Chapter 4

Day 30 - June 20

We arrived in Salt Lake City before noon the next day and refilled our water and dumped our sewage. We found a truck stop and refilled our diesel fuel, and traded our half-empty propane tank for a full one. We pulled around into the truck stop parking lot and had lunch and talked about how to go from here.

"Why don't we just go on across I-80?" Tina asked.

"We're going to want to go south at some point anyway Sweetheart. Route 80 goes through Wyoming and then Nebraska. Neither one of those states was very populous and Nebraska is over five hundred miles across. If we take route 40, just to the east of here, it will take us through the mountains and on in to Denver. Then we'd go through Kansas and on into Missouri."

"Okay, so what's wrong with taking route 40 then?" Syl asked.

"What's wrong with it is also what's right with it," I said. "Route 40 is mostly two lanes. We have a lot better chance of meeting people on a two lane road, but there is also a far greater chance the road will be blocked by a landslide or a fallen tree."

"Is there anything we can do to minimize our risks?" Syl asked.

"There are a couple of things we could do. The first one would be to get a chain saw and gasoline for it at a hardware store. There is a rack on the back of this thing for a dirt bike. We could pick up one of those, too. That would give us a chance of going for another vehicle if this one got stuck or broke down."

"Okay, that's what I suggest we do," Tina said. "We should also get some shovels to use in case of a land slide."

"What do you think Syl?" I asked.

"I think route 40 would be the best. I can use a shovel if I have to."

We went into Salt Lake and found a hardware store. We stocked up on the things we thought we'd need, including a couple of gas cans, two cycle engine oil, and chain and bar oil. We found a Honda dealership and picked up a 90cc model. I tried it out in the parking lot and it ran well. It also fit the rack perfectly.

We planted another ten signs in the Salt Lake area, then drove out to the junction with route 40. We found a level parking lot and called it a day.

Day 31 - June 21

Going through the mountains on route 40 has always been one of my favorite drives. I can remember driving through that way the first time with my father. He and I had gotten closer on that trip than we had ever been in our lives. I was eighteen at the time.

This time was no exception. We started climbing not long out of Salt Lake City. I took it slow, not being sure of the road ahead. We stopped in every town we passed through, and had to replenish our supply of sign holders that day.

We didn't see any people, but we were seeing more dogs. Some were loners, others were in packs. Almost all were big dogs, rottweilers, dobermans, great danes, pit bulls and the like. We also started seeing more animal carcasses. Sometimes we saw dead sheep but on at least two occasions we saw the bodies of full grown cows.

We ended up spending our third night in the state of Utah, in a little town called Jensen, just before we got to the Colorado border.

Day 32 - June 22

The next morning we got an early start. We left signs in Dinosaur and Blue Mountain, Colorado and went on to Elk Springs. Tina was putting up a sign in Elk Springs when we heard someone yell, "Hey!"

So, here's Tina, naked as a peeled grape, pushing a sign into the ground. A man and a woman were standing between two buildings, not twenty feet away from her. I reached down between the seats and picked up the M-16 that was lying there. I clicked off the safety, and put down the power window on the passenger's side, then raised the 16 until the end of the barrel was lying on the window.

The man had a rifle of some kind, but it was pointed downward. The man and woman were holding hands as they stepped forward. Tina turned toward them and said, "Good morning."

They were staring at her so hard, I don't think they even knew I was there. The woman smiled and said, "Good morning to you. It's nice to see someone other than Fred here for a change."

"I'm Tina James. My husband, Ed is inside the RV and probably has an M-16 pointed at you right now. We're not hostile, just cautious."

"I can understand your being cautious. We had a run in with a couple of guys the other day over in Blue Mountain. They were riding Harleys and were dressed in leathers. They made it clear that they were going to kill Fred and take me as their toy. We wounded one of them and managed to get away. I'm Jenny Wilkerson, and the quiet guy is Fred Davis. I guess you could say that Fred is my husband, although we haven't had a ceremony."

"Jenny, I had to kill a guy a few days ago who had the same ideas. We're trying to meet people, but we want it to be the right kind of people."

