being rescued from Sin and Murder, two gang members, in a gun battle that left two people dead (Book One). Annie's rescue is what set off the battle between the North side and the Public Square crews, and that ultimately dragged Mike, Candace and the others into the fight.

Annie was in school before the world went crazy, that's the way she thinks of it, the world went crazy. As the series matures Annie becomes one of the major characters. Even early on, in the first book, you can see her willingness to speak out, to be involved, and you can see her loyalty. Annie is still a child, sixteen when the series starts.

Although it isn't expressly written it seems clear that it was Annie who kept Brian and Janelle safe in the midst of the violence and chaos they were forced to live in...

BEAR

Bear is the leader of the Outrunners just as Mike is the current leader of the Nation. Bear will lead the Outrunners through all the coming books. He, Beth, Billy and Pearl are the heart of the team. As the books progress, Mike Collins himself will take a turn as an OutRunner.

Bear came from New York where he lived with Donita before the plagues began. He is loyal. He is a loner and prefers to be. He and Donita were a couple, although she no longer remembers that life and he does not know what has become of her. He and Beth have formed a relationship that they will need to depend on.

In later books the Outrunners will have their own place in the Nation society. They will live somewhat apart from the others, and an air of awe and mystery surrounds them. Bear does his best in the future to reinforce that.

It is Bear and the Outrunners that will become the bridge between The Nation and its biggest rival, The Fold. It is also the Outrunners who will eventually unravel the mystery of how the Zombie Apocalypse became to be. They will protect The Nation, search out weapons and stock piled foodstuffs, and they will fight the Zombie Plagues. Bear is the key to all of it: The one man who lives on the edge and likes the view there. With Beth he is the major force behind the Outrunners, who keep the Nation safe and allow the society there to live in relative peace in the valley.

BETH

Beth is quite often Bear's voice of reason. She is not the sort of woman who feels a need to be helped, or told what to do. She is a leader. She has strong opinions. She doesn't consider the loss of her arm to be a disability.

In many ways she is very much like Candace, strong, independent; secure in her abilities. She is an important part of the Outrunners, not just a figurehead. And she will become an important part of The Nation. She is a singer, lyricist and that will bring her into closer contact and friendship with Candace who enjoys the same things. She misses L.A. Sometimes, but she loves Bear and the life they have, along with the security The Nation provides its peoples.

BILLY

For the time being, Billy will remain wherever Bear is. He is very loyal to him, The Nation, and the Outrunners. In the novel Billy Jingo we learn much more about him before the plagues, where he came from, what his life was before the apocalypse.

Once Billy met Pearl his goals, plans, and future outlook began to change. He realized he finally had someone that he needed, not just wanted. And he realized that that need was returned to him from her.

In the future books the two of them will have their own goals and plans that may eventually take them away from the Nation.

BOB

Bob doesn't say much about Bob. What we know comes from Janet, or observed behaviors and talents that are related to us from other characters.

We know it is Bob who has the dream to start the Nation. His dream is not a new dream he has had it for years, believed in it for years. I wonder if Bob was thought of as fanatical back in the old world. He probably was.

Bob has knowledge of farming, living off the land, herbs, food that can be harvested from nature and how to do it. Bob has that knowledge because he took the time to learn it from his Native American brothers. He has taught a great deal to Janet, but it will be Bob that everyone depends on to know what to do in almost every situation: Farming; Living off the land; Herbal medicines; preserving meat; making leather. The list goes on.

Bob is trained as a mechanic, but he is one of those people who know how to do almost anything they put their mind to. If Mike is the leader, Bob and his knowledge are the backbone.

Bob is very laid back. He is uncomfortable with praise. He is against violence, but when it came down to it in the standoff that ended in Annie, Janelle and Brian being freed, Bob didn't hesitate to kill the gang member Murder. Tom was still thinking about the situation. Bob sized it up and reacted. That speaks to Bob's character, consistency. It can be seen in almost everything he does.

