Order of the Heart VII

Elmira Rostov was born in Russia in the 1970s but managed to come to Canada in the 1990s with her two young children. She had been a linguistics expert in Russia and, once settled in Canada, had enjoyed a successful career working with Canada Customs. This, of course, all changed once the Covid-19 pandemic became the “Infection,” and people died all around her at least for a time before slowly clawing their way back to their feet.

Now she took shifts guarding the gates at an RV Resort Park at the base of a mountain, most days seemed to go on forever, but today felt different. She heard the vehicle before it appeared on the surveillance screen. She remembered seeing this vehicle only once, and this was near the border as things began to follow apart. The large armour-plated all-terrain vehicle picked up speed as it moved toward her location.

Elmira went to the old air raid siren and started to crank it up, letting out an ancient squeal that once alerted people to air raids but now alerted people to a breach in progress. After cranking for a few moments, Elmira grabbed her weapon and stood back from the gate as the vehicle changed direction and turned toward the gate.

A dozen people ran to the gate, many armed with small firearms, rakes, baseball bats and other items that would be useless in such a battle. The vehicle turned hard toward the gate as everyone prepared for the David verse Goliath battle that was to take place in a moment until the vehicle stopped.

An older woman in an apron stepped out and moved forward politely, saying, “Do excuse me, I am your neighbour from down the road. I would like to meet your committee or your leaders.”

An hour later, after this visitor arrived, Darby was in the upper field with her cattle and her bull friend she had named, “Moses” for he had led his cattle to a new life. Darby enjoyed her new responsibilities and had already worked with a veterinarian to deliver three calves. She also had more time to spend with her wilder animal friends and felt like the queen of her own little world. She noticed two men approaching and felt like her world was about to be disrupted.

Patrick and Harold wisely stood on the other side of the fencing; both had observed how protective the bull was of Darby. They had heard stories of how the whole herd seemed to want to protect their human friend. Darby slowly walked down toward them, and neither men were surprised to see the entire herd slowly filter down with her.

“Darby, it is good to see you,” Harold Matthews said with a wave as she got closer.

“Darby, we had visitors today,” said Patrick. “Seems the Canadian military want to claim some of the herd?” Patrick already could guess how Darby might react and already discussed other alternatives with Harold, but he thought he better ask.

Darby started to scratch Moses’ snot, “Of course you said no!” she replied as she looked both men over.

Patrick replied, “We, of course, are not going to do this, but I need your help on a little project. I heard that sometimes you wander way up the other side of the Cheam Mountain Valley.”

Darby stopped and looked at Moses and the nearby cattle, “Sometimes, strange things going on up there.” She moved a little closer to the two men, helicopters all the time now, and one pond seems to be frozen.

Harold looked into Darby’s face and smiled, “I read the report you gave to Marie before she went on her last mission.”

Darby looked noticeably upset, “She was a good person. What do you need?”

“I miss her very much, Darby. Patrick was very close to Marie, and her loss has affected him a great deal. I was hoping you could lead a couple of others up to the top and report what you find in or near that frozen pond. The Military wants our best tracker up there with two of their people and one more of ours.

Darby had learned a lot about the art of negotiations in the last month or more. She agreed if she could bring other critters into her care and release them back in the wild. After some time, the group agreed to a compromise. It soon appeared the RV Resort would be home to more than cattle, chickens and goats.

When she went on these long hikes, Darby carried very little with her and did not see the need for a lot of weapons or equipment; to her, they just slowed things down. She also discovered that they would be driving up the old logging roads to get as close as possible to where they were going.

In the military vehicle, she instantly disliked the uncomfortable seating, loud engine and all the weapons around her. The vehicle to her felt confided, and she far preferred the open spaces of the rear of a pickup truck if she had to travel at all.

Once they arrived at the top of the logging road, Darby stood back as she often did and watched as the two soldiers prepared to start up the main trail toward the valley. Carver, who was from the RV Resort and had been on many of these trails himself, stood back near Darby and, with a grin, said to her, “Are we going to let them go that way?”

Darby, without saying a word started to move toward what seemed to be a thick bushes area, Carver followed, and a moment later, the bush opened to a thin trail that would eventually get wider with time. The two soldiers scurried to join the two, twice trying to object to the sudden change in direction without consulting them first.

