thirteen

They woke up to a light dusting of snow. Romero was concerned about not having proper shelter for the winter as they set out that day. They spooked a herd of wild horses that were at the river to drink.

"If we had a horse," Romero started to say.

"How would we get a horse," Sana asked, "It's a good idea, but..." she sighed.

Romero looked longingly in the direction the horses ran. Then something caught his eye. "Sana, I think I see a house."

Sana squinted and it appeared to be a house to her too, "Do you think we should check it out?"

"I don't think it could hurt," said Romero. "Maybe who ever lives there would be willing to put us up for the winter and teach us some of the things we need to know about surviving here."

Sana nodded her agreement with Romero and they headed toward the dwelling. When they got close enough, Sana could see that it was some sort of elaborate tent structure on a wood platform foundation.

"Wow," said Sana awed as they stepped into the dwelling's clearing. "I never saw a tent this big and elaborate before. I didn't know they made stuff like this." It had three wood steps that led up to a covered wood porch that wrapped around one side with a wood bench sitting on it. There was a clothes line and the tent had clear polymer windows in its thick canvas walls. The dwelling itself was in the shape of a T with a second small porch in the left right angle of the T.

"I wonder if anybody's home," said Romero curious. He didn't hear or see anything that indicated the presence of people.

Sana called, "Hello..." She started forward. "Hello... Anybody home?" There was no answer.

"Maybe they're out hunting," was Sana's guess.

Romero pulled the jeep hood over by the porch and shrugged off the backpack harness so he could walk around unencumbered. "They have a wind turbine," he noted. "They probably have electricity and running water."

"A hot shower would be nice," said Sana hopefully.

They walked around the dwelling. There was a large shed. Sana noted a hand water pump with a trough. They came across some over grown tire ruts.

"This wood is treated and processed," Sana noted touching the porch. "I bet this was some kind of kit they had trucked out here... One thing's for sure, they don't sell these at your local super store or mega mall."

There was a beautiful view of the mountains. But Romero spotted it first and stopped Sana from tripping over it.

Sana's eyes we're wide as she asked, "Is that? ..."

"Human remains," Romero answered kneeling down to have a closer look at the bones. "It's a man about my height," he informed Sana as he pushed away grass and examined the remains.

"What happened to him," asked Sana.

"There are no signs of trauma," Romero shared. "Of course, there's no flesh left that might have told us something... Ah, there's a syringe here near his hand."

"Do you think someone injected him with something," asked Sana.

Romero stood back up and shrugged, "Possibly, but I would think they would take the syringe with them. Unless they were just that confident no one would ever find his body or at least not find it in time to do a proper autopsy."

"What do you think we should do," asked Sana because she sure didn't know what to do.

"I guess we take a look inside," said Romero. Sana followed him. He stopped at the jeep hood, got a riffle for himself and handed Sana a handgun.

"Do you really think these are necessary," she asked concerned.

"Better safe than sorry," Romero told her as he started up the steps.

Romero slowly opened the screen door and pushed open the inner door. He took in the whole front room in a millisecond. There was nobody there. But he still proceeded inside with caution.

Sana scanned the room as she stepped in behind Romero. There was a small wood burning stove to her left, a sturdy couch and loveseat with several polymer storage totes stacked behind the couch. To the right was a very nice desk with a chair. Further back against the right wall were four white locking cabinets and what appeared to be an exam-table. On the left, further behind the sofa and loveseat, there was a kitchen area with a compact flat top stove, sink, dishwasher, cabinets, washing machine, several white storage pails, a five piece dining set, an upright freezer and a compact refrigerator.

Sana followed about two meters behind Romero as he moved forward to the top of the T where they found another living area that had another small wood burning stove, a comfy couch and love seat, and more totes. There was what appeared to be a small storage room. Romero opened the door and Sana said excitedly, "A bathroom!"

It wasn't a fancy bathroom, but there was a sink, a toilet, a shower and a roll of TOILET PAPER! Sana was excited, but she contained her enthusiasm as she continued to follow Romero. He opened the door to the left and looked around. It was a bedroom with a double bed, two dressers and two clothing racks to substitute for a closet.

