Chapter Five: Road Trip

Rachel started packing her bag. She had absolutely no idea what to bring. Clothes? Clothing hadn't really worn out since A-Day. She had two outfits. Washing machines hadn't been around for half a year, but she hadn't missed them. Someone had dug out a few hand washboards, and they had been passed around the congregation as needed. Rachel had scrubbed one outfit a night and left them to dry. The colors hadn't faded, the fabric hadn't worn.

So should I bother with taking extra clothes? Nobody came to A-Day in their finest outfits. It had been a survival situation then.

A year before, she would have had to organize local money, passports, medications... Now she had just put things in a bag. She still had her phone. The towers hadn't been up since A-Day, but she still had her digital Bible, camera, notebook, music...

Do I get to keep these things? She asked herself as she slipped the device in her pocket.

Knock knock.

It was Amelia. Rachel smiled a little. "Saying goodbye to you and Max this morning was hard. Please don't make me go through it all again."

"Feeling nostalgic, I guess; now that he's back." Amelia smiled a little at her. "When we started studying, I was really worried."

Rachel let out a bark of laughter. "You mentioned that. But here I am, all the same."

"I know, you've heard it before. But you've got about sixty IQ points on me, and you knew more about the natural world and it's basic principles than I ever did." Amelia smiled. "Part of me was terrified that if I admitted ignorance on any of your questions, I'd lose you. I was afraid that if I wasn't equal to the task, then you'd decide that religion was a crock, and you'd never look back."

Rachel squeezed Amelia's hand. "When we started studying together, you taught me that part about how the Truth was progressively revealed. I was part of the generation that had more light than ever before. A hundred years of research, expansion, reasoning and collation."

Amelia chuckled. "In other words, once you found a database you could search, you didn't need me any more."

"Ohh, don't sell yourself short. What I learned from you was the most important part." Rachel admitted. "Did I ever say thank you?"

"Several times. But you know you never have to."

She'd said her goodbyes and was about to move on, when she noticed a small commotion at the plaza. "Beckah, what's going on?" She called across to her dorm-mate.

"Postman came early this week!" Beckah called back.

~~/*\~~

Alec was their newest Postman. He had originally been in France, but the brothers who carried the Post had organized to go further than individual circuits. The global Brotherhood was still sorting out communications over a long distance. The older methods were the ones that worked best. Alec had made his way to London, sorting letters in his cargo with other Postmen as he'd gone. Everyone was trying to get in touch with others, to see who was left, who was prospering...

One thing that all Postmen carried was the Census. Every time they made the rounds, they would update the names and locations of people, and every time they stopped at another congregation, the updates would be added to the list, for everyone to view at leisure.  By the time Rachel and Beckah arrived, the updated Census had already been posted.

"Brothers and sisters!" Alec announced. "On the last round of the local congregations, I met with a Postman who was working the Birmingham circuit. I was able to pass on the letters that some of you wrote last time, and you can expect to hear responses in the next week. I also received letters from further afield that had made their way in this direction. So, if you'll gather around-"

Everyone already was. After two visits the routine was already settled. Alec pulled bundles of letters out of his bag, and started calling out names. Some people had a dozen, most had none. Rachel had no mail, but she stayed around until the delivery was done. There were always a few people eager for news, looking for word from beyond their area. Once the mail was delivered, Alec shared what he knew, but it wasn't much. Communications were the top priority, but given the huge distances involved, it was going to take a while. Several brothers had rigged working radios to communicate, but that wasn't a global solution.

"Now, the good news is that they're organizing. People with skills are being summoned to various places, some of them close by. Anyone who wants to volunteer their services, there's a list of jobs at the notice board with the census." Alec told them. "Also, the postal network is organizing quickly. I travel across three circuits at the moment. Between stops, I meet with other postmen, who have letters addressed to my next destination, and by then I have some letters heading back the way I came. Nice guys. You'll like them."

There was a warm reaction to that. New faces were still rare.

"I should let you know that there are some instructions trickling down from the higher ups." Alec told them. "First of all, there's more than just the kids to look after. Animals in the farms need tending to. We're directed to start stockpiling. Textiles and lumber primarily. There will be no shortage of work ahead; but like everything else, it can start slowly and build."

"It's a little counter-intuitive, Brother Ducard." Sheridan called. "We've spent over a hundred years working urgently, and now we're told to rest easy."

~~/*\~~

It took a while for Alec to work his way through all the people who wanted to make small talk. Alec was also surrounded by people who were offering travel supplies and letters to deliver. Rachel recognized the offer of supply for what it was. Partially to welcome a newcomer, and partially a barter for his deliveries. The Postmen were part of a small group that was working constantly, while most of the survivors were still sorting out what needed to be done. Being a Postman was a lifestyle. Part of Rachel envied him for it.

