CHAPTER 8. VALERIE’S STORY
Valerie finished her soup and pulled out a basket filled with balls of yarn and a crochet hook.
Toby smiled. Gramble Shana often made socks and other articles of clothing out of yarn from the storage rooms.
A white cat jumped into the old woman’s lap and settled in, melding in with the loops of yarn. Valerie stroked it absentmindedly and began her story.
“I was married to my work and chose not to have a family, like many people in those days. People sagged as they walked by, like the burdens of the world weighed them down. A dark anticipation filled the atmosphere. World leaders assured us, ‘Nothing is going to happen.’ Sanctuaries were built underground, enough for everyone to escape, but we would probably not need them, they said. Then whispers came faster, like trickles of acid rain. The end was coming. The end of everyone.”
She closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, Toby could tell her mind was far away from the cabin.
“My dog, Tansy, and I twisted our way through a mountain pass in my little car, on our way to visit family. Halfway up, the earth heaved under us, as if we were an insect it wished to remove. My car slid over a cliff. I was tossed, like a sock in a dryer, until I hit my head on something in the vehicle and blacked out.
“I woke to Tansy licking my hand. The world was so dark I thought night had fallen. In the few streaks of filtered daylight, I saw rock wall. My car had somehow slid into a cave. My head throbbed, and blood trickled down the side of my face from a small wound. My little dog rested her chin on my lap with a sigh and moved no more. Her body had been crushed.”
Toby’s heart ached for the dog. “How sad.”
“Yes, it was,” Valerie paused, crochet hook suspended in the air. “Tansy was the best dog I ever had. After she found out I was still alive, it was as though she knew her job was done and she could go in peace.
“My headache dulled after a time, and I knew I would have to get up and find food and water or simply die where I lay. When I finally made it to the entrance of the cave, I thought a forest fire must have occurred along with the earthquake. Bits of ash floated in the air, like burnt rose petals stirred into a glass of water.
“My cell phone, a device we used for communication in those days, was shattered. The road was destroyed. I never would have guessed the awful truth: even if I had told someone where I was headed, there was no one left to find me.
“Many hours of picking my way down the broken clumps of highway I discovered the first car. The small white sedan had slammed into a tree.
“One powerful earthquake,” I marveled and peered into the vehicle. Nothing could have prepared me. I saw three dead bodies, raw and burned. Hands stretched out, as though begging for mercy.”
Tears streamed down Toby’s cheeks. “How awful,” he whispered.
“I don’t know what killed them, perhaps a laser or even a death ray like you would see on a science fiction movie. Yet the vehicle was only affected by the impact. The seat cushions were scorched, but only where the bodies touched them. This was a very deliberate murder.
“The driver’s hand still clenched a cell phone and though repulsed, I pried it out. The phone was ruined. I’ve never found a functioning electronic device since.”
Talitha brought a basin of cool water and a stack of fresh cloths into the cottage. Valerie removed the cloths already on Mia’s forehead and placed a wrinkled hand on her smooth face. “The girl’s fever has broken.”
Toby sighed in relief. Everything would be all right. Mia would get well and the two of them would return to the Grambles. She would be his sister and they could build their little house right outside the cave.
He rose with his empty soup bowl. “How did you survive?”
She gestured to a basin of soapy water by the stove. “After all these years of wondering, I have finally settled on a theory. I don’t believe the ray could penetrate rock. The evil beings who planned this attack wished to destroy all flesh and humanity while still leaving the earth and growing things intact. I am not a scientist but I think thick layers of rock weakened the killing device.
“For two days I stumbled along, gathering supplies from the few vehicles I passed. At first I was afraid to eat anything for fear of being poisoned, but my stomach soon convinced me to try and I had no ill effects. My desire to survive and spite the beings who wished for total destruction grew stronger. A hope grew inside me. If I had been spared, surely others lived as well.
“The first town greeted me with the overwhelming stench of death. None had been spared; bodies of every age littered the streets. I fought my flight instinct, I needed food and shelter and the town would have both. Every moment I feared a new danger; perhaps the enemy responsible for this destruction would swoop down from the sky to finish me off, but the world was silent.