Romero walked back to the right past the second couch and love seat and opened the other door. It was a second bedroom about half the size of the first. It had a toddler bed, a dresser, a toy-box, a couple of toys on the floor, more storage totes along with a large rectangular box stacked to one side. There were polymer windows in the roof just like the walls to let in plenty of daylight.

Sana picked up a dusty jack-in-the-box and blew off a layer of dust. She was sad and concerned as she said, "There was a family here. What do you think happened? ... Nothing is old and dilapidated, where did they go?"

Romero relaxed, no one had been here for a while, "I don't have a guess... Maybe the bones have something to do with it. But I think we can get away with squatting here for the winter. It's not too far from the river. If the wild horses go there to drink, other animals do too. Plus, I can spear fish."

"There were some fruit trees around outside too," Sana liked the location. Besides, winter was upon them. They had only had a light snow so far, but she didn't want to be wandering about if and when there was a heavy snow fall.

"Well, it seems safe for us to get nosy," Romero told her. "Maybe as we're going through their stuff, we'll learn what happened."

"I want to see if the shower works," Sana heading for the small bathroom. She turned the knob. The water sputtered at first, but then it was going full force and got hot quickly.

Romero started opening kitchen cabinets. He found some dishes, canned goods and cleaning supplies. He wasn't sure what to do with the empty cans they had. At the mall, they would be recycled. Out here they held onto them because they didn't want to litter. Romero decided to start looking in the storage totes as Sana opened the freezer.

"Freezer's working fine," Sana informed Romero, "and it's stocked. Looks like we're eating well tonight."

"There's medical equipment in this tote," Romero informed her, "And maternity clothes in this one."

"Maternity clothes," repeated Sana surprised.

"Yeah," confirmed Romero pulling out a pair of maternity pants. "And I think they may fit you." He held the waistband up to her expanding waist.

"She's taller than me," Sana noted the length of the pants, "but I can cuff them up. What else is in there?" Sana began to go through the tote herself.

Romero stepped to another tote to peek inside amused with Sana's reaction. Inside this tote he found men's clothes. He understood Sana's excitement. A hot shower and fresh clothes appealed to him too. The man was about his height, but thicker around the middle where Romero had excellent washboard abs, something that made Sana feel frumpy. No matter how strict she was with her diet or how many crunches she did, she just couldn't achieve the flat tummy she desired for herself. She was just a naturally soft curvy female, and Romero loved every inch of her. He just couldn't understand why any man would want a woman that was skinny and bony like a little boy or rock hard muscular like another man. To him, part of what made Sana perfect was her imperfections.

"So, what do we do if someone walks in here and catches us going through their things," Romero asked Sana.

"Explain that we've been wandering lost without proper food or clothes for a couple of weeks and apologize," was Sana's answer.

Her answer was simple and practical. Romero liked that she never over complicated things. When she asked him a question, she didn't necessarily expect him to have an answer to it. She was often just looking for reassurance. He knew she was scared and tired. She was a petite pregnant woman. He couldn't imagine how scared she actually was because she was well aware she couldn't survive out here without him. She wouldn't have made it through the desert on her own.

Romero pushed the disturbing thoughts aside. He looked around and noticed a digital note book (DNB) sitting on the desk. He had been so fixated on making sure it was safe, he hadn't noticed it when they came in.

Romero stepped over to the desk. On the top shelf were family pictures. "This must be them," he called to Sana.

Sana stepped over next to Romero at the desk. She picked up the 11 by 13 wedding portrait. "They're a cute couple. He's kind of geeky looking, but still cute. And I bet she's a native from right around here."

She put back the wedding portrait and picked up an 8 by 10 picture of a newborn. "They have a son... He's beautiful."

"I'm sure our baby's going to be beautiful too," and Romero gave her a kiss.

Sana put the newborn portrait back. Then she picked up an 11 by 13 family portrait. The baby was now a happy toddler. "They look so happy. I sure hope that's not him laying back there."

Romero let out a sad sigh, "He appears to be about the right height." Then he flipped open the DNB and a recording began to play. It was the man in the photographs. He was crying as he talked.

