Chapter 20

Rebecca and I started out just after dawn the next day. We all bathed to get rid of the sticky mess as well as to cool off from what looked like already was going to be a scorcher of what was probably a late August day. We packed light but well, the idea was to spend two days out, coming back home in time for dinner the next day. We each had a rifle, Rebecca the .22, me the .308 as well as our knives. I was fairly armed to the teeth with the Ruger and Kukri as well. I didn't bother with taking much more ammunition that what was in the guns, we weren't going to war and having it meant you might use it. I was stingy with every bullet. If we did come across a larger animal that we could shoot we would do our best to field dress it and head straight back regardless of what else we came across. It was simple too hot to do otherwise.

We would each take a horse, the Clydesdale finally getting a good exercise, along with the sled. We each took a fleece to wear after dark along with some rope, my tent, sleeping pad and bag, fully realizing that Rebecca would either be sleeping on top of me while I was on the pad or I would be sleeping beside her while she was on it. For food we grabbed a good bit of dried/smoked squirrel jerky, something that actually wasn't that bad, as well as a few apples and my waterskin.

On the food front, my body at least was still changing; for the first time in my life I was getting close to something you could call lean. I had been about 205lbs when all of this started, now I was probably 20-25lbs lighter but my arms and shoulders especially had bulked up a bit. Physically I felt fine, really good actually, we were eating plenty, it was just all exceptionally healthy, with no sugar and very little salt and we were exercising all day though our work. While I had lost weight, neither of the girls seemed to have changed all that much. They had maybe each lost five pounds or so, maybe. I think they had been pretty healthy beforehand so the change in diet wasn't quite as drastic for them as it had been for me. Not to say I lived on junk and fast food, but Pepsi and Doritos were certainly a regular part of my life!

We could find more fruit and vegetables as we wandered but it would be a raw expedition, it was hot and we wouldn't need a fire. I wasn't going to try to emulate a ninja on the trip but discretion was the better part of valour and all that ... Hanna was going to go without a fire as well for the couple of days that we were planning on being gone. She was going to keep a low profile period, mostly doing odd chores in the hut but even when outside there would be no wandering too far and I had admonished her to always be armed. She didn't need to do much more than tend the animals a bit outside anyways. Well that and use the washroom, Christ they pee a lot! I was looking forward to the gratitude I was going to receive when I finally built an outhouse.

We started off going towards midtown, up away from the lake, back to the ridgeline that cut across what used to be a city. It wasn't far from where we were located, maybe only two or three kilometers but I hadn't been up to that part of the city in well over a month. On the way up there I purposely tried to bypass the intersection where I had left the two bodies but Rebecca, knowing what corner it used to be and how to get there, would have none of it and took us in that direction.

The bodies were still there but not as I had left them. They were both discoloured, the smell was putrid and animals had gotten to them, the big guy especially. He had been dragged off ten or fifteen feet away, one of his arms was missing as was a leg below the knee. The rest of him was pretty chewed over as well. The little guy, Juan, had had most of his abdomen eaten away by the looks of it, animals going for his organs I guess. I would guess that the majority of the damage had been from small animals from the bite marks. It was not a pretty sight but Rebecca never looked away, her eyes hard and her back straight as she rode by. She didn't say a thing, nor did I. The scene seemed to mollify her though, the ultimate closure to a terrible event.

We made our up to the ridge, riding up one of the major north-south roads which gave us an amazing view of what had been the downtown core of the city. We tried not to stay in the open, riding along what had been the sidewalk, under tree cover as much as possible. We weren't hiding per se, and I wanted to try to find other people but I remained uneasy none the less. Looking down into the city, nothing seemed to have changed since I had looked at the same view that first day I had scouted around after the voices had plunked me down here. There were no fires that we could see or any tents or camps. I was only mildly surprised. I'm sure there were people out there but it was a huge area with lots of trees, even if they were out in the open, without a big fire and its smoke, they would be easy to miss. Of course the city kept going up as well; the downtown below us was only a small portion of what had been a huge metropolitan area.

