A World Slowed

by Rick Tippins

  “Better the whole disappearing-gang-member trick be a complete mystery,” he said after re-entering the Beetle. Jared put the tiny vehicle in gear, and they lurched forward as he snuck a peek in the rearview mirror, seeing Essie perched on Shannon’s lap, staring out the window at the passing landscape. The little girl seemed to find some sort of comfort in Shannon that Jared was unable to give her. He didn’t understand it, but it seemed to make Essie happier having Shannon around, which was fine with him.

  He drove slowly, stopping before a bend in the road so Bart could get out of the little German car, glassing the real estate ahead before stepping back into the vehicle and directing Jared to drive like the old man was an Army general or something. Jared thought about pointing out the fact that the recon routine had not stopped Calvin and Shannon hours before from getting the drop on them. Ignoring his better judgment, Jared mentioned this little tidbit and was told flatly by Bart, “It’s to avoid any roadblocks more than anything else. Can’t give no one a ground ball,” leaving Jared unsure of the man’s exact meaning, but imagining it implied something like he didn’t want to make it easy for anyone trying to grab an easy meal.

  Then again, Jared thought back to the year his father talked him into going out for Little League baseball, remembering the ground ball that had come rolling out to him; then at the last moment the ball took a bad hop and struck Jared full in the mouth, giving him a bloody lip and effectively ending his baseball career. So maybe Bart meant something else, he couldn’t be certain. The fucking old man was the strangest person Jared had ever encountered. Half the time he talked so straight to you, it was insulting, while the other half of the time he spoke in riddles, leaving Jared befuddled.

  They drove about ten miles into the mountains before Calvin broke the silence. “Don’t want to go too far. You hit highway 5 and, well, who knows what’s going on over there.”

  Jared glanced at Bart, who just nodded, staring out the window, leaving Jared wondering what he should do. They drove on for another three or four minutes before Bart motioned to the side of the road, where Jared obediently pulled the overloaded Beetle to the dirt shoulder near a gated drive.

  Without a word, Bart got out and inspected the entrance, walking back and forth, studying the gate and attached fencing. After his barrier inspection, Bart came back and dug through the trailer, coming out with a pair of bolt cutters. Calvin climbed out, joining him as Jared sat in the Beetle, watching the two men discuss their next move.

  Sitting in the Beetle, Jared, Essie and Shannon watched the two older men as they paced about, tugging on the gate and inspecting the fencing.

  “How old is Bart?” Shannon asked.

  “Dunno.”

  “I think he’s pretty old,” Essie chimed in.

  “I think he’s old enough to have seen black-and-white rainbows—and not in pictures,” Jared said, causing Shannon to laugh out loud. Both quickly covered their mouths, stifling the sound of their laughter for fear the two old bastards would want to know what was so goddamn hilarious. Both knew they’d have to come clean with Essie there, and neither liked that thought.

  The older men returned to the vehicle, eyeing the two adults sitting inside, looking like they’d been up to something, but holding it together, or so they thought.

  “What the hell is going on?” Bart asked, bending over so he was on the troublemakers’ level and staring straight at the older two with a suspicious look etched in his craggy face.

  Jared shook his head, stealing a glance at Shannon, who didn’t respond.

  “Did you really get to see black-and-white rainbows?” Essie asked, causing both Jared and Shannon to cringe.

  Bart scowled for a brief second before responding, “Ess, grown-ups see and do a lot of magical things and, yes, I’m sure I’ve seen a couple of black-and-white rainbows. Hell, Jared there is gonna be able to show you how to push up daisies if he isn’t careful.” Bart started to back away from the vehicle, then ducked his head back inside the window, locking eyes with Shannon. “Watch it, missy.”

  Once he finished straightening the younger adults out, Bart cut a length of the lower strand of barbed wire, bringing it back to the gate. Next, he and Calvin cut the fence away from its moorings on one side of the gate, then peeled back the barbed wire fence, motioning for Jared to pull the vehicle through. He obliged, after which the older men set to mending the fence using the lower strand they’d scrounged.