"I can't do it," he said, "I can't live without them. ... How could this happen? ... My wife, son and our unborn daughter just gone because some teenagers were drag racing... The police called me last night. They had to come get me because Naomi had our car... I just kept shaking my head and saying 'no' as I looked at their bodies. (Big sob)... But it was them, it was them! ... My beloved Naomi and our precious Webster... They're gone... They're all I had that mattered..." He sat there for a minute staring at nothing as the tears streaked his face. "We haven't even had a chance to tell her parents we're here. We were going to surprise them. We were going to take the horses tomorrow to find them. But I'm just going to let the horses go. There's a herd of wild horses nearby, they should be okay. As for Chester, I'll leave the bag of dog-food open for him outside. I guess once it's gone, he's on his own too... But I just need to be with my family."

They watched him pick something up. Romero pointed, "It's a syringe." He stood up with the syringe in his hand. He typed something into the keyboard. Then the screen went to desk top mode.

"He must have set it up to play when someone opened the notebook," Romero said to Sana.

Sana's eyes were filled with tears, "So this beautiful family is gone. That's horrible."

Romero wiped a tear from Sana's face and looked around sadly. This was what was left of someone's hopes and dreams. "Why don't you go ahead and take a shower," he suggested to Sana, "Pick out some fresh clothes and have a shower."

Sana looked sadly at the tote of maternity clothes. She liked it better when she thought she was borrowing from someone and thought she was going to have to apologize.

Romero gently put his hands on her shoulders and softly told her, "I hope I do not sound cruel because this does sadden me greatly. But they are not returning. There is nothing here they need. I'm sure they won't mind if we use their things."

Sana nodded her agreement, "I know," she said sadly. She walked slowly back over to the totes. Romero watched her as she sadly chose some clothes, but there was nothing he could do.

After she stepped into the bathroom, he looked around the room and sighed. At least they had shelter for the winter, and plenty of food for the moment. Things were a little dusty and unorganized, so he decided to start cleaning, straightening and putting things away. He started peeking into the white storage pails; one was filled with rice, the next dry pinto beans, sugar, wheat flour, corn meal and the last dry black-eyed peas. He decided to stack those by the wall next to the freezer. Then he carried the totes with the clothes back to the big bedroom.

He opened one of the white lockable storage cabinets and found various medications. At that point, Romero was sure either the husband or the wife was a doctor. There was a divider between the front room and the second living room. He placed the white cabinets in front of the divider wall.

"You rearranging," asked Sana toweling her hair.

"A little," answered Romero. "We might as well get settled, looks like this is our new home."

Despite her sadness for the family that was no longer here, it felt good to hear that. They had a home. She wished she could call her parents and let them know she was okay. She could plug in her cell phone and charge it, but the bill hadn't been paid in five months. She no longer had service. Besides, it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Don't do anything too strenuous," Romero reminded her. "Let me do any heavy lifting you need."

Sana smiled, "Don't worry I'll let you do all the heavy lifting."

Romero opened the freezer, "What would you like to eat?"

Sana shrugged, "I don't know." She stepped up next to Romero and looked inside the freezer with him. She picked up a package of meet. Naomi had labeled everything. "Buffalo steaks," Sana read out loud. She put it back and picked up another package, "Dear chunks... Carrots... Potatoes... Mixed vegetables... Ground Buffalo... Deer Steaks... Rabbit... We had rabbit yesterday... Salmon... Tilapia... Ooh, mahi-mahi, but we had fish this morning... I guess, buffalo steaks. You going to eat with me?"

"Yeah," answered Romero, "since I'm going to be inside more, I won't be getting enough direct sunlight. Plus, I've not had buffalo before."

"Me neither," shared Sana as she sat the frozen pack of buffalo steaks on the counter to thaw, "but I've heard it's better than beef. It's also much more expensive. But if Naomi has family out here, it may have been easier to get for them."

They both went back to cleaning, straightening and organizing. Then they cooked together for the first time. Romero had been doing all the cooking as they traveled and they had accumulated a few rabbit furs.

"This is so good," Sana was really enjoying her buffalo steak.

Romero nodded his agreement, "Very satisfying too... I was thinking, they were probably planning on driving their trash to a recycling center. That's not an option for us. So, I was thinking a compost pile for biodegradables. But I'm still not sure what to do with the cans we can't reuse. Jars we can reuse."

We'll figure it out," Sana told him. "So, it looks like you've got yourself an exam room set up in the corner there."

