Athens County sunset along US 33. #athenscountyohio #us33 #maxfieldparrishsky #ohiostyle (at Athens County, Ohio) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTlPApVFb2sF0t7aldiTozKm4izs87Pka_R_IA0/?utm_medium=tumblr
Najia pushed herself off of Shane’s lap. She blinked in the bright daylight as her mind slowly came into focus.
“It’s about time,” Shane muttered. “Thought you were going to be out all day.”
Najia’s eyes scanned her surroundings. They were sitting on a road, just outside of a dark tunnel. The light was bright and warm.
“Where are we?” she asked, turning back to Shane.
Shane smiled. “Stardew Valley.”
“It’s real,” she whispered, taking in the sights. She turned her face to the sky, warmed by the son’s rays. “We made it.”
“Well, hello, Sleeping Beauty,” a voice said.
Najia turned to the familiar voice as he emerged from the dark tunnel. She pushed herself onto her feet, stumbling towards him. "Grandpa!“
"Easy now,” he said as he held his granddaughter in his arms. “Found you two hopeless souls in that snow storm. Here, brought you both some water. Drink it slowly, you’re dehydrated. When you’re able, I’ll bring you into town.”
“Town?” Najia stared at the canteens he pushed into her hands.
“Well, a little something Linus and I put together,” he said proudly. “There’s a few of us living here, you know. Got some good crops going. Plenty of sunshine and rain here. Just like life should be.”
“We have others, too,” Najia said quickly. “We need to bring them here.”
“In time,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll need to wait for the storms to pass before it’s safe to go back out there.” He turned back towards the tunnel. “Rest up,” he instructed them. “I’ll get the ol’ truck.”
Najia watched as he disappeared in the tunnel, his cheery whistling echoing off the walls.
“This can’t be real,” she muttered, turning to Shane.
“I would have thought so, too, if he didn’t have a gun to my head.”
Najia stared at him. “What do you mean? What happened?”
“You took off into the storm like the stubborn woman that you are,” Shane reminded her. “Gramps there had seen us coming over the mountain, so he headed up to investigate and found us wandering around in the storm. He said if I lost ya, he’d have my head on a stake to scare off the crows in his garden.”
Najia looked up, studying the blue sky and the way the white fluffy clouds floated lazily passed.
“I thought I was going crazy at that point, but fortunately we found you and I could live to see another day. You were exhausted and disoriented and shaking like a damn leaf, but we managed to drag your ass out of the storm and into shelter for a moment where he kept his old snowmobile. Did not think that thing would get us off the mountain, but it did.”
Najia’s cheeks were wet as her eyes continued to follow the clouds. She neared the sun, which seemed far brighter than she ever remembered it, and she had to close her eyes and turn away from the glorious sight. She stumbled into Shane and sobbed into his chest. He wrapped her arms around her and rest his chin on her head until an old, puttering engine echoed off the tunnel walls. An old, battered green truck emerged, shuttering slightly as it came to a stop beside them.
“All aboard,” Najia’s grandfather said with a smile. “And I’ll show you a little place I call Pelican Town.”
*****
Her grandfather first took them down the dirt road into the little place he called Pelican Town. Two homes stood erect, the only buildings in the lush, green meadow. He drove the truck besides one of the houses, just by the edge of the river, and put it into park.
“Linus and I have been doing a lot of clearing and building,” he said as he walked them through the little town. A man made bridge arched its way over the river to the east, and to the south, a trodden path through some brush brought them to the beach. To the west, a thick forest lined the little town. “Lots of resources to use to our advantage, so that’s what we’ve been doing,” he continued. “Plenty of room for a whole crew of survivors. Come, I’ll show you the farm.”
He lead them down the dirt road they drove through to the west, north of the forest, to a wide open space, filled with crops growing high. In the fields, a man and a woman worked side by side, their backs to them.
“As you can see,” he said proudly, his hands on his hips, “life is pretty normal ‘round here.”
Shane squinted in the bright sunlight as the woman stood and stretched, her brown curls bouncing around her shoulders. She turned to the visitors, and her warm, welcoming smile disappeared when her gaze met Shane’s. Her hands flew to her mouth in disbelief.
Shane’s heart stopped. He wanted to run to Marnie, but something wasn’t right. Where was Jas?
“Shane!”
Shane turned towards the familiar voice, dropping to his knees as the little girl ran to him, jumping in his arms. He buried his face in her hair and held her tight.
“I knew you’d find us, Shane!”
“Ah,” Najia’s grandfather said to himself. “So, that’s Shane.”
Najia’s heart leapt as she watched Shane kiss Jas’s face. The little girl giggled, her arms locked around his neck.
