Chapter 8

They started out with John leading the way, most of the women bunched up as close as they could while dragging travois, and Adel in the rear to encourage stragglers. It didn't take John long to figure out how the object was being dragged, but he could not identify the object in question. They passed several of the campsites of the movers, and it rapidly became obvious that three people were doing the moving.

They were very lucky and did not meet up with any dinosaurs on their trek. They spotted the boat, the cave, and Angie working in the garden on the afternoon of the sixth day. The girls went hysterical with joy when they saw Angie. They dropped whatever they were carrying and ran to her, screaming and laughing all the way. The adults joined the rush, but at a sedate jog, and did not scream, though they did laugh.

Angie heard the noise and saw them coming. She had no idea what was going on, so she screamed for help and picked up her AR-15. Jean stuck her head out the cave doorway and brandished a crossbow. I (Jimmy) had been working inside the boat, and ran on deck to man the ballista in case it was needed.

With these weapons pointed at them, the girls skidded to a halt and the hysterical screaming subsided. John stepped to one side of the crowd and shouted, "DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?" I answered that we did, and I could see the relief explode through the approaching people. John shouted, "PLEASE DON'T SHOOT! WE'RE FRIENDLY! WE'VE BEEN MAROONED BY A STORM AND ARE LOOKING FOR HELP!"

I said in a more normal voice, "OK, put down your weapons and come closer. We won't shoot. The same thing happened to us over a year ago. We'll be happy to help you as much as we can. Jean, Angie, they look harmless; let's take a chance on them." I admit, it was difficult (hard?) for me to see much danger in 16 naked women, one of whom who had an obviously broken leg. The naked man might be another story, but I didn't think so.

They put down their weapons and came up to the cave entrance. Jean came out with JJ slung over her back and Angie climbed out of the garden. I dropped to the ground after I saw the weapons go down, and walked up to the man. "Hi, I'm Jimmy Winslow." I stuck out my hand and he shook it while introducing himself.

He looked around at the boat with its large ballista on the deck, the piles of firewood, the garden with its wall, and the steps going up to the cave entrance. "I'm impressed with how much you have accomplished in just a year. Congratulations, I doubt that I could have done as well."

I suggested that they introduce themselves and bring their possessions closer to the cave. "I don't expect any dangerous beasts to show up, but you can never tell what might happen. You are welcome to stay with us as long as you wish, we could use some extra hands."

John sent the girls to bring their travois closer while Adel and Martha dragged Janice on her travois up to the cave steps. When the girls got back, Adel introduced the other women, and Jean invited them into the cave to look around. They were suitably impressed at what we had been able to do with the cave, especially with the electric lights. There was not a lot of light, but you could see well enough not to trip on the irregularities in the floor.

We went into the next chamber and the new folks were shown what we used for sleeping, washing, and toilet facilities. Martha was particularly relieved when she saw that the toilet had a cloth screen around it. The rest of the day was spent in getting to know each other and answering questions about our adventures and how we had managed to survive.

John and I talked, and it became clear that he could contribute a lot to our wellbeing just because of his years of experience. He was glad to hear about our success with the crossbows, since he knew that our ammunition was not going to last very long.

We discussed what he had left behind on his boat. It was much too large for us to move in one piece, but we should be able to salvage virtually all of it if we were careful and not too impatient. One thing that he had was a small machine shop that was even better equipped than mine, so we should be able to make a lot of things from the metal we could salvage from his boat. I was so enthusiastic that I wanted to start moving things as soon as possible. I wanted to do as much as we could before we hit the next monsoon season.

He wanted to see as much of the cave as he could, with the idea of laying out living accommodations, so we took a couple of the LED flashlights and toured the place. I admitted to him that I had not done much exploring once I found enough space for us. I showed John where our salt, preserved meat, and vegetables were stored. There was enough food in storage that we could feed all of us for several months without having to add to it.

We did a more thorough examination of the cave than I had ever done, and we found several new chambers, some with running water. When we finished, it was nearly time for supper. Several of the women were working on that, so they did not need us. John took me to one side for a private, man-to-man, conversation. He opened the conversation with, "It's obvious that you have been having sex with the two women who came with you. You know that we need variety in our gene pool, so it looks to me like you and I, being the only males in the group, have our work cut out for us. It is my feeling that we both should have sex with as many of the women as we can manage, since that is the only way to diversify our genes. The women I brought with me range in age from mid teens to late 20s, and run the gamut of sexual experience and attitude, so I don't know how some of them will react to the situation. A few may refuse sex, and I don't want to force them; peer pressure may do that for us. Anyway, do you object to any of this?"

"I can hardly object, since I agree with you. I am not sure how Jean or Angie will feel about it, but I think that I can make them understand. In fact, they may already have figured it out and be well ahead of both of us. I'll talk to them, tonight."

"OK, I'll give you time to talk to them before I bring it up again, but I would like to have a 'town meeting' on the subject tomorrow night, if possible. I have a feeling that it is something we need to get out into the open as soon as possible."

I agreed just as we were called to a supper of salted fish and several vegetables. We had fruit for desert. Everybody complimented the cooks on a job well done. The new arrivals were tired from their long walk, and we usually went to bed shortly after supper, so we had the new folks find a place to spread their beds and knock off for the evening. I did notice that John and Adel slept together, but I didn't comment.

Once we were in bed, I brought up John's conversation. As I suspected, the two women were way ahead of me and said that they understood the situation. They were not exactly happy about it, but they would cooperate with necessity. I told them of John's proposed "town meeting" for tomorrow night and they thought that was a good idea. The sooner the situation settled into a routine, the better for everybody. We left it at that and went to sleep.

Most of the day was spent showing the new people what and where everything was. This was done by the women while I spent time showing them how to use a crossbow. A couple of the more timid souls complained that they didn't want to kill anything, but I pointed that "anything" had no such compunctions about killing them. Besides, the only way to get fresh meat was to hunt and kill it; I swear, some of those girls had trouble with the concept of no grocery stores or meat markets.

A few of the women showed real promise with the crossbow, and I was in a hurry to build one for them. I thought that all of them could eventually learn to use a crossbow effectively, but I feared that I might have to kick a few asses to get their attention. Martha was a special problem, since she was old enough to be a leader, but so damned timid that I would hate to have to depend on her to save my life. John already knew how to shoot a crossbow, he just needed a few minutes to become familiar with the peculiar characteristics of the crossbows that I made. Adel was a go-getter who could be depended upon to do whatever needed to be done, her I really liked.