Darby rolled her eyes at the two professional soldiers before continuing her hike along the trail. The hike would last nearly two hours before they came out of the bush and found themselves on the edge of the valley. Darby rarely spoke during this time, instead of listening to the sounds of nature and using them as her guide.

“The pond is that way about a kilometre,” she eventually said.

Sergeant Louise Garett radioed in their position as her partner looked around the area. Louise Garett was a professional soldier to the very core of her being, but this pandemic followed by the “Infection” had taken a toll on her. She preferred knowing her foe, and where she might find them, this was no longer possible with the way the world was changing.

The group proceeded with the last part of their journey; Darby had never gotten too close to the pond before. She had observed wildlife of every kind avoided the area; if nature knew it was not right, that was good enough for her. The further they moved forward, the more she and Carver suspected that the soldiers knew more about the pond than they were saying.

Darby's fears and concerns were confirmed at the edge of the woods, not more than a hundred meters from the pond. This icy pond had canisters sticking out of the frozen water.

The two soldiers moved forward after removing some special gear from their packs and moved close to the edge of the pond. The sergeant appeared to be standing guard as the other soldier took air samples and soil samples.

Carver pointed to the west side of the pond; Darby saw a large muddy white horse near the edge of the pond; the horse seemed aware of their presence and moved quickly. Darby moved toward the west end of the pond to get a look at this wonderful yet sad-looking creature. Carver followed a safe distance away with his rifle at the ready.

Sergeant Garrett became aware of the horse as well and was preparing to shoot at the beast. She had strict orders any contaminated life was to be put down immediately, be it wild or human. Her problem was Darby kept darting in and out of your aim.

Darby slowly moved toward the horse and could soon see her bright red eyes and a trickle of black substance coming out of a nostril. “Well, little lady, what are you doing here?” she said in a soft, calm voice. “I am Darby; I am here to be your friend if you want.”

The horse looked perplexed at this human that was not afraid of her and seemed to have no weapons to harm her. This Darby did not drop out of the sky like others had or the big cold containers that dropped down one day and frozen the earth and water.

Sergeant Garrett watched; her briefing said this woman had a way with creatures did not seem to do justice to the true bond with animals of all kinds. Her partner soon finished his task and packed his samples and equipment up as Darby continued to speak with this beast.

Carver stayed a distance back as he observed Darby slowly working her way with this horse. He was not completely sure that this horse was truly alive. He was concerned when Darby called out to him, “I need your rope,”

He slowly moved toward Darby with the rope but slipped on the edge of the ice and fell. He was surprised how sticky it was, like the chemical ice that used to be used in the big meat trucks he unloaded a year ago. He got up as the red eyes of the horse burrowed deep into his soul.

The two soldiers made their way back towards the trail to get away from the frozen pond. Sergeant Garrett would fill in her report when they reached their base at the old café. She wondered how soon they would drop canisters on “Infected” areas to freeze out the dead and bring order back to Canada. She did not know how much would be shared with the others, but it seemed the accidental experiment had been successful.

Carver approached the soldiers, “Darby told me to lead you out of here; she will be coming back a little later.”

The sergeant looked to the far end of the pond, “With her dead horse?”

“I think it might be half dead, maybe a quarter dead?” Carver replied as he started on the trail.

Darby sat on a stump at the edge of the frozen pond, almost ignoring the horse for a long time. She spoke to the horse occasionally until she noticed the horse nuzzling up to her. Darby slowly got up and put the rope around the horse’s neck. She wiped the horses’ eyes and nose, “All better, let’s go see Moses he is gonna love you.”

Darby started the long journey toward the RV Resort, knowing she was pushing her arrangement to bring a partially dead horse to the settlement. Once they made it to the longing road, Darby walked side by side with the horse for a long time. She worried that it would be getting dark despite the summer sun and sky before she knew it.

Patrick stood at the top of the field with several others; one man pointed suddenly as the night sky slowly moved over the horizon. Darby appeared on the back of a dirty white horse that must have been sixteen hands in height. She let it loose in a small field away from the other cattle and animals.

Patrick laughed as he turned around. This brave new world was getting more and more interesting each day.