Anti-assimilation army: A Spark

Chapter 4

Unconditional Surrender

As Alex walked along their newly trodden path with Joel, the two of them chatted as if they were peas in a pod. The constant digging and carrying of tubers back to camp had strengthened Joel’s muscles, and they were not unnoticed by his foraging accomplice. Walking several paces behind the pair, Natalie smiled gladly that her daughter had found a friend to talk to, and perhaps found something more than a friendship. Hearing her daughter’s squeaky laugh, she knew Joel certainly had the charm to win over Alex’s heart, just as Josh had done all those years ago with herself.

They stopped at a new patch of Sword Fern that hadn’t been disturbed yet and started digging, with Joel shoveling away dirt and Alex pulling tubers out of the newly exposed ground. As they worked away, flakes of snow began to fall all around them, disappearing into the ground as each snowflake made contact.

Joel looked above and shivered a bit, as if just noticing the change in temperature from temperate and bearable to unforgivingly cold. “Alex, Natalie! I think it’s best we head back to camp. We’re not dressed for snow and it might make us lose sight of our tracks leading us back home. Don’t want to get lost in a snowstorm.” 

He then took his light jacket off, and draped it across Alex’s shoulder, helping keep her warm while he shrugged off the cold. As he winked his eye, he dismissed any worry about his wellbeing. “A little cold won’t bother me. Seeing you shiver on the other hand…I won’t accept that. Hurry, let’s get back to camp and warm up by the fire.”

As they entered the camp, Brian looked up from the campfire he had just managed to start and invited the three out of the cold, beckoning them to sit next to the flame. “Just got the stubborn wood to light, and it might be difficult to keep a fire going if it starts dumping snow on us like this.”

Samantha draped a thick mountaineering coat over Joel, who nodded his thanks to his mother, while Alex put on another thicker coat as well on top of her other layers. “Well, that’s five of us, still two more to come in before the storm gets any worse hopefully. Don’t worry, I checked on the walkie-talkie and they are heading back the last I heard from them. Caught three whopping fish as well too. The cold should keep them fresh enough for a while.”

While the families cooked their dinner over the blazing fire, they listened intently to the news about the Canadian-American War. Many provinces had already fallen, with only Ontario, British Columbia and the northern territories resisting American rule. 

“Sources tell us that the Western Division of the Canadian army is trying to garner support from China, claiming that Richmond, a municipality with a large number of Sino-Canadian decedents and immigrants, was indiscriminately attacked by mortars and bombardments. The Americans claim that the Canadians were hiding among the Chinese residents, operating guerilla-style warfare with Richmond as one of their launching pads. Officials in China have yet to respond, but if they do come to the aid of the Canadian forces, the Americans would be hard-pressed to fend off the world’s second largest military force. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tugman made a plea to all Canadians still fighting off the American invaders, urging them to keep resisting, to fight on the good fight and to make our nation proud. He also made a last-ditch effort to garner support from the United Nations or other large countries, promising resources and stakes in Canadian businesses if they would fight for our nation. Many countries are hesitant to join for fear of retaliation by the Americans, who still hold the title of country with the largest military and largest economy. Tugman logically concluded that if Canada were to fall under American control, the vast resources, space, geographical location and political power under their possession would be rivaled by none, effectively merging two of the former top ten economies together. Able to grow and consume with nearly unlimited resources, the United States would become a political behemoth, able to force lesser countries to abide by their rules, policies, ethics and protocol. He asserted that a strong Canada is like a bit in the mouth of a powerful stallion, able to keep it under control and to prevent it from going on a rampage.”

“Heh, stallion, eh? More like an angry untamed lion. Good luck putting a bit into that monstrous mouth,” snorted Natalie.

“Well, if we end up being lion bait, then we can say we tried. Eaten by the strongest nation the world had ever seen and absorbed into its heartland. Speaking of eating, looks like dinner has arrived!”

Arthur laid down a beauty of a trout, while Josh deposited the other two into their underwater storage. Lifting the large slab, he flicked the fish into to cavity dug into the streambed and let the current push the slab back, sealing it from intruders.