"Brother Ducard, we haven't met." Rachel held out a hand. "The last guy through here gave me my 'assignment'. I have to get to The Conference in Hong Kong, and I hear that there's only a few travel options available for that kind of hike."

Alec heard the word 'Conference' and started digging out a notebook. "Yeah, just a second... yeah, here it is." He found what he was looking for in the notes. "The Conference is calling on a few hundred people from the other side of the Atlantic too, apparently. They're sorting transport out, but... It's not like there are a whole lot of airlines running. Some of our people are pilots, and they're offering their services, but they're scattered. And for this kind of flight..."

"Hard to get a jumbo working and fueled, I agree." Rachel nodded. "Time is on our side now. What's my best bet?"

Alec was still flicking through his notebook. "According to the Ham Radio network, they're connecting up railways. It's one of the few methods of transport that's long range and fairly apocalypse-proof. The food riots wiped out the roads, wiped out the airports. Nobody much cared about the railways." He checked his notebook carefully. "Trans-Manchurian railway. Berlin to Moscow. Moscow to Beijing. From there you can probably find a shorter train ride; maybe hitch a lift."

(Author's note: The key to writing any Post-Apocalypse story is figuring out what's left when the dust settles. We have no direct information on that topic, at least not in the early days. Part of the reason JSY began at the 200 year mark, was to escape that question mark. I took this route, because there'll be no hurry.)

"Then I must get to Germany." Rachel said briskly. "You mentioned that was your next stop. You have a vehicle, and I don't. Could I trouble you for a ride as far in that direction as you're going?"

Alec hesitated, stammered a bit.

Rachel waved a hand absently. "I know there have been rules about single brothers and sisters traveling together. We'd be in the same car for a while, but you're a postman, you'll be making plenty of stops. And after all, it's not like we'll be starting any gossip." She sent a glance upwards. "Such things are not really an issue any more."

"Aren't they? To be honest, I'm not entirely certain about sin and consequences these days." Alec remarked.

"Well... I'm not either, so I think it's safe to say we'll behave ourselves." Rachel quipped.

Alec was still hesitating, and finally gave a tiny nod.

"Good then." Rachel said smartly, and headed off to put her bag in his car. "Don't leave without me."

Finished with his work, Alec followed her to set his empty bag down too. He opened the backseat for her, set his bag down with hers, and it thumped a bit harder on the car-seat than an empty sack should. Rachel raised an eyebrow as he smirked and reached back into it; withdrawing three expensive looking envelopes with a smile. "I check this bag carefully every single time... And the minute I'm done checking, there's a 'special delivery'."

Rachel felt the hairs on the back of her neck raise. "I got one of those. I didn't know they came 'special'."

Alec nodded. "They're coming up all over the place. You won't be traveling alone."

Rachel looked as he tucked them away. "Why are they not just 'in the pile'? Why do they come after the fact?"

"They aren't just invitations, they're assignments. It's not just another mail call. When brothers got key assignments in the old days, they were warned about bragging about it, developing a haughty attitude." Alec looked at the small stack. "But this is only my second time here, sister. Can you help me deliver these?"

Rachel nodded and looked. "Beckah is my current dorm-mate. I'll deliver that one myself... Amelia? She just had her husband returned yesterday. You'll find her in the Reception Hall."

~~/*\~~

"First time I've gotten into a car since A-Day." Beckah observed. "I appreciate you guys waiting for me. It's not like I can hitchhike."

"Well, we can't take you the whole way." Alec put in. "But you're welcome."

"But as it happens, we're getting a lot closer to your destination than mine." Rachel added. "And I think Alec would feel better with a chaperone along. You made your goodbyes?"

Beckah nodded. "Incoming."

Rachel looked, and rolled her eyes. "Ren, you don't have to do this every time someone arrives or leaves." She told him. "Aren't you out of film yet?"

"Not yet. I got a few candid shots of you putting your bags in the car, though." Ren strode up with his camera. "These are the days we'll be talking about for a thousand years, Sister Bridger. Who knows which moments are going to be the ones we want to keep?"

Beckah giggled, still pleased to be standing up in photos for a change, and she posed with Rachel, putting Alec between them.

~~/*\~~

"Feels strange, sitting in the backseat. I've never been in a car without hoisting myself out of a wheelchair first."

Alec heard that and smiled broadly at her. "Must have been quite a day for you, then."

