The Eleventh Plague 6-106

Stephen and his Dad started heading back onto the trail, looking for items to trade. As they walked, they salvaged anything they could, throwing it into their cart being pulled by their donkey. After they had been walking for awhile, they saw what looked like a big airplane along the trail. Stephen's dad took his binoculars and looked at it trying to verify what it was. He realized it was a plane that had crashed during the war. They began heading towards it, hoping to find some salvageable goods that they could trade. When they arrived at the plane, they began to search it. They noticed that it had been gone through before, and didn't figure their was much left to take. However, many of the doors in the plane had been rusted shut and were unopened. Stephen and his dad tried a few of them, but could not get any besides one. When they opened it, they found something Stephen had never seen before, and his dad hadn't seen for years. It was a giant, unopened, can of pears. At the sight of this, they both knew they should trade it for something more useful, but couldn't help themselves. They opened it and stuffed their faces, leaving nothing behind. Once they were finished they realized it had began to rain. They figured they could take shelter in the plane for awhile, but then heard a jeep pulling up outside. Stephen peered out of the plane and knew what they were right away, slavers. Their was two men and they had a woman and child tied up that they were going to sell. Stephen and his dad hid in the very back of the plane, knowing that the slavers were going to take shelter there. Once the slavers came in the plane, they didn't look around much so they didn't see Stephen and his dad. The slavers then built a fire and started drinking. Once they were passed out, Stephen and his dad began to sneak out, but were stopped when feeling guilty about the mother and child. When they reached the mother and child, Stephens dad began to release them and snuck the keys away from one of the slavers. Just as he grabbed them, he threw them to the mother as the slaver woke up. Stephen and his dad managed to fight off the slavers and escaped in the pouring rain, running as fast as they could while being chased. After running for a long time, they reached a cliff that held a river down below. Right as they turned around and began to walk the other way, the ground beneath Stephen's dad disappeared and he fell into the river. Stephen then jumped racing after him, trying to catch him in the icy cold water. Once he finally did, he drug him to shore and took shelter underneath a rock face. Stephen's dad was knocked unconscious and in a coma. He also had a broken leg and possibly a broken arm. Trying to do all he could, Stephen started a fire and dried their clothes, trying to keep his dad warm. He then took the rifle his dad had and cleaned it up, while searching for more wood. As he was searching, he noticed their were four people surrounding his dad by the fire. He thought they were slavers, and fired a round that grazed one of the guys surrounding his dad. He then fired a few more shots trying to scare them off, which worked, but then Stephen was hit in the head by the butt of a gun getting knocked out. When he awoke, he tied up riding in the back of a wagon with his dad next to him. He realized that the men weren't slavers, but were salvagers like him and his dad. Stephen didn't say much to them, but they knew he wouldn't hurt them so they untied him, giving him the option to stay with them or go on his own. Beings Stephen was brought up to trust no one, he decided to go on his own. After this though, as they were pulling away, he realized he couldn't help his dad by himself and that he needed help. He then told them that he wanted to go with them, and he hopped back on the wagon, keeping a close eye on his dad, still not trusting the men. After a few hours, they approached something that Stephen had never seen before. It was a little town called Settler's Landing that was full of houses that looked new and weren't wrecked or destroyed. When they pulled into the town, Stephen and his dad were taken into one of the men's, Marcus's, house. His wife, Violet, is a doctor and started to take care of Stephen's dad. Stephen still doesn't trust them, not knowing how nice they are and that they are really just trying to help.