Beyond the New Horizon: The Last Sun, Read online

  The rooster had quit crowing, the hens quit laying, the cow had dried up, and the rabbits had quit breeding. The nanny was still giving milk, but Abby had said she was getting thin and she was only giving a minimal amount the past few days. Mary had said they would stop milking her in hopes her kids would encourage her to produce more. They should have been weaned already, but they were not.

  “If it’s any consolation, I’m afraid too, and I’ve had the same thoughts as you. I bet if we asked, we’ve all had them. Giving up is not an option. It might be later, but as long as there’s hope, we have to wait.”

  “I’m about out of hope. It’s bad enough watching our animals starve, but to see the kids lose weight…is almost too much, and what about the baby? We brought him into this world, just to watch him waste away? It’s not fair!”

  “Nope! It’s not fair, but it’s the hand we’ve been dealt. We can take the coward’s way out, or we can pull up our big girl panties and do what we have to.”

  “Is this a girl’s only party back here?”

  Both Gina and Journey jumped. To hear his voice coming out of the dark had startled them both. “It depends on what kind of panties you’re wearing today,” Journey told Sam.

  Gina and Journey laughed, at the silence from Sam. He apparently hadn’t been privy to their conversation. “Come and join us,” Gina said between her giggles. “We were just strategizing.”

  “Strategizing? Do we even want to know what it entails?”

  “We?” Journey whispered.

  “Yes, we. Andy and me. We were looking for a couple of hot women.”

  “Well, if that’s what you are looking for, you won’t find them back here, so keep on walking.”

  “How about a couple of married women who might be wanting some company?” Andy asked.

  “Sometimes I forget we are that, but you may as well join us.” Gina told them, “Hell, we may as well have a party.” She hadn’t meant to sound as sarcastic as her words came out, but Gina had been looking for solitude, not a party. The addition of Andy and Sam to the conversation would change the objective of her alone time, and maybe it was just as well. Her thoughts had not been following a constructive pattern lately and just having them, was as depressing as their reality. She sometimes hated that Journey had the ability to look into her mind and know when she was thinking the worst.

  When Sam came up behind her and slid his arms around her waist, Gina asked, “how did you know which one of us I was?”

  “If you had been Journey, she would have already hit me.”

  “Or I would have,” Andy replied.

  With the arrival of Sam, Sailor had backed away. He nickered, and the horses began moving around. Several of the other horses started to protest with snorts and small whinnies. They milled restlessly as if something besides the humans had disturbed them.

  The cow gave a single moo, and the chickens began clucking.

  “Maybe they feel that we’re invading their space?” Sam asked in a puzzled voice.

  “Come, Sailor,” Gina held her hand out in the dark. “Something has them bugged.”

  “We actually came back to tell the two of you that we were thinking about going outside.”

  “Outside?” Journey almost yelled. “Are the two of you both crazy?”

  “Nope, not crazy in the sense that you mean. We thought about the shortage of firewood and thought we could do something about it before it was all gone.”

  Gina went to move away from the pen and stumbled into Sam, “Sorry,” she said and reached for him when the ground shifted under her feet. Something hit her on her shoulder, and Gina cried out in pain and grabbed her shoulder. “What the hell?”

  Other than the logs the pen was constructed of there was nothing to grab onto. The floor shifted and rose up, causing the four people to huddle against the side of the pen. The horses began whinnying and stomping around. With the number of them in the small enclosure, there wasn’t much room for them to do anything but circle the pen. Rocks began to pelt them from above, and Sam pulled Gina close to his body to protect her from the falling debris.

  They could hear the cries of alarm from the main cavern, but couldn’t do anything to help them. Something hit Sam and pushed him against the cavern wall. He pulled Gina along with him as he fell. “Here…against the wall.”

  Andy had understood, and he and Journey fell to the ground beside them. The four adults clung together while the cavern disintegrated around them. Sam and Andy had their arms over the top of the women’s heads in an effort to protect them. With a racket none of them had heard before, the dust enveloped the four as the ceiling collapsed. Sam cuddled Gina’s head to his chest and buried his face in her hair.

