The Days After (Big River) Page 8

  “Yeah, it might be more of a strategy than the early morning. A storm would definitely make the bad guys seek shelter. It would be lucky if we could catch an early morning storm,” Louis grinned.

  Penny asked, “Clay, do you know how far through St. Louis it will be?”

  “Well, I think it will be at least ten miles, perhaps fifteen. When we get to the north of the city, The Missouri River flows in and we will take it to the west, probably another ten miles until it circles around the suburbs of St. Louis.”

  Louis looked at them, serious now, “It's going to be a long and dangerous trip to get through.”

  ***

  All the residents of the Annie Belle were thankful for the brief time to relax their guard. Penny and Angel took turns at guiding the big paddle wheeler along the river. They both wanted to feel some comfort with the maneuvering of the boat. Of course, they didn't really let down their vigilance. The night watches continued and the visions that surrounded them everyday, wouldn't let them forget that the world had met with some unimaginable catastrophe. Yet, two and a half weeks from leaving New Orleans, they did not feel a constant daily threat. They each tried to get their breath and spend at least a small part of the day thinking about how to get safely through St. Louis, Missouri.

  During these days of calm, all of the crew did their part of the work required to keep them functioning. Clay and Louis did maintenance on the engine and generator. They made several trips with the newly owned boat to marooned vessels, managed to find a couple of extra fuel cans and add a little more fuel to their stores and their tank.

  Angel and Penny had more than enough to keep them busy. Chores, such as washing clothes, were not as simple as throwing a few things in a washing machine. Of course, they were surrounded with water, but it was not the cleanest and best smelling of liquids. They did have two large tubs. Once they had hauled water up and filled them from the river, they let them set for a while with a few drops of bleach added. Then the clothes could be washed out by hand and rinsed in the second tub. Hanging the wet clothes out in the sun and fresh air helped; at least they were clean and smelled better, however, all of the wearers were similarly dressed in clothing with a pale brown tinge.

  Penny liked to joke, “Well, at least I match my clothes.” Though, the pretty woman's mostly colorful patterned clothing did not fare as badly from the staining water, snowy white underthings, no longer existed for any of them.

  The paddle wheeler progressed towards the big Missouri city and there had only been one bright and clear day, several had been cloudy or rainy, and thunder storms passed over them on a couple of occasions. It was the typical volatile weather of Spring time. They enjoyed nearly a week of peace, Clay calculated they were about ten miles south of St. Louis. They anchored down and watched the skies. They tried to wait for that storm to develop that could help them move through the city.

  Through that night and most of the next day, the weather was once again sunny and warm. About the middle of the afternoon, Clay thought he saw some gathering weather clouds on the distant horizon. He alerted the others, “There might be some stormy weather moving in. Too soon to tell. You need to be prepared though, we may be on the move later.”

  Louis said, “Go on about your business, just be ready, in case. Clay and I will go up top and see what we can spot.”

  The two men walked from the bow of the boat, near the control hut to the aft, above the halted paddles. As they looked out from the bow, the sky was still sunny and bright. From the stern, the view was much darker. There was definitely a bank of threatening clouds that slowly grew above the tree lines. Louis wiped his brow on his arm, “Damn, I think this is as hot as it's been in a while. I swear there's not a breath of air stirring.”

  Clay gazed down at the river, the water was practically dead calm. A long bird feather drifted down and barely made a ripple on the surface. It twirled a bit and lightly moved down river. “We may be in for a lot more of a storm than we wanted,” he said. “I have seen it get still and dark like this, before. It's not a very good sign.”

  “Okay, I'll go and batten down the hatches, the girls can help. You stay up and keep a watch. I'll be back shortly,” said Louis.

  He barely disappeared down the stairs, when it seemed that the sky opened up and rain came down so straight and hard, it looked like it poured down from the heavens and up from the river. Clay moved across the top deck to go help secure the boat. He reached the top of the stairs and the rain instantly stopped as if a faucet had been shut off. A loud roaring sound assaulted him, he turned to look back. The top canopy ripped away from the frame with a tearing, whooshing scream of protest.

