Chapter 40
It had been two months since they had made their trek to Sherman and Hartford in order to set up a trade.
Veronica was still worried about the surrounding areas and the possibility of retaliation from the militia, but over the two-month time period, it had slowly faded to the back of her mind.
It was now early fall, and most of the preparations for the winter months had already been made.
Veronica was happy the villagers were all working together in order to make everything happen. She knew their very survival depended on them taking care of one another. Everything was going just as expected, and she couldn’t have been happier.
Though she had tried to push off his advancements as best as she could, Darrell finally had broken through to her, and the two had started dating.
Granted, it was nothing like the dating she had done in the past. The fact that there wasn’t any power to call someone away made things a lot easier for a relationship to build and grow stronger.
The two tried to spend as much time together as possible in handling everything the villagers needed to be taken care of.
Since the time Darrell and his brother had left Starver City, where Markwood had taken over, they both had moved into the barn apartment on the property.
In the past, Veronica would have never wanted to live so close to somebody she was seeing, but since everything else in the world was changing, it was nice to know he was close by anytime she wanted to do something with him.
Even as she sat on the porch with Bella, working on making corn flour by hand and using a hand grinder, the thought of Darrell being so close at all times was starting to grow on her. She couldn’t help but grin to herself as her mind raced with the possibilities.
“What are you smiling about?” Bella asked. “I bet you’re over there thinking about Darrell right now, aren’t you?”
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t, but it’s probably not in the way you’re imagining. I was simply thinking about how strange it is to date somebody now that the world has gone completely dark. Everything is just so much different than it used to be.”
“You’re not that much older than me but imagine how I feel about it.”
“Has somebody caught your eye?”
Bella blushed. “No. I was just saying that dating for me is going to be entirely different from any teenager you have ever met in your life. I think we all got so used to having smartphones we just don’t know what to do when we have somebody in front of our face.”
“I can’t say that you’re wrong about that,” Veronica said. “Are you looking forward to the upcoming dance the village is sponsoring for all the teenagers?”
“I’ve been trying not to think about it, but I have to say that I’m pretty excited about going and mingling. It’s going to be good for all the young people to get out and have a little fun.”
Veronica snickered. “You say that like you’re not one of the young people going out to have a good time.”
“I plan on having fun, but I’m just saying I think it’s a great idea that the village is doing it.”
“I suppose you’re right. I have to agree that letting the teenagers get together for any kind of gathering is probably the best idea they could have come up with. I think it will keep all of you out of trouble. Do I expect a few of you still will find something to get into?”
Bella laughed. “Sounds like you know me a little too well.”
Before she could respond, Veronica spotted a rider coming down the road.
Whoever was on the back of the horse had the animal moving at high speed.
Even though there hadn’t been any trouble for the past couple of months, her initial reaction was to grab the gun lying beside her.
If there were going to be any problems from the person coming up the road, she was going to be ready for it.
“Go and get all the others, Bella,” Veronica said. “I don’t recognize the man on the back of that horse.”
Bella nodded and instantly started to run into the house.
No matter how hard Veronica tried to get a good look at the guy heading in their direction, she knew she had never seen him before.
Not wanting to take any chances, Veronica double-checked her weapon and chambered a bullet.
If there was going to be trouble, she was going to ensure she was as prepared as possible.
Veronica didn’t want to startle the guy in case he was someone just looking for help, but she raised the gun slightly to be ready to fire in case of an emergency.
Suddenly, and without warning, the man flew by the house and didn’t bother to stop.
The only thing she saw as he rushed by was a letter dropping into the yard.
The entire situation was a puzzle in her mind, and she was still there for a moment, trying to figure out what had just happened.
Before she got the chance to do or say anything, Bella and the others came rushing out the front door.
Veronica could tell by the look on their faces and the guns in their hands that each of them was ready to handle the situation.
The only thing she could do when they looked at her was shrug.
She honestly had no idea what was going on.
Being as cautious as she could and not wanting to run herself into some kind of trap, Veronica made her way across the yard and over to where the paper had been dropped on the ground.
As soon as she picked it up, the others gave her a puzzled look.
The envelope had no markings on the outside of it, and without wasting another moment, she tore it open and was shocked to see that the letter inside was from the United States Government.
“What the hell is that?” Conner asked.
“It’s some kind of letter, and it’s from the government.”
“Is that real?” Bella asked. “There’s no way that’s a real letter from the government, right? I mean, we all expected it would be closer to a year before we heard anything from them.”
“I can’t say that I’ve ever seen a letter from the president before, but if I had to make an educated guess, I would have to say it is definitely the presidential seal,” Veronica said.
“It looks like the whole thing is printed on some sort of old newspaper stock. I don’t know.
I haven’t seen this kind of paper in a very long time. ”
“Why don’t you go ahead and read it out loud to all of us?” Mauve said.
“I think I can do that,” she replied, unfolding the rest of the letter.
“’We are sending this letter out to as many people as we can reach.
The government is trying to get things up and running again.
For those of you who don’t know what is going on outside of the towns you are in, most of the globe is without power.
As far as we can tell and from what we know from before the EMPs, there are very few places that weren’t taken out.
We know all of you are anxious to see the country get back to some kind of normalcy, but it’s still going to take us a good amount of time to get things back to where they were.
“‘Our current estimation of time before there is power back to most of you is around thirty-six months. I know that’s a long time to go without all the luxuries we have grown accustomed to, but I promise we are doing everything in our power to move this process along as quickly as possible. At this time, I hate to say that you are on your own. The federal government is not going to be of any assistance to anyone for quite some time as we try to move forward with the process of restoring power. The most we can ask from you is that you hunker down and do your best to survive. We are a strong nation, but we are only strong due to the people who are in it. You, as citizens of this great nation, are the reason we will be able to get through this together. Though we might not be able to help now, we assure you that there is light at the end of the tunnel.’”