Chapter Twelve Petersburg

The rescuers return to the Lodge and discover that the community has chosen a name. They prepare to spend their second winter in the Lodge.

Chapter Twelve

 

Petersburg

 

It took the boys three weeks to hike from the Army post to the Lodge.  Mike was in no hurry.  For the first time in over a year, he had no responsibilities.  The leader of their foursome was Jacob.  It was Jacob's plan that had extricated them from the fort.  If the Rangers had looked closely at the knoll, they would have found a smaller line on the other side, tied to a heavy bush.  It had hand holds, and it fell over the steep cliff.  Reaching the bottom, the boys entered the woods, and within a few hours they made their way to the road leading away from the post.  By the time the Rangers traced the false trail that Jacob had created, the boys were miles away.

There was plenty of food in their caches, and they didn't try to travel fast.  Jacob and Mike even waited below while Nathan and Kevin climbed the road to the bikers’ camp, so the twins could see where all the excitement had happened.  But the teens were sobered when they viewed the remains of the camp and the graves at that evil place.  They hiked down the hill, and the four boys resumed their journey home.  They stopped at a lake for a day to rest among the red fireweed and the green lady ferns.  They fished and caught golden trout from the lake and seared the fish over an open fire.

“This fish is good,” Kevin said with a sigh, after finishing his portion.  “But I wish I could have a Big Mac.”

“I’d like a double cheeseburger, myself,” Mike replied.

“Fast food would be nice,” Nathan agreed.  “But what I really would like is the internet.”

“Yeah!” the boys chorused.

“I miss WOW,” said Kevin.  “Did you play that, Chief?”

“Nah,” Mike replied.  “I was more into single player games.  I had some Wii games I really liked.”

“Everquest is the best game ever,” Nathan stated.

“You mean Evercrack,” Kevin said as he snickered. “Once, a girl called him, and he wouldn’t take the call, because he was too busy playing.”

“Oh, shut up, Kevin,” Nathan said, scowling at his brother.  The other boys laughed.

“I wonder how long it will take us to get to the Brown farm,” said Jacob.  “I’m tired of water.  I want some milk.”

By the time they arrived at Davis Brown Farm, they were footsore.  In Mary’s kitchen, Mike noticed a calendar that had been hand drawn by Lily.  It was two weeks past Labor Day in the old world.  Mike hoped that Howard had given the tribe a day off.  Mary wanted them to stay for a few days, but by now they were eager to get home, so the next day the four travelers climbed into the wagon bed with Comet, and Ralph drove them home.  As they left, they passed the frame of a new barn.

It was a happy homecoming for the travelers.  The children had been rescued, so their mission was accomplished, and they were welcomed as heroes.  There had been changes at the Lodge and in the valley.  The grain had been harvested and stowed.  There would be a lot more food available this winter than last.  The chicken coop was finished, and the chicks would soon become egg bearing hens, and Mary Brown had given them two roosters.  Some of the kids had suggested naming their community.  There were a lot of suggestions.  One of the most popular suggestions was, ‘Michaelsville.’  In the end, however, Yuie’s suggestion carried the day, and their small village was named ‘Petersburg.’

"I thought that's what you would want," Yuie said to Mike, as she waited anxiously for his reaction.

Mike smiled and hugged her.  "It's perfect," he said.

A ceremony was held after Meeting one night, where Mike proclaimed that henceforth, their tiny community would be known as the Village of Petersburg.

Kathy and Hector had been busy.  The ladder to the second floor had been replaced by a staircase.  They had added a large loft over the central area of the Lodge and had connected it to the upper room walkway.  In addition to having a new sleeping area, the rear of the loft caught the droppings from their resident birds.  The area under the loft was now a bird safe zone.  They had built a covered walkway with handrails over the ledge leading from the door of the Lodge to the Porta Pottys.  It would still be a cold walk, but they could use the toilets in a blizzard.  But the best improvement was the sight of a shower head in the washroom.

"But won't we use up the hot water that's suppose to heat the Lodge?" Mike asked.