  He grabbed onto the post beside him and Louis shouted from the base of the stairs, “Clay! Get down from there.”

  He worked his way down, held on against the deafening rage of wind. Louis reached for his hand. The water swirled and boiled and the Annie Belle pitched wildly. They struggled their way to the cabin door and got inside. The women and children were huddled against the back of the bar with the mattresses from the roll away beds over them. They heard the speed boat that they recently inherited, it banged against the side of the paddle wheeler. Louis squatted down with the others and tried to keep them calm. Before Clay joined them, he saw a tree and assorted debris spinning in the center of a tornado that ferociously chewed up the land and everything on the edge of the water. It rapidly twirled past them on the near shore.

  He joined the others and hunkered down behind the bar. Allie squeezed over next to him, her mother on her opposite side. Her hands went out to each of them and they both held on to hers, she buried her face in his arm. Louis encircled Penny and Jacob. As the Annie Belle violently bucked on the river, the six closed their eyes, held their breath for what felt like an endless time and was in reality only minutes. Clay wondered if the electricity that he felt, came from the cyclone or from his deep fear of any harm falling on those around him. In those moments, he realized that this had become his family and that he would hold on to them with all his might.

  Then nearly as fast as it had come upon them, it was gone. Clay and Louis eased to the door and out to the walkway. The rotating funnel of destruction was visible way up ahead of them and obviously it still tore across the land and river. Masses of wreckage filled the water and the shore looked like a gigantic bulldozer had plowed a path. Clay spotted a red paddle dipping up and down in the water and managed to toss the life ring out and pull it up to the deck. He looked at Louis and said, “Hope that's the only one we lost. We better check everything out. I heard the small boat slamming into the side.”

  Louis said, “I'll let the girls know that it's passed. Meet you on the starboard side.”

  After a good check of the paddle wheeler, they gathered in the cabin. Tables and other furnishings had gotten tossed around, the women started to put things back in order. Clay said, “Well, there doesn't seem to be any real damage. We did lose a paddle from the wheel. I captured it as it floated by and we should be able to fix that. The small boat knocked out a chunk of the railing, as far as we can see, there's not any damage to the hull though and the boat didn't break it's tether.”

  “The top canopy took off to parts unknown. The control hut is fine, just a lot of limbs and even dead fish and birds on the top deck,” said Louis.

  Clay took stock of the five people around him. Once again, they had been hit by the unexpected. They had been frightened, yet stayed strong; now they looked at him and waited for him to tell them what their plan would be. He stood up, inhaled and said, “This is not the thunder storm that we thought would take us through St. Louis. It might possibly be to our advantage, it could be a piece of luck. Louis and I are going to get that paddle back in working order. I want you girls and the kids to go up top and throw all the crap off, anything you find on the boat that doesn't belong. We need to get on the move as quickly as we can.”

  He continued, “If this tornado moved through the city, it reeked havoc. It could b
e our diversion, our break. It won't be that long until dark. The Annie is not well equipped for night cruising, she does have lights and maybe we could get a good ways through before all the day light is gone. Get your weapons and ammo ready and be sure all of our lanterns and flashlights have good batteries. Let's get to it everybody.”

  Within an hour, Clay guided the paddle wheeler through a sea of flotsam. He and Louis had repaired the paddle well enough to hold for the time being, however a lot of the smooth quietness of the wheel had been lost. The top deck had been cleared. The four had put on some disposable gloves from a box on the supply shelves and worked as fast as they could, tossed everything from limbs and trash to frogs and fish from the littered top level. There was even a gangly dead Blue Heron with a wiggling snake still trapped in it's beak. Jacob rushed for a fishing pole and Penny managed to hook the bird, she dangled him over the top rail and Angel cut the line. The strange victims of the tornado plopped into the river.