"I know the feeling. We'd have stayed hidden if we hadn't seen that you are a young woman."

"Fred, if you'd just lay your gun down for a few minutes, we can get to know each other better. I'm sure that Ed and Syl, Syl is our other spouse, have everything covered. If you'll come inside, we can make a pot of coffee and talk a bit."

Fred started to say something, but Jenny cut him off. "Fred, I have a feeling we can trust these people. Put the gun down and we can go have a nice hot cup of coffee."

Fred hesitated for a few seconds, then did as she asked. Tina led the way inside, then turned and said, "Would you mind if I patted you both down for concealed weapons? You can see I don't have any."

Jenny laughed, a tinkling sound that was really quite pleasant. "Not at all Tina. We'd want to do the same if it wasn't obvious you weren't carrying a gun."

Tina went ahead and patted both of them down. When she was finished, Syl came out from the bedroom. She was as naked as Tina. Syl said, "I'm Syl. Why don't you guys have a seat? I'll start a pot of coffee."

So far, Fred hadn't said a word. Now he managed to get out a question. "Do you people always go naked?"

Jenny laughed again, "That's Fred. He doesn't say much, but when he does, it's to the point."

"As a matter of fact, we go naked most of the time Fred. If we had known we were going to have company, we'd have probably dressed, but you guys were kind of a surprise to us."

"That's okay Tina. I'm sure Fred doesn't mind looking at your and Syl's beautiful bodies. He has a thing for tits and Syl certainly has a pair to look at."

"So, what are you two doing here in Elk Springs, Colorado? What are your plans?" Tina asked.

"Well, up until now, we'd just been trying to survive. We've been talking for several days about what to do. Two people by themselves are going to have a hard time of it, so we were hoping to find others and maybe start a community."

"That's our plan," Tina said and handed each of them an information sheet. She waited until they had read through the sheet, then asked, "What do you think of it?"

Fred was smiling as he said, "This is just what I've been thinking of. We need a community that has electrical power if we are going to maintain any of our civilization."

"That's what Ed says," Tina said.

"Speaking of the mythical Ed," Tina said. "Where is he?"

Syl laughed as she gave each of them a cup of coffee. "He's up front. He's probably trying to figure out how to make a graceful entrance. He's not wearing any clothes either."

She was at least partially right. The main reason I had hesitated though was to get a feel for these people before I left my weapon out of reach. I had put up the window and locked the RV right after they had come in. With Fred's last remarks, I was feeling pretty good about them.

"That's a man for you," Jenny said. "Men are such wimps when it comes to nudity. I'd go naked all the time if it were up to me. Fred says it isn't proper."

"Well, it's proper in the community we're going to form," I told them as I stepped through the curtain separating the front from the living area. "I'm Ed. It's nice to meet you guys."

Fred stood up and shook hands with me, and then Jenny did the same.

"What do you mean?" Jenny asked.

"We've been thinking a little of how we want to run things. Most of our old laws are outdated and irrelevant. We've come up with a couple new ones to start things off." I went on to explain to him our feelings on nudity and on prejudice.

Fred nodded. "Our old laws were too restrictive. What we need are laws that tell you what we can do, not what we can't do."

"I never put it into words like that Fred, but that is exactly what we're shooting for. So tell me, what do you think about what we put in there about prejudice?"

"Hunh. I think prejudice is a crock of shit. It doesn't matter what color a person is or what religion they believe in or what their hat size is. If they are human, then they are human. I guess the only things I've ever been prejudiced against are politicians and lawyers."

"What do you think Jenny?"

"Oh I agree with Fred. Even about the politicians and lawyers."

I looked at Syl, then at Tina. Both of them nodded, so I asked, "How would you guys like to join us? You could have a big say in how things are going to be set up in our new community."

"I was hoping you'd ask," Jenny said. "What do you think Fred?"

Fred just nodded, so Jenny asked, "So, how do we do this?"

"First off I have to say that we are all here to help each other. If one member of the clan is in trouble, everyone else drops what they are doing to help. That would include mutual protection from anyone who is trying to hurt a clan member and the use of whatever force is necessary including killing the offending person."