"There's no way that all of us can take a shower every day," Hector conceded.  "But I borrowed the thousand feet of five-eighths black tubing that Mary's not using, and I ran it up the hill, and set it in the river.  The point of intake is higher than the roof of the Lodge.  Now we can mix cold water with hot water to take our showers, and we can add water to the heating system as we use up hot water.  It takes about four hours to completely heat the water in our system, so on days when we get six good hours of sun...,” He stopped and waited.

"Two hours of hot water for showers," Kathy finished.

"If we allow ten minutes for a shower...,” Mike did the calculations in his head.  "Twelve people can take a shower that day.  Wow.  That's over a quarter of the tribe."

"Girls first, of course," Kathy said.

"Oh, of course," Mike replied, giving Kathy an insincere smile.

At Meeting, Mike reported on what he had learned at the Army Post.  Most of the kids were glad to hear that Major Collins seemed to be a decent person.  To Mike's surprise, they were still reluctant to make contact with the unit.  The kids seemed to feel that they were doing fine, and that they didn't need the added uncertainty and possible complications that might arise from interacting with the Army.

"Yuie's really been dissing the idea," Desi said.

"Yuie?  Yeah, she didn't like the idea of linking up with the Army from the beginning," Mike responded, remembering the discussion.

"Erin's friends are kind of sad.”

"Me too.  But this was her choice," Mike replied.  "And it might come in handy for us have a friend inside their post."

September passed, and October began.  The rain changed to snow, but there wasn't much of it yet.  Jacob brought in a deer.  Luis and another boy brought back a large buck.  The deer was killed and readied, and a lot of it was thinly sliced and smoked.  Jean and her students had gathered what seemed like tons of edible plants and fruits, and Lily's pictures had been a great help.  From Mary Brown’s fields they obtained a huge assortment of winter squash.

They missed Erin's social organizing skills, but one of her friends filled in.  The Social Committee made plans for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  A fir tree had been marked for Christmas, and they made sure that they had plenty of pine cones this year.  Mike did not want a repeat of the lost gatherers.

Hector winterized the machinery, and he drained the water lines in Chief’s Headquarters and in the dining hall.  This year they decided to leave the freezers in the dining hall and to make their way to them through the snow.  This was on Mary Brown's advice.

"It may seem like it's cold outside," she said, "But it's still not consistently as cold as a working freezer would be."  Eric thought that their propane would last another year.

Nathan and Kevin asked Mary if they could spend the winter at her house.  She happily accepted, and Ralph was glad to have their help.  Their new barn was not finished, but it was framed to the point that it would be possible to work on the structure until the temperature became exceptionally cold, or when the snow was too deep to wade through.  Star was disappointed that she was not allowed to stay at Petersburg for the winter.  No matter how much she wheedled, Ralph and Mary said, ‘no.’

Jean and Howard received a private room this year.  The boys, who had previously occupied that room, were moved into the new loft.  Although the loft was connected to the girls’ catwalk, Hector had added a separate ladder to the loft, which was so much fun to climb that some of the boys in the cave asked if they could sleep in the loft, too.  That started an argument over who got to sleep in the loft.  If that wasn't enough, some of the girls complained that the boys in the loft could see into their rooms, and that the boys were spying on them.

Mike told Howard to deal with those problems.  Since he had returned from the Army post, Mike was relying on Howard more and more to handle the mundane details that arose day to day.  Howard was called on to settle squabbles, allocate resources, and generally act as the tribe administrator.

"He is a real King Salmon," John said in admiration.

"That's, King Solomon, Doofus," Eric replied.

Howard was good at getting things sorted out.  The boys were allowed to sleep in the loft on a rotating basis.  The girls were advised not to leave their canvas curtains open when it was time for bed.  People started calling Howard, ‘Admin.’

"Hey, Admin, why can't we have mashed potatoes more often than French fries?  French fries don't taste good without grease."

"Admin, we should reserve some Porta Pottys just for the girls.  The boys keep forgetting to lift the seat before they pee."

