Copyright 2009
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Surviving the Fog
By
Stanley Morris
Prologue
They drift through space in their own orbit unrelated to the orbits of the planets, the stars, or the galaxies. Their colonies stretch for thousands of light years. Their colonies have no shape. They may be elongated. They may be circular. They may even be cubed. Or their shape may be a combination of shapes like a dry but wadded paper towel.
They can be detected, but only by using the most sophisticated of instruments, and then only by the most advanced space faring societies. Otherwise, they are invisible and undetectable.
They can be killed. Sometimes they drift into the path of a star and they burn. Sometimes they drift in the void for too many eons and they dissolve. Sometimes they drift into the path of a spear of gamma rays from an exploding star and they are sterilized. If they are detected by a space faring society that understands what they are and has the capability, they are usually sterilized.
They can not procreate on their own. They must have a host. A star with an unfortunate oxygen bearing planet must spin its way into their web. Even when they are fortunate to infect such a planet, it takes years for them to coalesce in the atmosphere. While they coalesce, they must disguise themselves as a pollutant. But once they have coalesced they can become semi solid in a very short time. As short a time as twenty four hours.
Chapter One "Something's Wrong"
"Something's wrong," said Mike.
"No, shit, dude," answered John.
The two teenagers were sitting on a ledge just inside a large depression carved into the side of a granite rock that was part of the southern Sierra Nevada mountain range. It would have been called a cave, but it was open to the air except for a large room tucked back on the east side. The ledge extended for several feet out from under the rock. The late May sun was trying to cast its rays inside the depression, but the boys were far enough back so that the heat could only reached their feet.
“Do you think that they are coming back?” asked Mike.
“Why wouldn’t they?” answered his friend.
Before them was a long gentle green grassy slope that slanted down to a small river which entered the valley from the east. The swift cold river flowed west through the valley until it vanished into the tall green fir trees where it continued many miles until it fell down into the Southern California central valley. It was a large stream really, but the water was rushing too quickly to wade through, and it was much too wide to jump.
“Maybe their jeep crashed,” hazarded Mike.
“Maybe Jackie is right,” answered John. “Maybe they can’t get back.”
On this side of the river, stood the five cabins of the boys’ camping area plus the corrugated metal roof dining hall, and the Administrator’s A-frame cabin. A narrow wooden bridge spanned the river. On the other side of the river were the five cabins of the girls’ camp, the parking lot with the large yellow bus, and the beginning of the gravel road which led southeast over a small hill and then southward through the mountains until it reached a paved road leading southwest towards Bakersfield. Around the camp rose the heavily forested mountains of the Sierra Nevada.
“Maybe their jeep fell into a canyon. Maybe they’re all dead,” suggested Mike.
John frowned. “I wish you would quit saying stuff like that, dude,” he groused. “When they come back, we’re going to have to listen to those lectures. And they’re going to force us to have fun. Can’t you just kick back and enjoy the day? Hell, check out the view from here, Mike. Look, Desi is coming from the showers. Wow!”
Sometimes, the boys felt like they were in a long oblong bowl running east to west with the camp on the east side. On the west side was a long meadow through which the river rushed. Most of the meadow was on the girl’s camping side of the river. Violets, marigolds and chickweed dotted the meadow. All around the bowl, the mountains of the Sierra Nevada stood watch. The peaks of the chiseled mountains were covered with pristine white snow. Lower down, the slopes were forested by groves of southern foxtail pine. Closer to the camp grew stands of bristle cones and white bark.
"When do you think that they are coming back?" asked Mike.
"I don’t know," muttered John as the well proportioned girl that he was watching disappeared into her cabin.
The trouble had started a week ago. The first indication that something was wrong came when the ancient post office jeep had not made its weekly delivery of mail that the boys and girls usually received from their anxious parents. Then the camp radio seemed to be having a problem. For some reason, it would not connect with the world outside of the valley.
The Camp Administrator had decided to travel the thirty miles to the nearest town, get a back up radio, and collect the late mail. Three of the four counselors had elected to go with her, and take a well deserved break from their rambunctious charges. They had expected to be back in three hours. They had left the last counselor, twenty year old Jackie, in charge of the forty eight boys and girls. That had been six days ago. There had been no sign of the adults since then, and again today, the mail jeep had not appeared.
The first night, after the administrator and the other counselors had not returned, Jackie had insisted that they were late, and that everyone should go to bed as usual. The next evening, Jackie had suggested that the road was probably blocked by a landslide, and that the adults would be back as soon as the road was cleared. Since then, they had waited.
"Something's wrong," said Mike again.
"Yeah, but what?"
Mike was thirteen and John was fifteen. Mike was fair skinned, sandy haired and a little short for his age. John was a brown Latino with black hair, and he was a foot taller. The two typical California boys had become fast friends the first day of camp in spite of their age difference.
"Eric knows how to work the radio phone. We should ask him to try to call someone," said Mike.
"Yeah, but the radio phone is in the Admin's cabin," argued John. "And her cabin is locked."
Mike looked at John. "It's been a week," he replied. "Something's wrong, John. And Jackie probably won't care if we go into the Admin’s cabin."
John looked depressed at that statement. For the first three days, Jackie had frantically tried to keep their minds off the missing adults. Then she had gotten real quiet, and she had stopped trying so hard to pretend that nothing was amiss. Today, she had refused to get out of her bunk for a long time and then, after she arose, she had refused to leave the counselor's cabin.
"Jackie won't care," repeated Mike. "Let's go talk to Eric."
They found Eric in the dining hall. The cinder block dining hall was one quarter kitchen, and three quarters dining area. The kitchen appliances consisted of a large propane refrigerator, an oven, a stove, and two large freezers. The dining area contained several long white plastic tables and many white plastic chairs.
