Shelter

It finally happened, he thought, they attacked us. The air raid sirens were loud, and they jangled his nerves. John grabbed his shotgun and shoved all the shells he owned into a duffel. Patty, his wife, was shoving what food would fit into the bag. Their three children, Jesse, Mary, and Jack were all crying, and staying right by their parents. The blast had shook the house like it was a shed, some windows were blown out. Now John looked outside and saw smoke and flames rising into the sky. The compound was no longer safe. They heard screams that were close by, and suddenly the power went off. “Now,” John said, “We gotta go.” Jesse was thirteen and taller than Patty. He had his pack and his shotgun slung over his shoulder. A fleeting thought dashed through John’s mind, ‘The kid never even got a deer last fall, is his first kill going to be -‘ he couldn’t finish the thought. Mary had her pack over her shoulders and was carrying Jack’s gear. Patty was carrying Jack. More screams, and gunfire were heard over the siren. Jack led the way and the family went out into the yard. Thankfully, there was a stand of trees by their assigned house, and Jack led them into the trees.

“John, where are you taking us?” asked Patty.

“To my parent’s cabin. We can hide there for awhile.” John’s eyes told everyone to stop talking. Patty wanted to cry out that it was at least two days on foot, but she held her tongue.

A bullet whizzed by John’s head, just as he heard the report of the gun. “Run, you run and hide in that gulley. Don’t let the kids look back.” Patty did as she was told, grabbing the kids by the hands and running like the devil was behind them. They slid into the gulley and she whispered for the kids to close their eyes. There were two gunshots, then silence.

At last, John appeared. “You okay?” Patty asked and John nodded. They started running again, but soon came to the edge of the trees and faced an empty field.

“We have to go through,” John said, and led the way. Somehow they made it across the field. There was a farmhouse on the other side but John walked to the barn, and signaled to Jesse. Jesse and the rest of the family went to the barn. There were horses, and they saddled all four of the horses they found. The family quickly mounted up. John put Jack in front of him. Mary wasn’t very experienced on horseback, but her face was set in a determined mask and John knew she would be okay.

The family rode all day until the sun set and it began to get dark. They made camp in another stand of trees, and ate some food. John tied the horses up near a patch of grass and everyone laid in their sleeping bags, tired and cold and in shock. The kids fell into a restless sleep, but he and Patty lay awake. He wondered how it had come to this.

First, the country had been divided in their beliefs, but over the years it had morphed into physical divisions. The Blues, or liberals, had formed compounds on the coasts and in the upper Midwest and the Rockies. The Reds, or conservatives, had their own compounds, too, mostly in the lower Midwest, the south and the Great Plains. The government ignored the divisiveness at first, but, as the situation escalated, soon entered into negotiations with both sides to attempt to reach reconciliation. Those negotiations didn’t work, because there was talk of separation from the government. Now there was bombings and killing between the two sides, and there were many small groups of militia on both sides that were effective at escaping the government’s armed forces. It was a sticky situation. The government had not yet been overthrown and was trying to remain neutral. Many in the armed forces were sympathetic to one side or the other, and went AWOL to join and fight with the “rebels.” Things seemed to get crazier every day. There were many people that refused to join either side and just wanted peace, but it was getting more and more common for those neutral persons to be offered the choice to join or be killed. That was how John and family ended up in a compound. For him, it wasn’t political, it was survival.

Patty woke first, and she laid by John, her head on his chest for a few minutes, closing her eyes and imagining that they were back in their first apartment. The kids woke up hungry, so they ate some of their food, granola bars and fruit. The horses needed water, so they saddled up with that as their first goal. There was a small river nearby, so they went to that, and dismounted so the horses could drink. Jack ran off and played nearby. Jesse and Mary sat and stared at the water. The two men came up on them so quietly that no one heard them, their guns pointed at John and Jesse.

“We aren’t going to kill you,” one said. “But we want those horses.”

“Leave us our packs,” said John and Patty added, “and at least one shotgun. We have children. Have mercy.”

One of the men kept his gun pointed at them while the other led two horses away from the river. The other grabbed the reins of the last two horses and swung himself up onto one of them without ever letting the gun drop. The men rode away. John groaned.

“We still have some food and both guns,” Patty said. “It’s okay, it’s not much further, is it?” she asked.

“We’ll be there by tonight,” John said. “Fill your water bottles and lets get going.”

They took turns holding Jack, who couldn’t walk more than an hour at a time. The day was arduous, and Mary tripped over a root and twisted her ankle, so they were moving slow. The cabin was about two hours away, John announced as they came up over a ridge. They got to the top of the ridge and they all stopped, drew in a breath of amazement.

The sight below them was surreal. Something out of a story book. It was an old Dutch windmill and a field filled with spring tulips. The tulips were in full bloom, their heads nodding in the breeze and it seemed as though there were a million of them. Jack cried out in delight and scrambled down, running into the field of flowers. “It’s so beautiful!” called Mary, as she ran to the field.

“Dad, what’s that smoke?” asked Jesse. “The sky doesn’t look right. It’s yellow. This looks bad.”

“He’s right,” said Patty, and she looked at John with fear, “What if we can’t get to the cabin? Or what if something happened to the cabin?”

John started walking down into the field. “We have to go on,” he said, “don’t give up hope.” They continued into the field, walking toward the yellow smoke and what they hoped was shelter from the insanity.

Image Credit; Fuu J @ Unsplash

This image shows a windmill standing in a field of tulips. In the background, you see there is a yellow fog and it seems like there is dust in the air.

© 2025 Lisa Paul All Rights Reserved

What do you see # 294- 23 June, 2025