Page 102 (1/2)
Day 36 (again)
A mistake The fires are close now, no way to outrun thehway Peter isn’t sure what town this is, or if there even is a town We used the tarps and some nails and a hammer we found to cover the broken s in the front and now all we can do is wait and hope the wind shifts The air is so thick I can barely see what I’]
Day 38
We’re past Richfield now, on Highway 70 In places it’s washed away but Hollis was right about the ht through here There are dead animals everywhere, and the air smells like charred ht was the screaht in the fire
Day 39
The first dead virals They were beneath a bridge, three of theether Peter thinks we haven’t seen any before because they’d driven all the gaed, they got trapped by the fire
Maybe it was just the way they looked, all burned up and their faces pressed to the ground, but I foundsorry for them If I didn’t know they were virals I would have sworn they were hu dead there I asked Aht that they had been
We’re going to stay an extra day in the next toe coht about the cans As long as the seaht and it feels heavy in your hand, they’re OK)
[Pages ain, the a a dry, open tableland, stitched by deep gullies There are bones everywhere you look-not just s that resee knobby skull (Michael says they’re buffalo) At half-day we stopped to rest by an outcrop of boulders and saw, scraped into the rocks, "Darren loves Lexie 4Ever" and "Green River SHS ’16, PIRATES KICK ASS!!!" The first part everybody understood but nobody knehat to make of the rest It made me feel a little sad, I can’t quite say why,with no one to read thehway and are sheltering near the town of E really left here, just foundations and a few sheds with rusted farm equipment, full of mice There’s no pump we can find, but Peter says there’s a river near here and too look for it
Stars everywhere A beautiful night
Day 49
I have decided tosouth now frohway 191 At least we think it’s 191 We actually walked straight past the turnoff at least five clicks and had to double back There’s not much of a road to follohich e et off the 70 and he said we’re too far north for where we’re going Sooner or later we’ll have to head south, so it ht as well be now
Hollis and I have decided not to tell anyone about what’s happened It’s funny hohen Iit for a long tiain but everyone’s around or else we’re on watch I still feel kind of guilty about the other night Also, he really needs a bath (So do I)
No towns at all Peter doesn’t think we’ll hit one till Moab We are spending the night in a shallow cave, really just a recess with an overhang, though it’s better than nothing The rocks here are all a kind of orange-pink color, very lovely and strange
Day 53
Today was the day we found the farht it was just a ruin, like all the others we’ve seen But as we got closer, as in much better shape-a cluster of woodfras and paddocks for aniest, looks like soo The table in the kitchen was actually set with places and cups; there are curtains in the s, clothing folded in the drawers Furniture and pots and pans and books on the shelves In the barn we found an old car, covered in dust, the shelves lined with jugs of lantern fuel, eraveyard, too, four plotsone up to see who’s down there But nobody took this suggestion seriously
We found the wellhead but the puht; it took three of us to free it, but once we did the water that ca while There’s a pu to free up and a woodstove for cooking In the basement we found more shelves stacked with cans of beans and squash and corn, the seals still good We still have the tins we scavenged in Green River, plus some of the smoked venison and a bit of lard we saved Our first real meal in weeks Peter says there’s a river not far and too look for it We’re all bedding down in the biggest house, using ed from upstairs and set around the fireplace
Peter believes the place has been abandoned at least ten years, but probably not more than twenty Who lived here? How did they survive? The place has a haunted feeling to it, more than any of the toe’ve seen It’s as if whoever lived here went out one day, expecting to be back for supper, and si an extra day Theo is insistent, says Maus can’t keep up this kind of pace, but Peter says we have to leave soon if ant to ht about that
Day 56
Still at the farh Peter is antsy and wants to get ued about this I think [indecipherable]