There was only one day he could be talking about, and they all knew it. A soft smile crossed their faces, but not enough to make them smile at each other. "Does it seem like we don't talk about That Day too often?" Beckah commented. "I mean, we all talk about the day after, and the time before, but we rarely talk about that exact moment."

"Heavy topic, B." Rachel admitted. "I mean, in centuries past, they observed the Passover. But I bet you the topic they preferred to talk about was the day of the Exodus, and not the night of the tenth plague. Less... drama. At least of the 'firstborn' variety."

"Our kids will barely remember the world before. Our grandkids will never know what a 'hospital' is." Beckah slapped her legs. "It was a rough day for the people who thought they had us licked, I'll grant you, but... We were crowded around the windows, trying to see the pitch black sky, and I got a better view by standing up for the first time since I was a kid." She shrugged. "Believe me, I've got plenty to say about That Day."

Alec chuckled. "I heard about a congregation with a huge percentage of older ones. They held a celebratory bonfire and lit up every walking stick, every wheelchair, every walking frame, even the dentures."

Beckah turned in her seat. "You need some new clothes for the trip? It looks like what you've got still fits."

Clothing did not wear out. But that didn't mean it still fit. Most of the western world had a less than healthy diet. Months sitting at a miracle Table meant that everyone was approaching a healthy weight. Those that were bent from age or illness were suddenly lean and fit again. Some nations, where malnourishment was the rule, the clothing they wore was now too small. Beckah noticed her pants getting tight. Fifteen years in a wheelchair had atrophied her legs, and now they were healthy again. New clothing was being handmade as fast as possible, but Rachel was leaving; and they had no idea what the supply situation was at the other end of her trip.

Rachel chuckled. "No, mine still fit. For now, anyway. Personally, I'm still holding out hope to get an inch or two taller. Or curvier." She shrugged impishly at Beckah. "It could happen."

~~/*\~~

Early in their trip, Rachel realized that Beckah wasn't the chaperone in the car. She was. The car had enough room for two in the front, three in the back. There were only three of them, plus their bags, so it was a comfortable enough ride.

Beckah rode in the front seat, and Rachel listened to them talk for a full day. After twenty minutes, she smiled to herself and wondered if either of them remembered she was there.

"Is it fun? Being a postman?" Beckah asked.

"In my case, it was terrifying." Alec admitted. "I never actually left Paris. Born and raised there, never went anywhere else. I'll be honest with you, I didn't really know the rest of the world existed. Not really. Going to another city was the same as going to the moon. Theoretically possible, but not happening."

"And then it all happened." Beckah nodded.

"I think they gave me the job as a Postman to prove to me that the old days really were over."

"How do you figure?"

"Well, the thing is, it didn't feel like real life." Alec offered. "Like when you go on vacation. You're not at home, you're in someone else's place, doing things you've never done. It's not your real life." Alec shrugged. "Since leaving home six months ago, I've been having the same feeling, like the real world was waiting for me to get back to it." He sighed. "So they made me a postman, first thing I did was drive through the old city, past my old place." he shook his head. "I'll never expect 'real life' again."

Beckah slapped her thigh. "I never had that problem. Every time I move these legs I get reminded where I am." She smiled impishly over her shoulder at Rachel. "I hope I never take that for granted."

Rachel nodded. "I told you about Jacques? The guy I was living with when I met Max and Amy?"

Beckah nodded.

"Every time he saw me with a Bible or a Watchtower, he started quoting 'Peter Pan'."

"The book, or the movie?" Alec asked. "Or the musical? Or the other movie? Or the remake of the other movie?"

She leaned forward and swatted him lightly. "The book. It was his way of telling me what he thought of my new interest. He dumped me when he realized I wasn't stopping, and he's gone now. Don't make fun."

"Never would." Alec promised. "I read it when I was a kid. I get where your guy was coming from. But for me, the movie to compare isn't Peter Pan. It's Lord of the Rings."

"What?" Rachel laughed.

"At the end of the last movie, there was a scene where the heroes had made it home, and they were back in their local pub, having a drink. After an epic story of war, loss, destruction and fear, they had all made it; and came home safe. They left as kids who stole vegetables and played jokes; they came home as war heroes. There was someone in the cinema when I saw it? I could hear them outright sobbing at that scene."

"The end of the journey." Rachel agreed.

"A journey we've all taken too. Overwhelming enemies, impossible to survive, last minute rescue out of nowhere; and the Dark Lord is defeated; all his armies broken." Alec almost laughed. "We've all made the epic journey now."

