by Lucin, David
Kicking the door wasn’t loud enough. She stepped off the chair, bent down, and gripped it by the backrest.
“Hey, wait a sec—”
The sound of metal on metal filled the tire shop. Vibrations shot into Jenn’s hands and ran up her arms.
She tried again, throwing her hips into it as though she were swinging for the fences.
Another bang and another shot of vibrations.
When she went to swing a third time, she felt resistance, stumbled forward, and dropped the chair. “Will you take it easy?” Sophie said, her voice firm. “Don’t make me tie you up.”
Jenn stood straight and faced her. Where was Sam? Had he given up on her? “We need to let them in,” she said.
“Not a chance,” Sophie countered. “Even if there was someone there—which there isn’t—they aren’t coming in here until it’s safe to open those doors.”
“She’s right,” a man said from the crowd. “Maybe we can leave.”
“No way,” someone else answered.
“Yeah!” a woman yelled. “I’m not letting in radiation because there might be people outside!”
More voices shouted in support or opposition. Jenn couldn’t tell them apart anymore. Over it all, she heard the baby wail.
Two of Sophie’s thugs appeared and stood beside her. That meant the door to the waiting room had one guard at most, maybe none. Jenn searched for Sam a final time but didn’t find him. On her right, a space between the crowd and the bay doors beckoned. If she could squeeze through, she could reach the front entrance.
She let her chin fall to her chest and dropped her shoulders. Hopefully Sophie and her henchmen would read that she was submitting. Two breaths later, she darted for the gap.
After three steps, a weight crashed into Jenn’s side and knocked her to the floor. Her elbow hit the concrete, followed by her shoulder and head. Arms wrapped around her stomach. She gasped and struggled to free herself.
After some kicking and writhing, she managed to roll onto her back. One of Sophie’s men, the one with the coveralls hanging from his waist, hovered over her. He raised his metal bar, preparing to crack it over Jenn’s skull. As she brought her hands up to deflect the blow, he toppled over. The arms around her loosened as he hit the ground, and she broke free.
Sam? He delivered a kick to the man’s side. The figure who’d tackled her, not the one in the blue coveralls but a heavyset man wearing a red and black plaid shirt, stood and struck Sam across the jaw with a hard right. Dazed, Sam staggered and fell backward.
Jenn scrambled to her feet as chaos engulfed the shop. Pushing, shoving, and fighting erupted everywhere, and the crowd closed in from all sides. Bodies separated her from Sam.
“Move!” She grabbed someone’s shirt with one hand and tried to push her way through. A swarm of torsos swallowed her whole.
Then a crash, like shattering glass, came from the waiting room. Next, a loud, high-pitched whistle cut through the air.
“Break it up!” someone yelled.
“Get off of him!” a woman’s voice commanded.
The room opened up as the bodies dispersed. A woman pushed Jenn backward. She wore all black and had her hair in a ponytail. One of the officers from outside.
Jenn threw her hands up to signal surrender. Others nearby did the same. Most backed up and formed a new semicircle with the ponytailed officer and the other three troopers at its center.
A hand brushed Jenn’s hip. Fists clenched, she spun on her heel but saw Sam, who drew her in close. A line of blood ran from his lip to his chin. The crowd was thick and the police had their guns drawn, but Jenn felt safe in Sam’s embrace. All she heard were whispers, the shuffling of feet on concrete, and her own panicked breathing. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have—”
“Conrad! Get those doors open!” the female cop ordered.
“Just wait a second!” someone yelled. Jenn couldn’t see past the bodies, but she knew it was Sophie. “Nobody’s opening anything. You’ve already screwed us by coming in here, not to mention breaking my window.”
“Ma’am,” the ponytailed officer said in a firm but patient voice, “we need you to cooperate. Give us some space and get in line with the others.”
Sophie probably hadn’t drawn her gun. If she had, the police might have taken her down. Maybe she recognized the cops as the authority here. Maybe she was afraid. They all were.
A rumbling erupted from Jenn’s right—the garage doors opening. Orange light rushed into the shop as cool air tickled her damp skin. The whispers turned to shouts as everyone scattered and scurried away.
