The Gatherings by D.A.Sanford - HTML preview

Another winter

This winter is vastly different from our last one. It has come at us with the full force. Extremely cold at times, blizzards and just too miserable outside to be able to escape to the outside.

We had the books that were traded at the gathering but I will say that if that one is back with more books, I will trade him out. The checkers that Korry made were a distraction. We are grateful that there are two homes in the far cavern. Some days we only see them at mealtimes.

On the calm days fresh kill is a treat. Rabbit, squirrel, even deer, we splurge and make a thick stew.

Today is a good day outside so our two men went out to hunt,

We were shocked when they came back early. It seems that they came across dead people in our woods. They came back to get Jonus and I to show us.

It was actually a pathetic scene. The makeshift cover was very crude. Some branches, a tarp and blankets. There is no evidence of a camp fire. There were two people frozen to death in there. It appears that they had very little. The sled they used to carry their meager possessions is one the Korry had made for last winter.

Once I saw the makeshift shelters, I immediately thought of that camper I followed. He was real but those snow ones, he usually had some sort of heat but retreated to his car in the morning and got a coffee.

We did not bother them in their eternal slumber. Their bluish pallor was chalked up to freezing to death.

Since we, now four, were out, Korry and Rodger went in one direction. Jonus and I went in another. It was decided to hunt. The signal for help was two shots then one. The other pair would come to the ones that fired.

There in front of us looked like a group of people that were asleep sitting. All facing a burned out fire. All were dead. Jonus pointed to a few of the dead. There were Tracy’s parents sitting next to another couple that looked like they were huddling together.

We fired the signal. The other two came and were stunned. Rodger just remarks that all these are from the neighborhood he was from. “Why are they all here? Frozen, what would be so bad that they left their homes in the dead of winter?”

Again, we left them there. This is no time to be concerned on burying the dead. We needed to go home. Something bad had to happen In that community. It was only then that I realized who the male of the pair they first found is. It is the doctor who looked at Sharon after we found her.

Now I really am spooked. We need to get back to our home. We know that they froze to death but we do not know why. My biggest concern is something communicable.

Back home, it took a little time for us to warm up. The women have some warm water for us to sip. They have a very worried look because we do not have any fresh kill with us.

Now warm enough to clearly talk without having our teeth chattering, we tell them of the frozen that we found. That they were in two groups. One was the doctor and what had to be his mate.

We told of the larger group. How they died sitting around a fire that had gone out while they all slept. .

Seeing that Rodger is trying not to look at Tracy, she gets what is not being said. “My parents are dead aren’t they.”

I tell her that they were but I did tell all, “If it is any consolation, it has been shown that after your core has been cooled down enough past the shivering point hypothermia makes you actually feel warm. They died thinking they were near that fire’s warmth.”

You could not tell if she was just being stoic or she really did not care. None of us asked Korry what happened when they were alone. It really was not our business. All we could do is be there for her support. Show her that she was family.

Sharon actually was able to talk to her about loss.

The next morning, it was decided that Jonus and I would go to that community to see if we could find out what happened. It was clear and one of those days that could be considered warmish. The walk would take around four hours there and back. We expect to be there only a minimal amount of time.

We left with each having well packed back packs. A sturdy popup tent. Sleeping bags with extra blankets. A saw and kindling. We have matches but also a small transistor battery with steel wool to start a fire and plenty of food.

The snow shoes that we made helped keep the travel time down to only ninety minutes to get to that community. It is the same one that Sharon lived in before they drove her out. There is no sign of life anywhere. I should say human life.

The houses that had people in them, the dead were frozen but all had the bluish gray color as did the doctor. We now know that there is more than just freezing to death involved here.

Now instead of looking for anyone alive, we check Sharon’s old house. Empty as we knew it would be, we split and checked each room. Jonus called me to come to the bathroom.

The toilet as well as the bathtub have distinct evidence of sewage backing up into her home. A house across the way had a basement flooded with sewage. Josua told me that this whole area had city sewers.

With no power to pumping stations, it was only a matter of time before the idle pipes became full. Cholera and typhoid are sewage related. All we care about is it is not airborne.

Now we high tail it back to our home. We returned in less than the estimated time. Actually, neither of us had the stomach to stop and cook. We had some of the dry as eat on the run. Each had an under arm water bottle to sip. We needed to get home.

“Cholera is what got them. Ignorance killed them.” is what I told them. We filled them in on the sewage backup. “Sharon, we went into your house and found that both your tub and toilet were overflowing. A warm house and raw sewage cholera is what they came down with.

Cholera has your skin go a bluish gray but typhoid has a pink to rose color to the skin. All we found were blue. The ones around the campfire may have had it but the doctor did.”

Jonus says that we have no worries about having caught something. “We never touched the dead and of course never touch the sewage. They must have been living with the backup because of the winter conditions.”

I could see that Sharon has gone silent. I ask her what is wrong.

With a look that showed some horror but also that something bordering on divine has happened to her. “If they had not driven me out. I would have stayed there. I could have been just another body you found dead in that home. They drove me out to die and now they are frozen and I am alive. Warm and grateful for you finding me.”

It was decided that we would look at the houses in the community that we scavenged our building supplies from for anything we needed. The area that the frozen were from, that included where Jonus and Calest lived, should also be contaminated. We don’t want anything from there in here.

When the people come in the spring come to ask for the date of the spring gathering, we will inform them that food items from that area must be marked as such. That would be mostly canned. Most will not care but we will.