The Journal: Crimson Skies: (The Journal Book 3) (22 page)

Mark was on the back deck reading so I
decided to spend the morning in the greenhouse. The air was
wonderfully humid and the fish pond gurgled. I tossed some
breadcrumbs to the fish and smiled as they flickered back and forth
grabbing each tiny piece.

Everything was growing remarkably well and
the abundance of green plants made my heart happy. While I weeded
and cultivated around the plants, I discovered some mature beans
hiding among the leaves! Fresh vegetables were hard to come by even
in here. The greenhouse was only so big and had only so much room.
I looked up at the tomatoes in the hanging baskets to see a few of
the green fruit starting to get a blush. The cornstalks in the pots
by the pond were healthy, however there weren’t any ears
developing.

The biggest surprise for me was how well the
kale plant was doing. A month ago when we harvested all the root
crops, I had pulled the kale plant up by the roots and set it in a
bucket of water. It had continued to grow and flourish and to give
us crunchy leaves once a week. Kale had so many nutrients and it
was obviously hardy. I would definitely have to grow more next
year.

~~~

“What do you want for your birthday dinner,
Eric?” I asked. I felt a bit of nostalgia looking at my oldest
child. Where had the years gone?

“Would lasagna be too much trouble? I’ve got
a real taste for it,” he said, then looked around to see if we were
being overheard. “Amanda is a good cook, but I’m getting tired of
her casseroles almost every night.”

“That won’t be a problem,” I said to him,
also thinking of the new batch of green beans ready to harvest,
maybe even a salad of kale greens.

October 24

We had just sat down for our morning coffee
when I saw two vehicles pull in the driveway. Rayn go out of the
military Hummer, and Tom White got out of the other one, a dark
blue sedan.

“Sorry to barge in on you like this, Allex,
but we’ve got a major problem,” Tom said, getting right to the
point.

“What’s wrong, Tom?”

“Marquette is burning out of control from all
the lightning. We’re evacuating the city.” He accepted the full
coffee cup I set in front of him. “There are less than two thousand
people left so we’ve decided to split them up into three groups:
one will go to Escanaba, one to the Soo, and one group… to Moose
Creek.”

“What?! Why here? And why Sault Ste. Marie? ”
I asked, alarmed.

“Location, Allex. You have an established
town that is virtually empty. The housing is in place, the schools,
everything. It only needs to be populated and supplied.” Tom
paused, looking for words. “I know this is going to sound
outrageous, but Canada is attempting to invade us, so we’re placing
mostly current or former military in the Soo to stop them.”

“You gotta be kidding. Why would Canada want
to invade the U.P.?” I was astounded.

“Though Lake Superior was almost untouched by
the ash cloud, the other Great Lakes are now heavily polluted. It’s
the largest freshwater source in the world, and Canada wants total
control of it.”

I let out a big sigh and sank down in my
chair.

“What is it you want us to do?” Mark
asked.

“Jim figures we have less than twenty-four
hours to take what we can and get everyone out safely. Marquette is
now under martial law and nobody is objecting. People are massing
at the sports dome.

“We’ve commandeered semi-trucks and all the
package delivery trucks, and we’re filling them with everything
that might be needed. A crew worked a few hours at the university,
hauling out books until it got too hot. The library was already
burning when they thought of it.

“There is a mostly full semi that just
arrived at the food warehouse and is being divided between two
others that were sitting there. Jim has a volunteer group emptying
the warehouse of everything into the three trucks equally, one for
each evac location. They’re positioned for easy escape should the
