The Last Tribe (40 page)

Hank held his nephews at the door. 
“Give your dad a minute, even 30 seconds alone with your brother.  Okay?”  Matt
and Craig nodded, they understood. 

Hank had to know.  “Where is your
car?  How did you get here?  We were just talking about how the road is clear,
and someone might be coming soon.  Unbelievable, literally, and hour ago at
lunch we told Paul and Rebecca the roads were clear.”

“Uncle Paul is here too?”  Matt asked.

“Who’s Rebecca?”  Craig asked at
the same time.

John was in the living room when
Greg came around the corner from the kitchen with a wide grin. 

“You made it.”  He said to his
father. 

John lost his composure
immediately, dropping to his knees and weeping, his face in his hands.  He
shoulders heaved under his coat.  Greg got on the floor with his father, hugging
him.  “We made it Dad.  We made it.  It’s okay.  We’re all okay.”

“You’re all I’ve thought about for
8 months.  I had to keep your brothers safe, or I would have walked here to
find you.”

“I know, Dad, I know.  I’m okay.”

“Please forgive me for leaving you,
please, please understand.”  John hugged his son tightly.  “I love you so much,
I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.  Forgive me, I’m sorry.”

Paul and Rebecca watched from the
dining room.  Rebecca was crying.  Paul put his arm around her, pulling her
close.

Hank let Matt and Craig into the
house after a minute.  He could not hold them back any longer.  John and Greg rocked
on the floor, kneeling together in a hug.  Matt tapped his brother on the
shoulder.  “Hey, how are things?”  Greg stood up and grabbed him.  He opened
one side of the hug and pulled Craig in.

“We all made it, can you believe
it?”  Greg was overwhelmed his brothers were alive.  “We all made it.”  Greg
broke his hug.  “You guys have to meet Rebecca.  She’s my best friend.  I met
her on my way up here, back in October.  She saved my life, I wouldn’t have
made it through another week without her.”  He looked into the dining room. 
“Rebecca, come meet my family.”  He waved her over.

Rebecca stepped into the room. 
Paul followed her and went to his twin brother.

“How are you?”  Paul asked as they
embraced.  “Have you heard from Todd?”

Hank stepped behind the two men and
patted John on the shoulder. 

John composed himself.  “There is a
lot to talk about.”  He sniffed loudly, wiping his hand on his sleeve.  Rebecca
extended a tissue, which John took while giving the girl a bewildered look.  “Todd
and his family are in New York City, and planning to come up tomorrow
afternoon.  He has seventeen other people with him, survivors we’ve met on the
way up here.” 

“Huh?”  Hank said.  “Did you say
seventeen people plus Todd and his two kids?”

“Don’t forget Aunt Emily.”  Matt
said, not realizing Hank and Paul did not know she was alive.

“Wait, Emily is alive?  That’s
impossible.”  Paul’s mouth was half open in amazement.

“Like I said,” John gave Paul a pat
on the back.  “We have a lot to talk about.”

“So you saved my son’s life.”  John
looked at Rebecca.  “Thank you.”  He said.  “Thank you with all of my heart,
but how did you two kids make it up here and survive through winter?”

“Pretty easily actually.”  Rebecca
told him, “but we don’t want to do it again.”  She smiled at Greg.  “Not if we
don’t have to.”

“Okay, first things first,”  John
began.  “We have a Suburban parked at the bottom of Wheelock next to your
jeep.”

“I can drive now!”  Greg blurted
out.  “Uncle Hank taught me.”

John paused, giving his son a
smile.  “Okay, that’s great, but what I need to say is, we have chickens and a
few goats in a trailer that we need to bring up.  Do you have a different route
to get into Hanover?”

“Goats?”  Hank asked.  “Where are
we going to keep goats?”  He turned to Paul.  “Did he seriously say he brought
goats?  This is where the world is?  People show up with goats and expect to
stay in your house?  I had a problem when people wanted to bring dogs to my
house, now I have to accommodate goats?”

“Four goats, 15 chickens.”  John
replied dryly.

Rebecca thought about it before
speaking.  “We have a coop set up, but I don’t know if it can handle 15 more
chickens.  Maybe if we put a ramp or something out that back door.  It’s not
cold anymore.  We can house the goats in the wood room off the porch, you know,
clear some space for them there?  Put some of our shredded paper in there?”

“You already have chickens?”  John
asked.