Eric was sitting on one of the plastic chairs engrossed in a paperback book. His feet were up on a cardboard box. He was rocking back and forth on the hind legs of his chair which was threatening to topple over. Eric was a small African-American boy with short curly hair about Mike's age. Many of the other campers considered Eric to be a nerd.
Cardboard boxes were stacked along the windowless north wall of the dining area. The boxes contained packets of condoms, diaphragms and birth control pills. These items were partly the purpose of the camp.
The camp was a creation of a religious organization called Abstinence and Protection. AAP, as it was known, had created the camp as a place to promote the value of abstaining from sex, but also to familiarize middle school and high school boys and girls with birth control methods. The organization had planned to hold four three week camps this year. The current group of boys and girls were the first campers. They were supposed to take some of the condoms and a few of the diaphragms with them when they left.
The Camp Administrator was a doctor. Those girls who were at least sixteen year old were supposed to have been offered physical examinations and birth control pills with the consent of their parents.
But the real emphasis of the camp was on abstinence, not just for moral reasons, but because the creators of AAP believed that the emotional repercussions of sexual intercourse were too difficult for young teenagers to contend with in the present societal environment.
As Mike and John came into the dining hall, Eric put the old dog eared book aside and tried his cell phone for the umpteenth time. He received a no-service message from his phone.
“What are you reading, nerdo,” asked John.
“’Tunnel in the Sky’,” answered Eric. “I finished ‘MacKenzie’s Rock’.”
“Scifi?” asked John.
“Yeah. Some real old stuff. Like from Verne and Wells’ time.”
"You can work the radio phone, huh Eric?" asked Mike.
"Yeah, if it wasn't locked in the Admin's," answered Eric who added under his breath, Doofus.
Mike looked at John who looked back at Mike. Then John sucked in a breath and looked at Eric.
"Let's go," he said.
Eric looked at him blankly. "Where?" he asked puzzled.
"Come on," growled John with a bigger boy look.
Like all smaller boys, Eric knew that look. He shrugged and followed Mike and John. They led the way to the Administrators A-frame cabin. Mike and John studied the structure for a minute. The door had a sturdy lock.
"Think you could bust it open with your shoulder?" asked Mike.
"I think I could bust my shoulder," answered John. Eric rolled his eyes and waited patiently.
"We could break a window," suggested Mike.
"Hey!" exclaimed Eric. The other boys looked at him.
"Got a better idea?" asked John.
Eric glanced from John to Mike. He ducked his head and scuffed a toe. "There's a key under the mat," he muttered.
John gave Eric a menacing look, and then he retrieved the key. He opened the door. Mike and John boys went inside. After a moment, Eric followed, after looking around nervously to see who was watching them.
The A-frame cabin consisted of the bottom portion and a large loft. There was a ladder at the back of the cabin leading to the loft. The cabin had a double bed, and it had a sink that was fed by a small water line that connected to the main water line serving the dining hall.
The main water line, made of PVC pipe came down from the river, and it had a large washable filter before the junction of the two lines. Gravity provided the pressure for the kitchen, bathrooms and the showers in the dining hall building. A solar pump provided additional pressure to this cabin’s sink.
There was no bathroom in the cabin. The Administrator used a portable toilet just like the campers, except that she had one that was reserved for her alone. She usually allowed the female counselors to use it.
The other furniture in the cabin consisted of a sofa, two chairs, and a large desk. At the back of the cabin sat a large tool chest. On the desk was the radio phone. Several frequencies were available.
John handed the radio phone to Eric. Eric tried all the frequencies. Although there were some suspicious noises, they could not hear anything that sounded like a definite voice. On every frequency, Eric asked if someone could hear him. After a half hour they gave up.
"Maybe it's broken," said John. Eric looked at him.
"I don't think so," he replied.
"So why can't we hear anybody?" asked Mike.
Eric took a deep breath, and then he looked at Mike. His eyes had fear in them. "Maybe...maybe there isn't anyone to hear?" He asked the question with a look which suggested that he would be happy to hear them make fun of him.
All week, Mike's mind had been avoiding this very thought. Get up, play, do your chores, eat, play some more, and then go to bed. He had followed the camp routine. The adults would be back. His parents were at home. He had avoided considering any other scenario. But now, he had to face a terrifying possibility.
"There's something very wrong," he said, his voice shaking.
"Yeah," agreed John glumly.
"Do you think our parents are all right?" whispered Eric, his stomach fluttering. Mike really wished that Eric had not said that.
"We've got to do something," said Mike.
"Let's go talk to Jackie,” suggested John.
"All right," replied Mike, but privately he didn't think that Jackie knew what to do any more than they did.
They left the Admin's cabin, passed the dining hall, and tromped over the wooden bridge to the girls’ side. Eric followed along silently. Mike and John ignored him. Of the five cabins on each side of the river, one was reserved for the counselors. Two counselors shared each cabin. The counselors slept in comfortable double beds instead of the bunk beds used by the teenagers.
They found Jackie lying on her bed on top of the covers. She was staring at the ceiling. Although the campers and counselors had brought sleeping bags, all of the beds were covered by a mattress cover, two sheets and two heavy woolen green blankets. Some of the campers preferred to sleep in their sleeping bags. Others used the blankets, so that they wouldn't have to roll up their bags at the end of the three week camp.
"Hey, Jackie," said John. The young woman looked over at him listlessly. Jackie was an attractive young woman with blond hair and a slim build, but her face seemed swollen now, and she did not smell very good.
"Hey, yourself," she replied, and then her eyes turned towards the canvas ceiling again. The boys looked at each other.
"Um...Jackie, when do you think the Admin will be back?" asked John.