“It’s okay, folks!” the officer yelled. “There’s no radiation. Look!”
Above the heads in front of her, Jenn saw a raised hand holding what looked like a phone.
“This is a Geiger counter. Readings are normal. It’s safe. There’s no fallout.”
7
“Hold that light steady,” Maria instructed.
“Whoops, sorry.” Jenn readjusted the grip on the flashlight and focused the beam on Sam’s face.
The sun set while she and Sam walked home from Minute Tire, and now the Ruiz house was dark. Gary had placed several candles on the dining room table but Jenn still struggled to see, so he brought in his old camping gear from the shed. In it were three LED flashlights. The batteries worked, so Maria tasked Jenn with holding a light on Sam’s face while she dabbed the blood from his lip and put ice on his jaw. Better use it while they could, Maria had said, because it’d melt if the power didn’t come on soon.
Sophie might have been wrong about the fallout, but Jenn believed the story about the EMP. The cars, the phones, everything—Sophie’s theory fit, and it made Jenn sick. Her phone died on their way home from Minute Tire. Even though she hadn’t had a signal all day, only now, that old comfort finally stripped away for good, did she feel truly cut off from her parents. They weren’t waiting at Gary’s, either. No red Nissan parked in the driveway. No bear hugs from her father and no annoying kisses on the cheek from her mother. None of that. Only a dark house and a boyfriend with a swollen lip.
“There you go.” Maria handed Sam the ice-filled plastic bag. “How’s it feel?”
Sam worked his jaw to loosen it. “Much better. Bit of a headache, but I’ll live.”
“We’re just glad you’re back,” Maria said. “We were so worried. Then Gary went out but couldn’t find you guys and—”
Jenn rested a hand on Maria’s shoulder, eliciting a smile and a deep breath. “It’s okay,” Jenn assured her. “We made it.”
Maria’s eyes teared up as she patted Jenn’s hand with her own. She sniffled and pushed up her glasses. “Sam,” she said in a voice that cracked. “I’ll find you a couple aspirin.”
Gary shot up from his seat at the table. “You all right, dear? I can get them for you.”
“No, no.” Maria grabbed her cart with the oxygen tank. “You sit. It’s no problem.”
Gary lowered himself into his chair and rested his elbows on the tabletop.
Jenn leaned in close to Sam and kept the flashlight on his face. She wanted to tell him again that she was sorry for lashing out at Minute Tire. Sam had only tried to help. She forgot it sometimes, but he always put her first. After she barked at him and left him behind, then stirred the crowd and instigated anarchy in the shop, he came for her when she needed him most. She didn’t deserve that.
She rested a hand on his cheek and pressed her lips to his.
Gary cleared his throat. The flames on the candles flickered and cast shadows across his face. “So the officer said there was no radiation?” he asked, continuing the conversation from before Maria brought Sam the ice.
“Pretty much,” Jenn said. “She had a Geiger counter and everything.”
Sam put the ice on his jaw. “Yeah, she said the chances of radiation here were slim to none.”
“That’s what I was hoping,” Gary said. “Did they say why?”
“Nope.”
Gary bowed his head and interlaced his fingers on the table. “So it was an air burst.”
“Come again?” Jenn asked.
“An air burst. It means the bombs exploded in the air, probably five or six thousand feet up, so the fireballs never touched the ground. If they explode closer to the surface, then dirt and other material is vaporized and kicked up with the mushroom clouds. Fallout is when that radioactive debris falls down. That doesn’t happen in an air burst. But air bursts cause more damage over a bigger area. That’s the point of them, and it’s why they’re used against cities or military bases. Just like we did at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If I’m right, we won’t be seeing any fallout. Not from Phoenix, anyway.”
Gary’s library of World War Two books had finally done more than take up space.
“What do you mean ‘from Phoenix’?” Sam asked.
Gary remained silent.
