WITHOUT LAND: The Changing Earth Series

By Sara F. Hathaway

“I thought I was entering a brave new world of freedom but I walked right into the arms of soldiers I thought were there to protect me... They told us we were going to live at this ‘happy’ camp where we would be cared for until the country was stabilized.”

Without Land is book number two in The Changing Earth Series. A series that focuses on the changing landscape of the Earth and how humans will have to adapt. The lone survivor from Sacramento, Erika, is a tenacious woman, mother and wife. After her grueling journey of survival during The Day After Disaster, she thought America would let freedom reign forever but nine years after the Great Quake the reaction by the American Government was quite different.

The Great Quake introduced many hardships to the world. Oil supplies, energy supplies, food supplies, medical supplies and all the essentials of modern life have been disrupted. The American citizens fought valiantly to bring back some sense of normalcy in a world that was shaken to bits but had to face some tough choices along the way.

Citizens still in possession of viable land found themselves farming and fulfilling many obligations for the citizens left alive. Many more people were left landless and instead of allowing them to roam in packs, the government rounded them up and housed them in refugee camps. The government quickly enacted new policies to maintain order. Only landowning citizens were allowed the right to vote on these new policies. The refugee families were signed up to an adoption program. The landowners were given the right to pick and choose individuals and families to house on their property. This way the refugees could provide manual labor for the farms due to the shortage of oil to fuel machinery. The final blow to the hearts of refugees was the introduction of the "infertility" law which stated that any landless refugees would be rendered infertile after the age of thirteen. It was voted on and passed to maintain population levels in this world desperately trying to recover.

Erika and her family are just another group left landless and forced to find their way in this new government construct. Even though they fought bravely against the new system, their lives have been put on hold as they stay trapped with their family and friends at the Las Vegas Refugee Camp. Avoiding adoption, the crew constantly focuses on gaining their freedom. One day they are called upon to join a rescue team and upon doing so they think this a way back into the good graces of the tyrannical government.

However, the truth is not always what it seems and Mother Nature will always have the last word.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sara F. Hathaway
• Release date: Sep 18, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310689222

Sara F. Hathaway

Author Sara F. Hathaway is an individual with an insatiable urge for learning. She grew up in the woods of Michigan, fishing, hunting, gardening, canning, and horseback riding with her family. She loved to learn about the stories of times past from her great grandparents and grandparents. She learned about a time much different from our own when a trip to the grocery store was not all it took to make sure your family was fed. She delighted in the outdoors and learning how to survive there without the trappings of modern life.After moving to the rural mountain landscape of California, she attended The California State University of Sacramento and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in General Business Management. She managed many businesses, all while working on the manuscript for her fictional novel, Day After Disaster. Eventually she realized that her passion for the outdoors and learning about survival techniques outweighed her passion for the business world. She took her marketing skills and applied them to launching a successful platform for her first novel, Day After Disaster and its sequel, Without Land.Sara still lives in Northern California with her husband and two sons where she is at work on The Changing Earth Series. She delights in helping other authors find the same marketing success and enjoys her time that she gets to spend honing her survival skills while teaching these skills to her sons.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

ERIKA’S WARM TEARS mingled delicately with the cool water in the basin. She stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her soft, chestnut-colored eyes were puffy from crying. Slowly, she brushed her long, brown hair behind her ear. She had noticed some new strands of gray, but that was not what she was looking at. Her fingers slowly traced the lines of the scars her body bore from her escape from Sacramento. It seemed a lifetime ago but the rough, mangled skin she saw reflected back at her in the mirror reminded her that it had not been some horrible nightmare conjured up in her dreams.

Erika was doing it again, dredging up the memories from the past that haunted her. She splashed the cold water over her face as the images of the ones she had left behind flashed in her mind.

Oh God, how could they have done it, she squeaked out in a muffled whimper.

Suddenly there was a soft tap at the door. Baby, you ready yet? Vince’s deep, manly voice questioned.