No wonder the grambles never returned to the surface. If this is what they thought might be waiting for them, Toby thought.
“I chose to explore the local school. Because the destruction happened on a weekend, fewer dead would be there. Once inside, I found the teacher’s lounge with a couch and sank down, thankful for a comfortable place to rest.
“My sleep was intense, deep and velvety black. Then I had a dream.
“I was on my grandfather’s farm. A sound drifted through the barnyard, hollow and continual. My grandfather must be chopping wood. Thump, thump, thump. But something wasn’t right about the noise. Why was there no pause for him to move the freshly split wood from the log? I awoke with a start, back on the couch.
“The farm was gone but the sound remained, deep inside the wall. What could it be? A dull, throbbing rhythm, metallic and hollow…
“Pipes. Someone was banging on water pipes. I rushed through the halls and scanned posters and signs for a fire diagram. The school’s gym was located in a basement. I found steps and bounded down them, one, two, three flights. On the last stair I was met with a pile of rubble, blocking the gym door.
“I cleared debris for over an hour. My back ached and my fingers dripped blood over the stones. Finally, I swung the heavy iron door open. I switched on a flashlight I had found in the teacher’s lounge and made my way through a long hallway leading into the gym.
“A terrible smell rose up to meet me from the swimming pool where a thick screen of slime floated. I heard scuffling and low murmurs and swung towards the noise. I almost tripped, but caught myself on a wall. My flashlight beam swung crazily in front of six frightened children staring back at me. I had a few candy bars in my pocket and held the chocolate out to them, but they only huddled closer together. After a few minutes of coaxing, the biggest boy darted forward and grabbed them from my hand. He scooted back to the group and divided the bars with everyone.
“That Japeth!” Valerie interrupted her own story. “He always watches out for his family.”
“Which has proven to be dangerous, at times,” muttered Toby.
Valerie didn’t seem to hear. “For several hours I talked to them, tried to get them to trust me. I finally turned back towards the stairs to find food and to my surprise the group followed me. We camped in the teacher’s lounge overnight but couldn’t stay there forever. Communication was difficult; for though the children escaped death, the ray had stolen parts of their minds. They shared a garbled speech, fragments of sentences and headlines written by others.
“I wondered,” said Toby. “I thought the world had created a new language since the grambles went below ground.”
“Not the whole Earth, only my children.” Valerie snipped the white yarn and pulled a skein of crimson thread from her basket. She looped it into her creation and continued.
“I began to understand them and learn parts of their story. The group had all worked for the school newspaper and stayed after class to finish the week’s edition. Someone lured them to the basement as part of a prank. Trapped, they had no way to call for help and no food except for a few snacks in their backpacks. The prankster prob
ably intended to return but never had the chance.”
“We ventured out into the world. The children huddled close to me like baby birds. I could not shelter them from the horrors when we left town. They began to pull at me and insist we try to find their families, but I shook my head. These six fragile minds could not handle the sight of loved one’s remains. They clung to me and wept, but none tried to break away and run home.
“Fear and traumas were amplified by communication difficulties. A week passed before we found a gathering of survivors. We stayed with them for a time, but people were desperate and dangerous. We needed a settlement of our own so we came here, a place worthless to anyone else. We fortified the wall, cleaned the inside area and built our homes.”
Toby had clutched his tail and held it close to his cheek, a habit from childhood. He let go of it, self-consciously. “What an incredible story. Do you have many visitors from the outside world?”
“A few regular traders come to purchase meat or eggs. But most are thieves, out to steal and destroy. Survival is rough, which is the reason my boys are jumpy with their arrows. Our rule, though a sad one, must be to shoot first.”
Still, to attack an innocent girl… Toby couldn’t fathom a fear so deep. On the other hand, in his sheltered life he had never experienced the trials these people had dealt with. How far would he go to survive?
Valerie cut the end of her yarn and held up the hat she had made. “See? Holes for your ears.” She pressed it into his hands. “It’s late, Kitty Boy, and your eyes look tired. Curl up in the corner and rest, I’ll look after Mia.”