Journey Through Darkness: Book 3 (An EMP Post-Apocalyptic Survival Story) by Mark J. Russell & J.J. Holden

Author:Mark J. Russell & J.J. Holden [Russell, Mark J. & Holden, J.J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-06-25T05:00:00+00:00

16

Somewhere along the line, Ben had made a tragic misreading of his map. They hit a Y intersection, and from where he thought they were, Ben reasoned that if they took the right fork, they’d head toward a state highway that would eventually run them into Wyandotte. By going left, they’d eventually hit the river and be able to skirt along it until they found a bridge. He made the call while Katie badgered Will to drink some more water. They were going to take the left branch, southwards.

A couple hours later, he saw a billboard that proclaimed in large letters, “Wyandotte Lutheran Church. Five Miles Ahead.”

“I cannot believe I messed up this bad,” he told Will, pulling out his map.

“Let’s go grab that last piece of shade back there. We’ve got a distance and a direction, we can plop ourselves right on the map this time and get ourselves back on track.”

“What’s wrong?” Katie asked.

Ben and Will looked at each other. “We got into a bit of trouble around here on our way to find you,” Will said. He tapped the handlebars of his trike. “People are likely to remember my wheels here and might want to pick up the conversation where we left off.”

Ben watched Katie’s face closely as she looked at the sign and the land around it. He was immensely relieved that she showed nothing but curiosity. “Shooting at people trouble?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Will said. “A little bit of that. Folks around here are just plain mean.”

“Okay. Should I make some lunch, or is this just a short stop?”

“Short stop. We want to get away from here fast.”

Katie pointed at the hose of Will’s hydration pack. “I still want you to empty that. Yours, too, Dad.”

Ben felt an undeniable pride every time she got on him. Since Will had collapsed, she had designated herself the party’s Water Monitor and executed her duties with diligence, keeping track of how much everybody was drinking. She stopped just short of asking what color everybody’s pee was, opting instead to give a thumbs up every time she saw him or Will step off to water a tree.

She had also listened carefully when Will explained the importance of people eating food, including and especially when they felt too hot to eat. He told her that protein was necessary to keep the body going in rough conditions, as were vegetables, so he added that to her list of things to keep up on.

It had the side effect of getting her to start adding things to her rice and oatmeal on her own. It started with a few more meals where she picked chicken bits out of the freeze-dried meal, then expanded to her putting little crumbles or slices of other things into her food, or sitting next to Will while he showed her how to forage for edible plants. When she started nibbling at leaves of garlic mustard while she picked them, Ben savored a small moment of joy.

Overall, they’d ended up

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