  No one knew how long the earthquake had lasted, but later they agreed it was the worst one to date. The horses coughing and the cow’s constant lowing finally brought the four adults around.

  Sam sat up first, not realizing he had laid down. He looked and saw the pile of human flesh that was Gina, Andy, and Journey. He grabbed Gina by the arm and shook her.

  “Gina, oh my God. Gina!”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Andy sat up next and wiping the dust from his eyes, he began to cough. He coughed until dry heaves overwhelmed him and he had to turn away.

  “Damn it Gina, wake up! Answer me.” Sam almost lost it until Gina, and Journey both began to stir and started coughing, trying to clear the dust from their lungs.

  Sam released his breath with a sigh, he’d thought Gina was gone. He’d felt it when a large rock had hit him and bounced off, and he’d heard Gina groan at the same time. Sam hadn’t known if the rock had struck her after him or not. Sam blinked several times as he comprehended exactly what he was seeing. “I can see! Guys, open your eyes. I can see.”

  He turned when he heard the horses scrambling on rock and saw one of them escaping through the wall they had erected across the front opening.

  Gina pulled his attention away from the escaping horses, by pulling on his arm, “Oh my God! Look.” She struggled to get to her knees, brushing rock and dirt away from her. Gina crawled to the pile of rubble that now blocked their passage into the main cavern. Boulder upon boulder lay stacked out of sight, all the way to the ceiling, sealing them off from the others.

  “Help me! We have to get them out.” Gina pried at a boulder, but it was held in tight.

  Journey grabbed her arm, “Gina, honey, it’s us who are trapped. The chances of them being okay are good. Look, there. We’re not trapped, we have a way out.” Journey physically turned Gina’s head toward the opening. “See?”

  Gina did see. She saw it was no longer dark, but a twilight like just before the sun would rise or just after it went down for the day. She blinked dust from her eyes and wiped at them with her sleeve.

  “Don’t rub them. It’ll only make it worse.” Journey told her and coughed. “Are you hurt anywhere?” She began to pat Gina down, looking for any injury she might have.

  Gina pushed Journey’s searching hands away, “Stop it. I’m okay. I don’t think I got hit by anything. What about the guys?”

  “Bumps and probably some bruises, but they’re healthy. The horses are all outside.”

  “What about the snow? Shouldn’t it be piled as high out here as in the valley?”

  Gina followed Journey out through the entrance and looked around. “Where did it all go? What the hell?” Gina stared around, dumbfounded. Everything that she remembered about the walls of rock guarding the valley had changed. They didn’t seem as tall or as daunting as when they had sought refuge behind them.

  Sam grabbed her from behind when she hadn’t answered him. “Are you okay?” he yelled as if he thought she had a hearing problem.

  Gina reached up, wiped his cheek, and looked at the red in her hand. Sam swiped at his face when he saw his blood on Gina’s hand. “Only a scratch. Are you okay?” he said in his normal voice. “I was yelling at you because I thought something had happened to your hearing.�
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  “No, I’m okay. I guess I’m a little confused right now. Why isn’t it cold? Well, it’s cold, but not the bone-chilling cold like it was before. Where did the snow go and when did the sun come out?”

  “There’s no sun yet, but I think it’s back. Look up there.” Sam pointed at the bright orb in the sky, “I think that’s the moon up there.”

  Through her dirt covered face, Gina showed Sam her white teeth. Tears formed in her eyes and dribbled their own tracks down her cheeks. Her knees gave way, and Sam caught her before she could hit the ground. He gently sat her down.

  “Now is not the time to get all girly on me. Sit here for a minute and catch your breath. Are you sure you’re not hurt?” His hands worked their way through her hair and came away red. He couldn’t see her injury, but he felt the lump forming on her scalp.

  “Journey, come see to Gina, I’m going to help Andy get the rest of the animals out.”

  “The animals all made it?”