“You aren’t saying . . .” Jenn trailed off, understanding the implication. The Chinese or Russians wouldn’t attack Phoenix and nowhere else. If there was a list of high-priority targets in the United States, Phoenix would rank comparatively low. That meant more important places like Los Angeles, San Diego, Washington, New York, or Seattle had probably been hit, too. The prospect sickened her.
“I have a few aspirin.” Maria held out her palm to Sam as her oxygen cart rumbled on the hardwood floor.
He tossed them into his mouth and thanked her before swallowing. She took the seat beside him and continued inspecting his face. Jenn knew it annoyed him, but he’d never let Maria see that. She only wanted to help. Housebound for much of the time and reliant on Gary to do most of the work around the home, she relished the opportunity to be useful again. Jenn always did things for herself and tried not to burden Maria, but tonight, right here at her table, was someone who needed her. Her daughter, Camila, not Sam, might as well have been in that chair.
Gary stirred in his seat. How much had he told Maria about what he knew? Maria could handle it, but Gary seemed to avoid troubling her if possible. He’d need to tell her eventually, if he hadn’t already. Jenn didn’t want to be the one who broke the news.
“You’re welcome to stay here tonight, Sam,” he said. “No point in you heading home this late.”
“Thanks, Mr. Ruiz. I appreciate it.”
Jenn cringed at Sam calling Gary “Mr. Ruiz.” He always did that. He called Maria “Maria,” but for whatever reason, he gave Gary a title. Maybe he meant it ironically, or maybe he did it because Gary was an ex-cop. Despite their wildly different views on the war and politics in general, if nothing else, Sam seemed to respect Gary.
A knock at the front door drew Jenn’s attention away.
Gary shot up from his seat. “Who could that be?”
Jenn, her heart thumping, watched as Gary fetched his Glock from the kitchen counter and made his way into the living room. Fingers gripped around the handle, he popped open the door.
Jenn rested a hand on Maria’s. She felt it shaking.
“Who is it?” Gary asked.
A muffled reply came from behind the door, but Jenn couldn’t make it out. A man’s voice—that was all she knew.
Gary tucked the Glock into his pants and opened the door. A man dressed in black and wearing a clunky belt stepped inside.
Liam.
His short, neatly cut hair showed signs of gray in the temples, and his arms and chest threatened to burst through his uniform. His strong jawline and sharp features were like Sam’s. He walked with a slight limp, which reminded Jenn that he lost a leg during a peacekeeping mission to West Ukraine before the war. He worked hard for his job on the force, something Gary admired. Jenn did, too.
“Liam!” Maria said.
“Hi, everyone,” Liam said while Gary shut the door behind him. “Sorry for coming by so late. I just wanted to check in and see how you’re holding up.”
Maria pushed herself up again. “Here. Have a seat while I get you a glass of water. Your leg must be killing you.”
“No, thank you,” he said politely. He rubbed his eyes and stifled a yawn. “I shouldn’t stay long. I need to head back out there. Erin told me Gary stopped by a couple times today, so I wanted to come say thanks.”
“It’s no problem,” Gary said. “You’d do the same for us. Sit down for a bit. Please. Erin said you’ve been on patrol for a week straight.”
“That’s right.” Liam smiled. “On second thought, I’d love a glass of water. Thanks, Maria.”
She scooted into the kitchen as Liam collapsed into Maria’s seat beside Jenn. He eyed Sam and reached out a hand. “Liam.”
Sam took it. “I’m Sam.”
Liam didn’t ask about the ice. Too polite, Jenn guessed. Or maybe he’d seen worse today.
“So,” Gary started, “how are things out there? Jenn had quite the run-in at Minute Tire.”
Liam groaned. “I can imagine. Most of the town’s worried about fallout, but we won’t see any.”
“That’s what I figured.” Gary sat in his seat across the table. “Air bursts, right?”
“Most definitely,” Liam said. “Makes me sick that I feel good about that.”
Maria returned with a glass of water. She remained standing and leaned on her cart.
Liam downed half the glass in one gulp and continued. “Anyway, most people are indoors now. We’ve mostly got things under control and folks have started to calm down. Still, I doubt we’ll see power for a while. Backup at the hospital works, thank God. My partner and I spent the morning there.”