"Yes," Romero smiled, "I'm hoping you'll let me perform a sonic-scan and get a look at our baby. That is if you feel I'm qualified enough to poke at you."

Sana returned his smile, "Well, since I let you poke me and put this baby in me, I don't think letting you perform a sonic-scan is out of the question."

"Good," Romero said, "I'm very concerned about the health of you and our baby."

Sana nodded, "I know you're worried, and it's not like a sonic-scan will hurt." She sat back in her chair and rested her hands on her rounding belly, "I'm full already and I barely ate half."

"I know," Romero was full too and he had only ate half of his, "It's very satisfying. I'll put our food back in the frying pan, put the lid on it and put it in the fridge. If you want a snack later, I'll warm it up or we can eat it for breakfast."

"That sounds fine," Sana stretched in her chair. "We need to pick a spot for the compost pile. There are a few things in the fridge that went bad quite a while ago."

Romero placed the covered frying pan with their leftovers in the refrigerator, "I see," he said spotting spoiled food in the fridge.

"Okay," he said walking over to the exam table, "come over here so I can perform the sonic-scan."

Sana got up and walked over to the exam table. Romero sat her on the table.

"Go ahead and lay back," Romero directed her.

Sana felt a little silly as she lay down on the table. Romero turned on the equipment and exposed her belly.

"Oh, that's cold," stated Sana surprised when he put the end of the scanner on her belly.

"Sorry," Romero apologized. He huffed on the end of the scanner and rubbed it with his hand to warm it up. Then he placed it back on her belly. He tapped a button and the screen and the scanner came to life and they immediately heard their baby's heartbeat.

Sana's face lit up. "That's our baby's heartbeat," she said excitedly.

Romero smiled happily, "Yes, it is," he confirmed as he rolled the scanner over their bump. "And this is our baby," he pointed to the screen. "It looks like we've estimated correctly, you're about twenty-one weeks."

"Is it a girl or a boy," asked Sana curious.

"The position is wrong so I can't see to tell," answered Romero.

"What do you mean wrong," asked Sana worried and concerned, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Romero clarified, "It's just at this particular moment, it's not in a position that will allow me to see if it's male or female. Other than that, everything looks fine." Romero clicked a button on the scanner's side, "Brain development is fine, (click)... lung development is fine ... (click) heart is fine (click)... stomach and intestines fine (click)... liver, pancreas, kidneys, bladder, all fine (click)... has all its fingers and toes and everything. I dare say our baby is perfect."

Sana smiled relieved as she looked at their baby on the screen. Her eyes teared up, "We're having a baby. I can hardly believe it." Then she frowned.

"What's the matter," Romero asked her concerned.

"My parents, they would be so excited," Sana told him sadly. "This is their first grandchild."

"Well, maybe there is a way for you to talk to them," Romero told her.

"How," asked Sana.

"We found Naomi and Eugene's information," Romero reminded her. "And the notebook has internet access. You could set up an email address using Naomi's info."

"But that's identity theft," said Sana surprised.

"You're not applying for a credit account," Romero reasoned, "just an email address so you can communicate on line. You won't be hurting anything."

"I suppose not," agreed Sana.

Romero shut off the sonic scanner and covered her belly back up. "Come on, let's see what we can do." He helped Sana off the exam table. He grabbed one of the dining chairs, carried it over to the desk and sat next to Sana.

"Okay, here's a cell phone bill for Naomi," Romero showed her the bill. "That's the basic info required to create an email address."

Sana nodded her understanding, but she was still uncomfortable with using someone's information. Even if it was a dead woman and she technically wasn't hurting anything, it still bothered her as she chose a server to create the email with.

"I need a screen name," stated Sana.

"How about Romero's Hot Sexy Wife," suggested Romero as he waggled his eyebrows at her.

Sana smiled, "Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't think so." She thought for a minute, "My middle name is Ray, and when I was little, my parents called me Razor-Ray.

"Why Razor-Ray," asked Romero.

Sana smiled as she recalled, "When people asked my daddy why he called me that, he would say, 'Because my girl is sharp.'"

"Sharp," questioned Romero not understanding.

