Chapter 24

[Tennessee]

The passenger door on the right truck opened and a person stepped out. Who ever it was had sleek legs and was wearing sneakers. A voice called out, "Who are you?" It was female!

I nodded toward Jane. She said, "I'm Jane Andrews and this is my husband, George. We're passing through on our way to my family farm. We just stopped to eat and were getting ready to pull out and go back to the Interstate. Who are you? Do you live here?"

I could see a face through the truck window as the person looked out of the truck. She nodded and said, "I'm Amy Hawthorne with my husband, Roy, and our two children, Roy, Jr., and Joan. In the other truck are Marcy and Ted Monroe and two other friends, Marshal Bridges and Pamela Jones. We were headed down to the Interstate to go to Knoxville."

"Amy, that won't work too well. Knoxville was on fire when we went through. Four new members of our party are from there. Why don't we go back into the restaurant here and sit down to talk?" She nodded and Jane and I jumped back in the truck and pulled back into the parking lot. Jane told everybody by radio, "No rifles but be careful. So far, so good."

The new folks pulled in and everybody tumbled out. Amy and her husband looked to be in their middle thirties and their children were early to mid teenagers. Marcy and Ted Monroe looked to be around Amos and Doris' age while Marshal Bridges and Pamela looked to be in their early thirties. Only Roy and Ted were armed and they only had pistols in holsters. This did look promising.

We went in the restaurant and Missy and Doris went to the fountain and poured drink orders for everyone. We sat down together pulling together a few tables to allow all of us to sit together. Jane and I told our story and that we were headed west to her family farm. She then described picking up the rest closing with, "We had lunch here and were pulling out to continue our trip."

Amy looked at Roy and smiled. He nodded toward her. She said, "I think everyone has a different story. Roy and I have been married for sixteen years next month. Our children are Roy, Jr., and Joan. Our parents were both older when we finally came along. We were each the only child of older parents. We lived next door and grew up together. We had no brothers or sisters so became partners. It was natural to us to marry early. Our parents were supportive of our marriage and delighted in having grandchildren. They vied in spoiling them and, in looking back on it, us. We grew up loved and valued and I hope Little Roy and Joan feel that way, too." She smiled at her kids. "I guess I'm going to have to quit calling him "little" soon since he's taller than I am and hasn't stopped growing yet.

"Our parents had passed away a couple of years ago and we inherited what they had built over their years. Roy and I were comfortable but still wanted better for our children. We had moved to Cookeville to give them a good place to grow somewhat like Knoxville had been for us." She looked at Roy and they smiled to each other. There were some long time memories between them.

"After the Day, we didn't get sick. We watched so many people sicken and die. In that next week, we met Ted and Marcy who had been dating and married to face whatever future there might be as husband and wife." Both Jane and I and the Bagwells smiled to our respective spouses at that. About a week ago, we met Marshall and Pamela. They lived in the same apartment complex and were the only survivors. We have been scavenging in the stores here but felt we should check out Knoxville hoping to find more people and to group together to figure out what to do on a more long-term basis."

I said, "Why not join us at Jane's farm. We're going to try to protect ourselves and our extended family in this new world. It won't be easy but more people will be better for that effort to be successful."

They all looked around and shared slow nods until Ted said, in the deepest bass voice that I could ever remember hearing, "We would like to join the family."

Of course, that moved the discussion in a different direction. When Ted mentioned Tennessee Tech University, our ears perked up. After talking about that, our travel plans changed abruptly to allow for an extended stay in Cookeville. We would exploit the library before we left. The Hawthorne's and Monroe's had lived in the same neighborhood and were still in their original houses. Marshall and Pamela lived in a house next to the Hawthorne family. Our party picked houses in the neighborhood and set up temporary housekeeping. We found stables and fields at Tennessee Tech for our animals as well as more animals. Mark was thrilled as was Missy. Bethany had become interested in the animals and was happy, too. She and Mark seemed to genuinely enjoy each other's company.

