2024

She scratched a line on the wooden fence with a sharp piece of quartz. It was the 17th mark she had made since her first day arriving here at the ranch. She traced her fingers over the remaining marks, ticking them off like the days til Christmas only backwards towards the last moment of normalcy. Or at least, her own normalcy, the rest of the world was in chaos with no virtual peace in sight.

Her heart was heavy despite not having any contact with or access to the world below. Yes, that is how she thought of it, that the world was below her. She was staying at her Great Grandparents old logging ranch nestled nearly 8,000 feet up in a high valley between jagged pine clad peaks in the Black Range Mountains surrounded by the Gila National Forest in the Southwestern part of New Mexico. A natural spring provided fresh water, and the meadow contained a variety of fruit trees planted over a century ago.

However, her strong empathic traits wrenched at her spirits, feeling the unrestrained hatred running rampant amongst the myriad of people across the globe. Despite not having cell service, electricity, or any other means of communication with anyone, she could feel in every fiber of her being the insanity that had overtaken the human race. But she tucked it down, pushed it aside, and desperately clung to the one potential positive outcome spurning her forward. She had mailed him the heart shaped locket. He would come find her soon.

She spent most of her days stockpiling wood, saving water, collecting fruits and berries to be dried and stored for the winter, all things she could do now, in the cool summer months, before the winter storms came in September and snowed so hard it would be impossible to leave until the thaw in April or May. She knew she would need as much kindling and wood as possible to stay warm, and continued to try to insulate the lone cabin to the best of her abilities. When winter came, she would be ready, and hopefully, she wouldn’t have to weather it alone.

The sound of an engine off in the distance piqued her attention and she wondered if it were another helicopter flying over to help with the Baldy wildfire that was raging on the other side of the range, a fact she recalled reading online right before she made her escape up the mountain. The smoke had diminished over the past fortnight and the helicopters were fewer and far between, but the sound always made her nervous and frightful, and she would seek cover so as not to be spotted. She didn’t want anyone coming up here to her own private utopia, except for him.

But the sound of this engine growled on a lower frequency, and it didn’t echo off the canyon bluffs like the elevated helicopters. No, this one sounded guttural and strained, as if it had just climbed a steep switch-back washed out road to get here. Her heart leapt a quick pirouette. And then reality and anxiety shot through her like a surprised fawn and she took cover to try to see without being seen, the person or persons who had found her at last.

It was an old silver 4-Runner with a camper shell and a 90’s paint job. One of the headlights was busted out, but overall it appeared to be in good condition. She could see it plodding up the road about 100 feet away, and watched it pull up to the small cabin towards the right of the ranch, a stones throw away from the spring and the trees she was hiding behind. A tall person got out of the driver's side and she watched his boots crunch gravel under the car, his body blocked by the vehicle. She saw him look around, away from her, his ball cap pulled low over his eyes, a heavy down jacket zipped over his broad shoulders. Her heart this time did a Sissonne as she recognized the only soul she would ever love.

He put his hands on the side of his mouth and yelled, “Bethica!?!?”

She leapt from behind the trees for all the world like an actual ballerina, though she landed roughly on a rock and slightly turned her ankle, and with as much grace as a charging rhinoceros she covered the distance to his car. He heard the commotion and ran around to hold her, scooping her up in his arms like a bear, as tears rolled down her cheeks into his soft down clad shoulder. “You came! You found me!” She whispered breathless into his jacket. He pulled back and held her face in his warm hands and said, “I would always come for you!”

“What’s the news? What’s going on? Tell me everything!” She was so anxious and nervous to hear how the rest of the world was fairing she beckoned him quickly to follow her to a little rickety table and chairs set up in the shade of a peach tree in front of the cabin.

“It’s bad,” he began. “People are deliberately setting wildfires to flush out any people hiding out in the mountains. Cabins are burning, national parks being destroyed, they are serious about this virus. The government has decreed that no living human can remain on this planet without the vaccine, even if they live in isolation for the rest of their lives.” He paused and looked around at all of the storage containers along the side of the cabin, labeled with things like guns/ammo, non-perishables, blankets, cookware, and the largest one of all was labeled toilet paper. “Which, by the looks of it, you might be able to pull that off!” He smiled his charming smile at her.