"He was referring to my intelligence," explained Sana. "My parents wouldn't say they were proud of me. They would say they are extremely well pleased with me. But my father likes to brag sometimes which embarrassed me sometimes. I learned young that many people of average intelligence are uncomfortable with people who are above average in intelligence. But he liked to show me off."

Romero nodded, "I can understand that."

"I think I'll use Razor-Ray as my screen name and as part of my email address," Sana told him. "It's the closest I can get to telling them it's me."

"That sounds good to me," Romero encouraged.

Sana set up the email. Then it occurred to her, "I don't know the email address for either of my parents. I lived close by so I could help out with Carson. We called and texted each other, but we never emailed each other."

"We'll just do a search," Romero said reassuringly, "If one of them has a webpage or a blog, it'll turn up."

Sana nodded and typed her parents' names into the search engine. And as was typical of search engines, a myriad of possibilities came up that made her slouch and sigh.

Romero pointed, "There's your name. Click on it."

Sana clicked on her name, "It's a webpage about me, looking for help finding me. There are pictures of me... My height and weight, did they have to put my weight on here? ... They even pinpointed about where the GPS on my car last registered my location..."

"Here," Romero pointed, "you can send a message through the comments option, give your new email address."

Sana used the comments option to send a message, "I am sure your daughter is alive and well and missing you very much. Please, try not to worry." She included the email address and a smiley icon.

"Come on," Romero urged her gently, "I know you're tired. Let's get you to bed. It may take a couple of days to get a response."

Sana didn't try to argue. Sitting there staring at the screen wasn't going to make anything happen.

As she climbed into bed, Sana asked Romero, "What about Eugene? Should we bury him? Or just let him rest where he is?"

Romero shrugged, "I'll have to think about it. I'm surprised his skeleton's intact, that a wild animal didn't scatter him all over. But from what I understand, dogs are very loyal. The dog may have watched over his body for a long time. Or perhaps, whatever he chose to inject himself with may have kept him from being eaten."

Sana shivered at the thought of being eaten and Romero's arms tightened around her. She told Romero, "I suppose he wasn't really concerned with being eaten though."

Romero kissed her reassuringly, "Just get some sleep. Try not to think about it." Then he held her until she fell to sleep.

Once Sana was asleep, Romero carefully slipped out of bed. They had gotten all of the storage totes cleared out of the front room. They repacked Eugene and Naomi's pictures back into a tote. Romero didn't want them out to remind them every day of the tragic way the young family was gone. Sana especially didn't need their pictures out making her sad. Romero had a little clinic set up in the back right corner of the front room. There were still totes in the back room that Romero was sure the Parkers were planning on using as a family room. But what Romero was most interested in was Eugene Parker's video diary that was in the DNB.

Eugene Parker had made two digital recordings the day he took his life. The first had been just after his pregnant wife and son had left. Naomi had simply left to go to the post office in the nearest town to set up their post office box since they couldn't get mail service way out here. Eugene had been happy and excited. This was their dream, to be out here near Naomi's family and tribe and run a small clinic for them. He and Naomi were both doctors. Eugene was a general practitioner, a family doctor like Romero. Naomi was an OBGYN and a pediatrician.

It was so sad. Eugene Parker had started that day with everything to live for. Then in an instant, the man's world was shattered. Eugene's parents were already deceased and he was the only child of only children. He had no living close relatives left. So when he lost Naomi and their son, Webster, and unborn child, he had no one to turn to for support as he grieved their loss. Romero doubted he would do much better than Eugene if anything happened to Sana. Sana had become the center of existence for him. He knew he was highly likely to go after whoever had caused her death and dispatch them before he took his own life. He understood Eugene all too well, because he wouldn't want to live without Sana, and he had already killed a man just to warn the soldiers away to keep Sana and their unborn child safe.

He decided he didn't want Sana to have access to Eugene's daily video dairy. Even though, it was obvious for the most part, Eugene'd had a happy life; especially after he met Naomi during college. But the way it ended was tragically sad. She didn't need the details on how tragic it was that this wonderful loving family had ended the way it did. She was pregnant and had suffered enough stress. He wanted the rest of the pregnancy to be as stress free as possible. He watched quite a few of Eugene's entries on fast forward, his quick mind, sharp eyes and ears able to take it all in at the accelerated rate. About midnight, after having a shower, he slipped back in bed with Sana.