The sound of his voice snapped Erika back into reality. Oh yeah, be out in a minute, she quickly answered, barely controlling the quiver in her voice.

Water smashed over her face again, and she grabbed a towel that was on the counter. It wasn’t a soft, cushy towel like the ones she had known when she was younger. It was simply a piece of cloth, probably from an old T-shirt salvaged from some destroyed town. The water swirled down the drain when she yanked on the chain that held the stopper in place. She made a mental note to change the bucket under the basin that held the dirty water later, as she stared at the vortex. Shaking all those painful thoughts from her head, she went toward the door.

Erika turned the knob and the door creaked open. Vince’s loving eyes met hers. They were beautiful. Gold stars extended from his pupils and smoothly melded into the hazel color that surrounded them. His face was neatly shaven, and his handsome features struck Erika silent as she looked at him.

What’s wrong, Erika? Vince could immediately tell she had been crying.

"Nothing, I’m just shocked to see you looking all GQ with your beard shaved," she teased, trying to distract him.

He blushed a little. It’s itchy. Now really, what’s up, he prodded on.

Nothing…really, I’m fine. Erika was hesitant to tell him about her memories because it was an argument they had too frequently.

Oh no…not again. Vince rolled his eyes. We are not doing this today. Vince had lived the same nightmare as his wife, but that was then. Nine years had passed and this was life now. He had lost too much to dwell there, wallowing in memories he was powerless to change. He tried every day, with little success, to forget.

I’m not doing anything, Vince. Erika didn’t really want to think about the past today either, but it seemed like she had little control over the anger, sadness and frustration she felt when she thought of the friends she had left behind in California and the life they had been forced to live since.

That’s right, you’re not. This could be our chance to get out of this…this hellhole, and you are not gonna blow it again with all your freedom rhetoric. Vince said. It was not his usual way, to talk to his wife like that, but he had a good feeling about this meeting. He felt it was just the opportunity they needed, an opportunity to get his family out of this situation and back to a free, real life. A chance to reclaim some of his past and maybe find some of his family he had lost connection with.

That’s not fair, Vince. You feel the same way I do. Erika was shocked by his freedom rhetoric comment.

Vince’s eyes softened, Baby, you know I do, but I need to get out of here. I hate the desert, he added with a smile.

I know. I need to get out of here too, Erika agreed. I just can’t believe we have come to this. Erika moved around the small wooden room with her arms out as if she was indicating everything, and it wasn’t much. A full-size mattress was in the corner. A blanket covered it, two pillows made of old T-shirts with more T-shirts stuffed inside for padding decorated it, and an old unzipped sleeping bag was thrown over the top. In the other corner stood a milk crate stacked on a pallet with a kerosene lantern on top. Next to it were two backpacks fully packed with everything in the world Erika and Vince cherished. She turned back to face him. I can’t give up on what I know is right. Someone has got to do something for these people.

Just please, let’s not let that someone be you doing something today, okay? Vince pleaded.

Okay, okay, she replied sharply, I will keep my mouth shut and play nice for you today, Feeling guilty she had snapped at him, Erika approached him, wrapped her arms around his muscular body and stared up into his eyes.

Promise? he questioned, looking down softly at her. His curly hair was bouncing above his eyes.

I promise, she said with a soft kiss.

They opened the door to their tiny bedroom and entered the main room of their dwelling. This room was bigger than their bedroom, but not much. Immediately to the left there was a recessed area in the wall that contained three beds for their children: Star, Dexter and Daniel. Next to the bed each child had a backpack stuffed to the brim with their possessions. Directly across from their bedroom door was the door to the outside; the corner to the right of that was reserved for cooking. Erika couldn’t consider it a kitchen, compared to the standards she had enjoyed back before the great quake. Vince had built counters out of old pallets, and in the top of one a hole was made so the basin they used could set down into it but still be easily removed. In the other corner, to the right, there was a sitting area: an old salvaged wooden table with five chairs surrounding it. Daniel was occupying one of the chairs.

