Sorting the Teams
Posted on Thu Jun 25th, 2026 @ 5:28pm by Pine Hollow Leader Amythyst & Council Member Briar Maddox
1,131 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
Safe Harbor
Location: Leah’s Farmstead
Timeline: October 6th 2010
Sorting the Teams
The barn had grown quieter as evening settled outside. Not silent.
Never silent. Outside, fifteen head of cattle moved slowly through the pasture, shapes shifting against the last gold light of sunset.
Inside, six wagons stood waiting in a long uneven line. Loaded. Everyone's things were in there. All the children's backpacks, the supplies and food from Safe Harbor and Gulls. Leah's wheelchair, her extra crutches and everything they could get from her house. Elena had stored her own things as well.
Ready. For the first time since leaving New York, everything they owned no longer sat scattered across Safe Harbor or piled in makeshift shelters at Gull’s Refuge. It sat here. Packed. Secured. Waiting. Tomorrow they moved inland. Tomorrow Pine Hollow stopped being a plan. Amy sat cross-legged on an overturned grain barrel, a piece of old cardboard balanced on her knee.
Beside her, Leah sat against one of the wagon wheels, notebook open.
Austin leaned nearby with his arms folded. Andrew sat on the floor working oil into one of the leather harnesses. Patrick had somehow ended up lying flat on his back staring at the rafters. Elliot sat atop the pantry wagon with his legs dangling over the side. Briar stood closest to the open barn doors, watching the herd outside. Amy tapped the cardboard with the stub of a pencil.
“Alright.” Everyone looked over. “Six wagons.”
Patrick immediately raised his hand. “Fifteen cows.”
Leah didn’t even look up. “Wrong.”
Patrick frowned. “What?”
Leah turned a page. “Eleven cows. Three bulls. One calf.”
Patrick pointed dramatically. “See? This is why she handles the animal math.”
Austin snorted.
Amy smiled faintly. “Right.”
She pointed toward the first covered wagon. “Passenger wagon.”
“The younger kids.” Austin answered immediately.
“Tilly.” Nobody argued. That one was obvious.
Leah nodded. “Tilly’s steady.”
Amy wrote it down. “And Willow.”
Andrew looked up. “Why Willow?”
Leah pointed toward the pasture. “She matches pace.”
Amy scribbled quickly. “Tilly. Willow.” Done.
---
Amy pointed toward the second covered wagon. “Elena and medical supplies.”
This time Briar answered. “No sudden movement.”
Leah nodded immediately. “Mabel.” Then after a second— “Hazel.”
Patrick tilted his head. “You memorized all nine cows already?”
Leah stared at him. “They were mine.”
Patrick slowly nodded. “Right."
Amy added the second team.
---
Elliot kicked his boots lightly against the wagon side. “Pantry wagon.”
Amy nodded. “Heavy but balanced.”
Andrew immediately answered. “Bramble.”
Austin grinned. “She could probably pull the entire wagon herself.”
Leah looked toward the herd. “Fern beside her.”
Amy wrote quickly. “Bramble. Fern.”
---
The fourth wagon sat nearest the barn doors. Flatbed. Loaded with lumber. Fence posts. Rolled livestock wire. Chicken wire. Tool crates.
Probably the heaviest load they had. Amy tapped it.
Andrew looked toward the pasture. “So Atlas?”
That made everyone pause. Leah finally smiled slightly. “Actually…”
Austin looked surprised. “What?”
Leah closed her notebook. “My father trained Atlas for timber hauling.”
Everyone stared toward the massive red bull grazing near the fence line.
Patrick broke the silence first. “That giant thing pulls wagons?”
Leah nodded. “Logs mostly.”
Patrick stared a little longer. “That somehow makes me more nervous.”
“So Atlas pulls this one?”
Leah shook her head. “Not full time.”
Austin frowned. “Then what’s the point?”
Leah pointed toward Marigold and Juniper grazing near the fence. “They pull it normally.”
Amy leaned forward. “So he can pull. Sometimes?”
“Oh yeah.” Leah pointed toward the construction wagon. “But not all day.”
Amy tilted her head. “Why?”
“Because he’s still breeding stock.” She pointed toward the load.
“We use him when things get heavy. Construction wagon. Hay wagon. Steep hills. Bad ground."
Andrew nodded slowly. “Emergency heavy puller.”
Leah nodded. “Exactly.”
Amy scratched the notes. “Okay. Atlas rotates heavy.”
Austin pointed toward the fifth wagon. “Feed wagon.” Tall hay bales sat stacked beneath tied canvas covers. Animal feed. Salt blocks. Harnesses. Leah answered immediately. “Daisy. Sable.”
Amy wrote the names down. Patrick frowned. “I still have no idea how you know all this.”
Leah didn’t even look up. “Observation.”
Patrick sighed. “That sounds exhausting.”
That left the strangest wagon. The livestock wagon. Driver seat at the front. Three bee hives secured behind the seat facing backward.
Raised enclosed chicken section beneath canvas. Roost bars.
Feed crates. Rear goat compartment. Amy looked toward it. “Okay. This one matters.”
Leah immediately answered. “Clover.”
Amy looked over. “Why Clover?”
Leah shrugged. “She hates everyone.”
Patrick sat upright. “That’s useful?”
Leah nodded. “She won’t let the goats push her around.”
Austin laughed. “That can’t be real.”
Leah pointed toward the pasture. “Goats are chaos.”
Patrick nodded seriously. “That is the smartest thing anybody has said all day.”
Amy smiled. “And second puller?”
Leah thought for a moment. “Fern rotates in when Clover tires.”
Amy adjusted the list. Then she stopped. Two names remained. Old King and Shadow. She looked toward the pasture. “So what about them?”
Leah immediately pointed toward Old King. “That one stays loose.”
Austin frowned. “Why?”
Leah looked at him flatly. “Because if you harness a territorial breeding bull beside twelve unfamiliar cattle…” She paused. “…you’re asking to get trampled.”
Patrick immediately nodded. Excellent reason.”
Amy crossed Old King off the list. “Fine.” She looked toward Shadow.
“And him?”
Leah followed her gaze. The black bull stood several yards away near the fence. One of the goats wandered too close. Shadow physically jumped sideways. Leah sighed. “No.”
Austin blinked. “Why not?”
Leah folded her arms. “Because he’s skittish.”
Patrick watched Shadow carefully. At that exact moment the younger bull snorted loudly and backed away from one of the chickens wandering nearby.
Patrick pointed. “Compelling evidence.”
Amy laughed quietly. She leaned back against the barrel and looked down over the final list. Six wagons. Rotation teams. Enough pullers to keep moving. Enough reserves for difficult ground. Enough breeding stock protected.Enough animals to build something permanent.
For a long moment nobody spoke. Then Elliot finally broke the silence.
“You realize something?” Everyone looked over. He gestured toward the wagons. The herd outside. The mountains of supplies waiting to move.
“We’ve become cow people.”
Silence. Austin folded his arms. “I hate how correct that sounds.”
Amy stood slowly and walked toward the barn doors. Outside, Old King stood watch over the grazing herd. Atlas lifted his head from the pasture. The wagons sat ready behind her. Tomorrow they moved inland. Tomorrow everything changed. For the first time since New York… For the first time since Safe Harbor… They weren’t running anymore.
Amy looked toward the road leading deeper inland. Toward Pine Hollow.
Then quietly— “Good.”
Everyone turned toward her. She smiled faintly. “Because tomorrow…”
Her eyes stayed fixed on the herd. “…they carry our future.”
TBC
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