Chaotic After - Chapter Two

[Note: Did you see that I added more to Chapter One? I will probably tweak all of this many times before I'm done. So check all of it every once in a while, you never know how big or small the changes will be during editing.]



Mark leaned out of the passenger side window and waved, calling helloo! to us all as Cheran maneuvered the truck and it's cargo across the small bridge and into the lot below the house.

Yuriah was positively vibrating by this point. Good ole Cheran, parked quickly, threw open the driver's door and in one movement jumped down then ran to hug us all in as big of a group as she could get her arms around. Mark came strolling up after his wife, a huge grin on his face belying that they had a surprise beyond what we could guess.

"Oh! Look at you all! So healthy and happy!" Cheran crooned at us, holding each of our faces in her hands. When she came to Yuriah, she squatted down to his level and gently cupping his face, exclaimed "And who is this tall fellow? How handsome you are young man!"

Yuriah wasn't sure whether he was slightly embarrassed by the sudden compliments or very pleased. In his quiet voice he said wonderingly "I'm Yuriah, are you Aunt Cheran?"

Cheran's laugh boomed, throwing her head back and hugging him to her in the process. "Master Yuriah! Finally I meet you, how wonderful! However, I must say I am more along the lines of being your grandmother than your aunt." She turned to me with a chuckle "Already he's a smooth talker and he doesn't even know it."

I laughed in reply, and opened my arms to hug her again.

"Ah! My sister it is good to see you, we have much to tell you! " She stood and hugged me close, holding me there for a long moment.

Mark got down to Yuriah's level himself and held the boy to him in a big bear hug, then pushed him out to arms length and looked at him with a scrutinizing eye. "You're quite the strapping lad, I bet you'd love to see what's in that trailer over there. Am I right or am I right?"

Yuriah bit his top lip and nodded slowly, glancing over Mark's shoulder to look at the trailer a second time and realizing that was the object of all of the excitement as they had come around the bend. He looked back at Mark and smiled big enough to see which baby teeth had recently fallen out, "Can I?" he turned to me "Please Momma?"

"Of course Yuriah, go ahead I'll be right behind you."

He and Mark tore off running for the back of the trailer, Mark falling behind until Yuriah slowed down for him. Cheran grabbed my hand and held it as we walked after them. In a kind voice she said, "He looks like a tiny Mick, darling, but the complexion and the eyes are all you."

I sighed and nodded, filled with conflicting emotions. She had known Mick during the last days before the apocalypse, she and Mark had been our contacts for the people on the plains. They had loved him like a son, the connection of my husband and shared grief over his death was what bonded us so closely in those early days of chaos. Yuriah was like their grandson, they had not seen him since he was an infant and he had no memory of them. Back then, it was dangerous to take kids out into the world - they were kept safe, under guard and key and contacts never met at anyone's home, that would have risked the lives of everyone.

I came out of my reverie when I heard Yuriah gasped and then burst out laughing, jumping up and down, clapping his hands in glee. I looked inquiringly at Cheran, she just winked and smiled - now I knew how Yuriah felt when I did that to him. Ingoa and Gama hurried their steps at Yuriah's reaction to seeing the contents of the trailer, even Keira came out onto the kitchen balcony to see what the commotion was about.

When the men got to the trailer, Gama's hand flew to his mouth and his eyes grew as big as saucers, he looked back at me with tears of joy in his eyes. He pulled Mark into a bearhug "Oh friend! This is too much! This...this is...oh Mark! My brother, thank you!"

Now I let go of Cheran's hand and hurried to the back of the trailer, when I went to stick my face between the bars, my nose was met by a huge wet muzzle - of a horse. I backed up in surprise and stared at the two equine figures, their calm dark brown eyes staring back at me. I was speechless, the emotions flooding over me were like a whirlwind. They had brought us horses, two horses to use for tilling, for pulling wagons, for riding to get help in case of an emergency and no gas is to be found. These beautiful creatures were closely guarded all over the country, everyone wanted one or more.

"Well, you reckon we should let them out and let them get some exercise, graze a bit while we're here?" Cheran asked with a merry twinkle in her eyes. "There's a stallion and a mare, both the right age to start breeding - we think she's already pregnant, so you'll have your first colt soon enough."

Mark unlocked the back of the trailer, which was a complicated affair - but they had just come through Boulder, where the theives were thick, but always smiled and looked like any typical Boulderite hippy from the old days. I held onto Yuriah's shoulders, keeping him standing up against my legs until the horses were lead out of the trailer and to the creek to drink. Then I let him go pet their flanks and look at them with Mark and Gama, while Mark showed him how to groom them and what to look out for to make sure their health stayed in top shape.

Cheran walked up next to me and silently we watched them fussing over the animals. I clutched her hand in mine and looked at her intensely.

"Cheran, we don't have enough to trade you for this..." I began, we needed the horses badly - but they were so expensive now.

"Shh..darling. It's a present from the plains commune to yours for Midsummer. It's to repay you for all of the work you did to protect them and keep them fed and warm during the first winter of chaos. People will not soon forget you and what you did to save so many, Maddie. You are considered a saint and a national heroine, sweets, the sooner you accept that the sooner your life will get easier. People have been dying to find you, to thank you, to get your blessing, to shower you with gifts, to recieve words of wisdom - we have told people that the Maddie up here is not that Maddie. But the plains people knew you are the wife of St. Mick, you are the one who saved them when he was killed - they insisted we give these two to you. They are actually yours, not your commune's - but I knew that you would never accept them and keep them for yourself in such a way. Which is why we decided to present them to you and Gama as gifts to the commune from another." Cheran held my shoulders in my hands, searching my face for my inner response as well as what I allowed to show. I blushed furiously and looked at the ground between us, shaking my head at her words.

"I didn't do a damned thing anyone else wouldn't have done." I said with conviction. "I'm no saint or hero, I'm just a woman who didn't want more people to die needlessly. I did what was called for, no more, no less."

"Maddie.."Cheran started, then hugged me to her."But you did do a lot more than anyone else, you went above and beyond the call of even duty. You've saved thousands of lives and you continue to do so, you are a role model of how to survive and thrive no matter the odds. Because of you just being you, your example has taught so many how to keep going and rebuild their lives in ways that really work. Because you won't let anything get you down, because you refuse to give up no matter the odds - people found the will to do the same. You are a heroine and you have been named a saint just like your husband."

"Great I'm like the mother version of Joan of Arc..." I joked ryely. Cheran softly punched me in the arm and then pulled me upstairs to help Keira finish preparing our lunch.

. . .

"Look at them, down there with the horses." Keira called to us softly from the kitchen sink. She was looking out the window while doing dishes.

to be continued...

The main protagonist's name and the first glimpses of her history revealed! Dunt Dun DUN!! ::giggle::