Not on my Watch

Chapter 9

"The grandness of future cities will not be determined by the height of skyscrapers or the volume of concrete; but by the ability to be in harmony with nature." Michael Ellis

                                               July 13, 2012

                                      Southern Utah desert

           Rowan shifted the reins to her other hand and pulled her hat farther over her face.   She grabbed the water bottle from the bag at her leg and took another long swig.  This summer had been so hot it was almost unbearable, and now to have to travel all day on horseback was almost torture...not because of the ride, which she loved, but the heat.   It had been good preparation to bring bottles of water and plenty of head coverings.    She rode in shade whenever possible, but there were few stands of trees.   Beads of sweat rolled down her face.  They'd been traveling for a week already.    She estimated it would take at least eleven more days to reach their destination...the ancient cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park, just outside of Cortez, Colorado.    That was traveling approximately twenty miles per day, for roughly 300 miles.   They were picking up a few people a day as they went.  People dissatisfied with their lives, some who were homeless and had nowhere else to go, even some deserters from the military.   They hadn't yet told the newcomers the true purpose of their journey, merely that they had a place of safety set up in Colorado, where they were storing food and supplies for the coming winter.   Their group now numbered roughly 500 people.

           Clay and Dylan rode on the same horse, beside Rowan.  The boys seemed to be enjoying the ride.  The heat didn't bother the kids as much as the older people.

           Vin rode up beside Rowan.  "How's it going, amor?"

           Baby April was strapped to his back.  She was shielded from the heat with a hat and a cloth that stretched over her head, but she still squinted her eyes as she beat her little fists on Vin's back and babbled at Rowan.  Rowan reached over and tickled the baby's chin, then answered her boyfriend's query.

           "I'm fantastic.  I love burning up."

           He chuckled and pulled his horse in.   "I thought you'd always wanted to live primitively."

           "To a certain extent," she answered.   "This is hot, though."

           "Only a couple more weeks and we'll be there," he assured her, trying to suppress a grin at her groan.  "I think our plan should distract the government, for now."

           Four days ago, they'd arrived at their old base, the Pine Valley Experimental base.  The only sign that anyone had ever been there were scorch marks on the ground and a few charred pieces of wood.

          Vin had ridden into the camp, looking for other signs that the Air Force had once occupied the area and could find none.  After he'd assured himself that no one would know where they'd gone, he'd come back to Rowan and said, "Well, they followed Lone Warrior's instructions exactly.  They moved out everything of value and then torched the base.   I instructed Captain Howard to notify Hill Air Force base that the base was attacked in the middle of the night, we suspect by a powerful, anti-military group based out of Milford.  He was to tell him our men escaped with their lives, but it was a tough fight, and some were wounded.  Because of the strong possibility the group will find us again, we can't tell Hill where we've gone at this point, but we'll be in contact by short-wave radio."