Rebecca was amazed though. This was the first time she had seen this view. The old downtown, now a pot marked mass of holes, made a little softer with the now knee-high grass as opposed to the manicured lawns from that first day. It looked like a couple of small roads or alleys between some of the bigger buildings had collapsed, probably from the rain, the forty to sixty odd foot walls of unsupported dirt between the holes that had been underground parking obviously not able to support themselves once they got a bit muddy. You couldn't see any water in their depths from here but I still thought that in a year or so that whole area would be a big series of connected lakes and islands, the subway lines and underground connections between buildings maybe turning into underground rivers. The whole thing would be dangerous but lovely.

For Rebecca though it was the only real proof of existence of previous society that she had seen since the first day. Sure everything was just gone but here was something so alien yet understandable.

Our horses side by side, we sat silently and looked down for a few minutes before she spoke.

"It's amazing. Beautiful and so scary. Why do you think this happened? I know we don't talk about it very much, talk about anything from 'before' very much. I mean, what's the point right? But this, this isn't normal, this isn't easy, this isn't even like we were abducted by aliens and plunked down in a different world. This is our city, our Earth with every last vestige of humankind removed from it."

"I think that's it actually Bec. The more and more I think about it at night and when I look at places where things used to be, I think that's it. Something, aliens, gods, whatever either decided that Man was too destructive, or terrible, or something and decided to set us back a few millennia or this is just some other kind of experiment. Maybe a test. I don't think it actually matters, accept the things you cannot change, change the things you cannot accept, know the difference between the two. It's odd that some things aren't around either. Have you seen a dog or cat since all this happened? Other than these horses, which I'm not sure if you've noticed, but they don't have any shoes on them, we haven't seen any really domesticated animals. I mean, sure we've got the pigs and chickens, the sheep and our three cows but I haven't seen anything that would have lived in a house..."

We sat in silence for another few minutes, the horses happily munching on the long grass of the once paved road.

"Can you show me your house? Where it was?"

"I'd rather not. Why?"

"I want to pay my respects."

I grunted, not trusting my voice and set off ahead of her so she couldn't see my tears.

We made our way along familiar streets, now knee high grass, the trip taking not much more than forty-five minutes. We were both lost in our own thoughts. I couldn't speak for Rebecca but mine were of guilt about my wife and son, hurt and loss tempered by the love I had gained so strongly and quickly for Rebecca and her mother.

After riding by the communal garden where I had first foraged for food, promising Rebecca that we would go back and harvest what we could, we finally arrived at the site of my old house. Everything was exactly as I had left it. I was comforted by that fact but uncomfortable about being there. The memories were too raw.

My eyes more than damp, I showed her where our house had been and the memorial stones placed where Owen's sandbox had been.

"I like it here, they're in the shade and that keeps the grass from growing up too much around the stones."

I grunted, not willing to risk my voice breaking, and wandered over to my old neighbor's backyard to put together the rest of their flagstones. They were heavy but so useful I didn't want to leave them behind. Then again I also didn't want the horses to drag them around for the next day and a half. Instead I spent the next twenty minutes lifting them all up and leaning them against a large tree ready to stick in the sled on the way home. If we were overloaded they would be easy to find again instead of hidden in the grass.

As I was finishing Rebecca walked up telling me she was finished and ready to go.

"Finished with what?"

"Talking with Kate and Owen." She saw my look; "Well not actually talking WITH them, I mean they didn't talk back ... But I told Owen you were going to carve him toy truck soon to bring up here and I told Kate how much mom and I love you, how I would have loved to meet her and how we are taking care of you and you're taking care of us. She would be proud of you. It's amazing everything you've done."

I didn't trust myself to speak, but felt pleased that as fake as it might be, there was some peace between my old life and my new. I could cling to that and move on.

Rebecca went on; "I also whispered to her that I couldn't believe how she could have looked after you all herself, I wouldn't have been able to walk!"

She laughed and scampered off before I could grab her, the melancholy spell broken. Both her and Hanna really were amazing at being able to lift my spirits. I didn't add much levity to their lives, I don't know how they did it but it was more than welcome, it was amazing.

We made our way back to the communal gardens, laughing and talking, our horses rubbing up against each other, letting our legs touch. There was ample food when we got there, maybe the best part was the large herb garden. We picked all the fruit and veg we could and dug out as much of the herbs as possible, using one end of the sled as a large three walled pot. We could dry the herbs, use them fresh, have some FLAVOUR in our food! Beyond the pounds of tomatoes, zucchini and squash there was a row of corn which was still growing away and carrots and onions which we left for another time, they just weren't mature yet.

