A Troubling Turn of Events

by Darrell Maloney

It took her half an hour of searching before she finally found a pair of designer jeans with a three-hundred dollar price tag.

  A few minutes later she actually found a t-shirt, albeit a very fancy one.

  It said:

  HIGH

  MAINTENANCE

  In gold sequins, no less.

  By the time she was dressed and ready to go it was going on one p.m.

  It was really a combination of things: her oversleeping, her searching for clothes, her having to feed and water Hero before they left, which made her way behind schedule.

  But it was only her stupidity which made her jump down from the trailer instead of climbing down.

  He cursed when she landed too hard and turned her ankle.

  -46-

  Oh, she knew it could have been much worse, so she counted herself lucky.

  It wasn’t broken, or even sprained.

  But even a badly turned ankle is no picnic.

  Especially when one doesn’t have the option of staying off of it.

  Back in Georgia, before the blackout, she’d have used such an injury to stay home from work and watch Maury all day long.

  Depending on how tender it was the following morning she might even milk it for a second day off.

  But here, now, that wasn’t even a consideration.

  Yes, she could have stayed another day at the trailer. Just written this day off as a lost cause and recuperate for an early start the following morning.

  But she’d so gotten her hopes up of seeing David, Rachel and Millicent today that any delay was just not possible.

  She had been able to cover a few miles, but nowhere near enough.

  She’d made it as far as the downtown exits when it became too dark to go on.

  Despite popping ibuprofen tablets like they were candy, she was in agony and ready to call it quits.

  Usually she hated seeing the coming darkness impeding her progress.

  But tonight she welcomed it.

  She had all afternoon to think about it and decided in the grand scheme of things an extra day on her journey didn’t mean much.

  A month from now, a year from now, it wouldn’t make much difference whether she arrived on a Tuesday or a Wednesday.

  Or whatever day it was.

  She, like virtually every other survivor, lost track of what day of the week it was a very long time ago.

  Most survivors didn’t know what month it was.

  And why should they, really, in a world where one day was pretty much like the next?

  They wouldn’t have to sleep in a trailer this time.

  Tillie was lucky to find a brand new Peterbilt tractor with all the bells and whistles.

  The sleeper was ultra modern, with a built-in television and DVD player, stereo and mini-shower. It even had wi-fi and a tiny computer desk still held the trucker’s laptop computer.

  Too bad none of it worked anymore.

  But the bunk still worked. The EMPs hadn’t destroyed the six-inch thick memory foam mattress or the goose-down pillow.

  This tractor was almost too good to be true.

  Tillie couldn’t resist. She peeked into the cab at the odometer reading, and wasn’t surprised at all to see the truck had been driven only 12,415 miles.

  In the life of big rigs which commonly logged hundreds of thousands of miles in their lifetimes, this rig was still a baby.

  “Looks like we scored this time, Hero.”

  Hero heard his name and wagged his tail.

  He had no clue what she said or what it meant, but could tell by the tone of her voice she was happy.

  And that made him happy.

  It was actually the second time they’d scored that day, so despite the whole ankle thing it could have been much worse.

  In a Walmart trailer they’d found on the Highway 281 exit ramp to the interstate they’d found a case of Vienna sausages.

  All the other food was long gone, but this case somehow got buried beneath a pile of children’s clothing.

  There were precious few children on the highways now. Little need for such clothing.

  The only reason Tillie was digging through the pile was to see if she could find some socks to fit her tiny feet.

  She didn’t find the socks. But the Vienna sausages were even better.

  The case contained ninety-six pull-top cans of the delectable treats.

  But she didn’t want to get her hopes up in case they were out of date or tainted.

  She took the case to the end of the trailer where the light was better, and noted the expiration date was still several months away.

  That was good.

  But the true test was to pop open a can and to smell it. Then, if it smelled okay, to taste it.

  Any hint of a metallic taste would mean the whole case was tainted.

  She slowly and meekly bit into one of the tiny sausages.

  It was delicious.

  She ate another one and waited a few minutes to see if her stomach was going to turn queasy.

  It didn’t.

  She finished the can, but not by herself.

  She gave Hero the last two. Because he was her very best friend, after all.

  Hero was devoted to Tillie long before she gave him his first Vienna sausage.

  Now he was totally in love with her, and would be for life.

  “Oh, you like those, huh?

  “I thought you might.

  “I’ll tell you what, boy. I’m going to keep an eye on you and make sure those things don’t give you the runs. They might be too much for your system to handle.

  “If they don’t bother you by the time we bed down tonight I’ll give you another can, all to yourself. Okay?”

  He wagged his tail as though he understood every word she said.

  Actually he was just reacting to the joy in her voice.

  Now, at the end of a very long and trying day, she made good on her promise.

  If she’d dumped the can of sausages on the floor of the sleeper Hero would have wolfed them down in a single bite. Then he’d have spent an hour licking up the sausage-flavored water they were packed in.