“What about my family? My community? Did everyone get the vaccine? Did they get the virus under control? What are the restrictions?” Her mind raced as fast as her heart. What happened to her siblings and their families? What about her soccer team and their families? What about the cafe owners, downtown businesses, the elderly communities...so many questions.

He looked a bit solemn as he answered, and though he tried to play it off as not really a big deal, Bethica got the feeling that he wasn’t telling her all of it. “Your family is fine, I checked in with them before I left. They’ve set up roadblocks outside of every habitable city with a population over 1,000 people, and are checking not only vaccination cards to enter, but also they have to pull you up on the digital database. You know, so that way people can’t fake cards. And, the vaccines are improving. People aren’t getting sick from them anymore really. Unfortunately, not many are left in the nursing homes and long term care facilities. The new strain wiped most of them out, but everyone is trying to return to normal. The riots are ticking back, and there were less mass shootings last week than the week before. All in all, we are returning to normal.”

“Normal?!?!” Bethica exclaimed! “What part of riots, mass shootings and mandatory vaccines is normal!” Her blood began to boil. She was outraged at his nonchalance when speaking about such atrocities.

“Calm down Beth, it’s ok.The restrictions aren’t too difficult. I mean, we’re still not allowed to have in person contact with anyone that’s not in our family, and even then, they have these new sensor bracelets that they gave us,” he held up his wrist showing what looked strikingly like a computerized handcuff, loose enough not to be constricting but tight enough not to slip off. “They set off an alarm when we get too close to other people, and the government tracks them, you know, just in case someone has the virus and could potentially spread it. It’s really helped slow the traction of the disease down. I mean, instead of just using the honor system and asking people to stay 6 feet away, now, they can enforce it with the bracelets. They have the ability to shock us if we get too close, and they know our GPS at all times. Dead helpful with the census coming up this year honestly.”

Kevin didn’t really notice the blood rushing away from Bethica’s face, or he might have stopped there. Her brain screamed at her, her heart on fire, her logic and reasoning crashing against the absurdity of what she was hearing. Tracking bracelets, alarms for human contact, proof of vaccination before entering a community. What the hell was wrong with the world! How were people putting up with it! It was all so ludicrous to be almost comical. She laughed a little at that, and Kevin, thinking she was smirking at his cleverness, continued on.

“But, it’s not all bad. I mean, of the few restaurants still open, we can get contact less delivery, and most of them are now open many more hours. Some of the big box stores that went bankrupt have been converted into homeless shelters and have been gridded out for social distancing. School is still taking place virtually, though there aren’t any contact sports,and any public gatherings must have their own indoor air filtration system, though most people have purchased the PARS (personal air filtration systems), which they wear pretty much everywhere, including in their cars, because you can’t trust your car filters, you know.”

Bethica had heard enough. She was glad that she left that idiocracy behind. Now that Kevin was here, it would be ok. She had enough supplies to weather through the pandemic and would see what would happen next year. The thought of wildfires scared her, but she knew that the ranch was isolated enough to prevent fires reaching this far in. She was overcome with relief despite all of the “news” she received from Kevin. She was actually excited to begin this new chapter of her life with her long lost love. Deciding to nip the conversation in the bud, she said, “Are you hungry?”

Kevin gave a little laugh and replied, “Uh, Sure.” She went into the cabin and brought out some tinned beef, a fresh loaf of bread she’d baked the day before in the horno, some local honey, and a pitcher of spring water. They sat and talked a bit more, as the sun went down. The conversation was much more pleasant. “So, you got the locket then?” she asked curiously, knowing full well the answer. The locket contained her exact GPS coordinates, and it was the only way he could have tracked her down.

Kevin only had a split second to eye her warily. The locket! Of course that is how the bounty hunters knew her location. How could he have been so stupid! He had given it to her years and years ago, back when they first started dating. But they split after 5 years and he ended up in an abusive relationship and she was so hurt that they never really reconnected though they both knew that they were meant for each other. That was why he knew that only he could reach one of the last unvaxed people in the world, it would only be him that she trusted, and he would be able to use his past relationship to get close. Pretending to cough on some almost choked bread, he said quickly, “Yes, my love, that is how I knew how to find you. The locket I gave you on our first anniversary.”

Bethica smiled genuinely at him as the sun set behind them. Kevin smiled brightly back, knowing that by this time tomorrow, he’d be $20,000 richer, and that Bethica would wake up with a bandaid on her arm, and a bracelet on her wrist.