“Got about twenty good sized fish down there, and some fresh tubers. How much should we give to Chris when he comes by tomorrow morning?”

Thinking carefully, Brian estimated that keeping most of their catch for the winter would be optimal, but if the Canadian soldiers and AAA are defeated due to insufficient foodstuffs, no amount of trout or tubers could save them from the annexation of Canada into it’s American brother. “I’d say let them have two fish. It’s the best we can do in this situation. Joel, any more ideas on where to find food from that guidebook?”

“’Fraid not dad. The only other option is to start eating bugs…but I think we’ve been down that rabbit hole before.”

Arthur shivered at the memory of when they first tried roasted grasshopper. The slightly acidic juices that squirted out in his mouth was extremely unpleasant, to say the least.

Then, an idea formed in Natalie’s head. “Perhaps we can ground the dried-up insects into a powder or sorts, and cook it like a pancake with some water and crushed tubers?”

As he rummaged around in his supplies, Brian brought forth a mortar and pestle, handing them over to Natalie. 

“Perfect! That’s all we need. If only we had some maple syrup to go with it hah!”

“We’ll keep on a look-out for edible insects when we go foraging tomorrow. But the snow might make it difficult to spot or catch any.”

As Brian rotated the fish roasting over the fire, he tried to keep positive to avoid the gloom and doom of confronting the desperation of starvation. “Hey, hey guys, we’ve got plenty of fish in the lake, as Arthur and me checked last time. Even if the water freezes over, ice fishing is not too difficult as well. That food source should last us several months at least, giving us amble time to locate and utilize another food source.”

“Alternate food source? Like what Dad?”

Tapping his head in a matter-of-fact manner, Brian outlined his plan for the spring and summer months. “Big game! I’m talking moose, caribou, deer. Just taking down one will provide us with enough food for at least two weeks, if not a month.

“What happens when you run out of ammunition dear? Chris only gave you a handful of bullets,” said Samantha worriedly. 

“Yes, I’ve thought of that myself. I think Chris would be more than willing to trade some ammunition for the food we’ve been providing the army. It should be enough to keep us hunting throughout the year. The more food we gather, the more we’re able to offer for the war effort. We’ll probably need to create more storage spaces under the stream to hold all the food, but it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“We can also supplement our diet with small game and home-grown vegetation. For example, we can transplant several big berry bushes near our camp and store the dried fruit someplace safe,” added Josh.

“Speaking of small game, did you guys manage to catch another rabbit in the barrel traps?”

“Why Samantha? Are you craving rabbit wellingtons? Hah!”

Gently punching her husband, Samantha admitted her new fondness for rabbit meat: “Not wellingtons, just rabbit roulades.”

“Well, sorry to burst your bubble but we haven’t gotten a single confounded rabbit since the first one we caught several days ago. Those critters are smarter than they look I think.”

Placing the cooked trout and tubers onto a large tray, Brian divvied up the fish into modest portions and gave three large tubers to each plate. Passing around the salt shaker, another valuable gift from Chris, they took turns adding a bit of salt to the food, before digging into their meal.

As he played around with the fish bones on his plate, Arthur asked a pressing question that was on everyone’s mind as they ate in silence. “Dad, what will happen when the Americans reach us here? Will we have to move again?”

“I can’t speak for Josh’s family, but our family will stay here so long as the resistance keeps the Americans from invading this far north. But in the case that they do reach us, I think it would be best to surrender to them and return back to Vancouver…or what’s left of it. Travelling further north would be dangerous and even worse and unforgiving than living under the Yankee controlled province.”

“Do you think our house will be…still standing?” worried Arthur.

Samantha rubbed the back of her homesick son and encouraged him that they were still together as a family. “No matter what happens, we are a strong and resilient family, so whatever the future brings, we have the courage and hope to keep going.”