Good morning, Mom and Dad, he said, his voice bubbling with excitement. Look at what I did this morning! he said with a bright smile, displaying his latest piece of artwork. His feathery, blond hair bounced in the sunlight that entered through a little square that was cut in the wall in the kitchen area. He was a strong, well-proportioned, eight-year-old boy. Yesterday he had delighted in the three different-colored paints that an old lady down the street had found and given him. Even though paper was very hard to come by, he painted on every inch of every scrap he could find, preciously conserving every drop of the rare paint.

Where’s Star and Dex, Daniel? Vince questioned the boy.

They said they’d meet us at the bus, he answered. His eyes never even looked up from the final touches he was applying to the artwork.

The wooden floor creaked as Erika headed over to the kitchen area and grabbed a jar that was full of sprouts she had been growing. She had put the seeds in the jar, then watered and drained them for days. Finally, they were growing. They would grow without the little bit of sunlight from the window, but Erika liked them green and they would not turn without the precious light. She began munching on a handful.

You want some, baby? she asked, holding out a handful to Vince.

No, thanks. Come on, guys, we gotta go. Let’s get cleaned up, Danny, he said, irritated with the delay. His wife was stalling and he was determined they were not going to miss the bus.

Oh, Dad, Daniel moaned.

Don’t, ‘oh, Dad’ me, mister, let’s go! Vince replied, giving the boy a big hug and a swat on the bottom.

Daniel carefully closed up his paints. Then he used a small shot glass of clean water to methodically clean the fine bristles of the brush. Erika had already grabbed the boy’s shoes and jacket by the time he had finished. In a few short minutes they were all ready to go.

CHAPTER 2

THEY HEADED OUT into the sun. It was a windy day in Southern Nevada, but it was always windy here. The sun shined down bright as it normally did, but Erika felt a definite coolness to the air. There was a brisk, fresh tone in the breeze that told her winter was fast approaching. It would be a welcomed relief from the hot, blazing sun.

Erika looked out at the rows of shanties that lined the landscape. Who would believe this used to be Las Vegas, she thought. Now the remnants had been salvaged and built into this refugee camp. Erika remembered hearing the soldier talk about what happened nine years ago, after the quakes stopped. The surviving Americans found themselves in a drastically altered country. The quakes, in all their world-shaking fury, had rocked the polar caps, and huge chunks of glacial ice had inundated the oceans. As the ocean temperature warmed and the water desalinated, the ocean expanded. Erika knew that was true because she had witnessed it first-hand. The Pacific Ocean coast now hugged the edge of the Sierra Nevada Mountains all the way down to Arizona. When the ocean hit the mountain gap in Southern California it poured through, spilling into Nevada. Its advance had stopped just below the Hoover Dam, which, by some miracle of extreme engineering, was not destroyed in the quakes. The ocean’s edge came to within a mile of the actual dam on one side, and on the other was Lake Mead. It was the key to this location being chosen for the camp. The lake was full and fresh. It was obvious to Erika that it was raining somewhere, but she knew it wasn’t here.

The ocean water in their little bay below the camp was a toxic slurry of all kinds of waste. Flooded oil refineries, nuclear power waste, chemical production factories, waste treatment facilities, and the city remains had all sloshed together in a brownish-gray slime that rose and fell with the tide. There was nothing alive in there, and those that ventured too close were met with stinging eyes and burning mucus membranes.

Erika commented that the smell from the cesspool, as they called it, was not too bad today because of the cool breeze. The couple walked with Daniel down their dusty street. It was not an uplifting place. They stared out at row after row of dilapidated shanties, made from the rubble of the past. Before living here, Erika had only seen places like this on news reports of Third World countries. The destruction had finally hit home. Everything had to be recycled and put back into use. In this world they had no choice. The survivors had been resilient. Even though the quakes had turned a once sophisticated country into ruins, they quickly gathered up the pieces and put some sort of a puzzle back together.

