“Nice place you’re headed to?” Tommy said.
I looked sideways at him. “Pretty nice,” I said carefully.
“Safe?”
“Needs work, but I’m bringing my son if that means anything.”
“Big place?” Tommy asked.
I grinned. “If you don’t get aboard, we’ll leave you behind.”
Tommy whooped and grabbed his duffle bags, which he had stashed out of sight. Angela hugged me as she passed and climbed aboard. Charlie slapped Tommy on the back and Sarah hugged them both.
I climbed aboard and gave Charlie the thumbs up, settling back into a lounge chair.
“What made you decide to come with?” I asked Tommy.
Tommy smiled. He pulled out the letter Duncan gave him. I opened it and it just said ‘Stay with John. I’ll join you later after the winter.’
“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” I said.
My easy cruise was short lived, as we came up to the outskirts of Joslin relatively quickly. I kept my Enfield trained on the buildings on the West while Tommy kept his on the right. Sarah and Rebecca were below with the little ones and Charlie kept the big boat moving steadily. The chain had not been replaced and I did not see anyone watching us. We heard the undisputed cry of thousands of hungry ghouls and saw many of them lining the canal, watching us drift on by. I wondered if the ghouls had finally won against the holdouts in Joslin and the city was truly dead. Given the number of Z’s we were looking at right in front of us, trying to find the answer would be deadly.
We moved down the canal, joining the river and moving past the towns that Charlie and I previously passed. Since that visit and the one we were making, we had established communication via ham radio and had actually sent some trade envoys down. Apparently the town of Seneca had a surplus of bread products and we traded regularly for flour and wheat.
Sarah, Rebecca and Angela took advantage of the lazy trip and the sunlight to get a little tanning in. They surprised us by disappearing into the cabin and reappearing in very slight bathing suits. Charlie nearly ran us aground as he had a hard time keeping his eyes on the river. I didn’t blame him a bit.
Jake loved the river ride and laughed as the water slapped the side of the boat. Julia was enthralled as well and gave Tommy the fits as she repeatedly tried to jump into the river.
We rode for a while and the sun was reflecting off the water as it started to work its way into the evening hours. The warm day had begun to cool off and a breeze from the south promised a comfortable night. By my watch, it was about three in the afternoon when we finally made it to Starved Rock. Charlie steered us closer to the monument itself, bringing the boat into a small inlet in the shadow of the Rock. Tommy volunteered to jump into the water to secure the boat, and we maneuvered the big craft up as close as we could without grounding it.
Securing the boat and hauling off our supplies, after a brief wait for the women to gear up, we headed into the woods towards the lodge. I didn’t get the same creepy feeling I got the last time we were here, although I still walked with my rifle at the ready. Sarah let Jake walk beside her and he and Julia shared happy baby sounds as they toddled through the woods.
We reached the first clearing and I glanced up at Starved Rock. I thought I saw a flash of tan fur in the sunlight, but I couldn’t be sure. As long as he left me and mine alone, I had no problem with a cougar in the backyard. We did see another zombie that had been chewed up by the cougar, so as long as he earned his keep, I was fine with him.
We settled into the main lodge itself after taking a while to secure the rooms. By the time we had finished, the sun was nearly down, and the evening light cast long shadows over the countryside. I figured we would take rooms on the second floor, just in case, and use the restaurant’s kitchen for food storage and preparation. The huge common area, with its enormous wooden beams and massive central fireplace was reminiscent of a medieval hall. Just outside the main hall was the paved porch area, which overlooked the entire preserve and gave us unfettered views of Starved Rock, the Visitor Center, and Plum Island. The land dropped away just beyond the patio, falling straight down by more than fifty feet. On the east side of the lodge was a small canyon which had a waterfall not twenty yards from the lodge itself, solving our water problem and providing additional security.
The front of the lodge was surrounded by forest, with an open parking lot area immediately outside, providing an unobstructed firing zone if needed. There was ample room for growing food and the island across the way would be perfect for livestock if we decided to keep any. In a word, the lodge and surrounding area was perfect. Standing on the patio, as the sun cast pink and red hues across the clouds in the sky, I watched as Jake walked with stumbling feet around a wrought iron gazebo likely used in the past for weddings. Sarah was with me and I wrapped an arm around her shoulders as we took in the view.
“Well, what do you think?” I asked, nodding to Charlie and Rebecca who were sitting on the lounge chairs watching Julia roam around. Tommy and Angela were exploring the park with an express caution about the cougar.
“I feel like we’re in a fairy tale,” Sarah said. “We live in a manor and are surrounded by our fief. Across the river there are monsters.”
I hadn’t considered it that way, but I thought it sounded pretty good. “You know, in the old days of this country, whoever could back up and hold a claim to land eventually was titled to it. These days, I would think the same rule applies. If you can hold it, it’s yours. I’d say unless things change dramatically, this lodge and land is ours as long as we can defend and keep it.”
“No trouble there,” Charlie growled.
I hoped so. My gut told me this was the place to stay, that this was the place I had been looking for. My family was safe, my friends were close, and we had what we needed to get on with our lives.
The wind picked up suddenly, swaying the treetops and causing a rustle to pick up from the leaves. If I had been poetic, I might have thought the land was saying “Welcome home.”
34
We settled in relatively quickly and made several forays into Utica. The town had largely been abandoned when the Upheaval hit, so we were able to secure a decent amount of supplies. There were, of course, the usual skirmishes with zombies, but I have to say, we were getting fairly good at dealing with them. They weren’t the horrible boogeymen they were in the beginning and we treated them more like vermin to be exterminated. Large, smelly, kill-you-if-it-bites-you vermin, but vermin nonetheless.
Tommy managed to find an old style water pump which allowed us to pull up water from the waterfall basin near the lodge. Charlie got it in his head to try and rig up a waterwheel to a generator to try and provide some low wattage power, but by fall he was still working that one out, getting mostly soaked for his trouble.
When fall finally came, the forest was ablaze in colors, as far as we could see. Charlie and I took Sarah and Rebecca on a surprise trip to Seneca, where Josh steered us in the direction of the local minister. Charlie and I had picked up rings during one of our trips to Utica and eschewing tradition, simply told the women we were getting married. They made a half-hearted attempt to object, but once they realized we were serious, they lined up pretty quickly. After the vows were exchanged, we headed back to the lodge to break the news to the children, who really didn’t seem to care. Jake put a stuffed animal on his head and walked around the main room in celebration, at least we think that’s why he did it.
Christmas was actually a pretty happy affair. We selected a small pine tree from our abundant supply, and decorated it with trimmings gleaned from a few of the abandoned houses. It took a few tries, because some of those people had really bad taste. Jake got some new cars and Julia got some new stuffed animals. I raided a bookstore for Sarah’s gifts, and Charlie did the same for Rebecca, except he went to a craft store. Tommy had made a run to another town, and came back with several dresses for Angela. It was almost normal, except for the cougar growls that drifted upwards from the river valley floor.