Desolation

She grabbed his arm and led him to a quiet area of the room. No one could see her hand him the key and lanyard with a hand-drawn map and directions. She whispered into his ear, still holding his arm firmly. His demeanor changed almost instantly; he pressed his head to hers, tears glistening on his face, and then hugged her. He looked at her again and kissed her cheek. “You are a saint,” his lips said to those who could read them. “Peace be with you,” she said, and walked out. Less than a minute later, the Kings and Fernandezes left the parking lot and drove out of town.

Pastor John wiped the moisture from his eyes, stood up tall, and called out, “I need ten strong men to help me get some supplies.”

51. I Do

Laramie, Wyoming

It was by far the biggest wedding ceremony witnessed by this part of Wyoming in a long time, and every member of Fort Laramie who wasn’t dead or in the infirmary showed up for it. Even those few townies who grumbled that they had been lied to about the bride and groom’s marital status showed up. Carrington thought it was just the few men who were jealous of him taking one of the only available women in the town. Everyone else was excited that the town’s two heroes had found love.

The sheriff performed the service, which was his first and probably the funniest anyone had ever witnessed. Folks who had often quoted The Princess Bride wedding scene would now imitate this one instead, with the drawl so strong it could trip a bull. The crowd favorite—“Do yew take this wohman to be yehr lawfully wedded whyf?”—would be repeated for years.

During their first (rather long) kiss as husband and wife, everyone cheered, even the grumblers. They didn’t want their friends to go, but they understood why. The Carringtons had an important job to do at Cicada. The locals were just thankful to them for saving their town and for having had the chance to know them.

They fixed up Carrington’s recumbent tricycle with new tires and completely degreased the chain and gears. They added a small trailer filled with more than enough supplies, even though the journey to Colorado shouldn’t be a long one. The hardest job for the town was putting together the official marriage certificate, which Carrington figured would be required for their entry into Cicada. The problem was that for the past several years, all legal certificates had been printed by computer. After they found some old blank stock stored in a warehouse, they had to go from house to house looking for a typewriter and ribbon that worked to fill out the form. Bob Smucker, the town manager, arranged to borrow a local romance author’s vintage Underwood. Somehow that was fitting. After typing it up, Bob and Tex signed it to make it official.

Carrington and Melanie mounted their trike, him first and then her on his lap. It was designed for one, but they found if she crossed her legs around the handle bars, parked her feet behind the wheel and then leaned back against his chest, it worked great.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Don’t forget to yell if you lose your balance.”

“Don’t forget, I rode a crashing Russian escape capsule to earth.”

“There’s no doubt who is the smarter of us. Let’s go before I say something else stupid.”

“Forward, James.”

“Bye,” a disharmonious chorus of voices serenaded them.

“Bye,” they answered back and waved.

As they drove away, someone let loose of a series of tin cans tied to the back of the trailer, just below the newly hand-painted license plate that read “CARR & MEL.” They pulled through the north gate smiling like the newlyweds they were, the cans clanking away, causing such a racket that a couple of dogs in the neighborhood starting barking. They stopped, still in full view of several who were watching them at the gate. Melanie got off, yanked both cords and their attached cans and tossed them into the trailer, got back on the trike and settled in again. Carrington waved without looking back as he pedaled away. At the top of the Highway 130 bridge, they disappeared from Laramie’s lives forever.

52. Going to a New Home

Wright Ranch, Illinois

They ended up staying one extra day to complete all the preparations for travel. The following morning, they all said goodbye to Robert and Emma Simpson, knowing that they would never see them again. The Simpsons would most likely be dead long before the others arrived in New Mexico. Wilber spent time with them providing more instructions on the location of supplies and what they could do to minimize the effects of the coming radiation. He dug out two old Geiger counters from a metal storage shed, sealed in their original wood boxes. One he left with the Simpsons. The other they would take on their journey, hoping to bypass any potential radiation threat as their planned path west would bring them near a couple other nuclear power plants . He crafted steel cages around each, providing protection against the daily CME attacks.