Nothing Else Matters

Morning came before daylight, because Len woke them up with a rushed whisper. Lara untangled herself from Nathans warmth and looked around.

The children all slept still, so Len waved them out. Nathan touched Deag on his way through the tent and the two of them woke Donelle and Verbena, the only ones left asleep.

Len already had coffee made in a large boiling pot and he dipped them each a cup and talked quietly while they woke up. "We had company last night."

"What do you mean we had company, Len?" Nathan asked giving Len a stern look.

"Actually, it was just a little while ago. I think we're being watched or followed. I spotted movement in the edge of the Woodline near the road."

"You think it's just other travelers?"

"I don't know, they worked hard not to let themselves be seen but I knew they were there. I don't think they had good intentions for that reason. If I hadn't noticed when I did, I think they would have tried to slip up on us."

"We better break up camp," Hollis urged. "I'll get the horses ready. Cole you and Seth come help me, they can break down."

The three of them headed off to where Hollis had the horses strung, while Lara, Verbena and Monica fished out some snacks for the kids and went to wake them. As soon as they got the kids up, Nate, Deag and Keith took down and rolled up the tarps.

Monica helped Haven with the baby and thirty minutes later they were mounted and ready to go. Len pushed ahead of them and not far down the road he veered into a wooded path that took them downhill, twisting through small ravines and barren stretches of scrubby grassland.

They stayed on this bridleway route until ahead of them a barbed wire fence ended the way forward. Hollis jumped off his horse, took the baby and gave her to Lara, while he and Len dug around on the packhorse. In moments, Len, with the wire cutters he'd brought for this reason, had the fence snipped and pulled back cramming it into a snarl of yaupon bushes that were entangled in the fence. He mounted up and they made their way single file through the gap and kept going.

"We're across the border now," he informed them turning around in his saddle to see how Lara was doing with her new passenger. "Do you got her Lara, or do you want me to take her back?"

"No, I'm good," she called out watching both of the dogs as they trotted faithfully along side her horse.

Len nodded and as they rode on in peace, he began to lessen up the pace feeling they were not being stalked now, but he would not let up his guard.

The landscape opened up to deep gorges, desert scrub and the twisted shapes of bristlecone pine and yucca tree. These ancient trees stood as witnesses of a time gone by, though by anyone's standard not much had changed. It was wild, rugged and deadly, but it had it's own beauty with a backdrop of faraway mountain ranges and lone towering sandstone monuments blown by the wind into colorful plateaus that dotted the desert like abandoned buildings with flat top roofs.

In the distance against the blue skyline, oil pumps sat like frozen dinosaurs where they had stopped in flow as the grid collapsed leaving them destitute and silent. It was an eerie setting even in the daylight and the group rode in silence each with their own thoughts about what their world had become.

How easy it had been to forget while they had been living in the hotel, and Nathan realized as he purveyed this area, he had done just that.

Pushed the reality to the back of his mind.

The image before him left his attitude bitter and he looked around at the people he had become responsible for.

Deag, noticing his brothers strained expression, rode up next to Nathan with a wrinkled brow. "You okay bro?"

Nathan nodded though he was anything but. "It's wicked lonesome out here I was realizing. There isn't going to be much of a future to look forward too. These kids, Haven's baby, what will their world be for them?"

"It's for them that we go on every day, Nate. We'll need your help you know, all of us will."

"I know that." Nathan answered wistfully, knowing how hard this would have been for Miranda. He hurt for Deag and it stung his heart. Lara rode beside him quietly tending an infant that might or might not make it to her first birthday and he kicked his horse ahead to catch up with Len.

Deag trotted ahead too and the men now rode together except for Buck who brought up the rear to keep their six on what was behind, but it was fatally void of life anywhere around.

A herd of cattle roamed in the distance, free now to take up where ever they would, and it seemed so surreal that they, like the buffalo before them had open reign to master the wilderness they would now own to themselves.

"How is everyone Nate?" Len asked as his friend rode up beside him.

"Making it."

"It will be evening soon, and I know of a place to camp for the night. There is a place along Narrows Wash, where two tributaries converge. Its not far from Meadows Reservoir, which is where I think we should stay. It will be good there. Its elevated and will be easier to protect."

Nathan nodded and reined his horse back to talk to Lara.

"We'll be stopping for the night here soon. Len knows of a place he said will be safe, with water for the horses. Can you make it a little further?"

She nodded and he rode on back to tell Buck of the plan.

Seth and Haven rode up to Lara. "Are we stopping soon?" Seth asked her hopefully.

Lara smiled and nodded. "Not much further Len said. Can you guys make it a little further?

Seth nodded.

"Haven, You?" Lara asked.

"If it's not much, much farther."

"I know it's hot sweetie. When we stop, I want you to do nothing but rest and drink water. I know this has been hard. But look at the baby," Lara smiled, "she's been a champ!"

Haven took a deep breath and tried to smile but her brave front fled away, and tears began to roll down her cheeks.

"Oh no Haven! Nathan!"

Nathan rode up, took one look at Haven and whistled to Len. He stopped short and turned, joining them and he jumped off his horse and helped Haven down from behind Seth. Everyone dismounted and Len grabbed water and poured a little on his bandana and put it to her forehead. Monica and Verbena gathered around her to help Len and Seth and they eased her to the ground.

Verbena went and found the first aide kit in her backpack and she and Keith took Haven's temperature. "Well she doesn't have fever, which is good, but I don't want her to go into heat stroke," Keith barked.

"How far is this stopping place Len?" Donelle asked.

"Two miles. Its so close the horses can smell the water."

