Chapter 37
Sarah made it to the girls’ homestead in record time.
Just as she had suspected, a solo rider was far easier to maneuver around the country than a group or even riding with a partner.
It didn't take longer than two days for her to get to the girls and Harriet. As soon as her horse saw the familiar landscape, she felt him getting excited beneath her. Every step became a prance as he fought against the bridle. She could understand how he felt. For almost two weeks, she’d had the same anxiety about getting back to her own home.
A part of her had hoped the horse would consider Maine his home now, but she couldn't blame him for being excited.
The property looked a little different, though, as she approached.
Right away, she saw they had fashioned a bathroom outdoors along with a kitchen.
Sarah wanted to make sure she didn't scare anyone as she approached and carefully brought her horse to a walk.
She understood how much he wanted to get back to his home and his old friends, but there was no guarantee the girls were still there.
For all she knew, they had been overrun by people leaving the city and were now on the run.
It didn't take long for her to realize that was not the case unless they had left behind all of their animals as well. Several horses trotted to the gate to greet their old friend as she dismounted. Seconds later, a large dark dog started to bark at her, and a man emerged on the front porch. Instantly, her hand was on her holstered gun. Suddenly, Harriette’s familiar face emerged behind the man, and she quickly scolded him to drop the shotgun he was pointing at Sarah.
Harriette yelled back into the house for the girls before racing in Sarah’s direction.
As she watched Harriette moving in her direction, she noticed the girls coming up behind her.
Bella and Rose looked exactly the same as the day she had left them.
Sarah was glad to see Harriette and the girls were good and well.
She looked past the girls. She quickly grabbed a glimpse of a woman she didn’t know, stepping out of the front door and onto the porch.
“Oh, my God, Sarah,” Harriette said. “I can’t believe you’re actually here. We’ve been wondering if you’d stop back by at any time. Heck, just the other day, we were talking about it.”
“Did you make it to your parents’ home?” Rose asked.
“I did, and everything is set up for the winter. Just making a trip back because of a promise I made.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“How are you?” Bella asked. “Tell us everything you know about being out there and how your trip was.”
“I’m doing good, and the trip was good, too. There’s plenty of time to tell you all about that,” Sarah said.
“We want you to meet our parents.”
Grabbing her arms from both sides, the girls directed her to the porch, where a man now stood next to the woman she had seen standing on the porch.
Sarah was happy to see the girls happy and excited, and she followed them onto the porch.
After a few introductions and handshakes, a question popped into her mind that couldn’t be controlled.
“I didn’t know you were married. The way the girls explained it was that you were a single mother, and you had a boyfriend.”
Marsha laughed. “Well, when we left on the cruise, Josh and I weren’t even engaged when we left, but we decided to tie the knot while on the ship.”
“Congratulations,” Sarah said. “How were you able to do that with everything being the way they are now?”
“Oh, we did it on the ship. Got married and all the paperwork right before the world went to hell.”
“Girls, why don’t you take the horse down to the barn and get him fed,” Harriette said. “I’ll go in and grab the scotch.”
After much insistence from the woman, Sarah took a seat on the front porch along with the girl's mother and their new stepfather.
She couldn't believe how much had changed in the short time they had been separated.
Still, Sarah couldn't think of a better outcome for the two young women.
It was obvious they were thriving and happy on the homestead.
The couple seemed happy and pleasant enough, but Sarah still felt awkward trying to get to know someone, given their current situation.
The circumstance was a tense one, though they always were for someone like her who had social anxiety.
“You know, my girls talk about you all the time. They talk about you like you’re a hero,” Marsha said.
“I’m not a hero. Just a woman who likes to make sure others are safe.”
“That’s a hero in my eyes,” Josh said. “Besides, even if that weren’t the truth, you saved those girls, and we can’t thank you enough.”
“He’s right. I can’t thank you enough for what you did for my daughters.”
“You’re welcome. They’re good girls,” Sarah said. “How did you guys make it back here?”
Marsha laughed. “Let me tell you, it was one hell of a trip.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Josh said.
“Well, we were kayaking off the coast of Mexico when the lights went out. We had to go through a lot to even make it back across the border.”
Sarah smiled. “I figured they would have all the borders closed when the power went out and the world went to shit. How were you able to get back?”
“We’ve only been back for about a week. We got stuck with all the legal aspects since there wasn’t a real way to make sure our documents were valid.”
Josh chuckled. “We went through a bunch of crap to even get a place to stay while we were there.”
“If it weren’t for the friends Josh has in the Mexican government, we probably would still be stuck in Mexico, waiting to get across.”
As Sarah listened to Josh tell her about his humanitarian work not only with the Mexican government but also with the Cuban government, she felt her mind starting to drift away.
It wasn't that his story wasn't interesting; it simply didn't matter anymore.
There was only one thing she wanted to know about: the state of the world outside of the small corner she had seen.
She listened politely for a few more minutes before finally getting the opportunity to interject and ask the question that had been nagging on her mind.
“So, you have seen a lot more of the country than we have. How are things looking?” Sarah asked.
She didn't need her gut instinct to tell her what the look the two exchanged meant.
It wasn't good. Still, she wanted to know what was going on.
No, she had to know what was happening. As nice as it sounded to live in the dark, it wasn't a path for her.
Especially since she was not returning right home but instead heading farther south.
If she could spread any news or developments with others, Sarah felt obligated to do so.
“Honestly? It’s not great news. It’s not even good news. Actually, there simply is no news. Everywhere is dark. A few places have power back, but it’s all solar and was incredibly well protected. We are talking like…fifteen locations generating a small amount of solar power,” Josh said.
“Well,” Sarah muttered, “I guess something is better than nothing, right? And fifteen isn’t bad in the grand scheme of things. Are they all localized? Like we had a base set up somewhere?”
They both looked at her with matching expressions of confusion, but it was Marsha who spoke.
“Oh, I think you’re a little confused. Fifteen places…on the planet. We’ve heard Switzerland has the most, but it’s such a small scale that it won’t power even a city of fifty people. The US was working on two solar projects and the rest…well, I don’t know where they are.”
Sarah swallowed. “Holy shit. We are going to be in the dark for years, aren’t we?”
“Who knows, but I do know this winter, we are going to see a side of humanity we’ve never seen before. You guys should be prepared for that. When we were getting back into the country from Mexico…it was terrible,” Marsha whispered.
Sarah’s gaze darted to Josh. He shook his head and took his wife’s hand.
“There were men and women on the border…just shooting at anything, anyone that tried to cross. We saw them execute men, women, and children. It was awful,” Josh whispered.
Sarah swallowed, her stomach churning as the words hung heavy in the air. Maybe her father had been right. Maybe Sarah should have taken someone with her to travel down the coast. The world was changing.