"Admin, nine is too early to start school.  Let's start it at ten."

In the middle of October, Mike pulled the Spear patrols back to the boundaries of the camp.  There was not a lot of snow on the ground yet, but he was taking no chances.  The hunters were the only ones still allowed to go deep into the forest.  Mike gave them until the tenth of November to hunt.  After that, he wanted everyone close to the Lodge.

By the first of November there was enough snow to break out the cardboard sleds.  Mike gave everyone a two week break from school.  There would be time for that during the long winter months ahead.  The last trips to and from the Brown farm were made.

One of the hunters did not return to Petersburg.  In the middle of November, they waited for Luis.  Mike allowed Jacob and Jean to travel upriver for three days to search for him.  They returned empty handed.  Mike refused to let them go search again.  He thought it was the hardest decision that he had ever made.

"Luis should have been back ten days ago," Ahmad said gloomily.  "Something happened to him.  I know it."

"It's karma, bro," John murmured.

"Yes, the Gods take and give," said Rasul sadly. “We are all mortal.”

Luis did not return.  In January, the tribe held a memorial for him.

One day in early December, at the end of Council, Mike asked if anyone else had anything to report.

"I'm pregnant," Desi said cheerfully.  There was stunned silence.

"Impossible," Mike stated, after he managed to close his mouth.

"Oh, it's possible all right," she assured him.  "Believe me."

"Impossible," Mike repeated.  "We have cases of unused condoms, years of pill packs, and plenty of diaphragms.  How could you possibly get pregnant?"

"Well, I never did get an exam from the old Admin, so I didn't want to take the pills.  And I don't actually know how to use a diaphragm.  And as for the condoms, well, we forgot," Desi admitted.

Mike turned to glare at John.  "Don't hang me, Chief," John said meekly.

"How far along are you, Desi?" Yuie asked.

"A little over one month," she replied. “I missed my period.”  Everyone relaxed.

"It's way too early to tell for sure," Eric said.

"Yes, your period might start tomorrow," Jean added.

Desi just smiled.  Mike looked at her glumly, and then he exchanged glances with John.  They knew that smile.  If Desi thought that she was pregnant, chances were she was.

"First of August," Mike muttered. "It’ll be summer.  Good."

The procedures that had been established the previous winter were quickly set in place, and the transition to a wintertime existence was a lot smoother this year.  The kids respected the curfew, they knew how Jean would run the school, and they knew how much hanky-panky they could get away with before being hauled up before the Council.

The Social Committee did not have to invent all new entertainments.  They knew which kids could sing, which kids could perform in skits, and which kids could dream up new jokes.  And before Kevin and Nathan had left, the twins had taught some of the other kids the dances that they had learned last winter.  Dance classes proved to be popular.

The Christmas tree was hauled into the Lodge and set in a five gallon bucket.  During the year, the Social Committee had made ornaments, and now these were hung from the tree.  There were more couples than last year, and this led to more presents being presented.  After they had retired to their room on Christmas Eve, John handed Desi a box.  Desi had not been feeling well.  Everyone hoped it was just morning sickness.

"Told you I would get that Mr. Potato Head done, Honey," he said with a grin.

"You, moron." She sighed as she opened the box.  Then she stared at the small ruby encrusted ring.  

"John," was all her strangled voice managed.  Astonished, she looked up at him.

"Will you marry me, Desi?" he asked gently.

"Yes, oh yes," she said through her tears as she grabbed him, and they held each other a long time before they lay back on their small bed.

Christmas Day, Desi showed off her engagement ring.  The boys made the appropriate noises.  The girls were ecstatic.

"This is so cool!" Yuie exclaimed, marveling at the lovely rubies.

"It really is beautiful," agreed Kathy wistfully.  She looked over at Hector who was talking to John and Ahmad.  I'll be sixteen in March.

"Where in the name of Heaven did you find a ruby ring, John?" Ahmad asked.