  When they were done, the fence and gate appeared to never have been tampered with. Next Bart again set about sweeping away the tire tracks with a leafy branch, motioning Jared up the dirt road as he slowly followed behind like a Merry Maid, sweeping and scanning the road behind them. This went on till the paved road was no longer in view, then went on for a while longer. Jesus, this guy is paranoid, thought Jared.

  Once Bart was back in the Beetle, he kept Jared driving at a snail’s pace, scanning, stopping, then scanning some more.

  “We need to make sure we don’t walk into a gunfight out here,” Bart said. “People out here are more than a little protective of their land, and that was before any monkey business went on with the electricity.”

  Jared stared silently ahead as they crept along.

  “I think we should find a place to camp for the night,” Bart continued.

  Shannon leaned forward in her seat, still clutching Essie. “Why don’t we just find an empty place out here and sleep there?”

  Bart slowly shook his head while rubbing his stubbly chin with a dirty thumb and finger. “Don’t think that’s the safest thing to do. Someone comes home and finds a bunch of armed people in their house, they’re likely to shoot first and ask questions later.” Bart shifted, scratching his stubble-laden jawline. “If we set up a camp out of sight and send out scouting parties, we can learn a little about this area. If it takes a couple of days and none of us gets shot in the meantime, well, I think that’s worth it.”

  Shannon didn’t look too keen on sleeping outside, but held her tongue, especially after the “watch it, missy” instruction from earlier.

  Chapter Thirty

  An hour later the group found a spot to set up camp in a natural depression not visible from any part of the dirt road they’d come in on. Bart’s plan was simple: he and Calvin would go out the following morning and scout the area for an uninhabited and suitable place to lay their heads for a while.

  Although he hadn’t said it, Jared felt pretty sure Bart wasn’t fully comfortable throwing all his trust in these people. Jared wondered what it was Bart thought they would do. If Bart and Jared scouted together, did Bart think Shannon and Calvin would make off with Essie? That didn’t make sense, seeing as people were having a bugger of a time just trying to feed and hydrate themselves in this new cruel world.

  Taking on another mouth didn’t make any sense to Jared. He wasn’t so naive that he couldn’t imagine the two taking off with all their food and ammo. Now there was something that made sense, but he still couldn’t see Shannon going for that. She hadn’t said too much, but Jared had a feeling she was a good woman in a really shitty situation. One telling thing the woman had done was taking Essie under her wing, and this act had not been lost on Jared.

  As night fell and the wind picked up, the group set up watches, retiring to either their post or bed. A roar in Jared’s ears woke him with a start, causing him to sit straight up in his sleeping bag, staring into the absolute blackness of his tent. As his head began to clear, he realized he wasn’t breathing. He took a long, controlled breath as the roar reached a crescendo and then began to fade. When Jared’s brain had completely engaged and escaped its state of hibernation, he realized the roar was a helicopter. The thing had been low and moving west towards the city, causing the camp to stir for a bit, but eventually everyone went back to their tents when the aircraft didn’t return.

  The following morning was crisp. Steam rose off the grassy hillside as the sun began to cast its rays into the shadows. Jared could see his breath
as he drew his jacket up around his neck, watching Bart hover over a small stove, boiling water for breakfast. Essie and Shannon emerged from another tent. Both females were bundled in warm clothes, trying to stave off the cool morning air.

  Bart turned as Jared approached. “Haven’t heard that bird again. Must have set down at one of the airports.”

  Jared nodded. “Wonder if they were here bringing aid.”

  Bart shook his head. “One helo is not a humanitarian mission. Remember what Adam said about them grabbing people valuable to the government?”

  Jared looked in the direction the helicopter had gone. “Didn’t he say a whole bunch of dudes rolled in with helicopters?”