"She'll be back when she's back," answered Jackie flatly. She closed her eyes. John looked at Mike helplessly.
Mike took a breath. "Jackie, we think that something is wrong. Something is really, really wrong, Jackie."
"There's nothing wrong. Now go away," answered Jackie.
"But, Jackie, Eric tried to get someone on the radio phone. There's no one there!" Mike's voice was rising trying to get through to the young woman.
"You stay out of the Admin's place!" snapped Jackie. "Now go away." She turned towards the wall.
The boys look at one another.
"So what's the lecture about tonight?" tried John.
"Just leave me alone," came a muffled reply that sounded like it was almost a sob.
Defeated, the boys left her cabin. Outside there were a several girls. They followed the boys until they were far enough away that Jackie could not hear them talk.
"She's been like that all day," said a black eyed girl named Makayla. "She just keeps saying that the others will be back soon. I'm really getting scared.
"Me, too," said another girl with a quiver in her voice.
"Do you think she's right?" asked a third girl.
The boys looked at one another.
"Not really," admitted Mike.
"When do you think our parents will come looking for us?" asked Makayla.
"I don't know," answered Mike.
There was nothing more to say. The boys went over to their side of the river. Eric went back to the dining hall, while Mike and John walked along the river. They discussed which of the three girls that they liked the best. They avoided the subject of the missing adults.
At one point they sat down, and they watched some girls who were practicing archery on the other side of the river. The girls were using hay bales. The boys were supposed to practice as a group also, but there were no male counselors to lead them. The girls obviously had decided to practice on their own. Another girl was running around the huge crude track that had been plowed around the meadow and flattened by truck tires.
"Who's the girl that’s running?" asked Mike.
"I'm not sure what her name is," answered John.
"She's cute."
"Yeah, but she's no Desi."
"How old is she?" asked Mike hopefully.
"I think she's fifteen," replied John.
Mike grimaced. He had found that fifteen year old girls had little interest in thirteen year old boys. The boys returned to the boys’ side of the river.
Since there were no adults around, the boys were starting to stay up later and later at night. That night, after the other boys had retired to their bunks, Mike went back to the Admin's cabin and retrieved the key. He let himself into the cabin, and he checked the radio phone again, only to find that they had neglected to turn it off. The battery was dead.
Disgusted, he laid it back on the desk. Turning around, he saw the bed. He took a step and stood by the bed for a minute. It looked comfortable. Slowly, almost cautiously, he lay down on top of the covers. He could see out the window on the front of the cabin. The stars were bright, and he watched them for a time.
After a while, he got up and removed his shoes, socks, pants and flannel shirt. Wearing only his t-shirt and briefs, he got back in the bed under the covers. He felt like he was doing something that he shouldn't, but in a strange way he felt like he was at least doing something other than just waiting fearfully. He quickly fell asleep.
The next morning, Mike awoke late. He put on his clothes, and he went outside. He locked the door, but as he was about to place the key under the mat he hesitated. Instead, he put the key in his pocket.
He went to the dining hall looking for John. The kids in the dining hall were installing a new box of milk in the milk dispenser for their cereal. AAP had purchased large bags of dry cereal, cases of canned food and a lot of boxed milk that they usually mixed with powered milk. They offered the usual canned vegetables and fruits. Mike found John wolfing down his second bowl of cereal. A boy he didn't know well, but whose name he knew was Jacob, sat on the other side of the table.
Mike looked at John for a moment, and then he asked, "What are we going to do when the food runs out?"
John paused with his spoon halfway to his mouth. He had a look of unpleasant surprise on his face. He stared at Mike, and then he slowly finished eating the spoonful.
Carefully, he sat his spoon down, and then he asked, "All right, dude, I give. What will we do when the food runs out?"
"What ever we do, we better think of it now. How will we keep warm this winter?"
John looked even unhappier at that question. "Maybe some other adults will show up to help us. Not the Admin and the counselors, but some other adults."
"What if the adults who show up don't help us? What if they just take our food? What if they're the kind of adults who hurt kids?"
John scowled. "Man, you are really downing me this morning. Let me finish eating before we discuss the end of the world."
Mike went outside and walked down to the river. He walked downstream until he was opposite the bales of hay that were used for archery practice. He stared thoughtfully at the bales for some time, and then he went back to the dining hall. He waked around the building until he came to the storage room on the east end. Mike entered the storage room. In the storage room was the tank for the hot water that was produced by the solar panels covering the roof of the dining hall. Also in the storage room was the bin containing empty aluminum cans. The only soda that was available to the children was diet soda. The boys seldom drank it, but the girls did. The boys preferred the cans of sweetened fruit juice.
Mike took several empty cans from a bin, and then he went back to the Admin’s cabin. Once inside, he looked through the tool chest until he found a pair of metal snips. Carefully he cut apart an empty can, and then he flattened the aluminum. Then he cut out a piece of metal in the shape of a spear tip.
Mike left his work on the desk, and he went outside after making sure to lock the door. He walked east until he was deep in the forest. He searched for and found an old fallen tree with straight branches. When he was satisfied, he broke off a branch that was about as long as he was tall. He went back to the cabin. Inside, he found a box cutter in the tool chest, and he used it to split the end of the branch. He forced the blunt end of the aluminum spear tip into the split.
Mike left the cabin, and he went over the bridge and down to the hay bales. Standing a ways from a bale, he grasped his newly made spear, and he threw it at the bale. When it hit the bale, the spear tip and wood broke apart and the aluminum tip bent.