"I asked Mrs. Brown if she had a ring to trade,” said John. “I owe her a month of work.  I'll help Ralph finish the new barn next year.”

“I don’t suppose she has another ring that she would like to trade,” said Howard.  He was looking at Jean.

“Uh, hey babe, I mean, I like you and everything, but…” Jean began to back away, panic in her voice.

“I’m thinking that Tyler might have to give Gabby another gift this winter,” Howard explained.

Jean stopped short.  “Oh.  Oh,” Jean said with a mixture of understanding, relief, and disappointment in her voice.  Howard just smiled.

That night, Yuie said to Mike, “Did you see how flustered Jean got when she thought that Howard meant to get a ring for her?”

“Howard does mean to get a ring for Jean,” Mike replied. “I’m not that clueless.”

The engagement lifted everyone's spirits, which had been depressed since Luis' disappearance.  In January, they had a memorial service for the missing hunter.  Maria  had known Luis well, and she offered to say some words.  Luis was remembered.

It was cold in January.  Many of the girls abandoned their rooms to sleep by the fireplace or by the central fire.  A few girls snuggled up to the barrels just outside the boys’ cave.  The problem that Mike and Howard faced again this year, was that the boys' sleeping areas were warmer than the girls' sleeping areas.  The loft had turned out to be a nice warm area, since the heat from the fires rose towards the ceiling of the Lodge.  Mike and Howard were getting a lot of complaints from the girls that the sleeping arrangements were unfair.

"They love having those rooms until it gets cold," Mike remarked wryly.

"So, what do you think, Chief?" Howard asked.  "Do we let them share a bunk with a boy?  Some of them have boyfriends."

Mike looked over at Desi who was chatting with Lily and Jean.

"Do you think pregnancy is contagious, Howard?" he asked.

"That is a primitive superstition, Chief," Howard answered as he followed Mike gaze. "Okay.  The girls don't get to share a bunk with their boyfriends.  So then, what?"

"Ask for volunteers from the boys to sleep in one of the upstairs rooms.  Tell them that all volunteers go to the head of the shower line.  If we get enough volunteers, move all the boys out of the loft, and then put some of the girls up there.  The rest will have to sleep around the fires and the barrels."

Howard made the arrangements.  "That was almost acceptable to everyone," Howard reported.

"Close enough for government work," said Mike.  "And, after all, I am the government."

"You're the Chief," Howard agreed.

The only real complaint was that the boys in the upstairs room were spying on the girls in the loft as they were dressing.  Much to Yuie's disgust when she reported this, Mike started laughing, and he wouldn't stop.

"Tough," he said finally.

When it got warmer, the sleeping areas were rearranged again.

One day, two boys got into a fist fight.  Mike had the Spears drag them into Council.  They stood dejectedly in front of the Council, one with a bloody nose, and the other having a bloody lip.

“So what’s your problem?” asked their very annoyed Chief.

“He started it!” yelled the boy with the bloody lip.  “He keeps telling people that Makayla likes him better than me.”

“No, Chief, he started it by telling people that Makayla likes him,” the other boy countered.

“Get Makayla.” Mike gave this order to Kathy.  Moments later, Makayla entered the room, eyes downcast and wringing her hands.

“All right, Makayla, which one of these bozos do you like?” Mike asked sternly.

Makayla’s face reddened.  “I don’t like either one of them, Chief,” she answered angrily.  “They are both dumb a’s.  I don’t know why they are saying things about me.  Make them leave me alone.”

Mike asked Makayla a few more questions, and then he excused her.  He turned to the two boys.

“Makayla doesn’t like either one of you, see?” he said.  The two fighters gave each other puzzled glances, and then they turned back to Mike.

“What’s your point?” bloody lip asked.  

John guffawed and Eric snickered.  Some of the other Council members shook their heads in disgust or disbelief.

Mike was about to explode when Howard hastily said, “You guys go outside and let us talk about this.”  The two fighters left the room.

“I say we have the Spears give them a beating,” Mike grumbled.