CANDACE

Candace Loi would have started her new career as a dancer on the 11th of March had the world stayed the same. She had been working at a club on the north side of the city of Watertown New York run by organized crime. She had danced a few times, but had been relegated to tending bar because the club manager did not want her to throw her life away on dancing.

Her Grandmother Pan (Deceased) had lived in Watertown for years. Candace had Lived in Syracuse where she hoped to follow her father into Law Enforcement. She couldn't afford the college courses so she moved to Watertown where she believed she could dance, save the money for college, and no one would be the wiser.

She is nineteen at the beginning of the series. She is strong willed, knows what she wants, and goes for it. She is an excellent shot, but on more than one occasion she showed restraint, didn't shoot when she could have. The few times she has killed someone she had no choice. Even so she didn't hesitate.

Her confidant early on is Jan. Jan took her under her wing. But once Patty comes into the picture she and Candace begin a relationship that grows in unexpected ways.

The most commented thing about her is her tattoo that begins on the back of her left hand, flows up her arm, across her breasts and then down across her stomach and beyond.

The second most commented upon thing about her are her looks influenced by her father who was African American and her Mother who was Japanese.

She wants to be pregnant, she can see herself as a mother, and she sees salvation for the world in children. She is a musician, singer/songwriter. She was told more than once that she could have made it as a musician. She, once they are somewhat settled down, but even as they travel, begins once more to write music and lyrics.

She and Mike Collins are the two main characters in the novels.

Other Information

In the Novel Billy Jingo Candace has a small part as a cashier in a grocery store.

In the Novel Alone she also has a small part as a cashier in that same store.

In the novel Kat and Pat she has a small part as a dancer that reveals a little more about her first few months in the club than chapter one of the first book shows us.

JESSIE

Jessie Stone brings a real doctor to the nation. She is level headed, pragmatic, and straight forward when it comes to her needs and her beliefs, but she also has a humorous side.

Jessie was serious when she told Mike that she wanted him. And, although Mike turned her down she did not change her mind. The feelings she had did not go away, in fact they grew stronger as she came to understand the leader of the Nation as he guided them back to the valley.

She set out from Washington State to form a haven like the Nation. She and her followers called that place The Fold.

The months ahead will determine Jessie's place in the Nation, and quite possibly change several relationships in the process.

MIKE

Mike Collins is the leader of the people and remains the leader through nearly all the novels.

We know Mike used to do Web Design work, that he had a great deal of money in the old world, but that he was unhappy (He says so in retrospect). He had no girlfriend and was pretty much wrapped up in making money that he didn't need. He just socked it into a bank account and left it there, when he explains this towards the end of book one he gives the impression that knowing that money was there (He talks about a few million dollars) was a big deal to him, as though it may have ruled his life.

Mike didn't set out to be the leader. It was the dynamic formed by the relationship with Candace that pushed him into that role: As though the relationship bought the responsibility with it. Later in the series the role is a bigger responsibility than he wants to handle. The people he's responsible for number in the thousands and continues to grow.

Mike is mixed race, Native American, White, African American. He spent some time on the streets as a kid. Candace is his first real love.

Later in the series Mike will go through many changes, first trying to find himself, then trying to find his place in life. His search may take him away from Candace.

Other Information

In the novel Alone Mike has a small part finishing up some computer work for one the main characters.

PATTY

Patty comes into the series in the first book and becomes Candace's best friend immediately. She admits in her diary writings that she has never had a friend like Candace.

She doesn't tell us much about her life in the old world. Married, divorced and married again and that was on the verge of failure too.

She talks about Ronnie in some of her writings as if he is all she ever wanted, but in some of her writings she's not so sure. In a few of her writings she seems to be hinting at some sort of realization she has come to too late. That may become clearer in the later books.

In any case she is completely devoted and loyal to Candace, and she plays an important part in the lives of all the characters right to the end of the series.

Patty plays one of the Title Roles in the novel Kat and Pat. In that book she reveals a great deal about herself in her previous life.