It would take Mike several days and many trials to get an aluminum spear head that would not bend, and to discover how to fasten it to the wood so that it would not come apart. Eventually, after folding a layer of aluminum around two other pieces of aluminum, he had a spear that would penetrate the heavy bale. By using a file he was able to get a very sharp edge on the side of the spear tip. He weighted the spear by attaching fishing lead to fish line and wrapping it around the shaft, just under the spear head.
On his way back to the Admin’s cabin, he met Jacob at the bridge. He was about to pass by when the other boy called his name. He looked at Jacob. Jacob was wearing his backpack, and it looked full. Jacob had black curly hair like Eric, but Jacob’s eyes were hazel instead of black.
"I'm going down the road," said Jacob.
Mike looked at him blankly. "Where to?" he asked.
"As far as I can go," answered Jacob.
Mike was alarmed. "Hey, that might not be such a good idea," he responded.
"Well, I'm going," replied Jacob. Mike did not know much about Jacob, except that he always seemed to be off by himself. He thought that Jacob was a year older than him.
"Are you going to be back before night?"
"If I find someone."
"What are you going to do if you have to stay overnight?"
"I've got my sleeping bag. It's down. I'll be warm."
"You got food?"
"Enough for three days."
Mike stared helplessly at Jacob. He did not know what to say. This was stuff for adults to consider. This was not stuff for a kid like him to be worried about.
Feeling defeated, Mike said, "Be careful, okay?"
"Okay," Jacob said, and then he walked away. But after a few steps, he stopped and turning back he said, "Hey, Mike. Thanks."
Mike waved. "See ya," he said more cheerfully than he felt.
Jacob turned and walked away. Mike watched him climb the hill, and when he disappeared down the other side, Mike went back to his cabin to work on his spear.
Mike practiced everyday with his spears. Eventually John and Eric joined him. Two other boys, Peter and Howard, expressed interest in what he was doing, and they also began to build spears. Between the five boys, they found a design that was sturdy and could easily pierce the bales. They practiced daily.
Late in the afternoon of the sixth day since he had left, Jacob returned. Jacob was hungry and exhausted. There was a bleak look in his eyes. As he approached the camp, he noticed five boys out by the bales. When he realized that Mike was one of them, he turned that way, and went stumbling down to the bales.
Mike had just thrown a spear, hitting the paper target that the boys had fastened to one of the bales, when he turned and saw Jacob. At once, he hurried over to the returning boy.
Jacob was so spent that he struggled to remove his backpack. Mike quickly grabbed it and took it from him.
"Are you okay," he asked anxiously.
"I'm just tired. And really thirsty," answered Jacob in a weary and raspy voice. "I need a drink of water real bad. I didn't drink anything since last night. And I never ate yesterday or today."
"Pete, run up to the hall and get some water and food, quick!" commanded Mike. Pete swiftly ran to the dining hall.
"Did you find anyone?" asked Howard eagerly.
"Howard, let him drink something first," said Mike. Howard grimaced, but he nodded. Mike understood his impatience, but he had gotten more and more worried each day that Jacob had not returned. Now that Jacob was back, Mike was more relieved than anxious for news.
Pete was fast, and shortly Jacob was drinking a bottle of water and devouring some sandwiches. The others waited patiently while he regained his strength. Presently he finished eating, lay back on the grass, and sighed sounding very sleepy.
"Well?" asked John finally unable to keep quiet.
"I walked three days," began Jacob. "In the morning of the third day, I didn't eat any of my food because I wanted to conserve some. That afternoon I found it. The fog I mean. It was about four o'clock. I know because I checked my watch. I was about a half mile past the seven thousand feet sign. The elevation marker.
“The road started going down real fast. I saw fog ahead of me. It was real strange because it was level. I could see over it. It looked like the ocean, except that it was brown, and there were no waves. There was a deer standing next to the road close to the fog. I stopped to watch it. Then it walked into the edge of the fog. The fog was only by the ground there. Then it walked down farther into the fog so that its feet and part of its legs disappeared. Then I saw its head come up, and it tried to, like, jump out of the fog. It fell down with its head and shoulders out of the fog. I could see it was trying to struggle. It was making strange sounds. Then it stopped moving. I think it was dead. Then I saw the body of the deer moving backwards into the fog like something was dragging it. Then it was gone. That really scared me. I was, like, not breathing and my heart was pounding. I watched for another hour, and I saw a bird fly very low over the fog. Something came out of the fog and grabbed the bird, and it disappeared. It was so fast that I couldn’t tell what had happened. I climbed a little hill next to the road, and I looked over to the other side. There was more fog. It's like we're on an island in an ocean.
“That's when I turned around and started back. I felt sick to my stomach, and I didn't eat anything that day, I only drank water. I tried to conserve my food and water on the way back, but then I ran out."
The faces of the other boys grew grimmer and grimmer as Jacob told his story. Mike felt the hairs on his arms stiffen. John was thinking about the Admin and the counselors who had left to find some help. Had they driven into the fog?
Mike drew a breath. "Well," he said slowly. "Now we know."
"We'll have to tell the others," said Howard.
Mike nodded. "Yes, but not today. The sun’s going down. We'll tell them in the morning."
"Why not tell them now," asked Eric.
"Better to get scared in the morning than at night," answered John. Mike nodded.
"You come with me," said Mike to Jacob. "The rest of you, well, just don't tell anyone, all right?" There was a chorus of agreement.
Mike and Jacob walked up to the Admin’s cabin. As they were entering they heard a shout. Jacob was too tired to turn back, but Mike looked towards the shouter. It was Ralph, at seventeen, one of the oldest boys in the camp. Hurriedly, Mike shut and locked the door just as Ralph arrived at the cabin.