Fred nodded. "That's the way it has to be if we are going to survive."

"I was a nurse, and it is repugnant to take a life, but I would to save the life of one of us." Jenny said.

"Good, I'm glad you were a nurse. I hope we can find a real doctor. I was a virologist. I've had all of the academic training, but none of the clinical. I could probably treat a cold, but I'd hate to think of trying to take out a gall bladder."

"Fred was an electrical engineer, so I think he'll be very useful too."

"Absolutely. What have you guys been using to travel in?"

"Just a car we borrowed. If we're going on a long trip, we should have something like this though."

"Why don't you guys ride with us until we get to Craig? There should be an RV dealer there."

"There is." Fred said.

"Do you have a lot of things to bring along?"

"Just some guns and a few personal items," Jenny said. "We haven't seen any reason to accumulate things, since we could pick them up when we needed them."

"Okay then why don't you get the things you want to take and we'll hit the road?"

They took off and were back within fifteen minutes. I was glad to be back on the road. For some reason I felt uncomfortable to be just sitting there, out in the open.

It's only about 55 miles from Elk Springs to Craig, but it took us a couple of hours to get there. We made stops in Maybell and Lay to put out signs on the way.

We found the RV dealer in Craig without a problem, but were a little disappointed with their selection. We finally found one that was just a little smaller than the one we were driving that was appointed the way we wanted. We were especially interested in it having an auxiliary generator since we'd probably be living in these things for quite some time.

The new machine had a 500-hp diesel and two 80-gallon fuel tanks. When Fred fired it up, we let it run a while to make sure everything was okay. When we had checked it out as well as we could, we went to find a truck stop. We filled the tanks on both vehicles and found a new propane tank for Fred's. Then we went to a grocery and filled the water tanks on both RVs. We dumped our sewage in a storm drain, then all gathered in one RV to talk about whether to go on or stop for the day.

We ended up deciding to stay, so Jenny and Fred could stock up on food supplies and get some clothing and whatever. We found a supermarket and while they were stocking non-perishable items, Tina, Syl and I made a run on the local police station. We found two M-16s with plenty of clips and ammo and took them back to Fred.

We invited Jenny and Fred to have dinner with us. We had porterhouse steaks with baked potatoes and green beans. It was nearly as good as we could have gotten in any restaurant before IT happened. A salad would have been nice, but fresh produce was one of the first things that had spoiled.

Day 33 - June 23

We took off east again the next morning after planting several signs in Craig. We placed a few more in Steamboat Springs, then went into Rabbit Ears Pass. There is something like 27 miles of steep up grade going into the pass, which tops out at over 9400 feet. The big diesel engines were really working on that up grade.

There are very few towns between Steamboat Springs and the point where route 40 joins up with I-70 at Empire. The last big pass you go through is Berthoud Pass, which has an elevation of 11,315 feet. From there you start your drop into Denver which was the mile high city.

We made it into Empire that evening, which is just west of Denver. I felt like we'd made good time and was satisfied with the day's travel. We saw a lot more dogs that day in the little towns we went through. I was beginning to wonder what the future would be like with the dogs. Were they going to be a constant threat?

Day 34 - June 24

We took off the next morning knowing we were going to be spending a lot of time in and around Denver. We also knew we'd have to find some more sign holders before the day was over.

In Idaho Springs, we found Kammie. We were putting up a sign when we heard dogs barking and growling a couple of blocks away. We didn't want to get involved, so we were just going to ignore them until we heard the scream. It was a high-pitched little girl scream. Syl was back inside the RV in seconds, and we were headed in the direction of the commotion.

We turned onto the street where the trouble was going on and saw between twenty and thirty dogs trying to get into a hardware store on the left side of the street. One dog, a pit bull, was hurling himself at the door, and every time he hit the door it would give, then snap back.

As we got closer, two of the dogs attempted to attack our RV, which was in the lead. I asked for a shotgun, and Syl pushed one into my hands. I put down the window on the driver's side and as I moved forward, I fired one 00 buckshot round into the center of the mass of dogs. I was still far enough away that the round scattered nicely, and at least four of the dogs were wounded. Two of them were on the ground.