“No we can’t have the Spears give them a beating,” said Desi.  “Besides, they are already dying.”

“What?” Mike asked, startled at her statement.

“They’re already dying of terminal stupidity,” said Desi.  “It’s no use beating up stupid guys like that.  It won’t make anybody feel better.”

“It might make me feel better,” Mike mumbled.

“I don’t think those guys have a very good chance of getting a girlfriend,” said Yuie.  “So they probably won’t have any children, thank goodness.”

“Yeah, they won’t pass their stupidity genes along,” Jean added.

“Think of it as evolution in action,” Eric said.

John looked at Eric.  “SciFi writer?” he asked.

“Yes,” Eric replied. “But I forget who.”

Mike separated the two fighters.  For three days, one was forced to remain in the loft, coming down only to eat, and the other stayed in the boys’ cave for the same period.  Makayla noisily made it clear that she considered them to be the village idiots.  Insulted by her attitude, the boys agreed to fight over a different girl.

So January passed.  In February, the villagers experienced another cold snap.  This time, the fireplace and the barrels were not enough to make any of the rooms comfortable.  Once again, the tribe moved into the small cave, but this time they were not frightened, just annoyed by the inconvenience.  Everyone doubled up, and once again, Mike shared a double sleeping bag with Yuie.

Jacob offered his sub-zero mummy sleeping bag to Desi who was showing by now.  John was very grateful.  Jacob took Desi's regular sleeping bag, and now he needed to double up with someone.  It was at that point, he realized what a quandary he had made for himself.  Everyone else had someone they were used to doubling with, and the only one not with a partner was their newest addition, Lily.  The intrepid hunter was extremely nervous when he asked Lily to double with him.  He hoped she wouldn't think the worst of him.

He needn't have worried, for Lily was gracious when he made his offer.  She thanked him and accepted.  Jacob found that sharing a double sleeping bag with Lily was quite comfortable.  They didn't need to make a lot of small talk, and they both enjoyed listening to Hector play his harmonica.

This snowy cold snap was a short one, and after two days the sun came out, the barrels got hot, and most of the tribe left the small cave, although many still kept to the central area instead of moving back into the rooms.  Over the next week, the Lodge warmed enough to allow the rooms to be used again.  

The winter was passing with much less trauma than last year.  Mike kept waiting for trouble to develop between Tyler and Gabby, but although there was some bickering between them, there was never a major blow up.  Tyler seems to be growing up, thought Mike one day, and then he laughed at the thought.  He, himself, was only fifteen, and Tyler and Gabby were only a year younger than he.  Having Howard to help him, allowed Mike to concentrate on planning for the year ahead, and their resident carpenter was always someone he liked to talk to when considering those plans.

"I need to oversee the barn at Mary's place," Hector said, when they discussed the coming year.  "There will be some work to be done on the Lodge. Kat and I will try to insulate the outer walls. What I really want to do is build a sawmill."

"A sawmill?" Mike asked.  "How can you do that?  Do you think you can use the electricity from the wind turbine?  It barely generates enough electricity for the lights in the dining hall and in Chief’s Headquarters."

"I was thinking of water power," Hector replied. "I was thinking of trying to build a water wheel to generate power.  Two centuries ago, that's how they built sawmills."

"The river," said Mike, understanding at last.

"Right, Chief.  I just have to figure out how.  Eric might be able to help.  And if I could just turn out planks, well, there are a lot of uses for planks.  I'm thinking that they could be used to build more A-frames.  We know where we can get our hands on some engines.  There are a lot of parts we may be able to use like camshafts, crankshafts, flywheels and gears.  It's just a matter of adapting the stuff to turn a blade sharp enough to cut through a pine."

February became March.  The snow still fell, but there was a lot of sunshine, too.  Some days, there were eight hours or more of usable sunlight on the solar panels, so more than half of the tribe could take a ten minute shower.  The ambience in the Lodge was noticeably better this year than last.

One evening in late March, the tribe was hailed from outside.  It was Ralph, and he was delivering a load of fresh food.  The horses had made it through the drifts.

