Liberators Page 18

  Joshua pondered what he had heard, and said, “It’s only a matter of time until the fuel runs out, but I have to think that there will be more people tracking through these parts. We can’t be the only ones to find out about the caves.”

  Megan spoke. “Good point, Joshua. I say that after the last of the snow melts off and at the last phase before a new moon we should leave here and continue west.”

  Malorie said, “That guy we found today makes me think that we might get discovered before then.”

  Joshua leaned over and grabbed a stick to draw on the ground, then said, “Take this as Clear Creek Road, and this as the lake over here to our east. We have no idea who or how many other people are out here, but if they didn’t roll out of town supplied like we were, then most of them are not going to make it for very long.”

  Malorie looked down. “I hate that our survival chances depend so much on the demise of others.”

  “It bothers me, too, Mal, it really does,” Joshua said.

  As Malorie walked to the observation post, Joshua continued, “So the next patrol/hunt is not for two more days. We sure are burning up a lot of calories without having any meat to show for it. Can you pass the map to me?”

  “Sure thing. I have to imagine that the hunting pressure is high on these deer and that they’re making themselves scarce.”

  “So we’ve been checking out this swath of land here up to Clear Creek Road, right? Well, it looks like there is a pretty big section across that road over here before you get to Highway 211. I’m not much of a hunter, but perhaps I can go with Malorie. It appears to be about six miles one way, putting us there at midday if we set out early. And if we can’t make it back in one day, we could set up overlooking Highway 211 and try to get some intelligence for what is going on.”

  “Right, but your best hunting opportunities are not going to be midday,” Megan answered. “Game studies have shown that deer are actually active for feeding based on the rising and setting of the moon. Plus, don’t you think that going to a patch of woods near a big road is dangerous? There would just be two of you—not enough of a force to mount an effective defense if you were spotted. “

  “All good points, Megan. I guess that I just really want to know what is going on out there in the world! We still have a long way to go to get to Bradfordsville, and there just doesn’t seem to be any way to get the info we need.” After a few minutes he said, “Okay, tomorrow it’s my turn to get water from the lake. I’ll see what fish I can catch and perhaps a better idea will come to me.” Megan nodded in agreement.

  The next day Joshua grabbed his empty rucksack and eight quart-size Ziploc bags that the group had been using to collect water from Cave Run Lake. The most efficient way they had found was to fill up the bags with water and bring the water back to camp to filter through one of the one-quart-capacity Go Berkey travel water purifiers that they had with them. The second filter, along with their other small valuables, was in the cache that they made off site.

  Joshua tried to fish but gave up after thirty minutes since staying out by the lake’s edge meant more exposure and a higher chance of being discovered. He packed up the water, but as he ducked under a branch, one of the twigs caught the back of his rucksack and sent a shower of snow down on him, with some of it managing to find a path between his neck and collar. The cold, wet snow down his back made him take a knee to stop and shiver. He checked his watch. It was 10:37 A.M. on December 23. Before he could stand up he saw a glimpse of movement in his left periphery toward the lake. There, standing with her back half concealed behind a tree, was a yearling doe broadside. Joshua kept both eyes on the doe and when she twitched her nose and started to stamp and snort, Joshua raised his Remington 870 into position and established a firm position against the tree for support. The water sloshed in his backpack as he made his final adjustments and took the shotgun off safe. At this distance the 000 buckshot would spread out quite a bit, but he was not going to pass up the opportunity to bring meat back.

  The doe was about to trot away when Joshua pulled the trigger. The report from the shotgun was loud, but it seemed deafening in the near-complete tranquillity of the state forest. The deer took off running toward the lake down a narrow trail. Joshua instinctively cycled the pump action on the shotgun to prepare to take a follow-up shot if need be. He examined the place where the deer was standing, and he saw some marks on the tree from where some of the shot had hit. Disappointed, he stood up and covered the last five minutes or so back to camp.

  When Megan saw Joshua, she ran out to meet him. Everyone was so used to keeping their voices down that neither of them spoke until they were within normal voice distance. “Are you okay? We heard a shot.”

  Joshua looked down and said, “Yeah, that was me. I saw a skinny doe and took a shot at her, but she took off.”

  “Did you follow her?”

  “No, are you supposed to?”

  Megan giggled and said, “Did you see any blood?”

  Joshua was still rather embarrassed as he responded, “I was sure that I hit her and even saw some shot marks on the tree she was standing behind. On the hunting shows the animals always seem to drop right there. I just don’t get it.”

  Megan kissed him on the cheek. “Drop your pack and we’ll go back and see if we can find blood and track her.”

  Joshua led Megan back to the place where he had shot the doe. Megan asked where he was when he made the shot, and he pointed across to the spot where he pulled the trigger. Megan drew a line and started to look for blood in the snow on the ground. “Joshua, come look.” She pointed with a stick to the blood on the ground. “See the blood here? You definitely hit her.”

  “Somehow it all looks easier on TV.” Joshua’s eyes brightened and he said, “But if we have blood and some intermittent tracks through the patches of snow, then we can track her, right?”

  Megan stood up, grabbed his hand, and said, “Yipper, right this way, Wingnut.”

