The Journal: Ash Fall (35 page)

I could hear him talking to his wife, gently
and then forcibly, telling her they all needed to stay inside until
he got there, and to not be concerned about the gunfire they would
soon hear.

I slapped a freshly filled magazine into my
rifle and chambered a round. Jason had done the same and was
waiting at the deck door. I slid the glass door open just enough to
get the barrel out, and aimed carefully. I killed one of the wolves
and began laying down distraction fire while Jason went out the
door and up the ladder to a more advantageous spot on the roof.

Of the remaining canines that had followed
us, we killed them all. As much as I hated killing such beautiful
wild animals, this was a matter of them or us so it had to be
them.

* * *

Dusk was closing in quickly. Jason had to
return across the street and soon. Mark took a pint of blood from
Jason, and then we moved Eric on to the futon and made him as
comfortable as possible. In the waning daylight, I stood just
outside the greenhouse door, watching for any movement while my
youngest son made it safely across the road and onto the porch. He
gave me a flash of the porch light to let me know he was once again
inside, and I retreated into the safety of the house.

Mark had worked quickly to set up an IV drip
that would deliver Jason’s lifesaving blood into Eric’s depleted
veins.

I was drained; totally exhausted. I looked in
on Eric before I settled into the hard wooden chair at the kitchen
table and looked around. I weakly stood up again, gathered the
bloody sheets that still lay on the tables and stuffed them in the
washer, setting the dial to hot. Then I collapsed the massage table
and pushed it to the side. After that, I went to bed. Mark stayed
at Eric’s side for most of the night.

At some point during the dark of the morning
hours, Mark slid into bed with me. I felt the hardness of his chest
press against my back as his arm slid around my waist. His
breathing slowed and he fell quickly and soundly asleep.

JOURNAL ENTRY: July 27

The wind was howling this morning so loudly it woke
me early. Mark was still sleeping when I checked on Eric. They both
were sleeping peacefully.

I made some coffee and stood at the glass door,
watching the wind whip the dust around anything vertical. The gray
ash shimmered in the approaching morning, which is now just a
lightening of the sky with no sunlight to be seen. Our new false
dawn. I noticed yesterday when I touched the ash it crumbled to a
fine powder and I can’t help wonder if that’s good or bad.

* * *

“Penny for your thoughts,” Mark whispered
from behind me. “On second thought, make that a dime. Inflation you
know.”

“I read a post-apocalyptic book a long time
ago, Earth Abides, where pennies actually became more valuable than
any other coin because they could be pounded into arrow heads. Of
course, that’s when pennies were still made of copper.” I turned to
face Mark and smiled at him. “Have I thanked you yet for saving my
son’s life?”

“No need, Allex. He’s a fine young man and
deserving of anything I can do for him,” he replied. “And about
last night…”

“Shush, Mark, where else would you have
slept?” Our eyes locked and a moment of understanding passed
between us.

“Anything moving out there?” he asked with
concern.

“Nothing but a furious wind. I suppose once
it gets light enough, Jason and I should move those wolf carcasses
so they don’t attract anything else. I really hated killing those
animals, Mark.”

“I could tell,” Mark said, putting his arm
around my shoulders.

* * *

“Mom?” Eric called out from the other room,
with a faint moan.

“Mark, he’s awake,” I called down the hall to
where he was getting dressed, and then hurried to Eric’s
bedside.

“Don’t try getting up,” I said, as he
struggled to sit upright. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I’ve been chewed on and spit out,” he
chuckled then winced. “My foot really hurts. Is it still there?” he
asked, swallowing hard, his tone quite serious.

“Last time I looked it was still attached,”
Mark said from the doorway. “Unless you’ve undone all my fancy
stitches during the night.” He sat down on the edge of the futon
couch and pulled the stethoscope from his pocket. He listened to
Eric breathe, and then took his blood pressure.

“I just need to change these bandages and
I’ll be done here,” Mark continued while he cut away the bloody
gauze. “Are you getting hungry, Eric? You can have anything you
want. Well, anything your mom has, that is, and I think she’s
pretty well stocked from what I can tell.”