I heard Fred open up with an M-16 behind me, so I stuck my head out the window and yelled that there was someone in the building. He stopped firing immediately. Sticking my head out almost cost me my life.

As I was pulling back in, I felt something hit the side of my head. The next thing I knew, Syl was leaning over me and Tina was firing one of the Glocks out the open window, one measured shot after the other. I tried to struggle up, but Syl said for me to lie still for a minute or two. "You took a bad hit Ed. I don't know what kind of dog it was, but it was huge. I thought it had killed you." Tears were running down her face as she said this.

"Can you drive this thing Syl?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Then start running over dogs. The RV may be the best weapon we have."

Syl jumped behind the wheel and slapped Tina on the butt. "Move around behind me sis. I'm going to start making road kill."

Tina never stopped firing as she moved out of the way, but she glanced over her shoulder at me and asked, "Are you okay Ed?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," I said as the RV started to move. When I knew Syl's attention was elsewhere, I got to my feet. No dizziness. I was fine.

"When you get to the end of the block, turn this thing around, then stop," I said.

Syl gave me a dirty look and I said, "I'm fine Syl. The damned dogs are getting out of your way, so I have another idea." I picked up the shotgun and loaded another round. "This thing fires as fast as I can pull the trigger. Tina, would you get the other one for me and make sure it's loaded?"

Syl turned the RV around and I opened the passenger side window. "Just drive slowly. I'm going to see how well they stand up against buck shot."

Syl started forward and as soon as I thought we were within range I started firing. When that gun was empty, Tina passed me the other one, and I opened up with it. There were dogs on the ground everywhere.

I pulled inside and Tina handed me the first gun, fully loaded again. "They are hurt and confused. I'm going out."

"I'm right behind you Ed," Tina said. "I'll watch your back."

Syl loaded both Glocks while we were talking, and lowered her window again.

"Move fast Honey," I said.

I was out in a flash, and I could immediately feel Tina's back pressed to mine. "I'm moving forward," I said. "Stay with me love."

Tina didn't answer, but I could tell she heard me as she stayed right with me. I could see three dogs still standing half a block up the street, but all the rest seemed to either be down, or had run away.

I took aim at the closest one, and squeezed the trigger. The dog yelped and hit the ground. The other two must have figured they'd seen enough. They were gone before I could draw a bead on them.

I went over to the window of the RV and asked Syl for one of the Glocks. I then went to every dog that was still alive and put a round in its head. I really didn't want them to suffer.

The little girl was sitting just inside the door. She had her back against the door, and her feet against a counter. We could see her through the glass of the door, but couldn't get to her because of the bars across it.

Fred had come over and was sweeping the street with his eyes as he cradled an M-16 at the ready. Tina said, "Open the door, Honey. All of the dogs are gone."

The little girl was sobbing, and didn't appear to hear Tina. "We killed all of the dogs or ran them away," Tina almost shouted. "Please let us in. We want to take you with us."

"Who are you?" the little girl sobbed.

"I'm Tina. Who are you?"

"I'm Ka-Kammie. Where did everybody go?"

"Kammie, they all got sick."

"My mama got sick. She said my Aunt Sue would take care of me, but she never came."

"Honey, we'll take care of you now. Are you hungry? We can fix you something to eat."

"I AM hungry."

"What's your favorite thing to eat?"

"I like macaroni and cheese."

"We just happen to have some in our RV. If you'll come on out, I'll make you some right away."

"Okay," Kammie said and started slowly getting to her feet. "Do you have any hotdogs?"

"Yep. Would you like some hotdogs too?"

"Could you cut them up in the macaroni and cheese?"

"We sure can. Here, take my hand and we'll go get it started."

Kammie took Tina's hand and Tina led her to the RV.

Everyone went into our RV and Tina introduced all of us to Kammie. She was a mess, but I guess you could expect that after living for a month on her own. We found out she was seven years old, and sharp as a tack.

Syl said she'd get the mac-n-cheese started if Tina wanted to get Kammie cleaned up a little. Tina took the little girl back to the bathroom, and we soon heard the water running.