Mike told Jacob to lie down on the bed. Outside, Ralph was banging on the door and demanding to be let inside. Jacob pulled the bed covers over his head, and soon he fell asleep. Mike ignored Ralph. He decided to climb the ladder leading to the loft. Upstairs, he found two separate futons. He laid down on one and waited until Ralph gave up and went away.
Sometime after midnight, Jacob awoke and insisted on returning to his own bunk. Mike accepted his decision reluctantly. He hoped no one was awake in Jacob’s cabin to try to get Jacob to talk. He thought it would be better for everyone to hear the story at the same time. He walked with Jacob to his cabin. It was a bright night. The moon was just past half full, and there were just a few thin wisps of clouds in the sky. Mike was unsettled, and he wondered if John, Pete, Howard and Eric were getting any sleep.
Mike’s late night anxiety caused him to sleep later than usual the next morning. Shortly after he left the cabin, he realized that one of the boys had talked. He wasn't surprised. He hadn't expected that news of this sort could be kept quiet for long. As he made his way to the dining hall, he heard boys whispering about monsters and aliens.
There were a lot of boys in the dining hall, and Mike could see why. Jacob was there eating a bowl of cereal. Many boys were pressing close, trying to talk to him, but John, Pete, Howard, and Eric were fending them off.
"Tell us what happened," demanded a boy angrily.
"Shit!" exclaimed John. "At least let him finish eating his Cheerios!"
Mike walked past the clump of boys, and he stepped on to the platform at the back of the building. "Hey!" he said in a loud voice. Everyone stopped talking and turned to look at him.
"Jacob's going to tell everyone what he saw. Give him a few minutes. Some of you need to go down to the girls’ camp, and tell them that we're having a meeting."
"Who died and made you Chief?" someone sneered. Mike looked to one side, and he saw that it was Ralph who had spoken.
"Do you think Jackie will come up here, if you tell her what's happening?" Mike asked Ralph.
Ralph shut up. Everyone knew that he liked Jackie. He hesitated, and then he stood and left the room. Mike truly hoped that Ralph could get Jackie to come and listen to Jacob’s tale. Jackie was the only person available who was close to being an adult.
Jacob finished eating and took his bowl and spoon to the kitchen window. Mike noticed that no one had done the dishes for days. While they waited, a few of the girls began to trickle in, and soon there was a crowd of them entering. Mike did not see Ralph or Jackie. Jacob stepped up next to Mike, and then Mike stepped to one side.
"Hey!" Mike called out. The teens stopped talking.
Mike continued. "Everyone come close so that you can hear him." The boys and girls crowded up against the podium.
Jacob told his story in a plain flat tone of voice. By the time he finished some of the kids were weeping, some were just sniffling. Mike looked down at his feet. He thought that he felt worse than when he had heard Jacobs story the first time, just from hearing all the crying. He felt like crying himself.
"Bullshit!" someone yelled. Mike looked up. It was Ralph. The older boy sounded as if he were about to panic.
"You're so full of crap! You never went there. You never saw anything. You're just making this up, you and Chief there."
Jacob stared at him. Then he said, “So go see for yourself. Go stand in the fog if you don't believe me."
Ralph looked angry and frustrated. "Screw you," he snarled, and then he left. Mike still saw no sign of Jackie.
"Are you telling the truth, Jacob?" asked a girl quietly. Mike realized that she was the girl that he had seen running around the dirt track. He had learned that her name was Yuie. She was Asian-American. She had black hair, large dark eyes and a fair complexion.
"Yeah, it's true. But I don't know what the fog is or where it came from," he answered.
"It must be aliens," said a boy.
"Oh, right," sneered another boy. "And NASA or nobody else saw it coming."
"Maybe it's something the Russians invented."
"Or the Chinese."
"Or Al-Qaeda."
"What ever it is," said Yuie. "There are monsters in it. Real monsters." At that, everyone fell silent except the few kids who were still crying.
"What ever it is," said Mike. "We have to decide what to do. We don't know if anyone but us survived the fog. We don't know if anyone is coming to rescue us. If they are coming, we don't know how long it will take them to find us. We can drink water from the river, but what if we run out of food? What if we are still here when winter comes? It's going to freeze. It's going to snow. What are we going to do?" For minutes there was no response.
"We can cut back on the stuff that we are eating," began a girl slowly.
"Yeah, we've been pigging it lately," said another.
"But how can we stop anyone from just getting food for themselves?" said a girl. The girls looked at Mike.
Mike had been thinking that same thing. "We might have to put a guard on the food," he suggested.
"A guard," someone repeated. There was silence.
"I've got to roll up my bag," someone said. Slowly the teenagers drifted away. Mike felt frustrated. He felt like almost no one wanted to tackle this dangerous situation that they were facing.
After a while, the only ones still in the dining hall were Mike's group of boys and Yuie. They decided to make a list of the problems that they would have to solve.
"First on the list is the food," said Mike. "We have to ration the food. We have to figure a way how to get more food."
"We could hunt game," suggested Yuie.
"Do you know how to hunt?" asked Pete. "If you catch something, do you know how to cook it?"
"Not really," admitted Yuie. "I can shoot a handgun or a rifle," but I've never hunted."
"There's forty-nine of us counting Jackie," said Mike. "Ask around. Someone must know something about hunting or about cooking animals."
"I do," said Jacob. They looked at him surprised. "I hunt deer and birds with my Dad. I know how to cut the patches off and how to gut them and how to skin them. If we can kill a deer or a bird, I can get it ready to be cooked."
"All of us are probably good at something," said John. "We should make a list of what we know."
"And we should ask everyone else, and make a list of what they know, too," suggested Howard enthusiastically.
"I'm great at video games," laughed Pete. They all chuckled. Pete was popular, especially with the girls, but also with the boys. The handsome, blond, blued eyed boy had a great personality, and he always made the people around him feel better.