After dinner, while everyone was asleep in their cars, Arthur was having a nightmare, one which he could not wake up from no matter how hard he tried. In his mind he saw his father, kneeling before the enemy before being shot point blank in the head; his body crumbling to the ground as his mom screamed his name. Then, he was back in Cloverdale, looking at their house, which always seemed larger on the outside. But some American soldiers came with flamethrowers, and they set their house on fire; the dry tinder wooden frame lighting up and turning into a fireball of light. A feeling of anger and resentment boiled in Arthur’s mind, and he charged at one of the American soldiers, furious and ready to go down fighting. But just as he was about to strike him, the soldier turned and smirked at him, as a giant hole in the ground opened and swallowed up Arthur. He kept falling, and falling, till he landed on the bottom, stuck in a cell like room with the glimmer of light from the top of the pit. His yells and cries echoed around the hole, and not hearing of any help coming, he lost all hope and crawled up into a fetal position, hugging his knees and rocking himself to sleep.

As he woke up in the car, sweating bullets despite the cool frosty air around, Arthur couldn’t recall much of his nightmare, except that he was glad to be out of it. He splashed his face with cold, clear spring water and sat down next to the crackling breakfast fire which his dad had already set up, being the first one to wake up. 

“Good morning sunshine! Here, have some breakfast before heading out for fishing. Oh, and dress warm for the weather, okay? Don’t want you suffering frostbite or hypothermia.”

Accepting a bowl of rehydrated ground up tubers with some berries on top, the meal reminded Arthur of the countless oatmeal breakfasts he had in his childhood. While he was never fond of oatmeal in the first place, his hunger drove him to eat the bland concoction, wincing at the tartness of the berries.

As he noticed his son disdainfully eating one of the unripe blueberries, Brian felt bad for his hardworking son and wished he had better ingredients to make a proper breakfast that he deserved. “Sorry son, those berries and tuber meal is all we got. Once we get enough meat though, we can make something tastier alright?”

“At least we’re not eating bugs yet. Blagh! Can’t imagine swallowing one of those things again.”

Patting his rifle and showing Arthur the bullets inside, Brian was confident he could take down some big game to supplement their diet. “Just watch your pops! Me and Josh will head out together while your mom will partner with you for fishing, okay?”

“Sounds alright to me. Is mom up yet? I’d like to get a head start on fishing once it’s warm outside.”

Brian gestured towards the ground lightly dusted with snow, raising an eyebrow to his son’s use of words. “You call this warm? I’d hate to think of what you would consider cold bud!”

After he scooped out the rest of his breakfast and swallowed it half-heartedly, Arthur went to check on his fishing poles, while digging around the camp in the semi-frozen soil to find any worms to use as bait.

Back at the car, Samantha strolled out the door and instantly regretted not staying in bed as she shivered in the wintery wallop. 

Brian saw his wife emerge from the car and he doled out a dish of mashed tubers to her but left out the berries when she stopped him from putting any on top.

“Don’t want any of those sour bombs. Tasted worse than eating a raw lemon.”

As she dug into her breakfast, Brian reminded her to help Arthur with the fishing today.

“Oh shoot, why didn’t you tell me earlier?” as she gulped down the rest of her food, she dashed off towards her son who was patiently waiting for her by the trailhead. 

Brian laughed at his somewhat unruly wife, but was grateful for his wife’s perkiness, which made life a thousand times more interesting and exciting. He then waited for Joel and the Hayes to wake up, then decided to let them know breakfast was ready. After knocking on the car door, a sleepy sounding Joel answered but quickly went back to sleep.

“Yo Joel! Breakfast is ready. Wake up sleepy head!” Brian threw the door wide open and the cold draft rushed into the car, despite Joel’s protests.

“Dad! It’s freezing! Close the door!”

“C’mon, get dressed. It’s time for brekky.” 

As if ignoring his father, Joel rolled over in his sleeping bag, trying to negotiate with his dad. “Fifteen more minutes? I was having such a nice dream too. You can give my portion to Arthur…I’m tired of eating tubers for breakfast.”

