Midnight by Anna Dove (books for new readers .TXT) 📕

up riding. Elizabeth was the better of the two, having ridden competitively for years, but Haley was by no means elementary in skill. Her grandmother Junetta owned horses, and although Haley had not ridden for ribbons, a significant portion of her childhood and teenage years had been spent on the wide back of her grandmother’s favorite Palomino. Junetta, Haley and their horses traipsed the trails around Junetta’s woodland property, jumping fallen trees, wading rivers and streams, stopping to gather rose hips for holiday arrangements, snapping holly sprigs for Christmas wreaths. Junetta had taught Haley how to mount without a fence or block, how to guide with one’s legs and heels, how to balance naturally with the rhythm of the walk, trot or canter, how to duck a low branch or guide the horse around a log too high to jump. Brief memories flashed in Haley’s mind’s eye: Junetta, in a brown sweater, feeding a carrot to her horse and laughing, the wrinkles appearing merrily under her eyes and around the corners of her mouth. Junetta, holding up a sassafras root and explaining how one could make tea from it. Junetta, naming the different types of horses and remarking on the history of breeding.

“We need to go to Annapolis first,” Haley said abruptly. “My grandmother is there.”

Elizabeth took a breath and paused, and then touched Haley’s hand comfortingly.

“Haley, we must focus on our own survival first.”

“No, no! It’s not like that. Trust me, she’s an asset to us. She’s a botanist, an herbalist, a survivalist. She lives on a farm that doesn’t use electricity. She has horses and cultivates a garden every year. She lives a few miles west of the Harbor. If we go there first --plus, it’s much closer, we can change horses and bring her with us. She will be invaluable in learning how to find food and distinguishing the best survival methods.”

“I think that would be wise,” asserted Carlos, as Elizabeth nodded and withdrew her hand.

“The Harbor,” said Elizabeth musingly. “I taught sailing lessons. Where does the Harbor open into?”

“It’s on the Severn River, actually. Which opens into the Chesapeake Bay. Do you think you could sail us north up the Chesapeake? It meets the Susquehanna River after a while, which borders the property my family lives on,” said Haley quickly, the map of the excursion forming in her head.

“Yes, I could,” responded Elizabeth. “But we could only sail by night. Too exposed in the day.”

“Right,” added Carlos. “We can sleep in the day with rotating watch assignment and then continue in the dusk and dark.”

“Should we begin tonight?” queried Elizabeth.

“Absolutely not. Too much chaos.”

“When, then?”

“Three or four days, I think. We are relatively safe here. Let everything die down a little.”

His choice of words was sobering and for a few moments they all sat, remembering the horror of earlier.

“I’ll take the night watch, from ten to six, and you both can sleep,” said Carlos, with a sigh. “I’m far too awake to sleep anyway. I see the one handgun. Are there others?”

“Yes, a rifle and a handgun in my room,” responded Elizabeth. “I’ll take the watch after that, and you can sleep, Carlos, while Haley and I plan our exact route.”

That night, the two women slept only fitfully, tossing and turning. Their bodies and minds could not help but sleep after having been awake for forty eight hours and experiencing surge after surge of adrenaline come and go like the waves on the shore. Images flashed through their minds as they passed from consciousness to dreams; a woman inside her silver Honda struggling to open the crushed door; a little boy in a red baseball cap wrapping his arms around his father’s leg as they both watched the planes fall; a woman in a black dress and no shoes running towards the monuments; a small group of teenage girls huddled together, staring at useless phone screens. Smoke, broken glass. Twisted metal, cries.

Haley awoke at five past five, and for a few seconds she forgot about it all, and laid on her back looking up at the ceiling, her mind and body adjusting to the feelings of consciousness. There was a delicious lightness in the air, a softness of the dawn ready to break into daylight. She turned to her left, and there was Elizabeth, asleep--a rush suddenly of memories--a horrible realization that it hadn’t been a dream.

Sick to her stomach, she sat up, and slid out of bed. Pulling a pair of sweatpants on and an oversize t-shirt, she tread on the carpet softly, careful not to wake her friend.

In the living room, which adjoined the kitchen only separated by a partial island counter, sat Carlos with the handgun by his side. He seemed deep in thought; his chin propped on his hand and his finger traced invisible patterns on the floor.

“Carlos,” said Haley softly, so as not to startle him. He looked up, with a remarkably sad expression in his dark brown eyes. There were tears hidden in their corners and his eyebrows were drawn downwards.

“Morning,” he said stiffly.

“I can relieve you,” she said.

“Sure,” he replied. “Where’s Elizabeth? I don’t want to bother her.”

“Sleeping in her room--take mine. First door on the left.”

He disappeared, and Haley took the handgun, laying it on the counter. She took a bottle of water from the pack that Elizabeth always insisted on buying. Previously having dismissed Elizabeth’s penchant for bottled water as unnecessary, she now realized how fortunate it was. There was plenty to last them until their departure.

She checked their food cabinet: bread, peanut butters, rice, lentils, granola, and a few other items. Good. They would need nutrient and calorie dense foods.

Next, from the bookshelf in the living room she pulled the map of Maryland. Haley had not yet used the map; she had a good idea as to where