by T. L. Payne
Does she somehow think I was responsible for her fall?
Maddie sure hoped the woman had a suitcase full of food or other survival gear, because her expensive clothes and jewelry wouldn’t keep her family alive. What it could do, however, was get them killed, especially if they ran into someone who wanted what to steal what was in that bag.
Maddie thought about how her dad would have handled the situation. She knew one thing for sure—that bag would have stayed at the airport. Her dad would have ditched the Andrews as soon as he saw how stubborn April was being. But he had the training and skills to make it alone. Maddie didn’t have those skills—not enough for this situation, anyway, she thought. She would have to bite her tongue and hope for the best.
The crowd walked across the overpass spanning a large rail yard. To the west were rows and rows of boxcars sitting on the tracks waiting for trains that might never come.
I bet there is a lot of food in those cars.
Looters had already broken into the steel shipping containers and were carting large boxes across the tracks and heading east walking on the rail bed. Commercial buildings and shops lined the street beyond the rail yard. On one corner was a convenience store. A large crowd had gathered in the parking lot. Men loitered there, leaning on cars, watching each pedestrian like lions eyeing their prey.
Maddie wanted to cross over to the other side when she saw them. Rob put his arm around Emma and led them to the middle of the street. They made their way around one stranded vehicle after another, finally passing the convenience store.
As they passed a fried chicken restaurant, Maddie’s stomach growled. She looked at her watch. Her dad had given it to her for her thirteenth birthday. For most people, ever-present cell phones had replaced watches. While her friends wore their Fitbits and Apple watches, Maddie had held on to her G-Shock self-winding watch.
She had not remembered to fuel up until now. Her last meal had been that morning at her grandmother's house. Her mom had made sausage and pancakes, Maddie’s favorite. Maddie had stayed three days in San Diego to help her mother care for Grand. Maddie knew Grand wouldn’t be around much longer and wondered how her grandfather would get along without his wife. Although Maddie loved her grandfather, she had thought him incapable of caring for himself even before his stroke. Beth said Grandpa Frank only pretended to be helpless. Maddie was not convinced. If his helplessness was all an act, he gave an Oscar-worthy performance. Grand had always hovered and controlled Grandpa Frank. It was part of their relationship and seemed to work for them. Her grandparents had been happily married for over twenty years.
Maddie had exams she could not miss, so she had scheduled a flight back to Ohio. When the time came for Maddie to return to college, she had felt terrible about leaving her mother to deal with everything by herself—but she was still relieved to go. Why her step-dad, Jason, could not close his dental practice for one lousy week to be with his wife, Maddie could not understand. He likely would have done so, though, if her mom asked. Since she hadn’t asked him too, she must have wanted to do it all alone. Maybe her mom thought it would be easier not to have to deal with other people in the way. Maddie didn’t know if that was true. In the end, Maddie had been glad to be on her way back to Kent State and her boyfriend, Lane.
Maddie and the Andrews were still walking in the middle of the street, but the main crowd remained on the sidewalk. The group from the airport had thinned out from what Maddie could tell. Either that or, unlike April, they had given up the struggle with their heavy carry-on bags.
Maddie craned her neck around to see if anyone behind her was watching her. She knew she would need to stay fueled up from here on out if she was going to make it the three hundred miles home.
Not trying to be obvious, Maddie slowly reached into the stretch pocket on the front of her pack and pulled out a Clif Bar. She had pre-torn all the wrappers in that pocket—a habit formed from many frustrating attempts to rip open packets while on long endurance runs. Another runner had given her that tip, and it had worked well for her.
Shoving half the bar into her mouth, Maddie looked around again. She chewed as she walked, keeping her head on a swivel, knowing that people would be hungry enough to take her food from her soon. She could not let that happen.
A large group stood in an intersection ahead. Maddie shot Rob a quizzical look. As they passed by, she saw that most of them held signs in their hands.
“They’re protesting?” Maddie asked, leaning toward Rob.
One tall African-American man held a sign that read, “Enough is Enough.” Maddie stepped over a sign on the sidewalk that read, “Time for the Mayor to Go.”
The large group seemed confused as to what had happened.
Rob put an arm around Emma and held her close as they passed through the crowd. April picked up her bag. They moved quickly down the street away from the action, not slowing their pace until they could no longer see them. April was limping on one foot. No doubt she was getting huge blisters from wearing sandals better suited for a day at the beach than a fifty-mile hike through the city streets of Chicago.
I bet she wished she’d packed tennis shoes.
At least Emma was wearing tennis shoes, although she was limping as well. They had not even walked three miles and her companions were showing definite signs of wear and tear. The blood had stopped dripping from April’s hands. They were dirty and likely had tiny bits of gravel and sand in the cuts. She considered whether she should offer to clean and bandage it for her.
Maddie was not carrying much in the way of medical supplies—she usually didn’t. She had antibiotic ointment and band aids, but that was about it. When she ran, there were always doctors and nurses at the first aid tents at the aid stations, so she had stopped carrying more than that.