“Yes, I brought them from Concord. 
I had some neighbors who were urban farmers.  I took their chickens.”  Rebecca
explained.

Matt looked at Greg, and gave him
and elbow, winking about Rebecca.  Greg blushed.  “Dad?”  Matt said.  “Why
don’t we walk the goats up here, maybe carry the chickens?  It might take a few
trips, but faster and easier than handling the roads and hills.”

“Sounds like a plan, we can talk
while we walk.”  Paul moved to the coat rack in the corner of the living room
near the door.  He pulled on his coat and went for his boots.  He looked down
at the new arrivals’ feet.  “Do you three want to borrow some boots and dry
socks?”

“That would be great.”  John said,
taking his backpack off and setting it on the floor.  “The goats can wait.  Do
you have any food?”

Paul hung his coat back up.  “Yeah,
I think we can feed you.  I’ll put the last two trout in the oven and put some
water on the stove.”  Paul left the living room.

“Dad’s trout club, I knew that’s
why the jeep was down there full of tackle.  Have you been using baited hooks
at Dad’s club?  Are you insane?” 

Hank smiled.  “If we are here when
the ice melts, I’ll use a bobber and worms.  The fish are giant at that place.”

Matt walked into the dining room
and looked at the computers, data, and maps adorning the walls. “What’s this?”

“Rebecca is running some models to
show the optimal place to live, to settle.  We’ve been inputting data about
climates, crop yields, that sort of stuff.  We have some things to talk about
too.”

They gathered in the kitchen,
letting the new Dixons eat at the table, while the others talked about their
adventures.  There were endless stories, and the conversation continued until
dusk and the walk to the bottom of the hill to get livestock. 

Everyone laughed and cried countless
times that afternoon. 

Practical questions arose.  Where
were the three new people going to sleep?  “It’s 6pm.”  John said to the group. 
“Let’s walk down to the old house and see if Hank, Paul, and I can get three
beds into the study or upstairs master.  Both have a fireplace.  We can make it
one night there, right?  We have more than 20 people showing up tomorrow.  We
have to figure out where everyone is going to sleep.”

“There are two twin mattresses in
the study, and it can fit at least one more.  Greg and I spent our first few
nights in Hanover there.”  Rebecca told them.  “It’s a cozy little room.  We
almost lived there.”

“Let’s grab an armload of firewood
and walk down.”  Hank announced.  “We might as well open up the old house. 
It’s where someone will be sleeping tomorrow night.” 

By 7pm the goats were on the porch,
the chickens were making friends in the coop, a fire was pre-made in the old
house with three mattresses on the ground, and Hank was cooking cassoulet in
the kitchen.  The rest of the group sat on the couches and chairs in the living
room.

“What if I told you we have a
pilot.  Would that put Hawaii back in the mix?  If we can find a plane that
works and has fuel, do we think we can make it to Hawaii?”  John asked Rebecca,
updating her on the skill set of the arriving tribe.

“I don’t know enough about planes
to say, but absolutely.  If we can get to Hawaii, it is our best option, hands
down.” 

John nodded.  “I’ll talk to Peter
when he gets here.  He’s a retired military and commercial pilot.  He’ll be
able to answer those questions.”

“What happens if we fly to Kauai or
Honolulu and the airport runway is jammed with planes?  Do we crash land in the
ocean?  Do we try to land on the beach?  It’s not just taking off and having
fuel, it’s what the heck do we do to get back on the ground.”  Paul ran the
scenarios through his head a few times.

“Who else do you have in the group
other than a pilot?”  Rebecca was curious about the talent pool John described.

“A  surgeon and a veterinarian, but
the neurosurgeon has dreams of being a farmer.  She was a botany minor in
college.”  John, who vehemently opposed meeting new people, now claimed credit
for the success.

“We’ll probably need a farmer more
often than we’ll need a neurosurgeon.”  Paul noted.

“Solange is a great soccer player,
but she calls if futbol.”  Craig added. 

“I didn’t get to meet the New York
group for more than a few minutes.  They appeared to be like us, muscle and
labor rather than trained skills.  There was a priest, an i-banker, a few
teens, and some younger kids.”

“If your pilot, our pilot I should
say, does think we can make it to Hawaii, we can drive down to Logan to look
into planes.  I doubt Lebanon Regional has a plane that can make it to
Honolulu.”  Paul sat back after a long afternoon of excitement.