Marnie pulled Shane to his feet, into her chest, kissing his cheek. Shane winced like an embarrassed child, but did not pull away from her.
“How the hell did you find this place?” Shane asked when Marnie finally let him go.
“I could ask you the same thing,” Marnie said, her hands on her hips.
Shane smiled and met Najia’s gaze. “Fortunate enough to run into this stubborn women with the crazy conspiracist grandfather.”
“Well, I’ve been called worse,” her grandfather muttered.
“We made our way north away from the city,” Marnie said to him. She hesitated. “We tried to find you after we were separated,” she stammered, “but they were on our trail… I didn’t know what to do… I can’t believe you’re here.”
“Yeah,” Shane muttered. “Me neither.”
“We just kept going north,” Marnie continued. “It seemed the further north we went, the further away from those creatures we were. That’s when Lewis found us.” She indicated to the man that was working beside her in the fields. He stood beside her now, smiling at their new visitors.
“Fortunately for Marnie,” he said to them, “she was just outside our doorstep and I was that way on a mission.”
“A mission?” Najia repeated.
“We make it a point to scout out the area as often as we can,” her grandfather said. “Search for survivors, try to keep tabs on the Shadow People, truck in some outside supplies. Whatever we need to do.”
“There’s a hideout just south of the range, near the coast,” Najia explained. “There’s a lot more of us. They should be here.”
“Yes, of course,” her grandfather said. “We can bring them here once the storm settles. In fact,” he paused for a moment. “There’s someone else I should introduce you to.”
The five of them followed him south of the farm and into the forest where another small cabin stood. Penned in beside the house were a couple of chickens and cows.
“Lewis built us this house,” Jas said to Shane excitedly. “Look! We have chickens and cows. And they found me some books and dolls, too.”
Before them, at the edge of a lake, a man was chopping wood on a stump. He stood and smiled as they approached.
“I could have guessed that, John” he said. “Fortunately she got the good looking genes from her mother.”
“Where’s Rasmodius?” John asked.
Linus threw his thumb over his shoulder. “Inside, fucking with the storm.”
“He’s our key to this war,” John said as he lead Najia and Shane deeper into the forest. After a quarter of a mile, there was a small opening where another little cabin stood. John pushed the door open abruptly. The house was dark except for a single candle in the middle of the room.
“That’s enough, Ras,” John called into the house. “Najia made it, after all.”
A shadowy figure moved about the room, lighting more candles as he passed. “What did I tell you about barging in, John?” the man muttered.
“Cut the storm,” John said. “You almost killed my granddaughter.”
The room lightened, revealing Rasmodius. He looked to Najia and smiled.
“Rasmodius is kind of a wizard,” John said, turning to Najia and Shane.
“Kind of?” Rasmodius echoed, insulted.
John ignored him. “When we see suspicious movement in the mountain, he calls for a storm to protect us from any unwanted visitors.”
“Have you seen Shadow People?” Shane asked.
“Not lately,” John explained. “When the invasion first happened, they were around more frequently, scouting things out. We were able to draw them away pretty quickly. Fortunately for us, they don’t bother fight with rough weather. After a few incidents, they decided to stay away from the range.”
“Is that why there’s light, here?” Najia asked. “Because of Rasmodius?”
“I have nothing to do with that,” the wizard said. “It’s a magic all in its own.”
“I don’t understand,” Najia said. “How did you know about this place? How did you know it would be safe?”
John shrugged. “I may have been here once or twice.”
Rasmodius snorted. John shot him a glare before continuing.
“Sure, I believed the legends. You know me, Naj; I can’t stay away from something interesting. I’ve seen the Winter Star with my own eyes, yanno. And I met Rasmodius who has lived here for many years, almost undetected.”
“I would have preferred to remain undetected,” Rasmodius said with a sigh. “But your gramps is a good man, and I knew our world was going to be in some trouble. He and Linus were here when the invasion happened, and they made it their goal to make this valley a safe place for any survivors to give humans a chance to win their world back.”
“It may be a bit or a stretch,” John said carefully. “But, look what we’ve got here; a place where the darkness can’t touch us. A place where the Shadow People wouldn’t be able to step foot. We’ve got a chance, here, and I’m taking it. And with a wizard on our side, nothing can stop us.”
“I can’t win this war, John,” Rasmodius warned him. “My magic isn’t as all powerful as you may think. There are limitations.”
“And we’re going to use every bit of your magic as we can.”
Rasmodius rolled his eyes. “I’m just a tool in your game,” he muttered.
“Don’t start with me, Ras. You agreed to help us out. In fact, it was your idea.”
“You’re just lucky I didn’t banish you from the valley the first chance I got.”
John smirked and turned his back to the wizard. “What do ya say we get those friends of yours, hm?”
