Chapter Five

 

I held the pedal to the floor as we returned home. Although mostly silent, we relived the ordeal over a few swigs of hooch and a pair of joints. Once back, I returned home for Rae and some medical supplies while Mary Jane prepared an area in a vacant shack to work on Eric’s arm. Angie was there with Rae, saving me a trip up the far mountain to the Boone’s, so I explained what had happened as we returned to town.

Ethan was quickly patched up with a handful of stitches, a fresh wrap, a set of crutches, and a few swigs of moonshine. Eric however, had a bit more of a struggle. The bullet had split into several pieces and the bone had broken and shifted. Mary Jane worked tirelessly to remove the lead, then with help from Angie, pulled his arm and set the bone. Angie and Mary Jane had both been in medical school although Mary Jane had been nearly finished when the attacks came. They worked well together and made a good team. Mary Jane proved to be a steady hand and before long, they had him patched up as best as the wound would allow.

Levi gladly accepted our hard-earned catch and added them to the water basin that he found for the aquaponics. We weren’t sure exactly how well the system would work utilizing the bluegill and catfish, but we felt confident in the arrangement. We would breed the fish and if any of the crops floating above survived, we would welcome the additions to our food supply. He, along with Mike, and the Higgs family, had built a large chicken shack, incorporating the aquaponics into an attached, yet separated, greenhouse. The building would serve the purpose well, allowing air and bugs to flow between the crops and the chickens, while a fencelike wall kept the chickens from accessing, and eating, the crops. In theory, the chickens would help heat the greenhouse and keep bugs from ruining the plants while the bugs and weeds would provide additional nutrients for the chickens.

Billy and Kev continued milling and building while Howard and Mike had gone out hunting. The remains of the day quickly dwindled as Angie and Mary Jane tended to Eric, who drifted in and out of consciousness. The possibility of infection was in everyone’s mind but not a mention was made, perhaps mostly for Angie’s sake, as she worried for her husband.

Morning came to find Eric and Ethan both much improved. Our concerns however, soon turned to Howard and Mike, as they had not returned from their hunt the day before. That afternoon, Kev and I went out to scour the mountainside in search of them. We had been out for just over and hour when we spotted Howard, walking alone, along the trail toward us.

“He…he fell!” Howard shouted as he neared.

“What ‘ya mean he fell? Where at?” Kev asked.

“Up over that far ridge! I tried to help him but there wasn’t anything I could do.”

We continued as Howard guided us back to the scene of the accident. It seemed odd to me that he had not returned sooner for help, but these mountains could offer hard scenarios. If a man is hurt bad and on his way out, sometimes all you can do is stay with him, so he ain’t gotta go it alone.

We found him an hour later, wrapped around a cluster of rock, a hundred feet below a steep trail. A man could easily slip and meet his end almost anywhere in these rigid mountains and the steep trail they had been travelling on, most certainly provided opportunity. We worked for several hours gathering and stacking rocks as we created a suitable grave. We had begun building our town not even a month earlier and we had already lost four people. Tom and Tommy had moved on, or disappeared, as had Pastor Dave, and now Mike, lay buried under a stone grave, deep in the mountains.