Madison laughed. “I feel very good about this.”
“Me, too.”
“When I met you, I was convinced my family was dead,” she said. “Thank you.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Yeah you did. You believed that there was more out here. You kept me from being negative.”
“Shh.”
“Oh my God,” Madison looked over her shoulder. “Shh. Yourself.”
“We should be quiet,” I said.
“Yeah you should,” the deeper and raspy voice called.
Madison looked at me. “I thought we were in the women’s tent.”
“You are.” The same person said. “I’m a woman.”
Madison widened her eyes. “Anyhow… Did you ever go to camp?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I never did.”
“I did. Once. I got kicked out.”
“You got kicked out? Why?”
“Talking.”
The voice in the darkness called out, “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
“Why don’t you go back to sleep?” Madison said.
As soon as Madison said that I knew we were in some sort of trouble, I heard the fast rustling of a nylon sleeping bag and then three thumping steps.
I looked up to see a towering woman with shorter hair. Though the tent was dark, there was enough light from the heater to see she was not only tall, but well toned. She stood above us and even though she only wore a tank top and underwear, she was pretty intimidating.
“And why don’t you go to sleep?” she demanded.
“Aren’t you cold?” Madison asked. “It’s freezing in this tent and…”
“No!” she blasted. “I’m tired. I go all day and night. I need to sleep! This isn’t a fucking slumber party. Aren’t you ladies a little too old to be chatting like teenagers?”
“I’ll have you know,” Madison said, “I am only…”
“I don’t care!” She leaned down bringing her face close to Madison. “I don’t… care. Now shut up and go to sleep, or take it somewhere else. Got it?”
The moment she turned and walked away, I did ‘get it’. I sat up and suggested to Madison that we go sit with Ruth.
It was nice to have a little freedom at night, to move around, even if it was to another tent. The camp was well lit and the darkness didn’t seem as thick and frightening.
We visited and stayed with Ruth for a long time, until we felt tired enough to try sleeping again. It wasn’t a very long or restful sleep. Three times I was shook from my sleep by quaking ground. The first two were small, the third one was so violent, there was no going back to sleep.
I sat on the edge of my cot dressing. Madison walked to the entrance.
“Something is going on out there. Everyone is rushing.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Like they’re moving out.”
“For real?” I lifted my sweatshirt over my head and reached for my sneakers. I saw from the corner of my eye, Madison step back and Major Graham enter the tent.
I stood.
“Ladies,” he said. “I guess you see all the commotion out there.”
“What’s going on?” Madison asked.
“We suffered a lot of damage after that last quake. We’re gonna move out more people than we expected today. Your friend, Ruth included.”
“Where are they going?” I questioned. “And please don’t say south.”
He cleared his throat. “South. But…” he lifted his hand. “Some will go to El Paso, Ruth and the others to Laredo. Neither are long-term for them. Just until we can move them to various areas farther south. There are several ships due in from Venezuela coming in from the gulf that will take a lot of refugees. Those camps in Texas will stay as long as possible. I’ll eventually be in Laredo, and will keep an eye out for news of your families. That’s the best I can do.”
I dropped down to the cot. “You weren’t able to find anything out?’
He shook his head. “No. No I wasn’t. I’m sorry. I’ll try, just one more time to convince you to get on one of those buses, or stay here until we move to Laredo?”
“Not me,” Madison said. “I really believe I need to head home.”
“Me, too.”
Graham nodded once. “That’s what I thought you would say. You… you’ll need provisions.” He gave us a once over with his eyes landing on my shoes. “And that footwear isn’t going to cut it. I’ll see what I can find for you ladies.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“Ruth and Estaban will be getting on a bus within the hour, you may want to say goodbye.” He walked back to the door of the tent and stopped. “Look.” He turned around and seemed hesitant about saying anything. “A lot of my people are moving out with those buses. I have very few volunteers. You seem like pretty determined women. I have four short staffed scouting parties going out. Two to the north, one east, one west. They’ll go to small towns, canvass the streets, calling out, looking for survivors, and spreading the word about moving south. Sergeants Callister and Stone are willing to take you along if you are willing to help them. They’re going toward Dallas, then Kansas City and will take you as far as Mt. Carmel.”
Madison gasped. “That’s my home.”
“Yeah, I know. When they told me the route… I asked,” he said. “That’s their last stop before heading south again. If you go, it’ll be a heck of lot quicker than going on your own. It may be some work for you, but…”
Without consulting Madison, I blurted out, “Yes.” Then retracted. “I mean… if you’re willing?” I asked Madison.
“Without a doubt,” Madison said. “Then if Bruce for some reason is still there, which I can see because he’s hard headed, he’ll rig something for us to get to your family. Weirton isn’t that far from there.”
“Good,” Graham said. “Come and find me after you say goodbye to Ruth and I’ll get you outfitted and on the road. Stone and Callister are leaving on the hour.”
It was positive news that we now weren’t going to have to walk or find our own vehicle to get close to home. There wasn’t time to celebrate the good news as we had to hurry if we wanted to see Ruth off.
It was a good thing we rushed.
The camp was really buzzing and people moved about hurriedly, tearing some tents down, carrying boxes, loading trucks. It was as if they were running from something, evacuating from some sort of impending doom.
We made it to the medical tent pretty quickly, but even then, they were already carrying Ruth on a stretcher to the bus.
We had to run to stop them. Stevie saw us and moved the stretcher to the side.
“Hey,” I said to Ruth. She was wrapped tightly in blankets, her tiny face peeked through the folds of fabrics. “We almost didn’t get to say goodbye.”
“It’s not goodbye,” she said. “It’s see you soon.”
I leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. “Thank you for teaching us so much. You take care of yourself. And you…” I looked at Stevie. “Take care of her.”
“She won’t leave my sight.”
Madison waved her finger at him. “She better not. Or you’ll answer to me when I see you again.” She too leaned over and kissed Ruth, saying her own goodbye.
The bus was leaving soon, and so we were rushed in our goodbye. I was grateful for knowing Ruth and planned to write a special note about her in my journal.
The last thing she told us before getting on the bus was, “Find your families.”
We would. I knew it. We would.
We stayed there watching that bus until it was gone and then we sought out Major Graham.
He stuffed our bags with items he believed we’d need, especially after the two soldiers left us. He also gave us coats, hats, gloves, thicker clothing and special long underwear to save for when we really needed them.
Major Graham was a good man. He didn’t need to help us. He could have just let us go and wished us well. But he didn’t. I would be forever in his debt.