It was well into midafternoon when we finally finished up at the garden and decided to move on, deciding to move further west to an area I hadn't been to in this new time. We would go until about an hour or so before it would start to get dark and if we didn't find anything we could camp for the night and then keep scouting until after lunch before turning around and heading home.

We made our way down to one of the major east-west roads and followed it for a few miles without seeing anything new. It was easy riding and along here most of the buildings had obviously been smaller, there were few holes from large basements or underground parking and the only truly large depressions were from what had been subway stops every few blocks. Those though were pretty massive holes. We didn't bother to venture down and stayed out of the valley that had been the subway line. It would make a good hidden escape route but down there we wouldn't be able to see much ... A trade off. Today we were looking to see and be seen. The world was open grass punctuated by stands of trees, backyards that were now small copses and the strange lines of trees, gardens and shrubs which lined up to make it clear where the old roads had been. It never ceased to amaze me, the world was beautiful like this. Silent, green, open. Familiar enough to be welcoming, but odd enough to never be less than a little chilling.

The hot, scorcher of a day began to take on the distinct air of a large evening thundershower and we decided to make camp a bit earlier than we would have otherwise. We had made good time, reaching the top of one of the city's large parks and it was a good place as any to stop. Much of the park was forested with tall, old trees. We made camp surrounded by some stands of thick bushes, under the cover of some shorter pine trees; out of the way, hidden, and likely to remain pretty dry regardless of the rain.

I wanted the tent to be out of sights eye. I wanted to meet other people, but I didn't want to have anyone sneak up on us during the night. I wasn't so paranoid as to insist that one of us stay up as lookout all night but...

The sky was turning that purple green hue by the time we had dealt with the horses and put up the tent. I took the top off of the sled and put it out in the open to fill with water, we could use it to fill our water skin in the morning, wash and use as a water trough for the horses as well. Going in a ways to a nearby forested section for some privacy and hopefully to find a couple of logs to put together as a seat for a nice relaxing crap I came across a few piles of fairly fresh deer dung, an exciting event. Getting back, Rebecca had settled in, putting out our vegetable heavy dinner. We made small talk as we ate, discussing where to go tomorrow, wondering where in these woods there might be some deer or larger animals, wondering if it would be better to go down and look by the lake instead of a few miles inland like we had been. As we were finishing up and putting away our shared plate and knife the first heavy drops of rain started to fall.

"I guess you'll want to strip off and go running naked through the rain?" I asked Rebecca, only half teasing.

"No" She replied; "I want to fuck. This is the first chance we've been totally alone, no one around, the rain so loud no one would be able to hear us anyways ... I want you to take me and fuck me hard and a little rough. I want to yell and moan and scream and talk dirty and be dirty and totally uninhibited and fall asleep in a wet, sticky mess. That's what I want."

Sometimes there just aren't enough, or too many words ... I stared at her for a few moments, her eyes boring into mine, a minor struggles of wills as to who would look away first before she lowered her gaze, looking down a bit embarrassed and bashful. Her eyes stayed down though her breathing quickened when her eyes first made it to my rapidly swelling bulge.

"Strip" I ordered; "Strip for me before I fucking rip your clothes off."

Her breath caught in her throat, you could almost see her heart banging away in her chest and her brain racing to decide if she should give a saucy striptease or tear her clothes off as fast as she could. She pulled off her t-shirt without fanfare, her tiny baby blue bra coming into view, her hard, pink little nipples obvious and straining against the lace. Biting her lower lip, she next slowly started on her shorts, unbuttoning them and pulling down her zipper before looking up at me with naughty eyes, pulling the shorts open to show me her matching tiny blue panties before turning around and peeling them off her bum to let them puddle at her feet. Her bra was next, her back still to me as it slid from her arms, then she bent at the waist, pulling her panties down, the gusset dark and damp, her gorgeous pale, taunt ass mooning me. Covering herself, one arm across her chest while the other cupping her mound, she turned around to look at me, biting her lip the way she knew made my knees weak.

"Do you want to see me naked?" She asked softly, her voice small, low and throaty, teasing a little, but still worried in that way that only a woman can understand, needing to hear the reassurance that men think is beyond silly and unnecessary.