They walked in silence for another two or three miles. There appeared to be less looting the further they walked from the airport. They passed over another rail yard, not as large as the one by the airport, there were maybe a hundred railcars on the tracks. All the food and other products would go undelivered, even if the trains were still running. If the big rigs that hauled the products to stores were operational, they would be stuck in the traffic jams.
Emma pointed to a group of people jumping down from one of the railcars closest to the street. A woman reached up and grabbed the small children that were being lowered to her from the boxcar. There appeared to be six or seven of them. None could have been more than five years old.
Rob said something to Emma that Maddie could not hear, then took her hand, guiding her along faster. Maddie was not sure what that was about, but it was apparent to her that Rob shared her idea that they needed to get away from the rail yard and its looters.
A few blocks later, they came to an intersection. Emma reached over and pulled on the bottom of Maddie’s pack. Maddie’s first thought was that she was trying to take something from her. She turned and Emma pointed up to the street sign.
“Madison Street,” Emma said, a broad smile on her face.
Emma had said little the entire time she had known her. The events at the airport no doubt had traumatized the young girl. Maddie smiled and nodded.
“My castle is just down there,” Maddie said with a chuckle.
Emma laughed, then returned to her mother’s side, her spiraled red curls bouncing with each step.
April’s face was expressionless, her shoulders slumped, and her head hung low. Her limp had become more pronounced. Maddie had experienced terrible blisters before she’d learned how to buy properly fitted shoes. April had developed a rhythm with her suitcase, and it flopped around less. Maddie felt sorry for the woman—some anyway.
Her feet aren’t the only thing that will hurt like hell before she gets home. Her arms will be toast long before then.
After a few more miles, the crowds and traffic jams were thinning out, but there was still a lot of people out on the streets. Rob tapped Maddie on the shoulder.
“I think we should
find a safe place to stop and rest for the night. The sun is setting behind the buildings, and it will be dark soon.”
Maddie didn’t want to stop. Her goal had been—and still was—to get as far away from the city as possible. The presence of protestors had promoted memories of the protests-turned-riots in St. Louis. Streets had been blocked and stores looted and burned. The police had been powerless to stop it. She did not want to be in the city when all that started.
They had made it ten miles, at most. She could have made that in an hour on her own. Although she could travel faster without the Andrews, she doubted that it would be safer.
“All right,” Maddie said, turning her head and scanning for a safe place to stop.
Rob pointed to an alley between a garage door repair shop and a dry cleaners. Maddie nodded her head in acknowledgment, and they slipped between the buildings.
Behind the shop was a row of small storage sheds. Someone had broken the locks and the doors stood open. The contents of the sheds lay scattered on the asphalt parking lot. Rob pushed aside boxes and began to go inside.
“Rob, no. If we go in and shut the door, the next person looking to loot them might find us,” Maddie said.
Maddie pointed to the space between the sheds. Behind the row of sheds was a narrow strip of grass. In the dark, the sheds would hide them from a passerby.
Maddie sat cross-legged on the grass and drank from her wrist flask. Rob removed a twenty-ounce bottle of Diet Coke from his backpack and handed it to Emma. April flopped down onto the grass and removed her sandals. She removed a bottle of water from her tote bag and poured the liquid onto her mangled feet.
Maddie winced when she saw them. She knew all too well how that felt. Her feet still ached a little from her last one-hundred-mile race. Injuries like that sidelined a lot of dedicated runners. The condition of April’s feet was slowing them all down.
How long before she can go no further?
Maddie removed the first aid kit from a side zipper pocket and slid over to where April was sitting.
“I have band aids.”
Tears formed in April’s eyes. Maddie removed a water flask from her pack and squirted the liquid onto April’s other foot.
“Do you have something you could use to dry your feet?”
She nodded and reached over to unzip her suitcase. She winced in pain. April unzipped the bag and threw back the flap to reveal a stack of neatly packed clothes in airtight space bags. April lifted a bag out of the case, exposing a pair of white tennis shoes. She lifted the shoes in the air and shook her head.
“I cannot believe I forgot I brought these.”
Maddie’s gaze was on the copper urn wrapped in plastic. Maddie's eyes widened and she turned to April. Tears now streamed down the woman’s sweaty face. Her gaze went from the urn back to Maddie.
“You must think me stubborn and petty for holding on to my bag in all this chaos,” she said, sniffling.
“No,” Maddie lied.
Rob came over and stood beside his wife. He placed a hand on her shoulder, tears filling his eyes. April returned her gaze to Maddie, let out a sigh, and picked up the urn.
“I just couldn’t leave it. It is all I have left of my son,” April said, caressing the urn in her arms.
“We were headed to the beach in Florida to spread some of his ashes. He loved the beach,” Rob said. “He wanted to use his Make-a-Wish on a family trip to the beach, but—” Rob stopped and looked away.
“The Cubbies came to his party instead. He was happy but I really wanted to go to the beach. “I hate baseball,” Emma said, taking her father’s hand.
“I’m so sorry,” Maddie choked out, fighting tears of her own.
