Roman Cesaro - Fallen Into Darkness

“What’s that?” asked Robert, pointing at the grid of green sticks.

“Drying racks for the deer meat. It was Richard’s idea.”

Robert felt slightly embarrassed, since he had berated Richard just moments before. “That’s a good idea, Richard. I’ll go quarter the deer. We need to get started on this project.” Robert turned away and walked a few steps. He stopped abruptly and turned back. “Hey, Richard, I’m sorry about what I said this morning. It’s just that I’m all beat to Hell and you caught me at a bad moment.”

Richard was binding more sticks together, using a vine. He never looked up. He just smiled, nodded his head, and waved Robert on.

The men spent the entire day processing the deer meat. The Montana air was extremely dry and the campfire helped to accelerate the process. While the meat dried, the men cooked some of the venison for a meal and ate beans with it. They ate all day long. Robert wandered a little further away than he had the day before, and came back with a shirt full of chokecherries. They ate several handfuls and saved what remained to dry in the sunlight.

By nightfall, they had processed nearly one hundred pounds of the deer meat. It had dried to a significantly lighter weight and the sliced meat was less than half its original size. They stuffed the pillowcases from the hotel, which had carried stale bread, full of soybeans and dried deer meat. The meat would continue to dry in the arid Montana climate.

Robert wanted to get started downstream early that morning. He noticed a road that crossed the river and a recreation area close together on the map. If that meant people, he wanted to see it in the daytime to assess the threat. The men rode the current again, their rafts filled with drying deer meat, soybeans, chokecherries, and the few remaining MREs that Sergeant Haber hadn’t stolen from them.

The morning sun was in their eyes as they began to float downstream again. Robert and Richard occasionally traded positions in order to take turns paddling with the current. As it rose higher in the sky, the sun warmed the morning air, and by the time it was at their backs, they saw the road that crossed the river just ahead. Large concrete pillars supported the bridge. Beside the road, a clearing became visible. There were recreational vehicles parked there, and they could see smoke from a campfire. Robert wanted to quietly float past the area, hide the rafts downstream, and then walk back to where the RVs were to have a look around. If confronted, they would lie about having rafts and say they were walking the road.

They went ashore just downstream of the bridge at a spot where there was enough shrubbery to conceal the rafts. Robert and Kyle strung their bows. Kyle tucked the pistol under his shirt.

“What are we doing here?” asked Richard. “Wouldn’t it be safer to avoid people?”

“I didn’t see anybody,” replied Robert. After he spoke, Robert remembered the smoke from the campfire they had just seen, and admitted to himself that had to be from someone. “I want to get a feel for how things are going around us. Maybe we can get a lead on Sergeant Haber, too.”

The men carefully walked toward the bridge. They very cautiously checked out their surroundings. From the road, they glanced back to where they hid the rafts. They had concealed the rafts well, so they continued their advance toward the RVs.

Robert yelled, “Anybody here?” There was no reply.

The men walked around the RVs. There were twelve of them. They knocked on a few doors with no response, then walked toward the smoky fire in the pit. Robert thought someone was there. He sat down at a picnic table and stared toward the RVs. Just as Kyle and Richard began to eat some jerky, Robert noticed the drapes in one RV move slightly. He whispered to the men what he had seen. Kyle slowly moved his hand under the table and removed the pistol from his belt, but still kept it hidden from view.

Robert stood up and called out again, making it obvious to which RV he was yelling. “Anybody here? We don’t want any trouble. We’re just passing through.”

Someone yelled through the draped window screen, “Go away.”

Robert placed his bow on the table and lifted his hands in the air. He walked closer to the RV. “Hello. We don’t want trouble.” He held his hands higher. “See… no weapons.”

“Do you have any food?” the voice asked, in a desperate tone.

“Yes, we have some deer jerky. We can give you a piece,” Robert replied.

The door to the RV slowly opened. A middle-aged man apprehensively looked out the door at the men, then scanned around suspiciously for others. Robert put his hands down and walked back toward the picnic table, motioning for the frail looking man to join him. Kyle and Richard stopped eating the jerky and placed their shares in front of them on the picnic table. The man stood next to the table and gawked at the food with wide, hypnotized eyes. He was desperate with hunger.

Robert spoke to the man as he pointed to the deer jerky. “Go ahead. You look like you’re starving.”

The man leaned forward, reaching for the food. As he was about to grab the jerky in front of Kyle, he gasped and jumped backwards. Through the slatted top of the picnic table, the man had seen that Kyle was holding a pistol. He started to shake and held his hands up. Kyle realized what had happened and quickly apologized to the man. He explained that they had seen some bad people on their journey and only used the gun for protection. Kyle tucked the pistol back into his pants and the man grabbed the food, eating it ravenously.

“I haven’t eaten for days. All of us here were low on food, then what little we had was stolen from us.”

“What happened?” Richard asked.

“Everything stopped working here at the campsite. We couldn’t make a call for help. Everyone pooled their food together and we rationed it out. Some of us went fishing and that helped. If we needed water, we just boiled it on the fire. That’s what I was getting ready to do when you stopped by.” The man paused and stared at the fire. He appeared weak from hunger.

“You said the food was stolen?” prompted Richard.

The man rubbed his hands down his face and tried to wet his dry lips. “Some guy walked up on us like you just did, two days ago. He said he didn’t want any trouble and he was wearing camouflage pants just like you guys. Everyone told him they didn’t have enough to share and he walked away. But then he came back with a rifle, like a military rifle, and pointed it at us, telling us to give him our food. One man tried to jump him, but he got shot right in the head. It didn’t even bother that bastard to shoot somebody in cold blood. He grabbed our food, put it into his rain poncho, and took off.”

The man pointed toward a large oak tree. “We buried the dead guy there. All the others left yesterday. They said they couldn’t take it here anymore and were going to walk for help. I’ve got asthma and will run out of medication in a few days. There’s no way I could make a trip like that, so here I am, starving to death.” The man looked up at Robert with distant, glazed eyes. “Do you think they will come back for me?”

“Sure, just give it some time.” Robert put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “Would anybody care if we slept here tonight?”

“It doesn’t matter. They’re all gone.”

The man went back to his RV. Robert told them they should wrap all their food in a tarp and string it up in a tree so animals would not get it. They hid the food and came back with fishing equipment. Robert went to the big shade tree and began to pick up acorns. Then while Richard boiled the acorns, Robert scavenged for something green to eat. The grassland nearby had many dandelions. Robert brought back an armful for supper. Kyle stopped fishing at four catfish and set the lines for the night. They tapped on the door of the RV and invited the man to join them for their evening meal. He hastily agreed, and ate hungrily. Robert let him know that acorns and dandelions were edible and pointed out that he was right next to a large oak tree. The man thanked him for the information and told them to pick any RV for the night, then returned to his camper.