Chapter 39
After getting that initial feeling of being followed, Veronica tried to talk the others into picking up the pace.
They had made short time of the distance between Sherman and Hartford, where they were heading.
The second location was only fifteen miles from Dodger Run and the mountainside.
Though the trip would take much longer to reach when hauling a wagon, if they could set up a trade route, it was still another location they could add to their resources.
Veronica was still feeling in high spirits after setting up the deal in Sherman with the woman in charge.
She was looking forward to talking to whoever was in charge of Hartford.
As they crested the small hill overlooking the town, her hopes were quickly dashed.
It was easy to tell that the city wasn’t going to be of any use to them.
Bringing the group to a stop, she could see that the entire area was filled with smoke pillars all over the place.
She wasn’t sure if it was a controlled fire or if Hartford had been attacked, but there wasn’t any chance she was going to risk the safety of herself or the others to find out.
Suddenly, a few hundred feet between them and Hartford, she spotted up man sitting on the side of the road.
Veronica could only hope the guy knew something about what had happened and would be willing to answer their questions.
Without endangering herself or the others, she wanted to know what had taken place.
Veronica walked beside her horse so she didn’t spook the guy as they approached. The closer they got to the gentleman on the side of the road, she quickly realized he was drunk. When they got within a few feet him, Veronica could smell nothing but alcohol emanating from his every pore.
“If you’re trying to get into town, there’s absolutely nothing left of it.”
“Were you all attacked?” Veronica asked.
“I mean, you could say it was something like that. It all started as soon as the power went out. These people were absolute animals.”
“Are you talking about the citizens of your town, or was there another group that came through and did all of this to your city?” Conner asked.
“I wish I could say it was another group, but I would be lying if I did. These idiots pretty much turned on themselves as soon as the world went dark.”
She could hardly believe what the man was saying.
If she hadn’t seen some of the same kind of reaction when everything first had happened, then she would have doubted every word out of his mouth.
It was something that had been going on since the beginning of time.
When things were at their worst, people had no idea how to react.
“I take it that when everything went black, the people just started to do this sort of damage to themselves and loot everything they could get their hands on.”
The man chuckled. “Apparently, we’re not the only place this has happened to.
I mean, these people acted like they had no sense at all.
Just like all those rioters you used to see after a sports team would lose the big game.
They just set everything on fire. It took everything they could get their hands on. ”
“Unfortunately, I saw the same type of reaction when this all first happened in California.”
“Hell, I imagine it was a lot worse than this there.”
“It was pretty rough. Is there anything left at all within the city?”
“I’m telling you right now that these people took everything that was worth a damn and then left. If you do go in there, anyone who hung around is going to be really bad news.”
Veronica thanked the guy for his time and mounted back up on her horse.
She quickly motioned for her brother and Darrell to do the same before leading the group through the entrance to Hartford and down the main street.
It didn’t take her long to understand exactly what the drunk was telling them.
He certainly hadn’t spared them with any lies.
As they slowly made their way through the streets, confirming everything the man had told them, she felt a sickness in the pit of her stomach.
She would never be able to understand why people thought that damaging their own neighborhoods was going to do anything other than make their lives more miserable.
Every single window and door had been broken into, along with the majority of the buildings still smoldering from being burned down.
Even though she had to see the results herself, Veronica knew that was exactly what they would see.
The smell of freshly burned wood and who knows what else filled the air.
It was hard for any of them to take a deep breath, let alone make their way through the rest of Hartford.
Suddenly, she spotted what looked to be a few dead bodies lying in the street.
It was all more than she had figured they would see.
The sickness in the pit of her stomach only grew, and for a moment, she felt like she was going to be sick.
Looking back at the others in the group, it was easy to see they felt the same way.
“I think I’m going to puke. I expected to see the burned buildings and the destruction, but how does a man kill another man and just leave their body lying around?” Darrell asked.
“I used to think I had a pretty good grasp on why people acted the way they did, but after seeing things like this and what we had to deal with before, I don’t know there’s much hope for most places.”
“Do you really think it’s like this everywhere?”
“Just like the man back there said, people have destroyed out of a lower belief than this before. How many times have you seen on the news where a sports team has lost a game and then it’s nothing but destruction for that town afterward?”
“I was really hoping that there would be less evil people in this world.”
“I wish I could tell you it’s different everywhere else, but it’s not going to be. There is nothing more than death and destruction everywhere you go out there, and I honestly believe it’s only going to get worse before it has any chance of getting better.”
Darrell gave her a broken look. “I just don’t understand how people can treat one another like this. In a time where the country needs us to come together in order to survive, people would rather be destructive and kill than help.”
“I can’t say that you’re wrong about that, but I promise it’s going to be all right. Even though we’re seeing something like this, you have to know there are still places like Dodger Run that are willing to do what it takes to protect one another.”
“I just hope there are a lot more people like us than there are people like this.”
Veronica nodded. “I feel the same way. Let’s get out of here before we run into somebody who is going to cause us problems. Before we leave the area completely, I’d like to head up the mountain so we can check on the farmers who are farther up the road.
Maybe there are still a few of them who are in good shape. ”
They all agreed it would be the best idea to check up on the farmers in the local area.
The group quickly made their way back out of Hartford and started to head up the mountain.
Veronica continued to pray for the people of the world who couldn’t help themselves, and she hoped that even though the city was burning to the ground, somehow, the farming community had come together and survived.
The last thing they needed was the chaos from Hartford to spread up the hill.
There was a large part of her that wished they would have gotten to Hartford sooner.
She had no idea what they would have been able to do to help, but in the back of her mind, she knew they could have done something.
While they were nowhere near the number of cities she had originally wanted to set up trade with, there was still a silver lining to the amount of traveling they had done.
Sherman had been willing to set up a trading day, and Veronica knew it was going to help everyone involved.
She could only hope it was enough to get them through the hard times ahead.