With a twinkle in his eye, Brian knew exactly what would get his son to wake up. “Alex is up already and she’s going to eat breakfast by herself if you don’t get ready.”

Joel immediately threw aside his sleeping bag and hurriedly dressed as he hoped not to miss the meal with Alex. “Tell her to wait, I’m coming!”

Throwing back his head and laughing to himself at the predictability of his son, he greeted the Hayes as they piled out of the car and towards the warm campfire. “Step right up! Get your tuber meal for breakfast! Step right up!”

Dribbling the mixture with her spoon, Alex longingly wished for something other than tubers. “You know what I miss? A full continental breakfast.”

Walking over to sit next to her, Joel put forth his thoughts as well. “Let alone continental breakfast, I’d be happy with cereal and milk!”

“I’m sorry guys, we don’t have any of that, but I can whip up some scrambled tubers, toasted tubers and tuber sausages if you want?”

Everyone rolled their eyes at Brian, and burst out laughing as the weather got colder and began to snow again, with small delicate flakes falling from the sky.

Natalie buttoned up her heavy coat, urging the two lovebirds to get a start on foraging before the snow gets too deep to search or walk through. As she listened to them chatter about every conceivable topic, she shook her head at the puppy love evident between the two. 

“You failed swimming lessons? Really?”

“Yeah, not the brightest moment of my life. Beaten by fourth graders in swimming.”

“Well, if you ever need rescuing at sea, I’m the girl. I’m literally a lifeguard, just not quite at that distinction yet.”

“You can do mouth to mouth on me anytime, hah!”

“Hmph! You’ll have to prove yourself worthy of my resuscitation by mouth. But for now…” giving Joel a peck on his cheek, she chuckled, rushing ahead of the surprised boy who was blushing pink in the ears. 

Out of earshot from Alex, Natalie whispered her approval to Joel. “You’d make a fine boyfriend for our Alex. Just don’t go breaking her heart, okay?”

Joel touched the spot where Alex kissed him and eagerly nodded his head, thanking Natalie for her advice. He then rushed back up to walk alongside Alex and they went straight back to chattering, talking of times long ago and memories cherished in their minds. 

As the foraging party went ahead, so did the fishing party, with Arthur and Samantha heading to Lake Garibaldi. They soon reached the southern edge of the elongated lake and set up a spot where the water was a little deeper and where several slabs of rock had been set up as chairs for the fishers. 

Samantha sat down and took the opportunity to have a heart-to-heart talk with her son; knowing something was pressing on his mind. “Arthur, I saw how you looked at Joel and Alex yesterday night while we were eating. Are you…how to say it…jealous of Joel that Alex likes him?”

Not saying a word, Arthur simply nodded once to his mom before refocusing on casting the fishing lines into the lake. After a period of suffocating silence, his raw emotion began to flow out, as he lay out everything that was on his mind. “S’not fair! Just cause Joel’s not busy fishing, he’s able to become friends with Alex, while I have to fish all alone with no girl to talk to. Just Mr. Hayes, and you mom. Joel always gets things his way and I’m sick of it.”

Samantha laid her hand on her sulking son, reassuring him the best she could. “Look, I don’t know if this war will last one year, two, or even three, but one thing is for sure, it won’t be forever. Very soon you’ll be back in school, among many other students and one of which might be your future girl. Now we don’t know if we’ll still be Canadian or become new Americans, but normalcy will come back, that’s for sure. Just have hope with a dash of patience, okay?”

Arthur nodded his head once more to the sage advice given by his mother and deftly brushed away a tear, hoping it was unnoticed by her. Suddenly, Samantha’s line grew taunt, and for a second Arthur worried the fish might pull the rod into the water, but his mom held her ground and wrestled with the fish, reeling it in slowly but surely. Using a net to scoop out the fish into their bucket, Arthur congratulated his mom on catching her first trout.

“You caught a big one mom. You sure this was your very first fish?”

“The only fishing I’ve done is catching your father as a husband! When we got married, everyone called your father a trophy husband, since he was nice to look at. He earned the name Big Brian as he had a lot of muscle back in the day.”

