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“There’s nothing I can do if you steal the truck.”

“How will we do that?”

“You go just before light. I’ll tell them you knocked me out.”

Madison laughed as she looked up to Callie. “Yeah, I’m sure they’re gonna buy that. We will never get away with it.”

“Yes, you will,” Callie nodded. “They won’t think twice about the truck rolling out until I tell them you stole it. I’ll wait to do so.”

I closed my eyes and shook my head. “No. This is insane. Just steal the truck with us.”

“I can’t do that,” Callie said. “I have an obligation and a lot of people need help. Yeah, I’d love to grab your families, but I have thousands of families out here that need help. It’s loaded, it’s ready. With the fuel surplus, you should make it at least to Weirton and head south. After that… I can’t tell you. Hunker down or hope to run into a military convoy heading south. If you don’t dally, you can beat this arctic front they say is coming.”

“I can’t believe you’re doing this,” Madison said.

“Look, I’m gonna be honest with you. I really think your families have already evacuated. They’re already south. I wish you wouldn’t do this. The cold that’s coming is deadly.”

“If we go south,” Madison said. “Without ever trying. We’ll never find them. Our best hope is to search our homes and hope they left a note or something.”

“It’s a crap shoot,” I said. “But going home first is the only chance we have of ever getting a hint on their locations. I can’t live the rest of my life wondering about them.”

“I know my family is waiting on me. So I know if they left, Bruce told me where he went and which way.”

I could see it on Callie’s face. She understood our plight, but didn’t agree with it. But she wasn’t going to stop us and she was going to do all she could to help. We appreciated that, I appreciated it with all of my heart.

I suppose it sounded silly or stupid. In reality, really, we were going home to find clues to our families. There was a chance they were still there, waiting until the last minute. There was a chance if they were gone, they left us information.

All of it was nothing but a series of chances.

We had to take them. We had to, especially if we wanted to find our families.

We talked about it a bit more in that tent, then we all headed to the mess hall to get a hot meal before they shut down.

I could smell whatever it was. It smelled wonderful. The mess tent was warm and we got in line. We were issued a bowl of soup, crackers, a bottle of water and if we wanted it, coffee.

The four of us headed to a table and that was when we saw Marcy again. She and her family sat at the next table. Only this time, her husband was with them. It made me happy to see he had arrived, until I saw she was crying.

“It’s okay, see?” Her husband held up a red pass. “It’s red. It has to be going to the same place, right. I’ll just get there a little later. As long as you and the kids are safe, that’s all I care about.”

Del wiped his hands and stood. “Can you excuse me?” He then stepped to Marcy’s table. “Sorry to interrupt. What pass is that?” He pointed to the pass in Marcy’s husband’s hand.

“It’s Red Eight-seven,” he said.

“Here. I’ll trade you.” Del reached into his pocket “This is a Red Seven-Twenty-five.”

Marcy’s released a gasping shriek. “Oh my God, are you sure?”

“Positive. I can wait. You need to go with your family. Be with them. That’s important. It’s more important than you realize.”

Marcy’s husband didn’t budge, but Marcy did, she jumped up and embraced Del. Thanking him over and over.

He felt uncomfortable about the praise, and that was evident. With his new red pass in hand, he returned to our table.

“Really?” I said. “That was amazing.”

He set the pass on the table. “Eh, not really. It’s not like I’ll even use this one.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I’m going with you,” Del said. “I need to go. I’ve been on this route. I know which way is best, and where you’ll have problems.”

“Are you sure?” Madison asked. “I mean, really sure?”

Del nodded. “I think Bruce would kick my ass if I didn’t watch out for his wife after he helped me. Yes. I’m sure. Plus…” He lifted his fork and nodded to Callie. “We gotta steal that truck. Someone has to knock her big ass out.”

Madison smiled and laid her hand over Del’s.

Callie shook her head with a smile and dove into her soup.

Me, I was still astonished. I had witnessed two really unselfish acts in a short span of time. It left me speechless. I only hoped that I had that in me, as well. The ability to be unselfish. Del and Callie did. It was amazing to know and see that the world may have gone to shit but humanity hadn’t gone with it.

NOTEBOOK – Day Twenty-six

Okay, I wrote you guys a poem. When this is all done, if you read this and we’re together, then you can make fun of me. I just felt I needed to for some reason. Remember, I am not a poet. It might be cliché, but at least it rhymes.

The Search
The days go by with the hours, sometimes way too fast. The light to guide the way really doesn’t last. In the dark of the night, I miss and think of you. It’s the love that keeps me going, it pushes me right through. There’s a chance I may not find you, my plight may be in vain. Know that I’m out looking, trying to find my way. I will never give up searching, even if I die. Please know I gave my all, under the gray sky.

Oh, wow, that was really gloomy. I was trying to make it rhyme. Maybe I’ll just erase it.

I love you

TWENTY-SEVEN – Vent

Saying goodbye to Callie was bittersweet. Who would have known that the same woman that frightened us, yelled at us, would have fast become our friend?

It was like leaving a family member. Only we were her only family remaining.

The goodbye was not without a plan.

Callie wrote down the names of our children and husbands. She got descriptions as well and said she would keep looking on her end.

She told us that we needed to think about heading to the same area.

“Think green,” she said. “Word is that green is below the equator. Paraguay or Brazil. If we all pick the same color, we should all end up in the same country, right? I mean that was Marcy’s husband’s logic.”

It was good logic.

We all agreed on Green. Hopefully we would all get a green pass.

If that failed, we were to remember her unit. EPAS Unit Nine out of Arizona. Surely they wouldn’t change that and we would be able to possibly find her through the placement of her unit.

The reasoning was that the military would keep track of its units more than the families they placed on ships.

Eventually they’d count and register everyone. I believed it. It would just take time.

Just before the first inkling of light we said our final goodbyes, then Del did his best to knock Callie out.

I thought for sure she was just going to lie. But in order to make the story look good, she had to at least appear to have been struck.

Imagine my shock when she told Del, “Okay, hit me.”

It wasn’t as easy as he thought it would be. He procrastinated, paced, raised his fist, threw a punch and stopped short of striking her.

Finally, he grabbed a canteen by the strap and giving it all he had, he swung out and nailed her square in the jaw with the solid object.