"Could we live in here during the winter?" asked Eric. They looked around, seeing the dining hall for the first time as a possible shelter.
"It's pretty small for forty-nine people," said Howard. He scratched his short red hair.
"And it's got a metal roof," added Mike. "It's going to get real cold in here, I think."
"But we have the oven and stove to keep us warm," argued Eric. "And we have propane in the tank."
"I wonder how much propane is in the tank," said Howard. "How long it will last?"
Yuie knew the answer. "I heard the Admin say that she would have to order a refill at the end of next year."
"And they weren't planning to use it during the winter," Mike pointed out.
"So they were planning to use it for two seasons of camping," said Howard.
"How cold will it get here?" asked Eric.
"Below zero degrees, my father said," answered Howard.
"Will our sleeping bags keep us warm enough?" asked Mike.
"Some of the kids have mummy bags for below zero temperatures," answered Yuie. "Most of us have bags for about twenty degrees. If we are stuck here, we are going to need a lot of wood to make fires."
"I think we need to save the propane for as long as possible, and use it to run the frig," said Mike. "We probably won't need it for the frig during the winter. Stuff will stay cold enough if we cover it with snow."
"So we stop using the oven and stove?" asked Yuie. "People aren't going to like that."
"Well, we gotta have some rules if we're going to stay alive," stated Howard. There was silence.
"Yeah," Deep in thought Mike replied slowly. "That's the hard thing. We've got to have some rules. And we've got to have some way to enforce the rules."
"There's a barbeque in the back," said Pete. "We could at least start cooking with wood."
"No one is using the stove now, anyway," said Eric. "I think most everybody is eating out of cans without heating it up."
"How much food do we have?" Mike queried Yuie.
"I don't know," she replied.
"We have a lot of hamburger patties," said John. "And there are a lot of hot dogs and buns."
"We have milk for awhile. It's frozen concentrated so we have to mix it with water. And they were cutting it with powdered milk so we have a lot of that," said Howard.
"Yuck, so that’s why the milk tastes so weird," complained Pete.
"There are a lot of bags of rice and flour," said Pete. "Most of the other stuff is in cans, like beans, fruit, and corn."
"Don't forget the weenies," said Eric.
"We'd never forget you," joked John as Eric scowled.
"Let's disconnect the stove for the time being. And keep it to ourselves," said Mike. "And let's get the barbeque out of the storage room and build a fire in it. If we keep it going, maybe people will get use to using it." They all agreed. John volunteered to disconnect the stove.
"Too bad the cave only has that one part that's really a cave," said John. "That would be way big for us." There was a chorus of agreement.
"What if we made it into a real cave?" said Mike thoughtfully.
"What do you mean?" asked Eric.
"What if somehow, someway, we put a front on it?" asked Mike. "We could all live in it for the winter."
"Just get a couple of girls to live with you in the Admin’s cabin," cracked Pete. "You'll be warm and happy all winter."
Yuie exclaimed, "Shut up!" without any anger as the boys laughed.
"Seriously, what about the cave idea?" asked Mike again.
"What could we use for a front?" asked Eric.
"What about taking the canvas tops off of the cabins and use them?" suggested Pete.
"Too cold," replied Yuie.
"Could we pile up enough rocks?" asked Howard.
"Maybe," replied John.
"We could use logs," suggested Mike. "There are hatchets and axes for chopping wood in the store room. What if we cut down a lot of small trees, and leaned them against the top of the cave?"
"I don't know if small trees would be tall enough to reach to the top of the cave," replied Eric dubiously.
"What if we used a combination of these things," suggested Howard. "What if we piled up rocks high enough so that small trees would reach to the top of the cave?"
"Too bad they didn't build the cabins in front of the cave," said John facetiously. "Then we would already have a front." The others stopped talking, and they looked at John. Then they looked at one another.
"We could move the cabins!" exclaimed Howard.
Chapter Two Chief
"We could move the cabins!" exclaimed Howard again.
"Yeah, maybe even stack them. Put five on the bottom and five on the top."
"And then use trees to make the roof. Lean them from the front of the cabins to the top of the cave."
"That should be close enough so that we could even chop some of the longer trees in half."
"We would probably have to build a rock or wood floor first," cautioned Howard. "So that we could get the bottoms of the cabins level with the floor of the cave."
"Are you guys crazy!" groaned John. "How are we ever going to move those cabins? Man, they are heavy."
"They're bolted together," explained Howard. "Take off the canvas tops. Unbolt the walls, and move them."
"And maybe we could use the wood on the wall facing the cave to cover the rest of the wall on the side away from the cave."
"We'll call it, The Lodge," announced Yuie. The boys looked at her.
"Do we have to give it a name," asked Pete grimacing.
"Yes," she replied. That's how it became The Lodge.
John disconnected the stove by turning off the gas valve feeding it, and then he removed a piece of pipe leading from the valve to the stove. They found the barbeque, and they moved it to the front of the dining hall just outside the door. Then they trooped up to the cave to take a look.
"This is going to be a lot of work," said Pete sadly.
"How about moving the cabins onto the ledge?" asked Howard.
"That would take up too much room in the cave," replied John.
"But we could set the back ends of the cabins on the ledge," suggested Mike. "That way we would only have to build a rock wall for the front side of the cabins."
"The ledge is not wide enough for all five cabins. We'll need to extend the sides," said Yuie.
The real problem, they soon realized, was to convince the rest of the campers, or at least enough of them, to help them. They decided to hold a meeting, that night, to explain their plan to the rest of the campers.