  It was more fun feeding them to him one at a time.

  She couldn’t be positive.

  But she was pretty sure she could see him smile.

  -47-

  John wasn’t quite sure how to approach his family with the news.

  Hannah and the girls were planning to spend the day going through their closets. Every piece of clothing would be held up to the light to determine whether it was good enough to make the cut.

  And to make the trip to their new home in Junction.

  Many of them would be tried on to see if they still fit.

  Some of Rachel’s and Misty’s might not fit because they’d grown. The clothes might be too small for them now.

  Hannah had the opposite problem.

  Food was scarce these days.

  Junk food was even scarcer.

  Gone were the days when someone didn’t feel like cooking and picked up the phone to order a pizza.

  Or jumped in the car and drove to a nearby joint for a big old greasy bacon cheeseburger and French fries.

  Not only had the blackout forced people to eat better, they also ate less.

  And they walked a lot more.

  Hannah hadn’t necessarily intended to diet, but she did appreciate the results.

  She’d been trying to get rid of those extra ten pounds for a very long time. So long that she’d just about given up on it and decided she’d keep them forever, like a favorite pair of shoes.

  But now the extra ten pounds were long gone, and five more besides.

  The same thing happened to John. He did so much walking these days he was in the best shape in years.

  In post-apocalyptic San Antonio, there were no fat people to be found.

  Hannah would have to try on many of her items of clothing, not to see if they were too small for her.

  But rather to see if they were
too big on her newly trim body.

  As she told John, “If you have to have a problem with the clothes you wear, this is a nice problem to have.”

  She told John it would likely take all day to go through the closets, and a couple more days to go through the boxes of clothing in the attic and the spare bedroom.

  “We’ll be ready to go in three days,” she’d announced just before he left.

  He was going to throw a monkey wrench into her plans.

  One of Hannah’s morning habits since the first blackout was to walk through the house and open all the windows.

  She also opened the drapes and tied them back, then lifted the window blinds all the way to the top of the window frames.

  Doing so first thing in the morning let in lots of light and also allowed the air to circulate through the house while it was still cool outside.

  That helped them get a jump on cooling the house, so it wasn’t so unbearable in the afternoon.

  And that helped, since temperatures in San Antonio sometimes broke a hundred degrees in July and August.

  Hannah was in the master bedroom, holding a pair of bell bottom jeans in front of her and trying to decide whether to try them on or pitch them.

  She’d never been particularly fond of bell bottoms.

  She’d gotten them as a gift in 2010 when the jeans made a brief comeback. They were a size too small for her, but she never took them back because she thought Rachel might like to have them someday.

  When she showed them to Rachel, though, her daughter turned up her nose.

  “Mom, that’s so Woodstock. Next thing you know you’ll be trying to get me to wear beads and peace symbols…”

  She was still self-debating and leaning toward the garbage pile when a motion outside the window caught her attention.

  It was John’s police cruiser and she knew instantly something was wrong.

  John never came home from work at mid-morning.

  Never.

  She met him on the front porch and he knew from the questioning look on her face she was concerned.

  “Do you remember Sara, Scott Harter’s daughter-in-law?”

  “Yes. Is she okay?”

  “They don’t know. She’s missing.”

  “Oh, no. Missing from where?”

  “She was helping their friend Tom. He’s the Kerr County Sheriff. He deputized her and gave her a job. I guess she’s working for credits for one of the abandoned homes up there. She and Jordan were planning on getting their own place when the world was a bit more sane.

  “Apparently she got off duty last night but never made it home.”

  “What can we do to help?”

  “I told them I’d come up and help with the search. I told them we’d get up there as quickly as possible.”

  “When did you tell them we’d be there?”

  John winced, as though steeling himself for an argument that was sure to come.

  “I said we’d be there late tomorrow morning.”

  If Hannah was a petty woman she might have pitched a fit.

  But she was better than that. And she had two daughters of her own.

  The first thing a mother does when she hears of a young person in trouble is to put herself in the other mother’s shoes.

  If it were Rachel or Misty missing she’d have wanted the whole world to help out in the search.

  And pronto.

  “No problem. We’ll get ready.”

  -48-

  Hannah turned and started back into the house and John stopped her.

  “Honey, there’s something else.”

  She turned to face him.

  “She was investigating a murder. A very brutal murder. There’s a sadistic killer roaming around Kerrville.”

  “Oh my God! You don’t think he’s got her, do you?”

  “I don’t know. Apparently she spotted their prime suspect. And apparently she’s the only one who’s seen him.

  “That would make her a big target, so yes, that’s the assumption.

  “Honey I’m telling you this because you guys don’t have to go with me. You can stay here and I can go up alone. I’ll be back to get you as soon as they find her.

  “That’ll give you more time to finish your packing.”

  She didn’t even have to think.

  “No. Where we go we go as a family. Our girls will be safe as long as they don’t leave the compound. And they won’t leave the compound until they catch their killer, I’ll make damn sure of that.

