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Aiden Shaw emerged from the forest where the hiking trail crested a last final ridge, revealing below him an alpine valley that still took his breath away despite his having been here an uncountable number of times in his 66 years. Whenever he'd felt the need to get away from it all, this was where he'd ended up. This small valley had always been a majestic place for Aiden: the Three Sisters mountain peaks each rose to more than 10,000 feet to the west of him; Broken Top to the south stood at over 9,000; and to the north and east were cinder buttes and rolling hills that -- at night -- blocked out the artificial lighting of the distant farms and ranches, towns and cities of Central Oregon, leaving him with the feeling that he was truly in the middle of a wondrous nowhere.
Aiden was suddenly aware of his heavy breathing from the end of his third day of hiking. Some of those traveling with him had often asked if he wanted to rest, but Aiden had resisted. The 66 year old had become more frail over the last dozen years, and those who had been with him during that time couldn't have helped but notice. But Aiden was a proud man, and he'd been determined to make the hike over the sometimes snow buried trail. This valley -- their destination -- was more than just a place to relax and reflect, as it had been in the years and decades before: it was now their home.
"This is it?" a nearby voice asked with obvious disappointment. Tommy Kern surveyed the land before him, then looked back to Aiden and said with a softer, slightly less heart broken tone, "There's ... nothing here. This is the home of Humanity two-point-oh?"
"New Hope, we will call it, my friend," Aiden said in a soft voice as he approached and stood next to the young man who had eagerly led the group into the wilderness but was now wondering whether he'd made a mistake. Aiden reassured him, "You see nothing but wide open, empty space, my friend. But trust me. All we need to survive ... and thrive ... will be provided by The Mother."
The Mother...
Tommy was new to the group, so he didn't share the religious or spiritual philosophies of the core membership of the group that had hiked into the wilderness behind him. About a quarter of the 50 men, women, and children had been residents on the commune back at Sweet Home on which Aiden had been an Elder; and another quarter were friends and family of the first, people who hadn't lived on the property but who had flocked to it when the plague began to tear their world apart. The residents had had a very natural, peaceful, planet friendly existence, living almost entirely off that which they raised or grew on the hundred acre commune. Another quarter of those here today had been indirectly assocaitIn fact, they'd produced more than they consumed, which led to the second quarter of those present, people who had been Another quarter or so had been friends or family of the first quarter. Yet another quarter had been people with direct or indirect connections to the commune's organic food production or other The other 25 or so people who simply tagalongs, survivors of the plague that was right now in the process of killing off almost all of Earth's mammalian life: humans and apes, cats and dogs, horses and cows, coyotes and rabbits ... lions and tigers and bears, oh my, Tommy had said or thought more than once in a humorous attempt to grapple with the most tragic die off of animals in almost 66 million years.
only been with the group a couple of months -- since the virus struck in November, just six months ago. But in that time Tommy had come to learn a great deal about Aiden, about his people, about their philosophies, and more.
"Everything we need is here," Aiden said with a reassuring tone. He reached out to touch the younger man gently on the cheek as was part of his grandfatherly nature, and continued, "Mother Nature will provide ... and we will create a new life here for ourselves."
Tommy watched Aiden descended the grassy slope toward the lake below, encouraging the others to follow. Tommy looked into the face of the men, women, and children as they, too, passed. They surveyed the valley as had Tommy and Aiden before them, and Tommy realized from their expressions of awe that he was most definitely the odd man out in this group. The others were all smiles at they pointed out the beautiful facets of the landscape, wondered about what foods they might forage, or already began considering where the communal houses and chicken coops and other outbuildings might be best located.
Hippies, he thought to himself. Commune, dope smoking, acid dropping hippies. Of course, they weren't. Well, okay, some of them were. But for the most post, Elder Shaw's entourage -- numbering just over 50 -- were just people who yearned for a simple, peaceful life away from the mayhem of the now dying world beyond the Wilderness. The survivors of the most tragic event in human history had followed Aiden here to this isolated piece of wildness from the small town of Sweet Home with an eye on creating a new type of community, one based on peace and shared prosperity, without the trappings of technology or -- most importantly -- the fear and pain that came with the possession and use of weapons.
Tommy casually reached to his belly, feeling the small five shot .38 concealed beneath his shirt. Despite its prohibition, Tommy simply hadn't been able to force himself to leave it behind at the commune on which most of the people with him now had originated. It was hard to imagine that Elder Shaw's declaration of faith that peace would prevail
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after it had succumbed to the ravages of the virus spreading across the globe. They couldn't know it yet, but the killer bug would eventually kill over 99% of mammalian life across Earth:
No one knew where the virus had originated, though some suspected it had been a result of human engineering. The fact that within a single week it had emerged in more than 30 countries across the globe spoke of biologic terrorism. There had been debate about why someone -- or some government -- would create a bug that would kill mammals other than humans; but at the same time others had pointed out that that likely hadn't been intentional ... or avoidable, who knew?