"Didn't have as much buildup this year as last.  And last week’s rain melted more of it," he explained.  "So I thought I would see if I could get through.  It wasn't hard at all.  Mary wanted to do it, but I talked her into letting me try.  I'm a fair rider these days."

His face grew grim when he heard the news of Luis.  "I suppose that something was bound to happen, but that doesn't make it any easier to accept," was all he said.

There was not much news from the farm to report.  

"We made it through the winter fairly well.  We lost some chickens and some rabbits to the cold, but most of them survived.  We all caught colds, but we all got better in a few days.  Paige and Nathan hooked up for about a month, and then they broke up.  Kevin and Kylie got mad at each other, and that made rough on all of us.  They made up, thank goodness.  We made some progress on the barn.  Mary said to tell John that she is looking forward to getting a lot of hard work out of him.  What's up with that?"

Ralph laughed when he saw Desi’s expanding belly.  "I should have known it would be something like that."  He left the next day, promising to tell Mary the good news.

On the first day of April, Jacob and Jean left to look for Luis. Fearing the worst, Mike had them take a large strip of black plastic. The scouts knew that Luis had gone upriver.  Lily and Howard were anxious, but they understood that the scouts needed to search for a clue to the whereabouts of the lost villager.

Mary and her clan came for a visit while they were gone.  The kids in the tribe oohed and aahed over how much Star and Comet had grown.  Comet asked why Desi had gotten so fat.  Star was allowed to stay in the Lodge with the older girls again.

Nathan had been allowed to drive the wagon.  Mary brought the plow, and the fields in the meadow were prepared to receive seed, which the villagers sowed by hand.  After a few days, Mary and her clan returned to their farm, taking with them John and another pair of teens.

Tyler liked it when the Brown clan came.  He liked Mrs. Brown and her kids, and he had enjoyed working at the farm the previous year.  When he was at the Brown farm, there was no chance of being called on the carpet in Petersburg.  Being called on the carpet now, he thought gloomily.  And he didn't even know why.  All he knew was that someone had been sent to tell him that the Chief wanted to see him.  They hadn't said why.  He wondered.  Did the Chief find out about...?  Nah, that was too long ago.  The Chief can’t hold that against me now.  Can he? He knocked on the door at Chief’s Headquarters.

"It's open," he heard Mike say, so he went in.

"You wanted to see me, Chief?" he asked, try hard to project politeness.

"Oh.  Tyler.  Come in," Mike said.

Tyler entered and sat down on the plastic chair that was for visitors.

"Tyler, I need to talk to you about something," said Mike.  Tyler tensed.

"I've been thinking about Major Collins.”  

Tyler relaxed slightly, but he was baffled by the Chief’s statement.  What does the Army have to do with me, he wondered.

"If he figures out where we are, I think that he'll send someone to find us as soon as he can.  He might come, himself.  I think the earliest date they could arrive is in the middle of May.  So I want you to pick three people.  The four of you will man a guard post a mile beyond the Brown farm.  I've already talked to Mrs. Brown about it.  You can share the Brown attic, but you’ll be jammed in unless you want to sleep in the barn. You'll be in charge."

Stupefied, Tyler stared at Mike an instant, and then he stammered.  "You want me to be in charge of a guard post, Chief?"

"Yes, Tyler," Mike replied mildly with a nod.  Mike picked up the dead radio that had been sitting in the cabin since he had first moved in.  "And I've got a plan."

Amazed at the notion that the Chief was putting him in charge, Tyler listened to Mike's plan.  When Mike finished, Tyler got up to leave.

"I want you to be ready to go by the seventh day of May," Mike added.  "And Tyler, you can’t take Gabby."

I can't take her, Tyler thought, as he grinned while walking away from the cabin.  But I can tell her.

The third week in April, an exhausted runner arrived from the guard post upriver.  Jean and Jacob had found Luis' body.  They would arrive at the Lodge the next day.  It was a weary and grim pair of scouts that returned.  They met with the Council in Chief’s Headquarters and described what they had found.

