It wasn’t going to be easy.
Not like with the west.
For nearly two months, Gabe and his brother worked as a team, scouring the west portion of the country for towns and villages that remained unscathed, not hit by the eruptions.
Billings, Colorado Springs and other areas were being cleared and deemed rebuilding areas.
Bringing those who lived, together, made things easier. Many times Gabe and Owen would spot survivors, sometimes alone, sometimes in groups. If they wanted to join the rebuilding, fine, if not, Gabe and Owen moved on.
No sweat off their back.
Gabe waited patiently for the okay to go east.
When the time came, he thought he was ready.
He wasn’t.
He heard about what happened, but to see it was a different story.
Two hundred miles inland of the east coast everything was gone. Every major city that he knew of on the east coast, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, not only washed away, but was buried beneath the new coastal seaboard.
The waters receded, but not enough.
They had never heard from Gainesville, not a word or peep.
From the looks of things, Gabe figured like everywhere else in Florida it was underwater. But they’d find out soon. It was on their flight schedule.
He didn’t hold out much hope.
The Mississippi River didn’t just flood, it expanded burying as far north as Memphis.
Lakes flooded as well. Something Gabe was slightly aware of but didn’t realize the full extent of until he arrived in Cleveland to see how a violent flood had flattened everything near the lake.
Delaney’s neighborhood wasn’t near the lake, but it was destroyed by the storms.
The nearest clearing to land the small plane was two miles away and Owen complained about the walk.
But they made it to what Gabe believed was her street, he couldn’t be one hundred percent sure though.
“Are we ready?” Owen asked.
Gabe ran his thumb over the action figure. “Do you know what wrestler this is?”
“No.”
“I think I should know him.”
“I think we should go,” Owen said. “This wasn’t an authorized stop.”
“And what are they going to do? Take away our duties.” Gabe put the figure in his pocket. “No. We work too hard.”
“Did you just … take that doll?”
“Figure, action figure and yes.”
“Strange. So …” Owen held out his arm. “We’re here. Are you satisfied? Did you find what you needed other than that doll?”
“Action figure. And … I suppose I did. I got an answer. Everything is gone. I made a promise, probably more to myself. And I kept it.”
“I think if you didn’t come here it would haunt you.”
“I agree.”
“Are you ready?”
“Yeah. West Virginia here we come,” Gabe said less than enthusiastically.
“I have a feeling that whole state is fine, they just have been ignoring the radio calls.”
Gabe laughed and then paused to look back at the debris. The splinters of wood and piles of bricks that were once homes.
There was no way to know what house was which, but Gabe’s gut told him he found Delaney’s home, or what remained of it.
He trusted his gut instinct because since the onset of the whole ordeal his instinct had always been right.
Just like his instinct told him, even though his mission to go to Cleveland was over, the search for Delaney wasn’t.
She wasn’t dead or buried beneath the ruins of Cleveland. Gabe believed she found her brother, found her family … found her peace. Gabe truly believed that. With every ounce of his being he felt she was out there, somewhere, alive.
One day he’d run into her.
One day.
Just like one day Gabe and Owen would find the peace that still eluded them, like countless others, turmoiled and troubled by their loss and what happened to the world. However, the brothers, never apart, kept moving.
Would that peace come? Probably … eventually.
For the time being they were motivated by the memory of their father and all that he stood for. They embarked on a journey to find all the life they could in a dead world. Salvage what remained to build what would become.
It was a good journey. One that would last for a long time.
And as long as there was life out there, there was reason to keep going.
<><><><>
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