"Eternal youth, beautiful land, no fear. Yeah, Jacques thought I was worshiping a fairytale." Rachel sighed. "How does a JW stop believing in fairytales, and keep believing in this?"

"Cautious as serpents, gentle as doves, I guess." Beckah offered. "Besides, we don't have to keep the faith in a promise anymore. We're here. What we see is what we get, at least it is now."

"Neverland, Beckah. Rachel isn't wrong. In a lot of ways, we need faith now more than ever. I lived through That Day, and I just couldn't process it for weeks." Alec admitted. "To this day, I'm still looking over my shoulder every time I go someplace I've never been. I have a car now, but back when I started, I was on a bicycle. I still listened for cars, I still wondered about how safe the next intersection will be. Back in the Old Days, you just... never risked it. At least during the GT. Going outside? Just to 'go for a walk'."

"Old habits." Beckah admitted. "I admit, I still check my pockets for my inhaler, check my jacket for my epi-pen when I eat. Haven't needed either in a while, but I still check to see if they're there."

"Epi-pen? You had food allergies?"

"Fatal ones." Beckah nodded. "Peanuts and shellfish."

He smiled. "Me too. Peanuts, I mean."

Rachel, in the backseat, was being very quiet. She didn't think either of them realized it yet, but she was watching them start their lives together.

~~/*\~~

Beckah and Rachel were both headed to Berlin. Alec was headed somewhere closer, though taking a roundabout route. Since it was his car, and his generosity they were making use of, the sisters agreed to that.

When they stopped to eat at an empty, dusty restaurant, Alec had gone to look in the kitchen. The power was long since out, and the little food left within spoiled, but Alec was looking for something in particular.

As Beckah turned a table and chairs right side up and wiped them clean, Alec came over with a large wooden box in his hands. "Bordeaux." Alec took the case back to the car directly, returned with a single bottle and gave them both a big smile. "Check the label! This is from the most prestigious vineyard in France. It's probably the last vintage bottled before A-Day; and the whole case is untouched."

"Makes sense. A cafe this far out into the hills? Probably a pretty exclusive place." Rachel observed the view. "They'd be aging the case for a while. "I'm betting you found others?"

"Smashed and stolen. You know how it was at the end." Alec nodded. "The owner must have had this hidden for himself." He looked around. "Glasses?"

"Um, actually; not for me." Beckah asked suddenly. "I know that there's no danger, and I know that there's little traffic, and I know that one glass won't…" She looked down. "Having a drink and then getting in a car is still a whole ‘area' for me."

Alec swiftly understood, and put the bottle down. "Sorry, Beckah; I didn't even think of that."

"No reason you should, but you go ahead." Beckah insisted.

There was a little awkwardness now, and Rachel quickly stepped in. "Only one glass anyway. Tell you what, let me try a little, and I'll drive. You two can kill off the bottle." Before they could make noises about that not being fair, she waved them off. "I've been in the backseat for most of the ride; I can take over for a bit." She sipped at the sample Alec poured her. "Mm. Good stuff. You a wine aficionado, Alec?"

"Not an expert, but I am French, after all." Alec excused. "I figure in ten years, fifty, a hundred; that case will be some of the best in the world."

"I look forward to comparing." Beckah said with a smile, completely oblivious to the fact that she had just secured herself a glass from a bottle Alec wasn't planning to open until the next century. "Hey! Look'it that!"

The two of them turned back towards the road, and found it occupied with people. Some of them on foot, some sitting in the back of a trailer as it was towed by a car too small to really fit the image.

"Practically everyone left in the world is on the move." Alec told them both as the traffic passed by. "Everyone's trying to find people. Tribulation started and thousands of people weren't where they wanted to be."

"I remember." Beckah agreed. "Everyone who lived more than ten minutes from family were suddenly trying to get back to them. People moved about in their lives for assignment, marriage, work... But when the announcement of the Final Revelation Act was decreed, everyone wanted to go home; but the world changed so fast almost none of them made it to where they were going. "I guess the End Time is Family Time." She sounded a little melancholy. Her mother was not in her local area when The Day came; but Beckah knew she wasn't likely to have survived. "My dad… He was close to making a decision when GT started. He saw what The Truth did for me, after the accident… But I still have no idea if he's here."

"Well, think good thoughts." Alec nodded. "GT was a good time to have a global brotherhood. A phone-call was enough to get most people safely situated until it was all over. But now the dust has settled, everyone is trying to get in touch. Communications and Transport are the most important things now. It's why most people aren't getting assignments like the three of us did. Wherever they are, they're either not staying, or they have the same job."

~~/*\~~

"We've been driving for two days." Rachel observed. "Do you refuel when I'm asleep or something?"