The meeting did not go well. Except for Yuie and an older girl who Yuie introduced as Desi, no girls attended the meeting. Some of the boys stoutly maintained that their parents would come for them soon. Others understood the plan, and they could see the need to prepare for the winter, but they declined to help. Ralph, who showed up for a few minutes, jeered at their group.
But a few boys did take them seriously. After most of the boys wandered off, usually to their beds, the group discussed their ideas. There were various opinions on how to proceed.
Eventually Mike said, "What we have to do first is to decide what would be the best thing that we could do to help us survive the winter."
Immediately Yuie responded, "Get into shape."
"What do you mean," asked Mike clearly puzzled.
"Just that. Weak people are not likely to survive, and they will not be able to help anyone else. Get into shape. All of you should run with me in the mornings. By the time winter comes, you will be healthy enough to survive the cold, and strong enough to build our shelter." She said it defiantly expecting scorn from the boys. They looked at one another.
"That's not a bad idea," said Mike slowly. "We could run a few laps around the track, and then we could practice throwing our spears." The meeting broke up, and John volunteered to escort Yuie and Desi back to their side of the river.
Yuie tried to explain the seriousness of their situation to the other girls, but her arguments fell on deaf ears. Except for Desi, the other girls refused to believe that the campers were in trouble. Most of them thought that Jacob had concocted the story of the fog.
“Why won’t they listen?” exclaimed a frustrated Yuie.
“They’re frightened,” responded Desi.
Yuie looked at Desi. Up to now, she and most of the girls had the impression that Desi was somewhat of a bimbo. She always seemed to be flirting with one of the boys. She didn’t have the nicest body and she wasn’t the prettiest girl in the camp but for some reason the boys loved to be around her. Usually with their tongues hanging out, thought Yuie.
“You think things are bad for us, don’t you Desi?” asked Yuie.
Desi looked solemn. “I think we are going to die if someone doesn’t take charge, or if we don’t get help.”
Yuie went to bed hoping that Desi was exaggerating.
In the following days the boys started running with Yuie. Instead of sleeping in like most of the campers, they forced themselves to get out of their bunk beds early in the morning. They had breakfast, and then they ran around the track. At first they huffed and puffed, and they had to drag themselves around the meadow. Mike refused to let the stronger boys greatly outpace the weaker boys. He said that it would be more fun to run as a group. By mid June, they could all run several laps before they got too tired.
After running, they spent an hour or so practicing with the spears. Some of the other boys joined them. Others laughed at them. Privately some of the group thought that Mike was just playing warrior, but they had to admit that it was a lot of fun. Mike established three levels, white, red, and black depending on ones skills. He asked the girls for ribbons and cloth that the boys could use as pennants for their spears. Some of the girls began to watch their practices and cheer for the best throws, especially if the thrower was Pete.
The boys began to carry their spears everywhere they went. Mike spent hours practicing, and he became especially proficient in throwing and hitting a target. Yuie decided not to be a part of the Spears, saying that she didn't have the arm strength for it, and besides if she was around, they couldn't make naughty jokes about girls. Publicly they were disappointed, but privately they were relieved. Yuie was already proficient with her bow and arrows.
Yuie convinced some of the girls to help her use the barbeque to heat up the canned food, now that the stove had mysteriously quit working. Other girls got exasperated at the mess in the kitchen, and it was swept and mopped. The dishes were done and everyone had clean plates and glasses again.
The group held a meeting every night. Mike always seemed to lead the meetings, and the others seemed content to let him. Gradually, most of the boys started attending their meetings, but except for Yuie and Desi, the few girls who attended did so sporadically. Ralph would usually show up for a few minutes at the beginning to make fun of them. He called them, the Tribe, and he called Mike, the Chief. Ralph’s attitude had gotten worse since Jacob’s return. Mike was sure that, sooner or later, Ralph would cause him real trouble.
It happened one morning while they were throwing their spears at the bales. Mike noticed Ralph coming towards them in a rage. Mike felt a pang of fear. He really did not want to be punched by the older boy, and whenever he was around Ralph, he thought that it was a possibility. To Mike, Ralph seemed to exude an aura of violence.
"Hey, Chief Shithead, where's the part that you took off the stove?"
"I didn't do it," protested Mike, and then he immediately felt ashamed. It was his idea. He should have taken responsibility. "But I'm the one who told someone to do it. We have to save the propane," he offered bravely, although his heart was thumping.
Ralph grabbed Mike by the front of his shirt. "Who did it?" he demanded.
John quickly shoved Ralph away from Mike. "I did it, dickhead," he yelled.
Ralph pushed John backwards and then, as John tittered off balance, he slugged John in the face. John reeled backwards. Suddenly Mike’s fear exploded into rage. Using the haft of his spear, he savagely struck the backs of Ralph's legs. The taller boy cried out in pain, and he fell to his knees. Mike raised his spear, but before he could strike again, Jacob slammed his own spear against the back of Ralph’s head. A thin line of blood appeared. As if it were a signal, the other boys began striking the kneeling boy again and again with their spears.
Ralph screamed in surprise and pain, and then he struggled to his feet while trying to fend off the painful blows. He stumbled away, and then he began to run. For an instant, Mike started after him, and then a premonition caused him to halt. He turned around, held out his arms, and commanded, "Stop!"
He was just in time. Jacob had his spear cocked back by his ear, and he was about to send it into the fleeing boy's body. His hazel eyes were angry.
Mike smiled at Jacob, and then Mike walked back to Jacob and clapped him on the shoulder. "We’re cool," was all he said.
Mike looked at the other boys. Some were still angry; some seemed troubled and startled at the sudden surge of violence. Mike looked at John who was using his sleeve to stanch the blood from his mouth.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. He got lucky." There were chuckles from the others, more from relief than from humor.