fires spread even more. We aren’t descending on any place empty
handed.

“There are also three more big trucks parked
at Walstroms and three delivery vans. That’s where you come in,
Doc. We want to fill the vans with medical supplies from the
pharmacy, however, we only have two field medics and they don’t
know what medicines do what. Right now they’re working on boxing up
all the over the counter stuff— aspirin, cough syrups, those kinds
of items— but they don’t want to touch the heavy pharmaceuticals
until you get there.”

Mark stood. “Of course I’ll help.”

“Not yet, Doc,” Tom said. “Before Rayn takes
you in, I’d like us to take a few minutes and pump Allexa’s prepper
brain. Allexa, what else might be still in that store that a new
location could use? The space in the semis is limited and so is our
time. However, we don’t want to overlook something that might be
vital later. Right now they are concentrating on sporting goods,
tools, lanterns, candles, and things like blankets and sleeping
bags. We’ve got the manpower to spread out, what else should we be
looking for?”

I took a sip of coffee; my thoughts whirling.
“In the pharmacy department are also hygiene items. Have them get
as many packs of bar soap as possible. It can be used as shampoo
and clothes soap too, so take all of it,” I stated. “Also toward
the back of the store is the fabric department. Take all the bolts
of everything. One aisle over is the sewing materials; it should
take only three boxes to collect all of the threads, pins, needles,
and scissors equally.”

Tom stared at me for a moment and started
writing.

“And yarn. That can go in large trash bags.
Plus knitting needles, crochet hooks, and anything that even
remotely looks useful, like patterns,” I continued. “If you have
two people doing only that, they should be able to empty that
entire aisle equally into three or six bags in less than ten
minutes.”

He was still writing.

“May I make a suggestion, Tom?” I paused, and
he nodded. “Write these down on separate sheets of paper. That way
you can give the sheet to a two-man team and they can go. It’ll
save minutes of instructions.”

Tom grinned. “And now you see why I want her
as my assistant!” he said to Mark, ripping the pages off and
starting over.

“Canning supplies, if there are any left:
jars, seals, canners. Plus spices and matches. Baby things—cloth
diapers, bottles, a few soft toys maybe, though many things can be
made from the fabric and yarn. Shoes! It will take a while to learn
how to make them.”

“Speaking of babies, Tom, you should add
condoms to that pharmacy list!” Mark said.

“Someone needs to check the gardening area,”
I said. “I know its October and there likely isn’t anything there,
but even flower seeds should be kept.”

“I think we should check out the hospital,
too,” Mark said. “I’m sure there are lots of useful supplies
there.”

“Sorry, Doc. The hospital was hit with a
major lightning strike two days ago and it’s nothing but smoldering
rubble now.” Tom glanced at his watch. “This is a good list. Okay,
we need to move; time is running out.” He handed the stack of
papers to Rayn, who had been standing quietly by the door.

Mark stood, slipping on his jacket. He
reached out for me and I slid into his arms.

“You bring him back to me safe and sound!” I
said to Tom.

“I’m staying here, Allex. Sargent Jones will
take care of him,” he said. I looked at him with many questions on
my mind, and before I could ask them, he continued. “You and I need
to ready the town for a lot of new residents!”

They drove away in the Hummer, Rayn at the
wheel. I felt a knot form in the pit of my stomach and wondered
when or if I would see Mark again.

“What now?” I asked Tom.

“We need to come up with a plan for housing
distribution. You know the town, I don’t. Any ideas?”

“I think we should get the others involved in
this,” I said. “Besides, Moose Creek belongs to all of us now and I
value their input.”