  Bart scratched his stubbly face. “Maybe it’s so damn bad, they can’t send as many, or maybe they don’t have that many anymore.” He shook his head. “I don’t know why they would fly down there with only one aircraft; the city is a mess. Seems like more would be better…safer, unless they’re stretched so thin one helicopter is all they can afford to send.”

  Over the next week, Jared, with Shannon’s help, tended to the camp while the two older men reconnoitered the area for a suitable place to call home for the time being. Bart found the dirt road was maintained fairly well, running for about five miles back into the hills, with three houses along the way. Two of the houses appeared to be small summer hunting lodges, while the third one showed signs of recently having been lived in as someone’s permanent residence.

  Bart searched the first two structures, finding they had little to offer in the way of supplies. Both were vacant, showing all the signs of having been so for some time, complete with a musty smell and cobwebs.

  When the two older men found the last place, they watched it for most of a day before returning to their encampment. The two returned to the third house early the following day and stayed overnight, watching to see if any humans came or went. The two men returned after their overnight trip proclaiming they had found a new temporary home. Bart ordered their current home be broken down and packed so they could move.

  Once they were packed, they drove the Beetle towards the place Bart had described. Bart directed Jared to an area surrounded on three sides by the low rolling scrub-oak-covered hills of the area. The group set up camp, prepared dinner, and ate, after which Bart cleared his throat.

  “I’d like to go down to that ranch house with the men if that’s okay with you,” he glanced at Shannon, who looked apprehensively at Calvin. “We’ll take the car so all you have to do is fire off three rounds and we’ll come a-running. It’s a bit of a walk, but only a few minutes in the car.”

  Shannon wrapped her arms around Essie as a look of unease stretched across her already stressed features. Jared looked at Bart, thinking how the man was always scheming, always working on ways to better his odds. Jared would never have thought about this situation like Bart had. The car would do Shannon no good if someone threatened her and Essie, and it would take the men quite a while to get back, but with the car they could come back in a matter of minutes.

  “I guess we’ll be alright,” she said.

  Bart nodded his head before turning to Jared. “I want you down in that house with me when we clear it. The three of us can clear the place nice and slow. Don’t want to walk into anything we can’t back out of. If the place is booby-trapped, we back out and move on, find another place to stay.”

  Calvin cocked his head. “What if we can remove whatever trap we find down there?”

  Bart shook his head. “Nope, if someone took the time to set up some sort of booby trap, that tells me they plan on coming back at some point.”

  No one in the little group could argue with Bart’s logic, so it was agreed the three men would go and secure the ranch house while the two females remained hidden in the hills until such time as the men deemed the ranch house safe and returned for the women and gear.

  “Tell ya what,” Bart said. “We wait and watch for two days, make absolutely sure no one is living in that place, and then we can go down, clear the structure, and get inside the house and out of this cold.”

  After settling into their new campsite, Bart went out and did some light surveillance on the ranch house before returning to the group.

  “Screw it. Let’s go secure that place tomorrow morning,” he said, slumping to the ground, back against an old oak tree.

  Jared looked at his old friend, and the man looked tired, not just tired, but physically fatigued, run-down, and more than a little haggard. Hell, the guy hadn’t even planned on coming out of the city due to his age and general poor physical condition. Jared was glad he had, but for the first time he wondered how long Bart would last out here.

  They needed to get off the road and into a place of shelter sooner than later and not just for Bart. Essie and Calvin weren’t built for sleeping outside in what was quickly turning into some rather cold weather. Jared didn’t know the exact date, but he made an educated guess, figuring it to be mid to late October with the temperature in a daily nosedive.

  The following morning, Jared was up, fed, and ready to go before Bart or Calvin had cleared their sleeping bags. When the two older men were finished eating and drinking hot cups of coffee, they moved the womenfolk into a secluded area, made sure Shannon’s pistol was loaded, then set out towards the ranch house. Jared drove while the three men sat in silence till Bart directed him to pull the small German car to the shoulder.