"His body was in a bad state of decay," said Jean.  "But he was still wearing his jacket, and we could tell that he had been shot in the back by, what I think, was a high powered rifle.  We found him about four days from the Retreat."

For a few minutes, there was silence among the Council after they heard the news.  Until now, they had supposed that Luis had been killed accidentally, or that he had been caught in the snow and had froze to death.

"Murdered," Mike said, stunned at the news.

"Yes," Jacob said.  "Someone from the Retreat?  Maybe."

"Is there any doubt?" Howard asked angrily.

"Yes," Jacob answered.

"We wrapped him in the plastic,” Jean said. “We didn't have the tools to bury him.   We were so far away that we couldn't carry him all the way back, and still be here when we were supposed to be, so we carried him as far as we could, and then we found a crevice in the side of a hill.  We put his body inside and built a cairn of rocks.  We know where he is.  Give us some help, and we’ll go get him."

"Yes, certainly," said Mike.  "You guys rest a couple of days, and then take Nathan, Kevin, Ahmad, and Rasul, and bring him back.  We'll bury him in the graveyard.  Howard, pick a crew to start digging a grave."

"One more thing," Jacob said.  "His rifle was missing."

"Not good," Eric said.

"It was someone from the Retreat," Howard maintained.

"Howard, we're not sure, but we're not taking any chances either.  Jacob, make sure the burial detail is armed," Mike said.

"We'll post guards behind us on our way back," Jean said.

"Good idea," Mike agreed.  "When you get back to the guard post, leave some weapons there.  We'll man it armed from now on."

Alarm and consternation filled their community when the news was reported.  The villagers still remembered the violence they had experienced two years ago.  Mike had Hector make a list of all of the firearms and the corresponding ammunition that they had accumulated from the bikers.  He thought about the Major and his unit, but he was not yet ready to contact them.  He put Eric in charge of the spear throwing exercises, and he put Yuie in charge of the archery practices.  Everyone in Petersburg, except for Desi, was required to practice one skill or the other for at least two hours daily.

The burial detail left, and with them traveled Hector and Kathy to man the upriver guard post.  Nine days later, Jacob and the others arrived at the site of Luis’ cairn.  Jacob sent Ahmad and Rasul farther ahead to serve as a rear guard.  Then he and Jean removed the rocks that protected Luis' body.  They lifted the plastic covered body and placed it on the litter.  It was noon, and they had been traveling since sunup, so they rested before starting back.

After an hour, Jacob blew the Admin's whistle to alert Ahmad and Rasul that they were leaving.  The burial detail lifted the litter and began the long sad journey back to Petersburg.  By Jacob’s estimation, their return trip would take a day longer.

Behind them, Ahmad and Rasul were watching the trail to their rear.  When they heard Jacob’s whistle, they prepared to follow. Suddenly Rasul held up a hand, indicating the need for silence.

"Did you hear that?" he asked Ahmad.

"Yes, I heard it.  What do you think?  A deer?"

"Maybe.  Let's wait a few minutes."

They hid in the midst of some trees and waited.  Within five minutes, they could faintly hear something coming their way.  Nervously, Rasul took a grip on the rifle he carried.  He wished he had fired more than one round in practice, but the tribe was trying to save the ammunition for hunting game.  Ahmad had his spear at least.  Rasul wished that he had his spear.

The crashing in the brush was getting closer.  Whatever it was, it was in a hurry.  A minute later, two women appeared running down the path toward them.

When the women were about to pass the boys, Rasul leaped out of his hiding place and yelled, "Stop."

The women screamed, and then they fell to the ground cowering away from the boy.  Ahmad came to stand beside Rasul.  One of them was carrying a baby.

"Oh, please, please, don't hurt us," the other women cried out.  She raised her hands together in a pleading stance.  "We'll do whatever you want.  Anything.  Just don't hurt us."  The woman carrying the baby curled up in a fetal position, covering the child protectively.