PEARL

Pearl comes to us from England. She doesn't say how she happened to be in the United States when the apocalypse started.

She made her way to The Nation with another group of people and met Billy shortly after. It is only after she is there for some time that she reveals information that she has about the apocalypse.

Pearl likes her life with Billy, but she longs for England, and wonders what has become of her home. For now she is content to be a part of the Outrunners.

RONNIE

Ronnie came to us in the first book already involved with Patty and seemingly happy with his situation. There are references to conversations between him and Mike that cemented their relationship, but no actual written record of those conversations.

Ronnie is Mike's right hand man. Mike says he is a completion of himself and he depends on him and seeks his advice. Mike discuses nearly everything with him. Several times he and Candace are the only ones that Mike takes into his confidence or seems to trust with the really big things.

We know Ronnie came from Pritchard Alabama. Pritchard is a small city on the outskirts of Mobile Alabama. He came to Watertown to build houses for the Army base expansion and stayed.

He is a carpenter by trade. Quiet, solid, loyal are apt descriptive words for him. His relationship with Patty probably would not have happened had the world not changed drastically. Patty was waiting for something else she didn't even know she was waiting for at the time. Ronnie saw her regularly, they lived in the same apartment house, Ronnie lived in 2c, patty lived one floor below in 1b. They both shopped at the same supermarket on State street, Ronnie didn't like to shop at all. But as often as he saw her in passing he never asked her out, although he admits he had thought about it a few times.

TIM

Tim is Patty's brother, or at least that is the way she presents him and he doesn't correct that perception. A little more on that down the road...

Tim is really not much more than a kid when we meet him in the first book. When Annie comes along he is immediately attracted to her. They are both about the same age.

Tim looks up to Ronnie. He views Ronnie as the man who came along and saved himself and Patty. Most likely that is exactly what happened as they were on the North Side and would have been picked up by the North Side gangs before long. Traveling with Ronnie probably stopped that from happening. Tim looks at him as an older brother he never had. Stability in a bad situation.

Tim also looks up to Mike and Mike is fond of Tim. That is evidenced in the things Mike trusts him with.

TOM

Tom Evans comes into the first novel as a man who really doesn't know himself. He goes from a position of leadership to last in line for responsibility once Mike Collins is leading.

He felt cheated at first when Candace went with Mike. His belief was that if things could have stayed the same she would have ended up with him, not Mike. He doesn't want to leave Watertown at first but eventually he comes around to the realization that he can't stay. Still, he remains in Joel's shadow.

He is a skilled Mechanic. He shows that he has a little more depth than he normally shows in his journal entries, especially after Lydia is killed.

THE NATION

The Nation is situated between the former states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and extends to the East and West as well as it grows.

That settlement is the heart of The Nation, but The Nation is not the only group of survivors vying for control of the former United States. The Fold is another group that will eventually come into conflict with The Nation, but there are others they will have to deal with as they grow and begin to take new territories.

Although The Nation will always remain headquartered in the valley, not all the main characters will. As they grow they will spread out across what is left of the North American Continent, and that is when the real problems with other survivors will come.

THE FOLD

The fold is peopled by the survivors from the Earth's Survivors Settlement Earth Books. They initially start their settlements on what remains of the west coast, but soon move away from the coast and the continuing earthquakes.

They resettle at an oasis in the desert and become The Nation's greatest rival, even enemies.

The two groups will finally face off against each other in all out war in the later books.

ALABAMA ISLAND

Joel and Haley remain the leaders of Alabama Island for quite some time, but eventually their leadership is relinquished in the wars. Alabama Island is peopled and run by important characters from The Nation; it rivals Rapid City as a Nation City. For a time it rises above all the other societies.

RAPID CITY

Rapid City was established by people other than The Nation. At one time a Zombie stronghold, it was wiped out each time it was reestablished. Eventually The Nation will gain a stronghold there and Rapid City will become a gateway into the south, and Alabama Island beyond.
ZOMBIE PLAGUE

Thank you for purchasing this book.

Geo Dell 09-2017