  The snow was very sparse under the dense trees, but working together they were able to follow the doe’s tracks, confirmed with small spots of blood. Eventually Megan found the animal in some thick brush near the water. She threw her arms around him and said, “Nice job! That’s meat right there. I’ll poke her with a long stick to make sure that she’s dead, otherwise, you’re liable to get kicked.”

  Megan confirmed that the doe was dead, and she then methodically showed Joshua how to open up the abdominal cavity and eviscerate the deer, saving the heart and the liver. She looked up at him and said, “It’s tradition, you know.” Joshua winced but was trying to be a good sport. He couldn’t tell if she was pulling his leg or not.

  Next she found a thick green branch that could be whittled down to a point on both ends to stick through the back leg between the bone and the tendon on the lower hock. Joshua had never done this before, but he was catching on, so he threw the rope over a sturdy branch. Megan lashed the two back legs to the green stick, which would have to do in place of a proper gambrel, then the two of them hoisted the deer up to working height. Megan started to take off the cape, but once Joshua saw how it was done he insisted on getting in there to help. Megan worked to cut off the doe’s head while Joshua worked on removing the cape. She smiled and said, “You’re lucky the doe is still warm; this is a real chore when the meat is cold!

  “Tell you what, let’s quarter this doe back at camp. It’ll be good for the boys to see how it’s done, and we can just tie the legs together and carry her out on a long pole between us,” Megan said.

  “Cool. Do you know how to do anything with this hide?” Joshua asked.

  “Well, without salt it would be hard to preserve it, but if we scraped it really well we could likely roll it up and either use it for something or trade it. Let’s put it in the lake with a bunch of rocks on top to keep it submerged in the water. That will soften everything up really well and we can come back for it in a few days. The meat and hair should scrape right off.”

  Mega
n and Joshua packed the deer out on a pole back to camp and returned midafternoon to cheers and high fives from Malorie, Jean, and Leo. “Merry Christmas, everyone!” Megan said. Malorie got to work with her knife alongside her sister, as there was still plenty to do with the deer carcass.

  “We’ll have to find a way to cook some of the meat and dry as much as we can,” Joshua said.

  “What if we dug another hole outside of camp and filled it with snow so that we could pack some of the meat in the snow—that should keep it from spoiling, with it as cold as it is,” Megan suggested. “I remember Papa telling me about them having to do that sometimes when they were out at logging camp without refrigeration.” In the end they roasted one front quarter in a pit, made jerky with the chest and flank meat, packed one hind quarter in snow, and hung up the other two quarters. Although they couldn’t measure it exactly, they guessed the high temperature was only forty degrees during the day.

  That night there was a lot of thanksgiving for their provisions as everyone had their fill of hot food for the first time in a long time. They made sure to stop themselves from overeating to prevent illness.

  Joshua was on shift from the early hours of the morning through dawn when Megan came on duty to relieve him. “Good morning, beautiful. Listen, I’ve been thinking. Now that we have a store of meat, the pressure to conserve our supplies is a lot less immediate. I want to find out what is happening out there in the world. According to the tick marks on the wall, we checked out of the world two months ago, and for all we know, the government might not be the same government anymore.”

  “Okay,” Megan replied.

  Joshua waited for what seemed like a long time before saying anything. “I was hoping for more of your input.”

  “Tell me, are you thinking of the contingencies here? What happens if you get killed?”

  “You’re right. It sounds a lot more stupid hearing my idea repeated back to me. Our whole mission could fail.” Joshua stood up and kissed Megan on the head and went back to the cave.

  Megan spent the first part of her shift in silent prayer. Her thoughts raced from the great blessing of getting the venison, to her memories of walking out of the NSA the day before the Crunch, to meeting Joshua for the first time. Would he risk going alone to find answers? Could she bear that unknown? She was lost in thought, and didn’t notice Malorie had walked up and sat down next to her.

  “You have a friendly approaching.” Malorie smirked as she nudged her elder sister.

  “Yeah, some vigilant guard I am, huh?” Malorie smiled back and waited for Megan to say what was on her mind. “Joshua wants to ask somebody, anybody about news out there on the outside. He thinks that if he had more facts to parse he’d be able to make a better decision about our situation. I know he isn’t arrogant enough to decide something unilaterally for our whole group, but we can’t afford to lose him to an ambush or abduction.”

  “So my super-spook sister is asking me what I think about her fiancé going out for information about the state of our Union. Seems to me that the analyst in you would be chomping at the bit to get facts to parse, cross-examine, and assess.”

  “We’re not talking about doing a Google search here, Mal.”

  “If Joshua was able to find out anything about the towns to our west, we’d know more about the ground we have yet to cover. Just because it’s been quiet here in this little slice of the world doesn’t mean that everyone else is sanguine with the world’s lone superpower going offline. Heck, if you wanted to go with him, I’d hold down the fort here. You probably know how to ask more probing questions than I do.”

  Malorie got up and went back to the boys, who were asking her to play tag with them. Joshua returned with a blanket to keep Megan warm in the chilly morning air. She looked up at him and said, “Okay, you and I can go. Malorie can cover my shift. Since we’re not stalking for game, we can move quickly and be back by dinner.”