~~~

We all sat around the large kitchen table:
Ken and Karen, Eric, Jason and Amanda, Joshua, and the kids.

“Five hundred people coming in the next two
days? Can we do this in time?” Jason asked.

“I think if we take it by groups it might
work better,” Amanda said. “Personally, from past experience, I
think the people with kids should be closest to the school, and be
dealt with first. There’s nothing more distracting or disruptive
than a room full of cranky kids! Maybe the couples without children
could go to the motels.”

“Great idea, Amanda.” I smiled at her. “Tell
you what. Why don’t you and Jason go house to house across from the
school and write down the addresses and how many bedrooms are in
each house. That way we can assign the appropriate space.”

“I like that idea,” Tom said. “We can use
that method for the other houses too. Ken, Karen, can you take
around Lake Meade? Just addresses or fire numbers and any info you
think might come in handy. We have to work quickly; the first wave
will be here in a few hours.”

There was a collective
“What?!”

“It’s a small group of women with children.
Jim thought it best to get them out of harm’s way. Besides, the
less he has to worry about, the quicker things will fall into
place,” Tom said.

“Joshua, do you mind if both Emi and Jacob
stay with you for the day?” I asked. “It would help us out not
worrying about them.”

~~~

“So what are you not telling me, Tom?” I
asked as he drove with me in the front seat and Eric in the
back.

He glanced toward the back.

“No secrets, Tom,” I stated flatly.

“It’s a mess in town, Allex. Jim hasn’t slept
more than an hour or two in three days. Not many
are
sleeping, not with the constant thunder. It’s eerie. There’s no
rain, just all thunder and heavy lightning. Huge bolts, big jagged
slashes across the sky, almost non-stop. The last meteorologist in
town said he thought it was a system that is now caught in this
valley and can’t get out. Every now and then we get hit with hail
but that doesn’t help the fires.

“The fires started small, isolated places
that were quickly contained. Then one of the taller buildings was
hit, and the bolt must have followed the pipes. An underground
heating fuel tank blew and it took out more than a city block. That
fire spread to the gas stations and those started to blow.
Fortunately, right after the first explosion someone suggested we
pump as much of the gas back out of the underground storage tanks
and move any tankers away from town. That’s how we came to have so
many and already filled.”

“Does that meteorologist say what is causing
all this?” Eric asked from the back seat.

“He guessed it was the weather pattern
disruption from the continuing volcanic eruptions in Yellowstone.
We won’t know now. He got hit during a big strike; died instantly,
his body charred… right on TV during an in the field broadcast.
People are scared now, Allex, terrified. I think that’s why
everyone is cooperating so well. They want to get out, and I don’t
blame them.”

“When was the last time
you
got some
sleep, Tom?” I asked quietly.

“I got a couple of hours last night. I’m
okay, really, exhausted, stressed out beyond the max, but
okay.”

“So what is really bothering you, Tom? I’ve
known you for a long time and you’re holding something back,” I
said.

He glanced at Eric again. “We haven’t been
able to… to filter who is going where. There are some, ah,
undesirables in each group.”

“Swell,” Eric said. “I guess we’ll have to
deal with them as we find out who they are, won’t we?”

~~~

Tom pulled into the township office parking
lot, followed by Jason with Amanda and Ken and Karen in the police
car. I unlocked the doors and hit the light switch by habit, but
nothing happened.

“Hold on, Mom, I threw the breakers last time
to prevent a surge,” Jason said. He headed toward the maintenance
room, guided by the faint light streaming through the dirty
windows. Soon, the building was flooded with artificial light.

In the vault where we’ve always kept office
supplies I found several steno pads that still had several sheets
each and handed them out to everyone, along with a couple of
pens.

“Remember, work as quickly as you can -
addresses, number of bedrooms, and anything that might be critical,
like a wood stove, fenced yard, keep it short and simple. Amanda,
Jason we need you back here within an hour.”

~~~

“Just so you know, I believe there are a few
evacuees coming here that are from Moose Creek. Chances are they
will want their homes back,” Tom said, looking out the window.

“I don’t have a problem with that,” I
replied.

“And we did try to balance out the personnel.
We asked for at least one electrician, plumber, carpenter, and
teacher in each group, especially the Moose Creek group. Those
going to Esky will be blending with a community already set up,
Moose Creek is starting over.”

“Are there any medical people?” I asked,
thinking of the workload on Mark.

“The two medics I mentioned are going to
Sault Ste. Marie with their units. I do believe that there is one
coming here. Gray. Wasn’t he one of your paramedics?” Tom
asked.

“Gray is coming back? That’s good to hear.” I
smiled, even though the vision that danced across my memory was of
Gray sitting in the school gym with bodies piled around him.

While everyone was out surveying the houses
for possible occupation, I found a street map of the town of Moose
Creek. Using the copy machine I enlarged the map, a section at a
time, and taped it together. In foresight, I made two copies. One
was now tacked to the wall in the meeting room, where we also set
up a couple dozen chairs and a desk. The other went on the wall in
my old office, which made me wonder if Anna was coming back.