G Hopf - Sanctuary

“Is he well enough for us to get back on the road?” Gordon asked.

“Another day or two. I think he should rest here. It’s so uncomfortable sitting in that vehicle,” Wilbur said, placing a rolled-up blanket behind Cruz.

“Another day or two? We’re already behind schedule; I’ve not been able to communicate with anyone. They’re probably freaking out, wondering what happened.”

“Let them freak out; he needs to get better before we move again,” Wilbur barked.

Cruz raised his hand weakly. “I should be fine to go by tomorrow. Let’s not wait any longer.”

Gordon smiled. He had become very anxious and had dreamed of his wife and Haley during his nap in the office. All he wanted to do was get to McCall.

“Should we try the radio again, maybe drive to a higher elevation?” Christopher suggested.

“No, let’s just stay here. We appear to be safe and we have everything we need,” Gordon replied, then walked away. He stepped outside to get some fresh air and think.

Christopher joined him. “Do you mind?”

“Not at all.”

“This is all so crazy.”

“What do you mean?” Gordon asked.

“Thinking about how life has changed. When the lights went out, I was at work. At first we all cheered because nothing worked. We chatted, laughed, and enjoyed those initial hours. Hey, anything to not have to work. But then the odd stories of cars not working began to come in. I was meeting with the mayor and she was trying to find out what had happened but again, nothing worked. It wasn’t until I walked home and sat down with my wife and daughter that I first became scared.” Christopher paused. He appeared uncomfortable with what he was about to share. “My wife and daughter made the most of it the first couple of nights. She set up a tent in the living room for my daughter. She loved it. The problems started about forty-eight hours later. The stores were ransacked and looting began in the streets. The mayor, she stood up for our town and order. We were lucky, most of the police stayed on the job.”

Gordon watched Christopher. His voice trembled the more he talked.

“I still remember that day. It’s seared into my brain. I was with the mayor working on a plan to close down the roads when the old finance director came in.” Christopher paused again. His lip was quivering now. “She told me that my wife and daughter were killed when a group of men came to the hospital to loot. My wife was a nurse and she started taking Melody with her there. She wanted her to learn the importance of helping others, even when it was more convenient to just stay home. She went there every day to help those who were critical. The men came in and just killed them.” Christopher was now crying openly.

Gordon knew this man’s pain. He had been there himself.

“The man who killed my son, Hunter, gave me this scar,” Gordon blurted out.

Christopher looked over at him at the mention of the death of his son.

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Yours too,” Gordon said.

“I watched this man murder my son right in front of me and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it. I watched as the life drained out of my boy. The helpless feeling that you had, I’ve known that too,” Gordon shared.

“This is why we need to make this work, this is why we need to support people like the mayor. She has a plan for Coos Bay that doesn’t come from a place of violence.”

While they both shared a common story of tremendous loss, Gordon realized that their lives were completely different. How they approached the new world was not the same and never would be. Christopher was a gentle and good man, but didn’t have the same ruthless pragmatism that Gordon had.

Gordon didn’t want to insult Christopher, so he kept his reply simple. “Your mayor might be a good and righteous person, but the only way to peace in this world is through the barrel of a gun.”

Preliminary searches had been conducted for Nelson but Samantha knew he was gone for good. There wasn’t a shred of evidence that he was alive; nothing pointed them in any direction. Haley wasn’t able to help either. When they asked her where they had kept her, she told them that she never saw because they had her blindfolded the entire time. Looking for Nelson was like searching for a needle in a haystack. She didn’t know what else to do, so while she was out for one of the drives she took along several signs she had made.

Weeks ago she had an idea of placing signs along Highway 55 directing Gordon to where they were. She was inspired from seeing similar handmade signs along the way to Eagle. When she first mentioned the idea, Nelson had scoffed at it, then worried that it could draw attention to them. But now it seemed like the only thing they could do to put their minds at ease.

Eric joined her this morning. As he finished hammering the last sign over the highway sign he turned and said, “I hope this works. Doubt it, though.”

Samantha didn’t answer him.

“The roads are looking pretty good. We might be able to explore farther north soon to see if the route is open to McCall.”

“Is it me or is it weird for you to be discussing leaving for McCall without Nelson?” Samantha asked.

“I was assuming we’ll have found him by then,” Eric said.

“Will we ever find him? It’s been two days and we don’t have any idea what direction they went in.”

“They couldn’t have gone too far, they were on foot.”

“Yeah, but if you go south just a mile there are literally hundreds if not thousands of homes. What do we do—just go from house to house?”

“So we stop looking?” Eric asked.

“No… but how long do we stay here? Do we risk our children? I honestly don’t know what to do. I feel horrible because I’m the one who killed Raymond, and Nelson sacrificed himself for me. How do I not keep looking for him? When do we say that’s enough? Is it weeks, months, years, never stop looking?”

“Ask those questions of Frank and Gretchen. I think you’ll get the answer,” Eric blurted out.

This discussion reminded her of the argument she had had with Mike and his wife, Stacy, back in the desert when she was looking for Gordon and Hunter. The irony of how she was now rationalizing stopping her search for Nelson and heading north to the safety and seclusion of McCall was unsettling.

“If we don’t find him in a couple months, what happens? Do we leave? Do we leave Frank and Gretchen here? Oh my God! They’ll hate us,” Samantha lamented.

“In the end, I guess we all will do what’s important to us and our families regardless of others. Gordon was right. It really is every man for himself,” Eric mused.

She pondered this complex question. Is that what we do as humans? Many people bragged or spoke confidently of loyalty and fidelity, but what do we really do when lives are on the line?

“You know, I would never leave here if it was just me. But I have Haley and I have to think of her safety. Nelson was right, Truman and his people will come back one day when they need things. I don’t want to be here when that happens. So I guess I’ve come full circle in some ways. I’ll keep looking for Nelson, but when we can go, we’ll have to head north. I think that’s what he would have wanted.”

Eric didn’t respond. Something over her shoulder caught his attention. “Hey, look, an elk.”

She turned and saw the massive animal standing a few hundred yards away.

“God, they’re such big animals,” Eric said.

“I think I’ve come to realize we’re the real animals, not them.”

“Nothing? You’ve sent choppers out there and nothing? No communications?” Conner asked, concerned about the report that all contact had been lost with vehicle bringing Cruz back. “Why did they drive? I still want to know why we let that happen. I knew that idea was stupid.”