They did it in the form of miles and miles of rickety, refugee shanties. So many Americans had lost their homes and, more importantly, their land. Those that had not died of starvation or sickness after the Great Quake had nowhere to go. The rest of the world was in worse shape, as cholera and disease took its toll on overpopulated countries that could not get sanitation and food supply back on track as fast as America did. To deal with the problem, the government had established these camps to house the refugees. Looking down the street at the squalor that they were expected to live in ate a hole into Erika’s heart. The government had said the American borders were closed to protect American citizens, and living here was their only option. She couldn’t understand how freedom could have been so quickly exchanged for security. Security from what, the big, bad world? Each person here had survived the quake; what did they do so wrong to end up here? she wondered to herself.

You know what they need, Mom? Daniel asked her curiously.

What, honey, Erika humored him.

Color! Daniel answered cheerfully.

Yeah, they do. Erika chuckled. He was so innocent, so carefree, she mused. He had never known any other life but that of being in this camp. Erika had tried to describe the great mountains of the West and the vast woodlands of the North to him. She had tried to describe the wondrous cities of the past. Where the buildings stood taller than he could imagine and they felt like they were going to fall right on you. She had shown him books in the library, but none of it did the real thing justice. She longed to see him free. Maybe she could endure one more meeting, one more time, for his sake, she tried to convince herself.

We would have to find you a lot more paint, Vince noted jovially.

Maybe today would be a good day, Erika thought to herself. The three of them were smiling and holding hands as they rounded the corner to the bus stop. Dexter and Star were there chatting with some friends. They saw the merriment in their parents’ eyes and returned their smiles.

It’s cool we get to ride the bus today, Dad. Aren’t you excited? Daniel beamed.

Yeah, pretty cool, buddy, Vince responded, indulging the boy. Vince had grown up in a very different world, filled with cars, trucks and buses, but his young son had never known the luxury of owning your own vehicle or the hustle and bustle of a town buzzing with the sound of automobiles. Today, gas was far too precious for everyone to have, especially not a refugee gardener. There was little hope he would ever drive again if they remained trapped here.

You excited to ride the bus? Dexter teased Daniel as he walked over. Dexter was fourteen years old now. The quakes came when he was five. He and Vince had survived together and found his mother three months after the first quake. When they reunited, Dexter found out he had a new sister named Star that his mother had adopted along the way.

Dexter was a tall, lean, adolescent. Mentally, he was smart and quick, and the boy possessed a huge heart. His hair had turned from blond to a sandy brown over the years, and his eyes were as steely gray, just like his grandfather’s.

Oh, yeah! Daniel replied to his big brother, leaping up onto his back.

Dexter whirled around in a circle and the boys laughed. Erika noticed that Star had lingered with the group of kids that were chatting in the roadway. She was talking with a very handsome young man. Why not? Erika mused. She was almost eighteen now and she was gorgeous. Her tall figure was accented with exquisitely fine facial features. A golden-blond head of hair curled slightly and rolled over her shoulders, and her eyes were as blue as a cloudless sky. She was now taller than Vince and she was a very well-spoken young lady. Erika had ensured her children were all well-educated, even though they were told that, as refugees, there would be no need for it.

The rickety bus finally rounded the corner and squealed to a halt in front of the family. They all jumped as it banged with a puff from the exhaust pipe. Star quickly ended her conversation with the young man and joined her family in the line to board the bus. When they were seated, the bus went into motion and backfired again with another loud bang.

Woo-hoo! Daniel yelled and the startled family laughed at him.