Jane and I set up housekeeping with Bethany as our "niece" much like we had at the ill-fated Anna Park home. We were still newly weds in many respects and learning about each other and our habits. Mark and Missy would live with Amos and Doris. Margie and Robert moved in with Marshall and Pamela and began the process of becoming friends.

Jane told me later that it was a good time and she enjoyed it. We made trips to the library every day collecting information on our laptops as well as written materials on every subject that came to mind. We broke into the campus bookstore and scavenged some more laptops. I labeled each one with a subject and we began to work more systematically after that. Amos and Jim went with Roy on a regular basis to scavenge food and other things we would need for our living. As our understanding of our needs grew, their list grew. Mark and Missy watched over all the animals and had the active help of the Hawthorne children and Bethany. They seemed to get along well as a group.

We tried to get everything we could. We found a trailer and built shelves into it with straps to keep everything inside. We mounted trailer hitches on every vehicle that didn't have them. Amos was a wizard with a wielder and a great mechanic. He oversaw all the work with Mark and young Roy watching and helping along with the rest of us.

We were in Cookeville for almost month before we felt ready to continue our trip. During that time, we met one other couple but they didn't want to join our group. They were going to move out of town and take over a farm. I had my doubts about their ability but wasn't about to force anything upon them including what I thought constituted good judgment.

We now had a total of nineteen people in our group as we pulled out of Cookeville. Jim and Cindy Bagwell were in the lead. Neither had ever had a big truck nor pulled a trailer. They were in a smaller SUV though the back was well loaded. It had good power and a radio, of course, so they would be our point people. Jane and I followed after that pulling the library trailer. Mark and Bethany were next pulling the first animal trailer. Following them was the truck of Amos with Doris and Missy inside with him. He had still another animal trailer. Following him was the truck and trailer of the Hawthorne family with still more animals. The last two trucks and trailers were Robert and Pamela and Marshall and Margie. They had found mutual likings and were in the process of becoming couples. I felt like we were in a caravan and said that. Jane said, "Just, let's make sure the raiders don't get us."

She then said into the radio, "Okay, everyone. Let's pull out. Marshall, you and Margie watch your rear view mirrors. We don't want any surprises coming up from behind."

An hour and a half later, we were in Nashville. Jane wanted to see Vanderbilt one last time and everybody was aware of that desire. Jim and Cindy led us to the campus and we rode through slowly. Our trailers took up some room but we didn't have to worry about traffic. We were it! We were headed out when Margie came on the radio calling for Jane. "Jane, we have at least two cars coming from behind us fast."

I could see a large parking lot up ahead at a shopping center and pointed. Jane said, "Everyone, pull into the parking lot and circle around. Stay low. Until we know who is chasing us and why, we will be cautious." We pulled into the parking lot and "circled the wagons" in case there was trouble. Margie reported there were three cars in the chase group. They stayed on the road and went by at sixty or so miles per hour. We waited for them to return but nothing happened. It was a long five minutes.

Jim came on saying, "Why don't we pull out onto the road and check it out a little?"

I shook my head and Jane said, "Let's give it five more minutes. Sit tight." Nothing happened. We saw and heard no one.

We had rolled our windows down to listen and heard nothing. I looked over at Jane and said, "I don't like it. Innocent fun or curiosity would bring most back. I'm afraid of an ambush." Five more long minutes went by.

Jim came on again. "Let us go out and down the road a little"

"Jim, I don't like it." I said, "This has all the earmarks of an ambush. However, we can't stay here forever. Be careful, be very careful."

"Don't worry. We'll watch out for bad guys."

I took my rifle and got out of the truck. Jane said, "What are you thinking?"

"I'm worried. I think they set a trap and are waiting for us mice to drop in. I think I will walk along the road for a bit with a HT and my rifle."

"Okay. Wait one." On the radio, she said, "Jim, slow down like you're really looking around and do. George and I are coming on foot. Give us a chance to catch up. The rest of you, stay put unless you hear from us."