Installment Three Of Rowan's Journey

She slowly pulled out of the garage and parked next to the side door to the house. For some strange reason Rowan was relieved that they could not be seen from the street. She felt a need to be careful and not draw too much attention to them. She got the car seat out of the Prius and installed it in the 4Runner. Having extra room now, Rowan decided to get some more things from the house. They went into the kitchen and Rowan pulled the extra grocery bags from underneath the sink. Trying to keep Joshua and herself calm she asked the toddler to load a bag full of cans from the bottom cupboard. As the boy worked Rowan cleaned out the cupboards and loaded all of the food into the SUV. She also grabbed all of the food from the refrigerator and freezer. Over the last six months Rowan had become a bit of a prepper. She had been watching Glen Beck and following a few different stories on the Internet. Something about having extra things stored away made her feel safe. She had started buying extra food and stowing it away in her bedroom closet. She had saved up enough food to last two adults six months and enough water for two or more weeks. Rowan set her son to task and he was loading up his little radio flyer wagon with bottles of water. Some of the food was in a Rubbermaid tub, which Rowan now realized was way too heavy to move. Filling every bag in the house, she loaded every bit of food into the Fore Runner. They were almost ready to go and at the last minute Rowan grabbed the extra blankets from the closet and two sleeping bags. Ready to leave the house now, she took one last look around and sighed. She had no idea how long it would be before they would come home.

Rowan strapped Joshua into the car seat and buckled herself in. Joshua’s Dad’s place was not that far away but she had no idea what they would find on the road. It was a great property just outside of town and was surrounded by 150 acres of farm land. In the back there was a small stand of trees with a pond. The property itself had a large outbuilding, an old well, and a vegetable garden. The house was a ranch style 3 bedroom 2 bathe home. It was bought at auction and completely remodeled, including a small apartment in what used to be the garage. There was a wood stove, a fourteen gallon reverse osmosis water reserve in the basement. It was off city utilities and used a propane tank that was kept full always. The place was a pretty good start to self sustainability. Not yet off the grid but with great potential for it. The home also had sentimental value, as it was the house Joshua was born in.

As they pulled out of the driveway Rowan realized the Prius was blocking the driveway. She thought about trying to push it out of the way but decided just to drive through the yard. As she drove down the lawn people started to look at them. Rowan noticed all of the cars just sitting in the driveways. Her next door neighbor asked how she got the car started. Rowan shrugged her shoulders and yelled it just started. There were people walking down the street with suitcases and wagons full of personal belongings. The road was clear though. Because of the early time of the morning no one had been up and moving before the plane crashed. As they got farther away from their neighborhood Rowan noticed that the power was out all over town. There were smoke plumes all over the place. The sun was coming up over the horizon and as they crested the hill Rowan gasped for breathe as she counted at least ten other plane wrecks around town. What could have possibly caused this? Rowan felt a stir of panic well up in her. Joshua asked, “what a matter Momma?” She tried her best to cover her reaction up. “Nothing baby, Mommy is just trying to wake up.” Rowan decided the best option was to take the highway around town instead of trying to go through the streets that now looked filled with people. As she drove down the on ramp it was almost unnatural how deserted the road was. There were no cars, no people, and no movement what so ever. At first the drive was smooth then Rowan saw the small plane down in the middle of the highway. It was one of those cessna type planes, a four seater. The landing gear was gone and it rested on its belly off kilter on the road. It was blocking both lanes. The cabin door was open and Rowan did not see anyone moving inside. She was not sure what to do. She could only think of getting Joshua to his Dad’s house. They would be safe there. Wouldn’t they be? Rowan put the car in neutral and pulled the emergency break. Rowan had to lock in the four wheel drive on the tires. Once the tires were locked in place, she shifted into four high and drove off the road onto the center- median. The vehicle seemed to have no problem driving through the thick brush. Then she saw the landing gear lying across the brush. Rowan had to drive all the way to the other side of the highway. She felt strange driving the wrong way down the road but had no other option. After they had cleared the wreckage she got back onto the right side of the road. She contemplated unlocking the hubs but decided she would rather leave it in four wheel drive and go a little slower than to have to get in and out if they needed to used it again. Just in the short time they had been out Rowan could tell that something big had happened. She had no idea what it was, but it was BIG.

Installment four coming soon…


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