They ate in the living room.  The
kitchen table was not large enough, and the dining room table was occupied with
Rebecca’s work. 

Hank’s cassoulet was delicious. 

“We are about to share a very small
room together, and you serve me beans and sausage for dinner?  You’re a brave,
brave man Hank.”  John joked. 

“Is this a fancy frank and beans?” 
Craig enjoyed the meal but was confused about the name.

“Something like that.”  Hank
assured him. 

The men made their way to their old
home soon after dinner.  “I’m beat.”  John confessed.  “It was a long and tough
drive up here.  I’m about to fall asleep on my feet.”  They said their good
nights.  John gave Greg an extended hug.

“I expect breakfast on the table when
I arrive.”  Paul said as he walked out the door.  “I’m sleeping on a floor
tonight.  I deserve a hot meal.”

“We’ll give you a call when it’s
ready.  Sit by the phone.”  Rebecca replied wryly and dripping with sarcasm.

As they walked down the road John
asked his brothers.  “So, Rebecca, what’s her story?”

“I’m pretty sure she’s your new
daughter in law.”  Paul smiled.  “It was basically blue lagoon in Hanover when
Hank and I arrived.”

Hank agreed, and gave an
endorsement.  “Greg says she saved his life.  She’s about to save all of our
lives with her intelligence and abilities.  She’s a great kid, just fantastic. 
You’re lucky Greg bumped into her.  We’re all lucky.” 

“Being thirteen and having the
burden of her intelligence, she had it pretty rough before the rapture.  I’m
not saying this was a good thing that happened to her, losing her parents was
not a good thing, but her new start on life, meeting Greg, finding someone her
age that likes her, being able to fit in for the first time in a long time. 
She’s incredible.”  Paul opened the door to the house.  It was pitch black
except for their flashlights and lantern beams.

“Her intelligence?”  John asked. 
“Just how smart is she?” 

“Pretty damn smart.”  Paul assured
him.    

The house was freezing.  Hank lit
the fire, and their tiny bedroom warmed.

“You said there is a priest in New
York?  A person of faith who still has faith?”  Hank asked.

“The reason I left?  She wants one
last service in her chapel.  She is a strong believer.  I’m as surprised as you
are, but I respect it.”

Paul stared at the ceiling.  “21
people, that’s a lot of mouths, children or not.  We have to get near the ocean
quickly.  Our current supplies and anything we can scavenge will last a few
years, but we can’t build a future roaming from town to town for rotten canned
food.  We have to get somewhere and build a colony.  We have to learn to plant,
hunt, and fish.”  He sat up.  “Son of a bitch, this all just got very real to
me.”

“It just got real to you?”  John
asked him.  “Seriously?  Everyone in the world died seven months ago, and
you’re just feeling it getting real?”

“Well, yeah.  You know, it’s been a
whirlwind.  I got food and stayed in my house, I biked to Hank’s, we rode to
Rutland, took snowmobiles to here, lived with Greg.  It’s been a fluid
timeline.  I’ve never had to worry about food.  I am very worried about food
now.  21 people can burn through food quickly.  We won’t even see it coming,
and poof, we’ll be out of food.  Damn, we have to get somewhere other than the
frozen tundra of Hanover, and we have to get there this summer.”  Paul rolled
onto his side.   “It’s great to see you, John.  It really is.  I’m going to get
some sleep.  We have a long day and a long week ahead of us.”

“It’s great to be up here,
finally.”  John turned to Hank.  “So, Hank, how much weight have you lost?  Were
you this thin before?”

Hank and Paul laughed, “Wait until
you hear the story of caveman Hank, living in a hole for two months.  It’s a
classic.”  Paul started, “when I rolled up on him in Dayton?  Oh man, it was
like finding Tom Hanks in Castaway.  He was filthy.  He smelled.  Wow.”

“I can laugh a little now, but this
is what really happened.”  They told stories well into the night, sometimes
laughing, sometimes quiet as they absorbed the impact of the last eight
months.  They cried when the talked about their wives’ last days, and the
decisions each of them had to make.  They were only asleep for a few hours when
the sun came up over Balch Hill the next morning. 

Hank was the last to wake, his eyes
opening to the noise of Paul and John getting dressed.  “So let me get this
straight.  It was Todd’s idea to meet up here, and to live in our old house,
and he’s the only one who’s not here.  We’re stuck sleeping on mattresses in a
tiny room, and he’s at the Plaza?”