  Joshua said, “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, but I want to do this my way. If/when you see someone, you approach with your shotgun slung and your hands laced behind your head like when you went up to the West Hamlin checkpoint. I’ll cover you with the .270. Keep in mind where I am, so that you don’t get in the way of my shot if I need to neutralize a threat.”

  “A Marine and her rifle, it’s a beautiful thing.”

  Megan and Joshua packed up some cooked venison and some dried apple rings, left their plan with Malorie for what to do if they were late in returning, said a prayer together as a group, and headed out around 0830 toward Clear Creek Road. They covered the distance in an hour and a half, setting up on a hill overlooking a long stretch of the road. They scouted any- and everything that they could possibly see through the scope.

  Megan took the rifle after Joshua did a preliminary scan and said, “Okay, you’re not going to believe this, but that same guy is just sitting there. He is really easy to miss, but look just to the left of that conifer with the twin top for a general bearing, and drop your view down to the roadside. You can just barely see him in the shadow. He is slouched up against a tree with some kind of cardboard sign and something flat on his lap.”

  “No way, let me see.” Joshua took the rifle and saw the outline of a person, then looked at Megan and asked, “I’d say that it’s about a klick away from here. Okay, how do you want to do this?”

  “You know that we’re showing our hand here, right?” Megan paused and Joshua nodded. “That being said, you won’t have any cover once you’re out in the open. So, if we set up so that I have clear line of sight and you stay to the left edge of the road, then I say that you proceed with caution.”

  Joshua and Megan took their time getting to the road’s edge, always scanning their sector to make sure that they had accounted for all variables. Joshua spread out his poncho for Megan so that she would not get wet from staying for a prolonged time in the supported prone position. Without a rangefinder, it was up to Megan to judge the distance for elevation changes. “So, I can read what it says on his sign. It says, RELIGION?”

  “This is getting weirder by the minute.”

  Joshua kissed Megan and said, “I’ll be right back.” Joshua stepped out with his shotgun slung behind his back and his hands laced behind his head. The man had been looking in their general direction, but when he saw Joshua emerge unexpectedly from the wood line, he wasn’t startled or showing any signs of feeling threatened. He simply waved to Joshua, who proceeded forward with caution.

  When Joshua was in shouting distance he said, “We mean you no harm, we’re only looking for information.”

  The man sitting down said, “Come, sit, friend. I’m not armed, and I mean you no harm, either.”

  “If it’s all the same to you, I’ll just stand over here.”

  “That is fine, friend. My name is Aaron Wetherspoon. I’m pleased to meet you. I was praying that I would get to talk to someone today, and here you are.”

  “Indeed. You can say that we were praying for the same thing.” Joshua stood at an awkward distance by the standard of most social mores, but the man didn’t seem to mind. “My name is Joshua Kim. What can you tell us about current events? What is the state of the government? Do you know any information about towns to the west of here?”

  “So you’re looking to head west, you say? When was the last time you got any news? Do you have any idea what is happening in our land?”

  “No, Aaron, I don’t—we’ve been in hiding since the Crunch.”

  “I suspect that you scouted this area pretty well and that part of your ‘we’ is likely pulling overwatch right now?” Joshua nodded. “Very prudent of you. What if we went somewhere of your choosing to talk that made you less uncomfortable? How about you lead and I’ll follow, and we can sit and parlay for a while—much has happened that you need to know about.”

  “Okay, Aaron. Let me run that past my overwatch—if all is fine I’ll wave you over and we can find a place to sit and talk.”

  “Okay, tha
t sounds fair.”

  As soon as Joshua was in speaking distance, Megan blurted out, “Did you find anything out?”

  “Okay, so the guy’s name is Aaron Wetherspoon.”

  Megan tried to be patient and said, “Okay, cool—you got the guy’s name.”

  “He’s really sharp, Megan; he picked up that I was nervous being out in the open, so he offered to go to a place of our choosing—say two hundred meters back in the woods, to talk. I didn’t see any weapons and he said that he wasn’t armed. Evidently much has been happening while we were off the radar.” Megan checked the scope and confirmed that he had not moved. “You pick the place and we’ll set up our meeting.”

  “Okay, wave him over. I’ll find a spot well back into the wood line, probably at the base of the hill—look for me there. I haven’t seen or heard anyone else out here, so we should be good. Who knows? This might be another divine appointment.”

  “’Tis the season,” Joshua said as Megan sprang up and went to locate the meeting place. Joshua stepped out on the road to wave Aaron over to his location. Aaron was slow to get up, and he appeared to be unsteady on his feet as he crossed the three hundred or so meters to get to where Joshua was signaling.

  “As a precaution, we’re moving two hundred meters into the woods. Please join us there, Aaron. Again, we mean you no harm. We’re simply looking for information.”

  “Very well, it may take me a while, but I’ll get there, friend,” Aaron said—he seemed as if he was wheezing as he spoke. Joshua assisted Aaron in making the trip off the pavement through the snowy wood line to the place that Megan had found, a spot covered in dry pine needles. Megan had set up the poncho as the location for their meeting.