"Right," answered Mike. "All right, back to practice. Who's up next?" The boys returned to their task.
Ralph did not bother them again. A few days later, he unexpectedly crossed paths with Mike when the younger boy was alone. They stared at one another for a moment. Mike looked him right in the eyes, not backing down. After a moment, Ralph turned away.
To the younger boys, Ralph had always been somewhat of a bully, and word of what happened quickly spread. One result, that Mike found rather annoying, became apparent the day following the incident with Ralph. Nathan and Kevin, who were brown haired twins, and who were also a couple of the youngest boys, came running up to him calling, "Hey, Chief!"
When Mike looked over at them, they asked, "Chief, we want to go up the river to look for spear shafts."
"So go," he answered, puzzled as to why they were asking him.
They looked at one another, and then Mike realized that they were embarrassed. "Well, we don't know what kinds of things might be in the woods," one began.
"Can you send some of the Spears with us?" pleaded the other.
So Mike asked Pete and Eric to accompany the two smaller boys. After that, he noticed that most of the boys and some of the girls took to calling him, Chief.
When he complained good naturedly to John, the other boy took the situation much more seriously. "Mike, it's good that they're calling you, Chief," said John.
"Why?" Mike asked mystified.
"Because we need someone to be in charge,” John answered. We have to get ready so that we can survive this winter. To get ready, to have rules that get enforced, we have to have a leader. You're the leader, Mike. I know it’s kind of crazy. You’re one of the youngest kids here. But so far, you are the only one that’s shown any kind of leadership."
"But, Jackie..."
John cut him off. "Jackie's sick, Mike. You know that. You're the leader, Mike. It's good that the kids are calling you, Chief. Accept it. Use it so we can get on with more important things."
Mike felt that this was dubious logic, but he didn't argue. There were more important things to consider. One thing was the food situation. The Spears began guarding the food, and they rationed the amount that people could eat. There was some grumbling, especially from the girls, but most of them recognized that they had to conserve even if it was just until someone came for them.
Every night they held a meeting to discuss the day’s progress. Some of the boys wanted to join the Spears. Mike told them that they could practice with the Spears, and if they got good enough, they could join. Most of them just wanted to carry a spear. Few of them actually practiced enough to be allowed to become one of the Spears.
Mike's core group was John, Howard, Eric, Jacob, Pete, and two other boys that quickly became proficient with a spear, Ahmed and Rasul. Every night, two of them would guard the food supply. One person would guard from midnight until four in the morning. The other would guard from four until eight. Soon, Mike realized that there were not enough people to keep up this schedule. So he recruited others, who were not officially part of the Spears, to help. In this way, he was able to ensure that the guards would have this duty only one night a week. Yuie was the only girl who was willing to be a guard.
Yuie always came to the nightly meetings. Sometimes Desi came with her. At first, John had escorted them back to their side of the river after the meetings, but Yuie put a stop to that. She and Desi liked to discuss what they had heard in the meetings privately.
Yuie was not surprised that Desi took such an interest in the meetings. She no longer thought of Desi as a bimbo. When she talked with Desi, she realized that the girl had a clear idea about one thing, and that was the need for someone to take charge. Desi realized that they were in a lot more danger than anyone else understood, except for Mike.
Desi had her own ideas about how to survive in this new world. One night, after the meeting had ended, Yuie was about to leave and she called for Desi.
"I’ll come down later," said Desi, and she gave Yuie a significant smile.
Yuie looked troubled, but she nodded and left. As Yuie left, Mike, John and Desi were standing outside under a cloudy sky. It was the twentieth of June and the days were warmer although the nights were still chilly.
Mike and John were use to spending a few minutes each night chatting together before John went to his bunk, and Mike retired to his cabin. The presence of Desi seemed unusual but not terribly awkward. Each thought that she would soon head down to the girls’ area.
"Can I see the Admin's cabin, Mike?" asked Desi.
"Uh, all right," replied Mike who had not anticipated this request but saw no harm in it.
John looked at Desi. Then he looked at Mike. He frowned. "I'm going to sleep now, Mike," he said quietly. "See you in the morning." He stole one last glance at Desi.
"Night," replied Mike. John left. Mike and Desi walked up to the A-frame. Mike opened the door, and they went inside.
"Wow, this is nice," she exclaimed. "I guess this is your place now. Yuie calls it, Chief’s Headquarters"
Mike laughed. "Yeah, I guess that's a good name for it," he answered.
Desi sat down on the bed. "Mmmm..., this is soft." She lay back on the bed, and then she clasped her hands behind her head and she smiled up at Mike with her soft brown eyes. Mike thought that the room suddenly seemed much warmer.
"Would it be okay if I stayed here tonight, Mike?" she asked in a voice that was soft and sultry.
Mike gulped. "Yeah...sure...okay," he replied with a squeak.
The next morning Mike left the cabin while Desi was still sleeping. He felt older and more experienced, and he felt great. He found John in the dining hall.
"Morning," he said to John. John looked at him, then he looked past him for a second, and then he looked back down at his cereal and grunted.
"It's a really good morning. I feel very very good, if you know what I mean," said Mike happily and a little slyly.
"Well, I'm so happy for you!" snarled John. He got up and stalked out of the room. Mike stared after him mystified.
"You idiot!"
Mike turned to see Yuie staring angrily at him.
"What's your problem?" he asked, annoyed at her. First John and now Yuie was acting weird this morning.
"You dummy! He likes Desi. Didn't you know?" demanded Yuie.
Mike was thunderstruck. "Oh, shit," he said.
But now that Yuie had clued him in, he realized that he should have known. John was always mentioning Desi to him. Mike realized that he was not the swiftest boy when it came to girl-boy relationships. But he should have seen this.
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