Arthur watched as the clouds above threatened to dump their payload of snow and decided to catch two more fish before heading back as quick as they can to avoid the winter storm.

They soon landed two more mediocre sized fish, and hurried back along the trail they had made. Carrying the bucket between them, they got back to camp just as Brian was starting the fire. 

“Hey Arthur, Samantha! Guess what we got? Meat! We managed to find a roe deer and we took it down with my rifle. We skinned and gutted the carcass and stored all the extra meat under the stream, but we’re just about to start cooking some for everyone to try. Bet you guys haven’t tried venison before, eh?”

Brian laid the thick slab of meat on the pan, and salting both sides as he flipped it over. The sizzling meat made everyone’s mouth water and they were eager to try something other than the fish and tubers they had been subsisting on for the past few weeks.

Once everyone was served, Arthur cut into his thick slice of venison steak and chewing a piece, it reminded him of a beef steak but with a more gamey taste.

All around the campfire, everyone was approving of the experimental dinner, with Brian and Josh taking credit for finding the deer.

“Dad, it’s delicious!” shouted Arthur.

“Tastes like it’s from a restaurant,” added Alex.

“We dumped all the offal and skin into the stream but there’s still a chance the lingering odour of meat will attract bears and such, so be alert everyone tonight and stay in your cars, okay? Everyone, be sure to wash your plates and don’t leave any leftover meat on the ground or anywhere else.”

Brian shook Josh’s hand as they congratulated each other for finding a reliable food source. They agreed that they should only hunt when running low on meat, to avoid storing too much of the food in the stream, which might be discovered by some curious roving animals.

The boys brushed their teeth and rinsed with a cup of cold spring water before retiring to their SUV and getting ready for bed, as the dying rays of light began to fade.

As both families slumbered, protected by their cars from the dark and eerie dangers of the night, two shapeshifting shadows emerged from the forests, drawn by the smell of food and blood. They passed by the dying campfire and it revealed the shadows for what they really were: two nearly fully grown Grizzly cubs searching for food among the campsite. The two bears stopped by the stream as if the smell of food was suddenly cut off, they kept sniffing the air, unsure of why the scent trail abruptly ended.

Joel heard some noise outside, sat up and looked out the window, squinting his eyes to make out what was causing the commotion. When his vision cleared, he suddenly realized there were bears in their camp, exploring the vicinity and looking for any scraps of food. He shook his parents awake, and immediately informed them of their unwanted visitors. 

In a hushed tone, Brian tried to keep everyone calm as he could seeing the fear in their eyes growing more and more pervasive as the bears drew closer. “Keep quiet everyone, they will move on eventually, so hold your nerve.” 

He gripped his rifle in hand just in case things got out of hand, he hoped he wouldn’t need to use it, as fighting off two Grizzlies would be quite difficult and risky. 

As everyone held their breath, they all sighed in relief as the bears moved on, clearly uninterested in the site given there was no food to be found. More importantly, Brian and the family were thankful that their cache underwater was not discovered, and that no one was hurt in the encounter. 

Brian lay his rifle back down, but he kept it within reach, just in case he would need it to fight off anything dangerous, whether that be animal or human. 

The thought of trying to go back to sleep with their adrenaline pumping wasn’t easy, and everyone, excluding Arthur, kept thinking of their close encounter with the bears. In fact, Arthur slept through the entire ordeal, not knowing about the dangerous ordeal their family faced that night.

When morning came around, everyone was eager to try the venison for breakfast, instead of the slop of mushed up tubers they usually ate. While Brian agreed to cook the deer meat again, he also made a modest amount of tuber mash, giving everyone a small dollop to go with their steaks, sort of like mashed potatoes. Samantha took the kettle off the heat and poured everyone piping hot water infused with spruce pine needles to make sure everyone had enough vitamin C to stay healthy. Enjoying their breakfast, they all wondered how the Canadian forces and the AAA were holding up against the onslaught of American invasion.