She felt so bad for them. Maddie had lost her father—and that was awful. But she couldn’t imagine how hard losing a child would be.
“How old was—”
A loud crash sounded behind them. They all turned.
The sound had come from the back of the shops. Maddie heard a whoosh, then a light pierced the darkness.
Maddie peaked out from around the side of the shed.
Fire. They’ve started burning down the city already.
“The building is on fire,” Maddie whispered over her shoulder.
“I think we will still be safe here. We should be far enough away that the sheds don’t catch fire,” Rob said.
“I hope so. There is a huge crowd out there,” Maddie said, scooting back away from the corner of the shed.
Rob reached over and wrapped his arms around Emma, pulling her close to him. She laid her head in his lap, her curls spilling onto the grass. She was asleep in minutes. Maddie wished she could sleep like that. She had not slept well in the last few years, often lying awake half the night rattled by every little noise. Her mother had a security system installed but it did little to stop the nightmares.
No one spoke as they listened to the sounds of breaking glass and the yelling of the growing crowds. There were no sirens. The police were not coming in their riot gear to dispel the mobs with tear gas. Even if they did, there wouldn’t be enough officers to quell the violence and looting that would occur that night and over the next few days. It wouldn’t take long before there was little left to loot or burn.
That is when the gangs will turn savage.
Maddie could not allay the sense of urgency to get out of the city. Everything in her said…
Run.
Chapter 8
Dixon Garage Door Repair Shop
Bellwood, Illinois
Event + 1 day
Rob had proposed they take two-hour watches. They would take turns sleeping. When Maddie's watch was up, she did not bother waking Rob. The odor of the burning buildings and the screams that pierced the night made sure she would not sleep.
The crowds began breaking up as dawn approached. Maddie imagined they’d go home and sleep through the day to rest up for the next night's riots and looting. Maddie intended to not be in the city to find out to see if she was correct.
Emma squirmed in her dad’s lap before opening her eyes. Smiling down at her, he wiped wayward strands of hair from her face.
April and Emma were seated cross-legged on the ground next to Rob. Maddie was struck by how much Emma looked like her April. Emma, with her long curly red hair and green eyes, looked like a younger version of her mother. Both were slender and petite. Maddie favored her mom and had received similar comments when she was younger. She found it irritating to be compared to her mom.
April retrieved a brush from her tote bag and began brushing Emma’s hair.
“Just hold still, Em, and I’ll get done a whole lot faster,” April said.
“I hate my hair.”
“I think it is beautiful, Emma. It looks like—”
“Don’t say it!” Rob and April said in unison.
They looked at each other and laughed.
“I was going to say that I love your curls.” Maddie said.
“Well, I hate them,” Emma grumbled.
“She gets teased by the boys at school. They call her Princess Merida,” April whispered.
“I hate Merida,” Emma pouted.
“I know, Em. You are so much prettier and smarter,” Rob said, holding her down and tickling her belly.
Another crashing sound brought them back to reality. Maddie stood and looked around the side of the sheds but did not see anyone in the immediate vicinity.
Returning to her spot on the grass, Maddie retrieved a Mayday bar from a side pouch. She checked the level of the water left in her water bladder.
Half full.
She still had enough food and water to get out of the city. She wondered if the Andrews had any water left. She doubted they were carrying any food.
April and Rob leaned in close and whispered. Maddie could not make out what the Andrews were discussing but could guess at the topic. They had no food or water.
Maddie reached into her pack and took out three energy bars and removed a water
flask. She leaned over and handed them to April.
April looked up. She hesitated, looked over to Emma, then took them from Maddie.
“Thank you,” Rob said, reaching over and taking one from April.
Tearing the package open, Rob handed the energy bar to Emma before taking one for himself. April took a sip of water then gave the flask to Emma.
“I don’t have much left. We’ll need to find food and water before we leave the city, I’m afraid,” Maddie said.
Rob appeared to think it over, then nodded. They would have to join the looting. Maddie considered the moral dilemma of stealing. She hated thieves, but it could mean the difference between making it out of the city alive and not. She hoped the store owners would understand, considering the circumstances.
Maddie and the Andrews gathered their bags and packs. After inching her way out from between the storage sheds, Maddie stood and scanned the area. The parking lot was empty. The roof of the brick building was totally burned out. Black char marks stained the brick facades.
Stepping from the corner of the shed, Maddie spotted a teenage boy sitting in a parked car at the end of the alley. Seconds later, a large group of boys ran down the alley and circled the vehicle, trapping the boy inside. Someone in the group slammed a brick through the driver’s side window while another tried to get the door open. The teen behind the wheel slapped at the hands reaching into the car. The tallest of the boys seized hold of the collar of the boy's shirt and began dragging him through the shattered window.
Letting go of Emma’s hand, Rob yelled, “Stay here,” as he sprinted toward the car. April and Emma called after him, but he kept going. When he reached the group of boys, he shouted for them to stop. The older of the boys spun around, lunged forward, and smashed Rob in the face with a brick from the burned-out building. The force knocked Rob backward and he fell hard, hitting his head on the concrete.