Where Ever it Is
"Where will we go from here Nathan?" Lara asked in that moment of sorrow. She felt a bittersweet heartache leaving behind people she had grown to love and as if he sensed her melancholy Nathan pulled her close and she laid her head on his chest.
His voice was rich with emotion and rumbled in his chest against her ear.
"A place where we can take care of each other, Halburg."
She smiled with the name that had become an endearment and sighed. "I hope it's beautiful, wherever it is."
"You'll see. It's a wild place. Pristine. A place up in the mountains. It is the mountain valley of Cimarron. It was Len's idea all along. To get us there. We'll be safe there."
She slipped her hand into his and his fingers entwined hers lovingly.
They watched out the back as the scenery flew past them. Every now and then Deag would wave from the car behind them. Nathan waved back and Len drove on through the night and Lara fell asleep against Nathans chest.
The elevation began to climb, and the air became crisp as they wound on down an interstate highway, leaving behind the dry parched desert terrain and into deep forests of pine, aspen and spruce that seemed to touch the dark sky above.
They only stopped once in a small town, long enough for Hollis and Deag to siphon some gas from the abandoned cars left behind by people fleeing a disease which had ravaged the country and left its dead to walk the earth in perpetual sleep, starving for the meat of their own family or friends.
Len told Nathan they were at least another hour away as the truck roared to a start and as they pulled out onto the empty road, the dogs lay down beside Nathan and Lara, and even they seemed to be relieved to be on the move. Lara watched them, wishing she were as lucky as they were to have no memories, no pain of leaving behind the life they once had. They were just happy to be along for the ride.
As the sun rose east of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Len pulled over at a small gas and convenience store so the kids could use the restroom and he and Deag went inside to see if anything was left on the shelves. Nathan and Hollis cleared the restrooms and store, before anyone was allowed to go in.
In the restroom they encountered a young man, sick with the Sleeping Sickness. He was turned, his sightless milky eyes seeing nothing but his rasping growls and clicking teeth gave Lara hesitation. They carefully scavenged the few items they could and got out of there.
Miles further on they found a bait shop and Len stopped there too, bringing out fishing rods and other supplies, even a rifle he had found behind the counter.
Another day wore on and the sheer isolation of the mountains had an eerie and overwhelming effect on Lara. It was truly as if they were the only people left in the world, and far from any type of city or town only made it more weighty. She was terribly unsure of how they would exist or survive so far away from anything viable.
She found herself randomly, wondering how they would ever survive, feed the children they were responsible for, find supplies for their needs, even the dogs.
She wondered; how will we do this? There was nothing for miles and miles to see but heavily forested, untouched land.
The highway wound higher and higher and the darkness only a forest knows set in around them. From time to time as they rounded yet another curve, she would catch a glimpse of open county, but it was far beyond their reach.
A rickety wooden bridge took them across a narrow, meandering river, slowed only by small scattered mountain valleys, and further up, it cascaded over dense rock filled falls, bubbling and boiling, churning as it rushed downhill.
In some areas the stream widened into hidden mountain pools, secret places known only by the wildlife that inhabited these mountain ranges.
Driving was slow going but soon they entered a stretch of road that leveled and straightened out, at least for a few miles, but as they neared the end of it and took a wide sprawling curve Lara was astonished to see a town ahead.
Sandstone buildings, a turn of the century hotel, old wooden buildings with faux fronts and wooden walks, a plaza and old mill made from cut rock, and an adobe style chapel made up the village Nathan called Cimarron Canyon.
An ancient stopping point along the Santa Fe Trail, built by pioneers in early eighteen hundred. It was beautiful and Lara wanted desperately to stay here, but Len drove on, taking them further and further from civilization. It was nearing late afternoon when Len finally turned from the old highway and onto a one lane road that took them deep into the surrounding forests.
He drove slowly, carefully navigating the pocked and crumbling street until ahead a roadblock loomed before them.
Len pulled to a stop, some distance from it and Lara looked around noticing immediately a line of graves off the side of the road. Trepidation filled her heart.