  He grinned at her, “He says even your damn chickens. The whole cave from the animals back seems to have collapsed.”

  When her eyes grew large in alarm, he assured her, “Settle down. We don’t know if the whole thing collapsed or just the middle. If everyone was by the door where the ceiling was the lowest it may have been structurally sound. There’s no point in getting upset when we don’t know.”

  As soon as Journey sat down beside Gina, Sam got up and went to help Andy, who was trying to persuade the cow it was okay to come out.

  Journey sniffled, and Gina leaned forward to stare at her friend. “Are you crying? The ice woman? Journey, for Pete’s sake, you never cry.”

  “Well, I am now so shut up. You have no room to talk.”

  They sat in silence until Andy and Sam led the nanny and the billy out of the cave and set them free. The two kids followed, and the two men went back inside. The earth grumbled in an aftershock, and both men flew out the opening. Dust billowed out around them, and two of the chickens and the rooster ran by, the hens squawking every step of the way. They disappeared into the brush.

  Gina shivered, but it wasn’t from the cold. It was freezing still, but her shiver was more of a reaction to everything that had just happened.

  Journey leaned close surrounding Gina with her arms. With her chin resting on the top of Gina’s head, she told her, “As soon as it gets light, we’ll find a way into the cave. If we have to go all the way around to the other end of the valley and find Lucas’s passage, we’ll do it. Right now, we need to think of ourselves. We need to build a fire and warm up.”

  Gina nodded, “I’m okay now. I’m just worried about the others. Do you think Sam is right about the whole cave not collapsing?”

  Journey sighed, “I sure hope so. We’ve already lost enough. I’m not sure I could take losing anyone else right now. We have to remember Mark’s words and have faith. Now, you sit right here while I see about gathering some wood.”

  “Bull crap! I can help. I said I’m okay.”

  Journey climbed to her feet, “Suit yourself, but stay close.”

  Gina watched Journey walk off and got to her knees. As soon as she did, she felt woozy and sat back down. Maybe the bump on her head was more severe than she’d thought. Gina sat for a minute until her vision cleared and saw Sam and Andy standing outside the cave. They had their heads together, and she wanted to ask what they were talking about but didn’t think yelling at them would be appropriate.

  As she sat, she tried to remember where everyone had been when she’d gone to the horses. Who had been around the fire and who hadn’t. She and Sam had the closest sleeping quarters to the doorway so no one would be there, but Lucy, Ben, and the baby should have been around the fire. Evelyn had been sitting with Mark, saying her goodbyes. Gina wasn’t sure, but she thought that Mary was with her. Trepidation crawled up her spine. John had been laid out just back of the goat’s pen in the alcove they had Bear and the puppy in. Charlie and Willy had been where? She couldn’t remember seeing them, and she wondered where they were last. Had the whole cave collapsed? Could the others have survived if it had? Were they trapped inside, or had the other side opened up allowing them to escape? Gina pulled her knees up and rested her forehead on them. Pain started just behind her eyes and Gina closed them. Gina had never felt like such a baby before, but tears threatened to overflow again.

  “Hey! No sleeping. You might have a little concussion, and so you have to stay awake, you know the drill.”

  “I’m not sleeping…I’m trying to remember where everyone was before the quake started.” Gina wanted to stop crying and forced her words out with sobs. “Lucy, Abby, Olivia, Sherry, Maggie and the boys. Charlie and Willie…” Gina sobbed out every name until her pounding head made her stop.

  Journey knelt in front of her, “Stop this right now. You’re just making yourself sick. There is nothing we can do until it gets light. Now give me that lighter I know you have been hoarding in your pocket.” She held her hand out, not sure if Gina had it or not, but searching would force Gina to think about something else besides their friends. Journey couldn’t even think of them right now. She turned her thoughts to their survival. As soon as it was light, they could plan a rescue.

