They were all injured, several near death. Luckily we had one of our doctors with us. She had five people with her that she'd been training. They had already learned a lot. The six of them saved those near death. You should have seen the look on young Roberts face. Ten year old Robert. He looked up at Heather, the doctor, and smiled. He had tears in his eyes, but he was smilling. Ten years old and Robert had just saved a life. A precious life. He looked over at the rest of us and said "Now I feel useful."
The other trainees were thrilled as well, but none as much so as Robert. Robert has found his capacity for joy.
Others have found joy too. Not only are we surviving, we are healing.
When the group of people had recovered enough, we headed home, taking them with us. We encountered a search party on the way home. We'd been gone long enough to cause them to worry. When they sighted us they shot a flare into the sky, one of the few flares we have, to signal to the others that we'd been found. There was a total of three parties out looking for us.
On the way home we got the story of what had happened to the group of people we'd found. I'll relate it to you.
They'd numbered seventy four people at first. Before the war they'd lived in Eureka. A storm ruined what was left of their home. Twenty six people died in the flood the storm caused. They felt they had no hope of survival if they remained in their home.
Gathering what few possesions they still had, they headed south. They'd been walking for days, perhaps weeks. They didn't know how long, when three people died from the cold. They continued on, after burying the dead. They walked, not knowing what else to do.
After many more days of walking, they were attacked by a wolf. They had no weapons, no means of defense. The wolf had killed six people before they were able to kill it. Six fewer people. Again they buried the dead, and continued on. Several were injured, and they set a slow pace. That night, the first after the wolf attack, they ate the last of their food.
Despair was all that they had in the morning. One man, shrieking his rage at the sky, threw himself off a cliff. The others went on. They had to unless they all wanted to end up giving in to the despair, as the one who'd thrown himself off the cliff had.
They found food as they went along. Fruits and vegetables. It wasn't much, but it put something in their stomachs. The next night they were attacked by four wolves. They had no choice but to run. Twenty one survived by climbing trees, where the wolves couldn't get them.
Still they continued with stubborn determination. None of them had survived unharmed. They stopped for the night then. They didn't continue anymore. They were sore, tired, injured, and no longer cared to go on.
They weren't sure how many days went by before we found them. They only knew that it was more than two days.
This story was given to us from many mouths, but I believe that we finally got the whole story.
They're fine now, recovering in mind as well as body. They still have a way to go, but their hope has been returned. They now have something other than despair to look forward to.
Christine