Beckah leaned forward, coming between the chairs enough to check the dashboard. "The fuel gauge has barely moved."

"Don't know what to tell you, ladies." Alec said with a smile. "The fuel lasts as long as I need it to."

Rachel actually winced and shook her head. "Of course it does." She sighed, sounding annoyed.

"You think that's impressive, Rachel?" Alec teased. "Imagine how grateful we are that the toilet paper doesn't run out either."

Rachel found that to be very funny.

"There's precedent." Beckah offered. "In the Bible, I mean. oil lasting longer than made sense, Jesus feeding crowds of thousands with a few loaves... and..." She trailed off as she looked out the front window. "What the heck is that?!"

Alec pulled the car to a halt. "I have no idea."

In front of them in the empty road was a large dust cloud. And it was getting closer. Rachel rolled up her window automatically as the dust got closer.... and then they realized what they were looking at. "Cows?"

Alec was staring blankly. "Cows." He confirmed.

There were hundreds of them. Maybe thousands of them. Huge, fattened cows, wandering down the street, in no particular hurry. It took almost ten minutes for them to shuffle past the car, surrounding them as they shuffled past. The three in the car just stared blankly out their windows. Once the cows were past, the dust settled, and Alec finally moved, reaching out to flick on the windshield wipers.

Long silence.

"Okay." Beckah said finally from the backseat. "What just happened?"

Rachel bit her lip. "Cattle farm." She said finally. "There must be a cattle farm somewhere around." She turned to Alec. "Drive on, and if we see cows hanging around the side of the road, I'll be sure I'm right."

Alec drove on, and since they were looking for it, it didn't take them long to realize that Rachel was right. In groups of one to three, there were cows milling about anywhere on the side of the road that had thick grass. Alec glanced over at Rachel. "How'd you know?"

"Well, I'm assuming you got that Miracle Feast, on the Day After." Rachel reasoned. "And did it occur to you that there was meat?"

"Yeah." They both said, wondering where she was going with this.

"Well, I was thinking: That food wasn't grown, wasn't prepared in a kitchen. It was conjured miraculously. Same for the meat. There was no animal being slaughtered, no butcher shop. It just appeared, cooked, carved and on the plate." Rachel said. "I remember reading that before the Flood, we were vegetarian. God gave permission to eat meat after the flood was done." She waved behind them, where the herd had gone. "I was a climate scientist a year ago, and I can tell you, the meat industry takes something like 30% of agriculture land. Millions of gallons of water, turned into thousands of pounds of feed, to make one pound of hamburger. The cattle farms are basically animal prison camps; packed into pens so tight they can't even move. Those cows that walked past? This is probably the first time in their lives that they've seen real grass, instead of hay or feed tossed at them off a truck."

"So you figure we won't be eating meat anymore, since the only way we have to get it is to slaughter living animals." Alec guessed. "Which means those cows were... what? Freed from the farms, and told to go live out their lives?"

"All God would have to do is keep them from breeding. They can live out their lifespan in comfort, and we don't have a population explosion of animals that we can't handle yet." Rachel grinned impishly. "He might have to do the same for us."

Alec was awed. "Think about what that means. It means we weren't the only ones waiting for this… It means every cow, crammed into a pen, forcibly fattened up… Every animal with a chain wrapped around its neck so tight it drew blood… That verse, about how the animals live in harmony? Think about what that means for them. It means that every mouse who was terrified of a cat, every rabbit afraid of the hawk… They all live in harmony now. It means no living creature on this planet ever has to feel fear. Not ever again. Somewhere out there is the first mouse to be spared by a hungry cat."

Beckah sighed. "I had to leave the cat behind when the final order came down against us. I never found her again." She shook her head. "Part of me hoped that God would let me keep my pet forever."

Alec was silent a moment. "It's one we didn't talk about as often. Predators and prey. Isaiah 65. 'The wolf and the lamb will feed together, the lion will eat straw just like the bull."

"They will do no harm nor cause any ruin in all my holy mountain,' says Jehovah." Beckah finished the quotation.

"If all the animals live in harmony, then it means the predator/prey cycle is shut down. If that includes us..." Rachel shook her head. "It hardly matters. Even if we're not forbidden from eating meat, it'll be a much smaller part of our diet. More than a quarter of the climate change problem came from the meat industry. I was vegetarian long before we got here. If we're going to restore the world, it's going to be a fundamental change in the way we do everything."

"But..." Alec frowned. "If we all have to go vegetarian forever, then what's the point of eternal life?"

Beckah laughed at that, long and loud.