“How long do you think?” Jenn asked. “Before we have power.”
Liam took another sip of water. “Best-case scenario, we have limited solar in a day or two. Places like the hospital and the station are safe because they were hardened against power surges. From what I’ve heard, the solar panels themselves are fine. It’s the batteries or the converters that are toast, so we just need to hook up fresh ones. But we won’t be able to power the whole town. As for everything coming online, that’s anyone’s guess. I think we were—” Liam stopped himself.
“You think we were what?” Jenn prodded.
He looked to Gary, who nodded slowly.
“I think it’s an EMP,” Liam said. “One of those will knock out power across half the country. If that’s the case, we’re on our own for the foreseeable future.”
Jenn’s stomach sank. Sophie had said the same thing, but hearing it from Liam, a police officer and Gary’s friend, made it more real somehow.
“We’re completely cut off,” Liam continued. “No contact with the city at all. Internet’s down. We even tried landlines. Nothing.” He finished his water and stood, wincing as he put weight on his prosthetic leg. “Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. The next step for us is to get the town settled in for the long haul and try to reach the state or federal governments. Sit tight for now. Feel free to come by the house anytime.”
He made for the door, and Gary popped out of his seat again. “Give Erin and Debbie our best.”
“Will do,” Liam said. “Thanks again for checking on them today. We really appreciate it, and honestly, if you need anything, you let us know.” He said goodbye and stepped into the night.
Jenn knocked her knuckles against the tabletop. “So what’s our next move?” she said as Gary made his way back.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
Jenn rolled her eyes. “I mean we can’t ‘sit tight’ like Liam said. We’re dealing with a situation here.”
Gary fetched Liam’s glass from the table. “Yes, but from what Liam just said, the police have things under control. I think we should follow his advice: stay inside and wait for news.”
Jenn almost laughed at that.
To her surprise, Maria cut in. “Have you not seen Sam’s face?” she asked Gary and made her way to a chair beside Jenn.
“Yes, but—”
“We watched a riot outside of a real estate office and got into a fistfight at Minute Tire,” Jenn
barked. “Somebody tackled me to the ground, then punched Sam in the mouth. I’d say things are far from under control.”
“You haven’t seen what they’ve seen,” Maria said to Gary. “You went out looking for them, but other than that, you’ve been here all day with me.”
Maria smiled at Jenn. She could tell Maria was tired. Her life of routine had been turned upside down. Maria had coped well so far, considering the circumstances, but Jenn wondered how much of her resolute exterior was a mask. Was she frightened or actually this strong?
“What do you think, Sam?” Gary asked.
The question threw Jenn off guard. She’d never heard Gary ask for Sam’s opinion before.
Sam blinked hard, and Jenn gave him a nod. She wanted him to be honest and not side with Gary. Given their last blowout, she doubted he would, but part of her feared he’d choose reconciliation over doing the right thing. “I agree with Jenn,” he said. “We can’t wait around and hope for the best.”
Jenn breathed a sigh of relief.
Gary ran his fingers across his scalp. “Okay. I guess it doesn’t hurt to be ready.”
Sam gave Jenn a wink and reached for her hand. She took it and held it in her lap.
Gary pulled out his chair and sat down again. “So what first?”
“I think that’s obvious,” Sam said.
“Maria’s oxygen,” Gary answered.
Maria dropped her chin and avoided eye contact.
“What’s wrong?” Jenn asked.
“You guys doing all this work for me.” She turned her head away from the table. “I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”
Jenn let go of Sam’s hand and squeezed Maria’s shoulder. “Nobody’s going to get hurt. The cops are doing their jobs, helping and keeping an eye on things.”
“That’s right,” Sam said. “Your oxygen is the priority.”
“Great.” Jenn jumped up and turned for the door.
“Jenn,” she heard Gary say. “What are you doing?”
She stopped. No one but her had moved. “What do you mean? We just decided to get oxygen for Maria.”
Sam and Gary exchanged glances. Gary spoke first. “We didn’t mean tonight.”