Nathan put his arm around her comfortingly. Some of the graves looked like they had been there for a time, but some were freshly covered. Lara's eyes scanned the area, she felt the sudden notion that they were being watched and she looked at Nathan with a questioning gaze.
"I don't like this," she whispered.
Len got out of the truck and took off walking to the roadblock which he promptly moved to the side. He came back and got in the truck. "Are ya'll walking from here?" he asked.
Lara looked at Nathan quizzically. "Walking," she mouthed.
Nathan shrugged. "I guess Len," he said hoping from the back of the truck bed and running up to wave him through. Lara jumped out and ran up to him looking all around in consternation. "I'll put the road block back."
Len nodded and drove through, Buck followed behind him. The dirt path went straight up a steep incline and Nathan and Lara followed them up on foot. At the top, Len pulled to the side and Buck pulled in next to him and parked. Everyone got out and waited for Lara and Nathan and when she got to the top and looked over the hill her breath caught audibly in her throat.
A vast canyon lake stretched out before them, blue and sparkling in the afternoon sun. It was completely surrounded and hidden from any outside view, but it was what she saw further back along the west bank of the lake that left her mouth gaping in unbelief.
As far as the eye could see, were people. Cars, trucks, RV's, trucks with horse trailers and horses. Trucks with campers, tents, teepee's, campfires. Cook fires and people cooking. Children ran and played at will. Biggie and Yolo leaped from the back of the old truck and barked, running circles around their own kids, their tongues lagging out.
Lara was in a trance. Perhaps she was hallucinating. But Nathan was grabbing her hand, pulling her down the hill with Len and the others.
Several men which Lara suddenly realized were Native American walked to meet them. Len stopped and embraced each one, as they smiled and slapped his back, hugging a few more times, and then Len turned back and brought them over.
"This is my family. They have been waiting for us."
Some children ran up to see the dogs, laughing gleefully at the antics of Biggie and Yolo. The dogs were in their perfect element. Rois and Neala ran with them and Payton pulled himself from Monica's grasp and ran too. She stood nervously watching and Lara went to her and brought her over to stand with them.
"Apparently, there is no need to worry. I'll admit I was scared to death at first," Lara whispered to her.
Monica nodded but Lara could tell she wasn't quite convinced.
Then, the men were talking to Nathan, asking him how they had survived, so many of them, from the white mans disease. "We wondered if Cloud-Song would make it. We thought maybe he had yielded his spirit up to the great spirit," they chuckled. "But no. We see he has come home, and we are happy."
Len introduced them around to everyone and Nathan shook hands with each one of them. "We still want to know how you avoided getting sick. I'm sure you saw the graves outside the camp."
"We did," Lara told them. "Did some of your people get sick?"
"No," he looked back at the people below, "our people," he waved his arm over the valley, "our people have been spared. The Heron has looked favorably upon us and we will rebuild. Outside are the graves of the Atsina, the aimless ones who wander. The older graves are those from our neighboring town. The Pahaana who came with us but did not survive. But you have been spared?"
"Pahaana?" Lara looked at Nathan.
"The white man," he quietly filled her in to Lens amusement.
Lara smiled. "Well, her research was true Nathan. Claira was right. It's too bad she didn't stop at just research," Lara said wistfully.
Nathan gave Lara a nostalgic smile. "My Lara. There is always work going on in that brain of yours isn't there."
Len then addressed the elder's question.
"I speak for all of them then, to answer the burning question in the heart of my people," Len began. "It is true that some of us were lost along the way. But the Heron has spared these. Through me. And with a promise for the future. The child was given to us, and we have brought her a long way."
"She must go to Basket Woman, Len. She has been waiting for your return."
"Yes. Mother Onawa will tell us of her purpose."
Len did not speak of the briefcase or the events surrounding their having it, and Lara thought it perhaps for the best. What would it serve anyway? The steel syringes Lara had saved when they fled were still safe in her backpack. Perhaps at some future time, when the earth straightened herself out, they would be of some importance, but for now Lara would keep them where they belonged. Sealed knowledge, until the unknown became known.