Besides the occasional backfire from the tired bus, it was a quiet ride through the endless shanties of Las Vegas. Each person was consumed with his or her own thoughts about the meeting that was about to take place. They were headed to the very northern edge of the refugee camp where they needed to pick up more people. Then they would go left along the interior of the camp to get to what used to be the Las Vegas Strip. There were two gates to the refugee camp, located at what used to be McCarran International Airport: one at the northern edge and one at the southern. Erika remembered being housed in a tent there when they had first arrived. She marveled at how much things had changed around here since that day nine years ago. The airport was already fenced and sustained minimal damage in the quakes, so it made sense to keep it as a staging area for government activities in the refugee camp. Finally, some of the buildings began to look nicer as they passed by the airport into the landowner-maintained part of the city. Although Vegas had been just as devastated by the quake as everywhere else, the government had put extra resources into making sure the city was put back into something of an acceptable living condition for its officials who had to live there to make sure the refugees were cared for.

Many of the former landowners in Las Vegas were particularly happy about this. Their land had been rebuilt off the government payroll. Now they were well fed and supplied due to the heavy traffic of landowners that frequented this place on their way to adopt refugee labor for their farms.

Wow, look at those houses, Daniel boomed in appreciation every time they had to make this trip. He was always impressed by the beauty of the architecture that had been accepted as normal in the past.

It all used to be like that, Daniel, Dexter chimed in. As far as you could see, big-old house on top of big-old house. You could go to a store and pick any paint color you wanted it to be.

Really? the boy beamed with wonder, unable to imagine this fabled world his brother spoke of.

Dex, knock it off. You’ll only fill his mind up with dreams. Star tried to keep Daniel’s enthusiasm in check.

Well it’s true, Star. You know it. It wasn’t a dream. It was real, Dexter said defiantly.

It seems like it was just a dream now though, doesn’t it? Star said with a faraway look in her eyes as she stared out the window.

Come on, guys, let the boy dream. Vince said. It’s a good day to dream. I have a positive feeling about this.

Soon they were on the Strip. People in clean, fine clothes mingled about. A new city had grown from the ashes of the old. Thanks to the strength of the Hoover Dam, there was still power here, and few restrictions were placed on how the landowners used it. One building that had withstood the quake fairly well was the Luxor Hotel. It was shaped like a pyramid and the structure had held, despite some broken glass that had to be patched with sheets of wood or metal. It now stood like a gem in the rubble, and this was where they were headed.

The family exited the bus as it squealed its way to a stop in front of the building. The inhabitants of the street waved their hands in the air in front of their faces as the dust and the emissions from the bus puffed up in a cloud around them. They glared at the dirty refugees exiting the bus and whispered to one another, occasionally giggling a little. Erika proudly held her head high, trying not to let their negative thoughts interfere with her inner being.

CHAPTER 3

ONCE INSIDE THE former Casino, they were met with the glory of a life long forgotten by most of the refugees. The tile gleamed brilliantly in the sun and the faces of Egyptian statues watched them approach. Some of the Egyptian façade that had themed the hotel in the past had been destroyed, but it only added to the authenticity of the place. Erika thought that the Egypt they had seen on a television in the past had appeared to look pretty beat-up as well.

This place gets more and more incredible every time we’re here! Daniel marveled at its wonders. He had never seen a television filled with the sites of Egypt, but he had read books about it after Erika had explained what the statues here represented in man’s history. He was always awestruck in this place, though, and he had good reason to be. It was like day and night compared to their life in the camp. Do you think we will get thrown out again? he questioned innocently.

No, not this time, Vince answered with a charming look at Erika.

The light shined brightly through the huge glass windows and sparkled down on them as they walked to the designated area. Erica took note that everything was so clean and she smelled the bleach that had been recently used thick in the air. They were always dirty now and their house was always filled with dust; she wished she was in her tiny little home of the past. She had cursed cleaning back then, but now she longed to live in such sanitary conditions.

The family entered a familiar waiting room on the right side of the entryway. Here they waited in line with the other refugees. One by one, people left through a door on the far wall. Once inside they would strip off their clothes and put them in a chute and walk through another door to a shower room. There they found sweet-smelling soaps, shampoo and conditioner. Erika lingered in the hot water of the shower. She had always loved hot showers, and it was one of the main reasons she had agreed to come to these meetings at all anymore.

Once through the shower room, they entered another area where they