"We are not going to hurt you," Ahmad exclaimed, shocked at their appearance.  "You’re safe with us.  Calm down.  Who are you?  Are you from the Retreat?"

The pleading lady was an older woman.  She was tall, and she had short brown hair.  The younger woman was much shorter, and she had long black hair like Yuie, but this woman’s hair was much thicker.  She was dark skinned and looked vaguely Asian or perhaps she was a Pacific Islander, like Makayla.  Her baby was crying.  Both were wearing ankle length dresses that were much too light for the present temperature, and their faces were emaciated.

The older woman said, "Yes, we’re from the Retreat.  We escaped four days ago.  Who are you?  You really won't hurt us?  You promise?"  She was panting while trying to talk, as if they had ran a long ways.

"You're safe now," Rasul said.  "Do you know Jean?  The Forest Ranger."

"I’ve heard of her," the woman said as her breathing slowed.  "My name is Diana.  I’m a nurse.  Imee, here, is a student nurse.  There was a group of us at Eagle’s Nest, but we’re the last.  The woman who helped the Forest Ranger is dead, too.  The men killed her because she gave the Ranger some food."

“Do you know Lily?” Rasul asked. “She lives at our village.”

Diana’s eyes widen in an expression of joy. “Lily is alive?  Oh, thank God,” she cried.  “I was sure she was dead.”

Ahmad heard something and held up a hand for silence.  Diana looked back the way she had come, looking terrified again.

"Are you being chased?" Ahmad asked.  

Diana nodded.  Ahmad looked at Rasul.  

"Damn," said Rasul. "What do we do now?

Ahmad looked toward the direction of the burial detail.  "If we go that way, we will lead our enemies to our people.  But we also have the women to consider."

"Should we try to lead the bad guys in the wrong direction?" asked Rasul.

"Maybe.”

"What if we lead the bad guys in the wrong direction until it gets dark?  That should give our people a good head start," Rasul suggested. "Then we can sneak around the bad guys in the dark."

Ahmad looked at the sky.  It was cloudy, and a stiff breeze was blowing.                     "Good idea.  Come," Ahmad said to the women.

When they didn't move, he strode to them and pulled the younger woman to her feet.  As he took the baby from her, she gave a cry of distress.  Ignoring her, he walked quickly away.  Rasul followed, and the women hurried after them.

Ahmad and Rasul moved sideways from the burial detail; Ahmad carrying the baby.  They had not hunted this far north, so it was slow going.  They made sure they left a trail that the chasers could follow.  Once in awhile, they stopped and listened.  After a few hours, they realized that their chasers were gaining on them.  They turned south in the general direction of Petersburg.  The wind began to blow harder, and the temperature dropped.

It was almost completely dark when Rasul and Ahmad accepted that the chasers would catch them within another hour.  The women had kept up as best they could, but they were exhausted.

"Let's continue on for another fifteen minutes, and then we must find a place to hide," Rasul said.

Ahmad agreed.  After a bit, they came to a cliff.  They turned sideways, and followed the edge until the land changed from a cliff to a steep slope with thick bushes.

"We can go down here," Ahmad said.

Cautiously, fighting the dark and the wind, they made their way.  Part way down, they discovered a patch of coffeeberry bushes that covered a hollow place.  Inside the hollow, they were out of sight of the ridge.

"This is it, Rasul," Ahmad said.  "We'll have to stay here."

"Yes," Rasul replied.  "It will be hard to find us in the dark."

After less than an hour, they heard the crash of someone stumbling in the brush above.  A flashlight swept the area where they were hiding.

"See 'em?" a cold voice asked.

"No, but they're down there somewhere.  Hey!  You stupid b*****s!  Come out.  Come out, now!" another voice called.

"We've been here before," observed the cold voice.  "We found that kid here, remember?"

"Yeah, this was the place.  He gave me this nice rifle." The man laughed.  "Listen up, b*****s.  If I have to wait ‘til tomorrow to find you, I'm gonna beat the crap out of you.  Now, come out now."