  “You go make the travel arrangements, and say your goodbyes to your officers.

  “I’ll make sure we’re ready to go first thing in the morning.”

  “Thank you baby.”

  John left it to Hannah to break the news to the girls because they might not be as understanding as their mother.

  And because he really was in no mood to be yelled at.

  His oldest daughter was on the cusp of womanhood and could be irritable sometimes.

  Misty was far from becoming a woman.

  But she could be irritable as well.

  He thought for a moment and considered the possibility that their irritability might have nothing at all to do with the fact they were females.

  Maybe if they’d had sons instead of daughters the sons would have been just as irritable.

  Maybe they just inherited it from their mother.

  It was a thought he wouldn’t share with Hannah.

  He didn’t want to die today.

  John’s next stop was Baker Street, where he barged into Rhett and Scarlett’s back yard to check on Cisco.

  Cisco was John’s horse, and a good one.

  He’d developed shin splints from being ridden too long on hard pavement.

  Scarlett was nursing him back to health.

  Rhett walked out of the back door and said, “Ha! I caught you red-handed. Didn’t you know we hang horse thieves in Texas?”

  Scarlett, right behind him, said, “I don’t know about you, Rhett. But I’m downright insulted.”

  John asked, “Why?”

  “Because you thought it socially acceptable to say hello to your horse before you said hello to two of your best friends.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “That’s it? I’m sorry? You don’t have a smart-ass comment? What’s wrong with you, John Castro? Are you not feeling well?”

  “Actually, I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

  Scarlett’s whole demeanor changed when she saw John really was troubled. She seldom saw him like this, and she was immediately concerned.

  “John, what’s wrong?”

  “I came to say goodbye to Cisco. And to you guys as well.”

  “Goodbye? I thought you guys weren’t leaving for a couple of weeks.”

  “They’ve got trouble up in Junction. Sara has gone missing.”

  “Sara? Scott’s daughter?”

  “Daughter-in-law. But yes. And not only that, they’ve got a killer on the loose. The two things may be connected.”

  “Oh, no…”

  “I told them I’d be up tomorrow to help in the search.”

  He looked directly at Rhett and said, “Are you ready to take the reins?”

  “Tomorrow? Sure. But I hate to see you go on such short notice. We were planning on having a big barbeque to send you off properly.”

  “I’ll have to take a rain check. Why don’t you grab your hat and gun belt and we’ll take a drive downtown. We’ll have to meet with the chief so I can give him my badge and so he can give it to you.

  “There’s normally a big ceremony involved, but I’m sure you understand…”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’m not a ceremony kind of guy.”

  John turned to Scarlett and said, “I was just telling Cisco I want him to behave himself for his new owner. I told him she can be a royal pain in the butt sometimes, but that she’s a good person if you dig deeply enough.”

  “Thank you, John. I’ll take good care of him. Are you sure
you don’t want to take him with you?”

  “No thanks. It’s a four day ride and I don’t want to injure him again. He’s better off with you anyway. You know more about horses than I ever did.”

  “If you ever change your mind, say the word. We’ll find a way to get him to you.”

  He hugged his good friend.

  “Thank you for everything. You’re the best friend a guy could ever have.”

  Her eyes started to tear.

  “Now you stop that, John Castro. You’re acting like you’ll never see us again. You know damn well you’ll be back here at some point, or we’ll be up there to see you.”

  Rhett came out of the house, cowboy hat in hand, and wearing his duty weapon.

  “Hey, hey, hey! I was only gone for thirty seconds, and you’re making a move on my wife already?”

  John smiled and answered, “You’ve got it all wrong, buddy. She was making a move on me! Didn’t you see me trying to get away?”

  -49-

  It was a rather odd sight, the following morning, when two marked SAPD patrol cars took the on ramp to Interstate 10.

  The SAPD couldn’t afford to just give John a car. It would have been a nice going away gift, but they already didn’t have enough to go around.

  And John wouldn’t have accepted such a gift anyway.

  Rhett volunteered to take John and his family to Junction so he could drive the car back.

  But police cars don’t have an awful lot of room. They’re chock full of Plexiglas partitions, on-board computers, gun racks and the like, and aren’t made to accommodate five people.

  With Rhett and John in the front seat Hannah and the girls would be packed into the back like sardines.

  John refused to do that to the women he loved.

  Rhett suggested a second car.

  “Why don’t you drive your squad, with Hannah in the front, the girls in the back? Tony’s off tomorrow anyway. I can ride up with him and we’ll follow you.”

  It sounded like a good plan, as long as Tony Martinez didn’t mind.

  “Are you kidding me, John? If I can sacrifice a day off to finally get rid of you I’ll do it in a heartbeat.”

  Tony was a good friend, and a good cop. He’d gone to John the year before and volunteered to join the SAPD when he heard they were critically manned.