  Journey had managed to find a few sticks of dry wood against some of the tree trunks that had been protected by the overhanging limbs. She had wondered about the lack of snow on the outside of their valley. They hadn’t been outside nor, as far as she knew, been up the shaft for at least a week. With the shortages, no one had felt like climbing, and the kids spent most of their time sleeping. Could the snow be gone from the valley as well? She didn’t know, and when had the eclipse, if that’s what it had been, ended? The temperature had risen considerably over what it had been a week ago. She thought it was above freezing, but barely. Journey worked at getting the branches to light, keeping one eye on Gina. Her behavior was worrisome for Journey. Gina had always been their rock, but she supposed she couldn’t be a badass all the time. They had all experienced breakdowns at one time or another since it all began and maybe the quake had been the last straw for Gina.

  “You awake over there?” She blew on the slivers of bark that were trying to burn. When Andy dropped pieces of a log down beside her, she reached for it. It looked like a piece of corral wood, and it would be dry.

  “Sam, wake her up if she’s sleeping.”

  Before Sam could do more than sit down beside Gina, she answered, “I’m awake.”

  “Good, because now we need to make a plan. Who still carries a gun?” Journey looked at each of them in surprise. When both Sam and Andy stared blank-faced at her, she looked at Gina. She was struggling to reach underneath her back. Journey saw the satisfied expression on Gina’s face. Journey reached behind her back to reassure herself that she, like Gina still carried. She and Gina had a conversation a few days before and for the both of them, sliding the paddle holster down the back of their pants had become habitual. To be unarmed was to be vulnerable and while it hadn’t been necessary while snowed in, good habits were hard to break. Gina had spent enough time harping at her and Lucy, that Journey continued to wear hers. Andy had hard-timed her for wearing it, more than once, but she had ignored him.

  As much as Journey wanted to flip Andy a thumbs-up, she refrained because the pained expression on his face told her what she already knew. She was surprised to see the same expression on Sam’s face. He had been the main reason she and Gina were armed. He had harassed and cajoled them during the trip about the importance of being armed at all times. She was disappointed that he had ignored this himself.

  “No worries, we have you boys covered,” Journey said with a grin. Journey patted her back for emphasis and shook her head.

  Andy looked at Sam, “And we’re never going to hear the end of it either.”

  “I didn’t plan on being outside the cave today, so I guess we need to eat some crow and hope we don’t need them.

  Sam thought about Andy’s words and hoped he was
right, and at the same time, thought about their last encounter with the thugs they had had to fight on reaching the cave. The person or persons who had gotten away would likely remember them and remember the size of their group and the number of firearms that had been turned on them. If he were one of them, he would also not forget the running quad they had left behind and the amount of food that would have been necessary to sustain a large number of people. He wondered if the criminals had prepared themselves adequately for winter or had the resources to survive.

  “We have to figure out how we can get into the valley without moving that pile of rock,” Sam told them. The worried looks on the faces staring at him told Sam they were just as worried as he was. He and Andy had listened by the rock slide and hadn’t heard a sound from the other side, but he really hadn’t expected to. They had no way of knowing how much of the roof had collapsed, but he and Andy had feared the worst. Sam was trying not to think about the individual people who could be trapped or worse.

  “It will be light soon,” Journey said and pointed to the glow rising above the hillside.

  Shading their eyes, they turned as a group and followed Journey’s finger. The small amount of light was painful to eyes that had seen nothing but the glow of a campfire for so long. Sam closed his against the sunshine and looked down. He had thought they had seen their last sun before the eclipse and hadn’t processed that they would ever get out of the cave. Sam had resigned himself to living in the dark until they ultimately ran out of food and wood. With each death, the fact of their imprisonment had hit home, and he felt helpless to do anything about it. He wondered if Mark hadn’t followed him out of the shaft that day if he might not still be alive. Journey had said the frostbite may have depleted his system enough his diabetes had run rampant through Mark’s system. She was sure that sepsis had set in with the blackening of his fingers and nose. But maybe he as well as Lucas had contributed to Mark’s early death, but perhaps John, as well as Mark were the lucky ones. Their fight was over, and Sam had no idea how the rest of them could survive.