Stan Morris: Surviving the Fog

“Next week,” Mike answered eagerly.

“Ah,” Annie replied.

Two and a half years later, Mike sat on the lawn below the Lodge. It was the middle of May, in the late morning. Desi sat on his right. She was nursing her daughter. John sat on his left. They were watching Michael and Diego. The little boys were just below them, giggling and laughing as they chased butterflies.

“There’s another contrail,” said John while pointing at the sky.

“Yeah,” Desi responded. “I wonder where the plane came from.”

“Maybe Denver,” her husband said. “Eric says that they have that airport up and running. I suppose that they would have to since that’s where they moved the Capitol.”

“Something’s wrong,” Mike said, a frown on his face.

“Nothing’s wrong,” John answered.

“I’m telling you that something is wrong,” Mike insisted. “She threw up this morning and, well, please don’t tell her that I said this, but she’s gaining weight. I think she might have some kind of eating sickness.”

“She’s not sick,” Desi said, rolling her eyes and looking behind Mike’s back at her husband.

John mouthed, “Clueless. Totally clueless.”

Mike absently scanned the village. It was noisy, now that Hector and a very pregnant Kathy had the sawmill running at the lower end of the meadow. The Army engineers had been a great help with that. He could see that progress had been made on the hole which was destined to become the trout pond.

Not far from the river on this side, were four A-frame cabins; Mike’s was the most recently completed. They faced east and west. Each cabin had a metal fireplace made from the gas tanks and the exhausts systems of recovered vehicles. On the southern exposure of each cabin roof was a window, made from a pane of glass taken the old school bus. It allowed the sun to shine in and heat up the cabin. Around the four cabins, a covered walkway with a high pitched roof had been constructed. In winter, it would be easy for the residents to move from cabin to cabin.

“The Spears found five more cars yesterday,” John said.

As the Fog receded, a treasure trove of automobiles and buildings had been discovered. No bodies had been found, but what looked like old blood stains were often noticed. There was a friendly competition between the Army post and Petersburg to find useful items as the Fog diminished.

“The Mayor said that they found all kinds of stuff at the convenience store,” said Mike. “Hector was glad to get the welding equipment. He says that he might get the gas pumps working. We could sure use the fuel.”

“The Fog is down to five thousand feet now,” John replied. “We’re going to be finding all kinds of stuff in the next couple of years.”

“What did Eric mean, when he said that someone knows what happened?” Mike asked.

“The Mayor thinks it was some kind of ‘Dark Matter’,” Desi replied. “Something was precipitated in the atmosphere, whatever that means.”

“Something like that,” John added. “At least, that’s what some scientist is saying over the radio. Supposedly the Earth drifted through a cloud of something in space, and that caused something to be triggered in our atmosphere. Kevin says that he understands.”

“So the twins want to move to the Retreat, huh?” Mike said.

“Yeah, but the Mayor wants them to wait one more year before leaving the farm. I wonder if Paige and Makayla will go with them,” John replied. “And Don is talking about moving there, too. Since Major Collins moved his command to the Retreat, it’s become a popular place to live.”

“Poor Star,” said Mike. “She’s going to miss Paige.”

“I miss Yuie,” Desi said.

“She and Lincoln will be back next year,” John said. “Besides if she was here, Mike would be at East Post.”

“I hate this arrangement. We never get to have them here at the same time.”

Mike noticed Eric step out of the Village Office. Tyler and Gabby were close by. Gabby’s belly was growing. Tyler kissed Gabby, and he walked over to Eric.

“Time for Council,” John said, observing the gathering.

Mike saw Eric and Tyler go inside the Office. He saw Ahmad, Nathan, Kathy, and Lily also making their way there.

“Ahmad is still Admin?” Mike asked. He had arrived the previous day and was not yet caught up on the various roles people were filling.

“Yeah,” John replied. “He’s been Admin since Howard’s time. But Eric’s refusing to run for Mayor again this year, so Ahmad will have to take that job. Some people are trying to get Erin to come back and run for it, but she likes working for the Major.”

“Howard was a good Mayor,” said Mike. “He was good about bringing different people on to the Council. He will be a good manager at East Post. But Eric’s doing a good job, and Ahmad will be a good Mayor, too.”

“Eric should have asked you to serve on the Council, Mike,” Desi complained.

“Nah,” said Mike. “He doesn’t need me looking over his shoulder.”

Mike looked at Gabby again. Then he looked at Kathy.

“Oh!” he said.

“Finally,” Desi muttered.

“Gotta go,” Mike said.

Mike waved to them and went down to his cabin. He opened the door and went inside. Annie was sitting in the rocking chair Hector had made for her.

“Are you pregnant?” Mike asked.

“Yep.”

“Then everything is okay.”

I hope you have enjoyed this story. The same story, from a girl’s point of view, is told in Surviving the Fog-Kathy’s Recollections . I hope you will enjoy that book, too. I’m considering another book featuring some of the kids from this camp. It will involve a girl from Hume Lake, which is farther to the north.