"Look, Seth, you mount up and we are going to put Haven up in your lap. You are going to have to carry her like that till we get there. Can you do that for me?"

"Yea, Len, of course, we just have to get there so she can rest."

"Let's do it."

Seth got on his horse and Len and Nate lifted Haven up to him. She slumped against his chest, as he balanced her on his lap, and they rode on. Len and the others mounted up riding next to them.

As Len promised it wasn't far away and the group took refuge in a small stand of trees at the top of the east side of the reservoir. Nathan and Len immediately took Haven from Seth and carried her to a grassy knot of land where they let her lean against a huge boulder and Seth brought her water. The dogs ran straight for the reservoir and waded in lapping thirstily.

Hollis took the horses, and everyone went to work setting up camp. Len pulled Nathan aside. "I think we need to spend tomorrow resting here. As much as I would like to push on, its just not healthy for Haven or the baby."

"I think that's a good call. Maybe we should travel at night from here out."

Len nodded. "We could do that. There's going to be a few towns we have to get through and night would give us a better advantage."

The two of them went to talk to the group who had all gathered under the tarp now and out of the scorching heat. Haven seemed better and was nursing the baby, so Len and Nathan shared their thoughts and it was agreed they would spend the next day resting and plan to move out at dark.

Len assigned Buck, Nathan and Deag for the first watch, told Seth, Cole and Hollis to get some sleep so they could take up a watch later that night and asked Keith and Verbena to stay with Haven since he had the medical training.

The rest of the evening went by quietly. After dusk everyone gathered by the campfire and ate, and one by one the children fell asleep. Deag and Seth carried his kids to the tarp tent and Cole brought Payton. They tucked the three of them in together and when they returned Haven told Seth she was tired too, so he took the baby and the three of them went to bed. Deag joined Nathan and they discussed their watch plan when Deag noticed that Cole wasn't with them.

"Well I'll be damn," he cursed beneath his breath.

"What is it?" Buck asked turning around to see what Deag was looking at, but not seeing anything. "I don't see anything Deag," he whispered.

"That's just it. Cole and Monica are missing again. Dammit to hell, don't they know this isn't a vacation resort? I swear."

He made to go look for them and give them a blistering tongue lashing when he found them, but Buck grabbed his arm. "Let it go Deag. Let him get it outta his system. At least that way he might be able to focus later when we really need him too."

"I'll get with Cole," Len assured him. "But Buck is right. And I will be here at camp. That's why I backed the tent up to those rocks. We can have a three-point watch perimeter and that's why I put Seth and Cole with him. Buck is going to sit west of the camp, Deag you sit to the east and Nathan is gonna go above the rock ledge. He'll be able to see out a goodly distance from there."

"Sounds good Len," Buck said. "I'm going to head on out then."

Len gave his rifle to Deag. "Just get in that stand of trees and you should be good to go."

Deag grabbed a saddle blanket and took off trotting toward the small stand of trees where he would spend the night, at least until someone came to take over. Yolo, Nathans dog, could be seen traipsing after him and Deag welcomed the company of the big shepherd.

Len went off in the direction of the reservoir, where he knew Cole and Monica were and true enough, he found them swimming. "How's the water?" he hollered over to them.

Cole swam over to him. "Its great Len. I needed a bath and we figured this was our chance," he hinted with a smile.

"Ah, I see. Pretty good idea. Mind if I join ya?"

Cole looked at Len with unbelieving eyes. "Uh, really?" he asked thinking maybe Len was kidding.

"Yeah. Your right, I could use a good wash," he smiled at Cole. "Ya'll don't mind do ya?"

"I don't know, I guess not, but it's a huge lake couldn't you just go further down?"

"Too dangerous," Len said shaking his head. "Better to stay together. Don't worry, I won't bother you."

"Dammit Len, did Seth set you up to this? Because you ain't getting in here with us, that's crazy."

Len died laughing. "No, I'm not. I just wanted to check on you. Just hurry up, because I do want to get cleaned up."

Len disappeared into the underbrush and headed up the hill back to camp. When he went in the tent, he found Hollis and Verbena sitting and talking quietly.

Verbena had the baby and she and Donelle were taking turns trying to see who could spoil her the most, and Len smiled. He sat down with Hollis and Keith and noticed that Lara was not among them. Seth, Haven and the kids slept at the far end and he, Keith and Hollis talked about the people Len and Buck had seen back at Mesa Verde.

"He said they seemed like they were just wandering aimlessly around with each other. No doubt they were sickly."

"I would have liked to see them myself, because if that is the case, we won't see the end of this any time soon," Keith sighed.

"You won't see the end of it Keith. These people, they were not just sick like they were going to get well and go on with life. No. They had an empty aimless stare, like they had no idea what they were doing or where they were going. Like all those we saw on the road when we had to leave Donelle's. Lara told us the virus attacked the brain and deprived it of oxygen, then they died," Len reminded them.

Keith gave Len a long look. "Brain damage."

"Like being under water too long, where you only recover to maybe a vegetable state?" Len asked with realization.

"Just like that," Keith acknowledged, "but don't be fooled. It's much worse. They died. Clinically. And then they came back, with a hunger for our flesh, and just enough ability to get it. "

Hollis sighed. "Damn. We'll have to build a fortress to keep everyone safe, Len."

"That's true Hollis. I intend to do it. We weren't given the blessing of a heads up for nothing. Who knows what's waiting down the road? Its our duty to get to a safe place and build, rebuild what's been lost. We got those kids to think about, you know." Len nodded, "That's all. That's all. Nothing else matters now."