Aiden Shaw emerged from the forest where the hiking trail crested a last final ridge, revealing below him an alpine valley that still took his breath away despite his having been here an uncountable number of times in his 66 years. Whenever he'd felt the need to get away from it all, this was where he'd ended up. This small valley had always been a majestic place for Aiden: the Three Sisters mountain peaks each rose to more than 10,000 feet to the west of him; Broken Top to the south stood at over 9,000; and to the north and east were cinder buttes and rolling hills that -- at night -- blocked out the artificial lighting of the distant farms and ranches, towns and cities of Central Oregon, leaving him with the feeling that he was truly in the middle of a wondrous nowhere.
Aiden was suddenly aware of his heavy breathing from the end of his third day of hiking. Some of those traveling with him had often asked if he wanted to rest, but Aiden had resisted. The 66 year old had become more frail over the last dozen years, and those who had been with him during that time couldn't have helped but notice. But Aiden was a proud man, and he'd been determined to make the hike over the sometimes snow buried trail. This valley -- their destination -- was more than just a place to relax and reflect, as it had been in the years and decades before: it was now their home.
"This is it?" a nearby voice asked with obvious disappointment. Tommy Kern surveyed the land before him, then looked back to Aiden and said with a softer, slightly less heart broken tone, "There's ... nothing here. This is the home of Humanity two-point-oh?"
"New Hope, we will call it, my friend," Aiden said in a soft voice as he approached and stood next to the young man who had eagerly led the group into the wilderness but was now wondering whether he'd made a mistake. Aiden reassured him, "You see nothing but wide open, empty space, my friend. But trust me. All we need to survive ... and thrive ... will be provided by The Mother."
The Mother...
Tommy was new to the group, so he didn't share the religious or spiritual philosophies of the core membership of the group that had hiked into the wilderness behind him. About a quarter of the 50 men, women, and children had been residents on the commune back at Sweet Home on which Aiden had been an Elder; and another quarter were friends and family of the first, people who hadn't lived on the property but who had flocked to it when the plague began to tear their world apart. The residents had had a very natural, peaceful, planet friendly existence, living almost entirely off that which they raised or grew on the hundred acre commune. Another quarter of those here today had been indirectly assocaitIn fact, they'd produced more than they consumed, which led to the second quarter of those present, people who had been Another quarter or so had been friends or family of the first quarter. Yet another quarter had been people with direct or indirect connections to the commune's organic food production or other The other 25 or so people who simply tagalongs, survivors of the plague that was right now in the process of killing off almost all of Earth's mammalian life: humans and apes, cats and dogs, horses and cows, coyotes and rabbits ... lions and tigers and bears, oh my, Tommy had said or thought more than once in a humorous attempt to grapple with the most tragic die off of animals in almost 66 million years.
only been with the group a couple of months -- since the virus struck in November, just six months ago. But in that time Tommy had come to learn a great deal about Aiden, about his people, about their philosophies, and more.
"Everything we need is here," Aiden said with a reassuring tone. He reached out to touch the younger man gently on the cheek as was part of his grandfatherly nature, and continued, "Mother Nature will provide ... and we will create a new life here for ourselves."
Tommy watched Aiden descended the grassy slope toward the lake below, encouraging the others to follow. Tommy looked into the face of the men, women, and children as they, too, passed. They surveyed the valley as had Tommy and Aiden before them, and Tommy realized from their expressions of awe that he was most definitely the odd man out in this group. The others were all smiles at they pointed out the beautiful facets of the landscape, wondered about what foods they might forage, or already began considering where the communal houses and chicken coops and other outbuildings might be best located.
Hippies, he thought to himself. Commune, dope smoking, acid dropping hippies. Of course, they weren't. Well, okay, some of them were. But for the most post, Elder Shaw's entourage -- numbering just over 50 -- were just people who yearned for a simple, peaceful life away from the mayhem of the now dying world beyond the Wilderness. The survivors of the most tragic event in human history had followed Aiden here to this isolated piece of wildness from the small town of Sweet Home with an eye on creating a new type of community, one based on peace and shared prosperity, without the trappings of technology or -- most importantly -- the fear and pain that came with the possession and use of weapons.
Tommy casually reached to his belly, feeling the small five shot .38 concealed beneath his shirt. Despite its prohibition, Tommy simply hadn't been able to force himself to leave it behind at the commune on which most of the people with him now had originated. It was hard to imagine that Elder Shaw's declaration of faith that peace would prevail
(continue editing here).
after it had succumbed to the ravages of the virus spreading across the globe. They couldn't know it yet, but the killer bug would eventually kill over 99% of mammalian life across Earth:
No one knew where the virus had originated, though some suspected it had been a result of human engineering. The fact that within a single week it had emerged in more than 30 countries across the globe spoke of biologic terrorism. There had been debate about why someone -- or some government -- would create a bug that would kill mammals other than humans; but at the same time others had pointed out that that likely hadn't been intentional ... or avoidable, who knew?