  The men spent a couple of minutes backing the Beetle into a thicket, then covered it with vegetation. When they were finished camouflaging the Beetle, they moved off through the brush. Bart led the way, rifle at low ready, head turning from side to side, eyes darting, always on the lookout. Jared followed, trying to emulate Bart’s movements, like this would make him more effective.

  The three men low crawled the last bit to a rise, where they could peer down onto the medium-sized ranch house.

  Without turning his head, Bart whispered, “See anything that looks moved, changed or disrupted?”

  Calvin slowly shook his head. “Nope.”

  Without warning, Bart dragged himself to his feet and slowly began walking towards the ranch house. “Keep your weapons slung low, but ready. Let’s not appear to be too threatening here,” Bart said without so much as a glance back.

  The two others scrambled to their feet, spreading out on either side of Bart as they approached the deserted domicile. Bart moved expertly to the side of the house then slithered up to the front porch without ever once exposing himself or the others to anyone who might be waiting in the front of the residence. He slowly moved onto the porch, taking a quick glance through a dirty front window.

  The front door was unlocked, opening easily if not a little noisily, the old hinges screeching in protest as the door swung inwards. Bart stepped out from beside the door, using his angles to clear as much of the interior as possible without entering the structure. He moved from one side of the open door to the opposite side, rifle up, pulled tight in his shoulder.

  “Clear,” Bart hissed, gliding through the open doorway and moving left. Jared bolted forward, not wanting to leave Bart alone inside an unknown. As the two men entered the house, Calvin quickly followed. Once inside, the place smelled old and musty, devoid of human life or that lived-in smell most occupied residences had.

  The men quietly moved from room to room, Jared and Bart working together while Calvin mostly just followed. Jared realized it was the training and time he’d spent with Bart at the gun store. It was paying off right now, and secretly he was proud as he stole glances at Calvin, who seemed impressed at the deadly ballet moving gracefully through the house just ahead of him.

  When Bart and Jared entered the kitchen, a small furry body bolted from a corner. Bart’s weapon was a blur as he brought it to bear on the fast-moving form. Jared felt a stab of panic as it pummeled his heart and nervous system. Calvin staggered backward a step, not being able to see past the two men blocking the kitchen doorway. Whatever it was raced th
rough the kitchen, then as fast as the situation seemed to spiral towards chaos, it stabilized as the trio realized it was a raccoon. The poor creature was trying like hell to evacuate the residence.

  As soon as the raccoon was able to dart past the three men and scramble out the front door, Bart seemed to forget the whole encounter. He moved deeper into the structure, weapon up, clearing corners and patiently waiting as his slower partners tried to keep up. Jared’s heart actually felt like someone had administered an electrical shock to it along with his entire nervous system. The ranch house had a staircase leading to the second floor, but before Bart started up, he looked at Jared and frowned.

  “Breathe, my man, breathe.”

  Jared took three deep controlled breaths and instantly felt better.

  He’d been going along clearing rooms, feeling so adequate working alongside Bart until that raccoon spoiled everything. He took another long deep breath, blowing out through his mouth, thinking he had been a much better dot-com guy than a post-event survivalist guy. By the time they finished clearing the ranch house, Jared had his adrenaline under control. Now he was feeling spent instead of panic stricken, and at a complete loss as to which was worse.

  The top floor was host to a bathroom along with three bedrooms, which the men quickly searched and found were as deserted as the rest of the house. From what Jared could tell, it didn’t appear anyone had occupied the house for weeks, maybe longer, he wasn’t sure. The men exited the house, searching the barn and a small outbuilding, but found no indication of the ranch’s occupants.

  After searching the yard along with the outbuildings, the three men stood in the drive, contemplating their next move.

  Calvin nodded to the side of the residence, where a storm-shelter-type door lay atop the ground. “What do you think that is?”

  Bart studied it for about one one-hundredth of a second before bringing his weapon to the ready. “We missed something. There’s a basement.” He was already running towards the front door of the house, yelling at Calvin, “Cover that outside door. Jared, follow me.”