“Anything? Let me think.” Eric leaned back
into the pillows, mostly to avoid seeing what the doctor uncovered.
I think. “I’ve got a taste for hash browns, a couple of eggs, maybe
some corned beef and toast with butter.”

“I’ll get right on it.” I smiled down at
Eric, hoping that his appetite was indeed that good.

“Make that two orders, Allexa, if you don’t
mind,” Mark said. Just then the lights went out, leaving the room
in a soft semi-darkness.

I reached for the propane lantern hanging
just around the corner, lit it, and placed it on a ceiling hook
near the futon. The bright light illuminated the room sufficiently
for Mark to continue changing the bandages.

“You know, Eric, I’ve been meaning to ask
your mother what all these hooks in the ceiling everywhere are for,
now I don’t have to look dumb,” he jokingly confided in a rather
loud stage whisper.

* * *

As I collected jars from the pantry to make
breakfast, Mark joined me.

“Allex, I didn’t want to say anything in
front of Eric, at least not yet, but the wound is looking
infected.”

“You’ve got antibiotics don’t you?”

“Yes, and I’ll start him on a Z-pack
immediately. I was wondering if you had whatever it was you made a
poultice from, the one you used on yourself?”

“The comfrey. Yes, I dug some up. It’s in the
greenhouse. Here, you take these,” I said, pushing the jars into
his arms. “I’ll be right back.”

I plucked several leaves from the wilted
plant I had potted that now sat beside the fish pond. I gave it
some water and hurried back to the kitchen. This growing room may
be the best thing I’ve ever had!

I tore the leaves and stuffed them into a
poultice bag, set the bag into a glass bowl and then poured boiling
water over all of it to infuse.

“It’ll take about twenty minutes to cool
enough, and for the infusion to create enough liquid for the next
treatment,” I informed Mark. “How bad is it?”

“Not very. I want to catch it quickly
though.”

* * *

“Unless you’ve got a pair of crutches hidden
away somewhere, we need to figure out a way for Eric to move
around. I really don’t want him putting any weight on that foot for
at least a week,” Mark commented as he set the table for us.

“When I twisted my ankle last December and
needed to stay off of it, I used these chairs with casters to get
around,” I told him. “Maybe Jason can come up with something
better.”

When it was time, we helped Eric stand and
got him into the office chair, and then rolled him over to the one
step up into the kitchen, where the bungee chair waited. From there
he was able to move around on his own. The first destination was to
the bathroom, after I removed all the rugs.

* * *

“Not exactly hash browns,” Eric said, “but
crisp fried taters are just as good! Thanks, Mom, this is
wonderful! And as good as those pancakes were this is better.” He
scooped another forkful into his mouth.

“I agree, Allex, this is great!” Mark chimed
in, mopping up some egg yolk with his toast.

“I’m glad you both are enjoying this so much,
just don’t get used to it,” I replied. “This is a special
breakfast. Eric needs to regain his strength and we all missed
dinner yesterday. None of us can afford to miss many calories.”

Just then, the FRS crackled.

“Nahna, are you there?” Emilee asked.

“Yes, we’re here.”

“I want to see my dad!” She sounded like
she’d been crying. “Can I come over? Uncle Jason said it’s up to
you.”

Before answering, I looked out the window.
The wind was still blowing hard. It looked like a sand storm out
there, except gray.

“I think the wind is blowing too hard, Emi,
maybe in a little while. I promise to watch the wind and let you
know when I think it’s safe, okay?”

“Yes, Nahna,” she sounded very down. “Can I
talk to Dad?”

I handed the radio over to Eric, and started
clearing the dishes.

* * *

At noon, Jason called and said he was walking
Emilee over. I did note that the wind had died down considerably in
that short of time.

“Jason, we need to attach the garden cart
trailer to the four-wheeler and get those wolves out of here,” I
said.

“That’s partly why I came over with Emi.” He
sat down at the table after Emi and Eric had retreated to the front
room. “We should do that soon.”