  The children had been tucked away in the storage area. Their anxiety was fresh from this latest crisis, so they were allowed to leave the door to the area open with the understanding they would instantly secure it, if alerted. Penny and Angel had their positions and weapons ready at the cabin windows. They grew near to the heaviest populated part of the city, there was probably an hour of daylight left. The progress was slow along the clogged waterway. Bodies made up a great deal of the water born wreckage. There had been no warning of this approaching storm. On the land, the destruction was massive. The unbalanced thumping of the paddle wheel did not cover the screams and sounds of terror that came from the piles of rubble.

  Clay's intuition had been right. The storm had came fast and unannounced. The majority of the populace who had been surviving the last three plus weeks were now dead or worse, buried under the destruction, with no help on the way. Of the few figures that staggered around, no one was interested in the paddle wheeler that made it's way up the river. He felt a pang of sorrow for his fellow citizens, trapped in the hell on the shore. He turned to Louis, “You know, there will be no help for these poor people.”

  Louis just shook his head and said, “Now that I think of it, in all these past weeks, we haven't seen any sight of the military or any law. You would assume that Martial Law was declared. Where are the soldiers?...where are the trucks and rescue organizations?

  “Of course, most vehicles appear to be non-functional,” said Clay. “You would think though, that the government, FEMA...the relief groups would have made some type of preparations for an event like this. Surely, the military had some shielded equipment, some stockpiles, some plans for refugee camps. There must have been some catastrophic disaster plans. You are right, my friend, we haven't observed one instance of any of that.”

  “I feel certain of one thing, boss. Our chance for getting through all of this alive will be to make it to Dan's farm. The cities are not the place to be. The water and sewer systems are down, the food is running out and disease must be widespread already. We have to reach the farm.”

  The light would be gone very soon, they had moved past some of the destruction, the shouts and screams were more distant. Clay spotted the convergence of the two rivers. They switched on the inadequate lights of the big boat and Louis also had a spot light that he used to check around and up ahead of them. As the captain swung the paddle wheeler up and into the Missouri River, he noted that it appeared the storm had moved on, and this area wasn't damaged. It had been at least a half an hour since they saw any signs of the tornado in the far view.

  Louis went to the top level rail and whistled down. Penny yelled back, “We are okay down here.”

  “We may be through the worst of it, Sugar. Just hang tight down there for a while longer,” said Louis. He added the beam from his spotlight to the very last scraps of daylight that remained, scanned the shore and the new river ahead of them. The boat followed the waterway as it cut through the western suburbs of the big city. With the noise of the miserable city muffled, a loud bellowing cry echoed out from the land.

  Louis said, “What the hell...” he skimmed his light up and down, looking for the source of the loud noise. There—up ahead, an elephant stomped along the water's edge, with a small one clinging so close to it, that it appeared connected. “Oh-my-god,” He whistled down again and tried to keep his spotlight on the huge animal that was totally out of place.

  The trumpeting came again. Penny spotted the animal, amazed, she whispered to the kids, “Jacob, Allie; come here quick,” she motioned them to kneel beside her at the cabin window.

  Angel came across the cabin and squatted beside her daughter, “What is it, Penny?” Then Louis's spotlight lit up the elephant and it's baby. Angel's breath sucked in, “Oh-h Allie, look. Look, on the shore, sweetie.”

  Jacob exclaimed, “Wow!”

  Allie finally spotted the pair and giggled with excitement, “A ef-alant, Mommy. It's a ef-alant and her baby.” As they passed by, the elephant raised her head and curving trunk, let out another booming noise and charged away down the shore, the baby stuck like glue. They all watched until the sight was swallowed into the dark that covered the shore.

  Clay moved them through the night. By dawn, they were a good distance past the city and anchored down for the day. They all needed to catch up on some rest. With guts and a whole lot of luck, the voyagers made it more than halfway to their destination and they had survived this perilous day. This new river looked very much the same as the Mississippi River, it was even nicknamed the Big Muddy. However, it's headwaters were all the way up in Montana, it flowed through northern states with colder climates than the southern states that border so much of the Lower Mississippi. The Winter though was months away, everyday, the Spring would dissolve a little more into the heat of Summer. Many river miles lay ahead and the territories that were unknown to all of them offered no guarantee of smooth sailing.