"We're going to need to get her some clothes," Syl said. "After she's eaten, we'll need to look her over carefully. I saw several cuts and bruises on just what we could see of her."

"I wouldn't be a bit surprised if she is malnourished too," I said. "Did anyone see a clothing store on the way into town?"

None of us remembered one, so Fred said he'd go see if he could find something.

I hadn't even thought about the fact that Syl, Tina, and I were nude, until Tina came out of the bathroom with Kammie. Tina was still nude, but Kammie was wrapped in a towel. "Are we okay, dressed the way we are?" I asked Tina.

"Clothing is optional at all times and nudity is an appropriate dress for any occasion. We can't start out being hypocrites. She doesn't seem to mind."

"Kammie's dinner will be ready in about five minutes," Syl called out from the kitchen.

"Do you feel better after your shower, Kammie," I asked.

"Much better," she said as she walked over to stand in front of me. "Tina says you are going to be my new daddy and that her and Syl are going to be my new mommies. Is that true?"

"Kammie, I know we can't replace your real mommy and daddy, but if you'll let us we'll be the best mommies and daddy for you that we can."

She climbed up on my lap. "Will you take care of me and protect me from the dogs?"

"Sweetheart, I promise you, we won't let anything bad happen to you, ever again," I said as I put my arms around her and hugged her close.

She sat there, a little smile on her face, until Syl called her to lunch.

Syl seated her at the table and put her plate in front of her. I don't think she even breathed until the plate was empty.

"Thank you Mama Syl," Kammie said. "Could I have some more?"

"Kammie, we don't want you to get sick. Let's wait an hour, then you can have more. Is that okay?"

"It's okay Mama Syl. It's just that I've been so hungry."

"How have you managed to eat Kammie?" I asked.

"I just stayed in the house and ate what we had there. Mama wouldn't let me use the stove, but I could use the microwave. Then the microwave wouldn't work anymore and the can opener wouldn't work and the lights wouldn't work."

"What did you do when those things wouldn't work any more?"

"Mama told me not to cross the road, but I had to. I went to the grocery store. The window was broke, so I went in. They had lunchmeat and bread and cakes and pies. The lunchmeat started tasting bad so I had to quit eating that. Then the bread and cakes started getting green stuff on it. I pulled the green stuff off and ate it anyway."

"You've had a hard time Honey. We have plenty of food and we'll make sure you don't go hungry."

"Can I sit on your lap again Daddy?"

"Of course you can Honey."

"Do I have to wear this towel, or can I be naked like you and my mommies?"

"You don't have to wear the towel baby girl. In fact, I'm kind of like a doctor. I'd like to look you over and see if there are any cuts or anything that we need to fix. Would that be okay?"

Kammie pulled off her towel and climbed on my lap. "You can look Daddy, but I think all of my cuts are on my arms and legs."

I looked her over carefully, and she was right. She had one rather large cut on her left calf that I thought we should get some antibiotic ointment on. There was another on her left arm. She had several small cuts but most of them were well on their way to being healed.

She was thin. Way too thin, but I figured it was caused by lack of food. I'd keep an eye on her over the next couple of weeks, but I suspected she'd put her weight back on with little problem.

I asked Tina to bring me some gauze, tape, and ointment. Kammie started to look like she was going to get upset, but I promised her it wouldn't hurt and she calmed down.

It was sort of amazing to me how quickly she'd started calling me, Daddy, and Tina and Syl, Mommy. Kammie was a very bright little girl. She had known for weeks that her mother was dead. We came into her life and saved her from the dogs. We hadn't demanded anything of her, but had protected her and fed her and cleaned her up. A parent usually did all of the things we had done for her. She just naturally accepted us in that role.

Fred came back in and said he'd found a clothing store, but that it didn't look like it had much in the way of children's clothing. We talked it over and decided to wait until we were in Denver to go shopping for Kammie. Fred and Jenny went back to their RV and we took off.

There are dozens of small towns around Denver and I think we stopped in most of them. Fred and Jenny decided to keep putting up signs while we took Kammie in to get some clothes. We agreed to meet on I-70 where the bypass joined with it.