“I also need to know Eric’s limitations,
Doc,” Jason said. “His bedroom is downstairs, but most of the
living area is carpeted.”

“I don’t think he should be doing walking of
any kind for at least a week, unless we can devise some crutches
for him to keep his weight completely off that foot,” Mark
replied.

“That’s what I thought you might say. Which
brings up the other reason I wanted to talk to you two,” Jason went
on. “I think I can make some crutches from a couple of saplings. I
need a certain kind of wood - wood that I saw where the deer herd
is.” He looked over at me. “Mom, there should always be two of us
going into the woods now, I know this. Will you go with me this
afternoon? I feel really bad about Eric’s injury. If I had been
paying more attention, I would have seen that wolf before it got so
close. I want to make it up to him.”

“Of course, Jason,” I said, patting his hand.
“I’m glad you brought up the need for us to always stay in pairs
now. This reminds me, back to the garden cart, any suggestions on
where to dump them?”

“Yeah, there’s that logging road on the other
side of 695 that I think would be far enough so we’re not in
danger. I also think that should be our first priority.”

* * *

After Jason rigged the four-wheeler with the
needed filtration on the intake manifold, he drove it back across
the road and attached the garden cart.

We lifted each wolf into the cart as best as
possible. They were stiff in death and didn’t fit well, being such
huge animals. We could get only two bodies at a time in the trailer
and made three trips to dispose of them.

During the ride we kicked up a great deal of
dust and ash on the back road, but it appeared that the wind had
moved much of it away in the more open areas. Where to, I didn’t
know and at that point, I didn’t care. It was gone and we could see
bare ground again in many areas.

Still, when it came time for us to look for
suitable wood for Jason’s project, we went fully suited and fully
armed.

We walked among the deer herd. It was sad to
see so many dead animals and so much wasted food. There had been no
feeding from other predators, that was obvious, and the wolves we
had shot after the attack were still lying there.

“Mom, this one is still breathing!” Jason
called out, his voice semi-muffled from behind the mask. He was
kneeling beside a big doe, her brown and tan hide scarcely moving
with labored breaths.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” I knelt
down, and put my hand on the deer, feeling her warmth.

“Let me select the wood I need for the
crutches and then we can use it to move her back to the barn.”

I watched the area while Jason cut down three
saplings and removed all the small leafy branches. There wasn’t any
movement anywhere in the forest, save us.

To not alarm those back in the house, Jason
slit the deer’s throat to end her life. I silently thanked her for
the nourishment she would give my family, and all the while I kept
my hand on her, to calm her spirit as it left.

Jason quickly gutted her and we tied her to
the travois he had fashioned. While Jason pulled and dragged on the
poles, I kept watch on all sides so we wouldn’t be ambushed. At the
top of the rise, we switched places, and I pulled our burden down
the slope. Once across the muddy creek, Jason climbed the hill
alone to get the four-wheeler.

“This will make the trip up the hill much
easier. I don’t know why we didn’t think of it sooner,” he said as
we lifted the deer into the waiting cart.

* * *

“I thought you were just going for the wood
Jason needed, Allex!” Mark said impatiently. “Not to do more
hunting.”

“Mark, please, she was dying anyway. Should
we have just let her die in agony? And if we put her out of her
misery, it would have been a huge waste to not harvest the meat,” I
said, defending what we had done.

“My mom’s right, Doc,” Eric said as he rolled
into the kitchen with Emi behind him, pushing the chair. “It
doesn’t make my foot feel any better, but it does make me feel
better knowing we have that extra food now.”

Mark sighed. “I can see I’m out numbered!” He
stalked away, still angry. I heard the door open and close going to
the greenhouse.

“What’s Uncle Jason doing, Nahna?” Emi asked,
leaning on her father’s arm.

“He’s removing the hide, Em.” I looked at
Eric. “It was a real pistol hoisting that carcass up! Next time we
leave the pulleys in place.” I hoped I could divert the questions,
as I knew Jason was also stripping the bark off the saplings. Jason
wanted to surprise Eric with the new crutches so we were keeping it
as secret as possible. I think Eric knew anyway.