  Chapter Six

  On The Wide Missouri

  Angel came into the cabin, Clay leaned over one of the tables, various maps spread across the surface. They removed all but one large round table and a couple of smaller square ones, to create more room in the cabin and accommodate sleeping spaces. He had a serious expression on his face, a pair of reading glasses perched on his nose and he scribbled on a note pad.

  She stepped next to him and looked down at the maps, “You look worried,” she gave a soft laugh, “Did we go the wrong way?”

  At that moment, he realized that the pleasant smell that he persistently got a whiff of, wasn't something that bloomed on the shore. He inhaled the clean subtle scent of Angel. He removed the readers and pulled a map to the top of the pile, smoothed it out. “I thought we were at least half way to Dan's. See the mileage markers on this map? It shows river miles.” He pointed with his pencil to a number on the river map. “Well, I wasn't accurate. It looks like we have about another six hundred miles to go.”

  Her slim finger traced the river on the map, “But, we are going the right way? Like Louis said, we are a good crew, aren't we doing okay?...we're going to make it, Clay. It doesn't matter if it is farther than we thought.” She turned towards him and her face was very close, he didn't flinch from her gaze.

  His hand went to her cheek and he bent to kiss her, when he pulled back, he said, “Yes, Angel, we are going to make it. I promise you. And, yes, we are a great crew.” She smiled, put her hand over his on her cheek. An exaggerated a-hum broke the spell. Louis stood in the doorway, a huge grin on his face.

  Clay just ignored his old friend's amusement, put the glasses back on and said, “Louis, come here and look at the map.” As Angel moved past him, Louis winked. She narrowed her amber eyes at him and went into the supply shelf area.

  They stayed put for this second day. Louis was able to make an improved repair to the metal wheel paddle, still not perfect but it quietened the boat movement again. They discussed the longer than expected distance yet to cover. “I have never been above St. Louis, so this is as new to me
as to all of you. From what I can discern on the maps, there will be lots of miles, maybe three hundred or more that will be mostly wooded shorelines. There are very few towns of any size, even at Kansas City the river flows around to the north of the main town.”

  Louis said, “That sounds good. I have greatly missed my morning newspaper this past month. I do remember reading an article, in the last year, about the tonnage being moved down the Missouri greatly diminishing. The story discussed that there had been optimistic predictions of increased traffic on the wide river, instead various factors had caused just the opposite. So, if our luck holds, maybe there will not be near the wreckage along our way.

  Penny said, “And may-y-be less bad guys.”

  Jacob chimed in from a nearby seat, “Yeah, maybe no pirates.”

  Allie pushed her glasses up on her nose, “Pirates? What are those? Show me Jacob, show me in those books that I found the ef-alants in.”

  Jacob corrected her, “EL-e-phant, little girl. Cheez-z! Come on...” he reached for her hand.

  The two moved towards the bunk room and Angel said, “What books?”

  Louis chuckled and said, “Oh, it's those antique encyclopedias, they probably go back to the civil war. Boss loves to quote gems of wisdom from those out dated old books. They live under his bunk, a complete of set of pre-wikapedia information. The kids probably discovered them when they were hid away in there.”

  Clay looked offended, “They are not that old, maybe the 80's and those books are full of useful information.”

  With an amused look, Angel smiled at him, “Is that your bedtime story...a dusty old encyclopedia?” There was a moment when they held each other's eyes.

  Three of the four adults had a private thought about that kiss between the captain and the auburn haired lady. Penny was the only one that did not know about it. Before the day ended, when she and Louis were alone, she would know. The couple discussed it with interest and engaged in pillow talk about the possibility that Clay and Angel would become a couple. There wasn't a lot of privacy in the boat's arrangement for sleeping. Thank goodness, Jacob slept like a sick dog. But, the long married couple missed their private times.