Going into a department store, even in the middle of the day, when there is no electricity is an adventure. We had an electric lantern and we took a couple of flashlights as well. Syl stood guard as I broke in, then when everyone was inside; I jammed the door so it couldn't be opened from the outside.

The lantern, when held high enough, threw out quite a bit of light, so it wasn't as bad as I feared it would be. We found the girl's clothing area and Tina, Syl, and Kammie loaded up a shopping cart with shorts, tops, panties, and socks. We picked up a couple of pairs of tennis shoes in the shoe department and one pair of sandals that Kammie just had to have. We were back at the front door in half an hour.

I removed the jam and stepped outside. A large very ugly dog was sniffing the RV, but he ran away when I yelled at him. I got the door of the RV open and had Tina take Kammie into it quickly. Syl pushed the shopping cart over next to the RV and she and Tina unloaded it while I stood guard. We left the cart on the sidewalk and piled into the RV.

After we met up with Fred and Jenny, we headed east. We only made it as far as Strasburg before we decided to stop for the night.

Fred and Jenny joined us for dinner. We sat around and talked for quite a while afterwards. When Kammie started nodding off, we decided to call it a night.

We pulled the sofa out into a bed and used the sheets from our bed to make it up. They were too large so we figured we'd need to stop tomorrow and get some of the proper size. Tina volunteered to sleep with Kammie, so Syl and I retired to the master bedroom.

Our lovemaking that night was good, but a bit constrained. Syl was a little inhibited, knowing Kammie could hear if she got as loud as she normally did.

Day 38 - June 28

The next four days were spent going through the rest of Colorado, then through Kansas and Missouri. We pulled into Crestwood, Missouri in the late afternoon and decided we wanted to leave a sign at the Wal-Mart.

The Wal-Mart store had been broken into at some point. There was no way to tell if it had been done after almost everyone had died, or sometime prior to that. Whoever had done it had just taken what they needed and hadn't done any vandalism.

We taped one of our standard signs to one of the glass doors, with an information sheet under it. We then hand lettered a sign on poster paper saying we were out scouting for a place to settle and that we'd be here on October 1st.

Tina and Syl had been trading off nights sleeping with Kammie. She had nightmares, and would wake up screaming. Sleeping with someone helped, but I sure missed cuddling between my two wives.

We spent the night in Crestwood and took off the next morning, looking for a place to settle.

Day 41 - July 1

We got on I-64 just east of Kansas City, Missouri and headed for Kentucky. It took us three days to go through Illinois, and Indiana, since we were still putting up signs as we went. I-64 crosses into Kentucky at Louisville. We had been thinking of somewhere north or south of the border between Kentucky and Tennessee, but we had stopped at a rest area to talk over our options and we found a flyer about something called the Weisberger Mill and it changed our minds.

It seems the Weisberger Mill has been around since the early 1800s. In the mid 1980s the state of Kentucky put in a small-scale hydropower project at the mill. We knew we had to check this out, so we got back on I-64 and took it to Midway then went south to route 419. We took a left on route 419 until we came to Weisberger Road. We took a right and came to the mill, which is on the left side of the road.

The buildings were old for the most part, but were in good repair. I told Fred I'd look at the mill operation if he'd check out the hydroelectric part.

Jenny went with Fred to stand watch while he got involved with the electrical equipment. Tina was guard for our group with an M-16, but Syl and I both had our Glocks.

I was amazed at what we found. The mill had been fully operational, and had been shut down as if it were going to be used again tomorrow. It could be used to grind anything from the coarsest grits or corn meal to the finest flour. We found instructions for how to set things up for any type of grinding the mill could handle.

We also found large storage containers of un-packaged flour and meal, along with a thousand or so bags of packaged material that were sealed in plastic. "Ladies," I said, "with a little bit of water and yeast, we can have fresh baked bread again." They were as excited as I was.

Fred was as excited as I had ever seen him when we met them outside. "So, can it be run again?" I asked.

"It's amazing," he said. "This was shut down in an orderly fashion. There are two big turbines that look like they are ready to go. I haven't found the specs yet, but this setup looks like it could support a small town."