Lucky

by Sage du Toit

  Jose whimpered and said, “Joey looked out of the window to see if Monica was coming back and he called to me and said that mama was laying on the ground outside. That’s when I remembered what she told me about the alert...and I knew….I knew it was too late. I knew it was bad.” His voice was getting higher and louder. He took a deep breath and continued on. “I had everyone get into the prayer meeting room. They were confused and wanted to help Anna and Martha. Joey was yelling to me, telling me to go outside and help mama.”

  Jose broke down and cried, sobbing big tears streaming down his face. “I just couldn’t, I knew I had to get everyone else to safety. I wanted to, you understand? I wanted to help them!” He looked at her pleadingly like he wanted her to forgive him for not helping.

  Sam patted his hand and squeezed it, “It’s OK, you did the right thing! If you had not ya’ll would all be dead!”

  He nodded sadly and said, “We ran out of food after a week. I remember it had rained and it helped to cool the hot church down but we were getting desperate for food. We had no idea if it was safe to go outside or not. We argued and several women from the area said they wanted to go home. Helen was a big woman and she complained the most. She wanted more food and we had to hide the food and keep her from eating it all.” He sighed a loud sigh as he wiped his face. “She finally said she didn’t care what I had to say and she wanted to leave, so I let her.

  “She walked out the same door as my wife and we watched her as she walked past my wife’s body, she barely glanced at it...then she fell on the ground and started twitching. After that no one else wanted to go outside. We had plenty of water and we ate all of the communion crackers.

  “Another week went by and I was getting desperate, my kids were starting to wither away, you understand?” And Sam nodded her head in understanding. “I thought long and hard about it, I knew I had to do something or we were all going to die. We have those medical masks to give out to people that have colds. I took several of those and put them together, and then covered myself in garbage bags. I even put a clear garbage bag over my head, I just didn’t tape it down like the others.

  “No one tried to stop me, they knew it was my decision to make. I walked next door to my house, stopping to bless my wife’s body on the way. I went into my house…. I went...” and he started crying again, even harder this time. “I went into my baby girls’ room...and she was there, on the floor...laying in the middle of all of her barbies.” He bawled and Sam let him cry, still holding his hand as tears ran down her face too.

  He sniffled and carried on, “I gathered all of the food in the house, including everything from the fridge and freezer. I just put it all in garbage bags and carried it over. I thought we could sort through what was rotten later. Of course, we ended up throwing away almost all of the food from the fridge.

  “Once we realized we could go out if we covered up and protected ourselves we made a few trips over to the house to get beds and clothes for everyone. We also started seeing people going into the surrounding houses and looting them….we also saw those same people kill someone out in the street next to the church.” Sam recalled seeing a body in the middle of the road. “After that we only went out at night. We checked the houses close by for food, but we went through the non-perishable food that was left fast.

  “I want to thank you...I realize this isn’t going to last us long, but every little bit counts! And it looks like you gave us all of the food you have….” Sam smiled and checked the noodles.

  She divided the noodles evenly between the eight bowls. Placing them on trays Jose pulled out from another cabinet. He dried his face and helped her carry the trays out. He sat the tray on the table and then took one of the bowls with a spoon to someone laying on a mattress. He helped them sit up and then carefully spooned some of the liquid and noodle in her mouth.

  Some of the other people were getting bowls and sitting down at the table to eat. Sam saw Joey grab a bowl and follow in his dad’s footsteps by taking the bowl to someone laying down. She knew how hard it had to be to help someone else eat when you yourself were starving. Sam took a bowl to the last person that was laying on a mattress. It was a teenage girl that looked a lot like Maria, she thought it was probably the daughter Sofia that Jose had mentioned. Her eyes were glazed over and Sam could see her collar bones through her shirt. She carefully spooned some of the liquid into her mouth.

  When she looked up she saw that Tom had taken the bowl from Joey and Joey was now sitting at the table slowly eating his own bowl of noodles. She knew they needed to do something to help these people. This is why Maria sent them, she knew that if they were alive Sam and Tom would help them.

  Chapter 24

  -----------------------------------------------------

  26 November 2020 N-day +139

  Atlanta, GA

  Sam and Tom had searched all of the local houses for food. The group in the church was starting to get their strength back as they had more regular meals. Jose admitted he was the one that had been tending the garden, he said he hoped he could grow some vegetables before winter frosts hit them. Tom explained to him how the ground was contaminated and even showed him how his detector went off around the garden beds when he stuck it in the dirt.

  They told everyone about Fort Jackson and how they had things set up there. Tom suggested that they go there...but first they had to find gas masks for everyone. Joey had found a Yellow Pages of Atlanta when Sam asked him if he knew where that big yellow book was. He didn’t really know what a Yellow Pages was, but Sam showed him how to use it and she even showed him the maps that were in front of it and how to read them. Joey was 10 and she could tell he was going to be super smart like Maria.

  She looked for Army surplus stores nearby and didn’t find any. There was one far north, and one far south, right in the middle of downtown...which was the direction the gunfire came from. She checked to see if there were any train tracks that lead north to Marietta, she couldn’t get that lucky. She sighed and plotted out a route on the map. If they walked, it would probably take them at least 3 days because two of the people wanted to come with them. But, if they could find a working vehicle. They could be there and back in a day. There was just the problem of increasing the chance of someone noticing them.

  It was decided they would try to find a working vehicle, they would be able to bring more stuff back with them than four people carrying backpacks. They discussed the plan in detail, as well as what the rest of them should do it they didn’t return after three days.

  If they could find a working car, or preferably an SUV, they would go and get as much gear, equipment and food as they could find along the way. They had two M16’s and two 9mm pistols, but only limited ammo. They would give a handgun to Jina, a middle-aged Korean woman who seemed to have endless energy now that she had a little food, and Sofia, Maria’s 17-year-old sister. She had recovered fast as young people do and she insisted on going when she found out what they were doing and when her dad agreed they acquiesced.

  They showed the women how to use the guns and told them to keep them on safety. They couldn’t let them practice shooting, they didn’t have the ammo and couldn’t take the chance of someone hearing it.

  They didn’t even have to look far for a working vehicle. When they explained to Jose that they were going to try to find an older vehicle he said the church van was parked out back and it was an 80’s van that someone had donated to the church. He gave Tom the keys and when Tom came back in he said it started...but there was only a quarter tank of gas. Jose said there was a gas can in the back, they kept it full to help people that were low on funds and needed gas. They put the gas in the Van and then siphoned more out of the cars sitting on the street until the tank was full and they had a full can to take with them.

  Sam and Tom stripped down their kits to the bare necessity. Sophia was giving Sam some clothes to wear since she had been wearing the same thing for 4 days. As Sam was taking off her pants she felt something
in her cargo pocket and discovered the Peanut butter and crackers she had put there a few days ago. That already seemed like a life time ago. The crackers were squished and the peanut butter was warm from being up against her leg. She showed Sophia and they decided to sit and share it. Sam felt guilty for not sharing it with everyone, but she had eaten so little in the last two days, surely, they wouldn’t begrudge her. They packed up and everyone went to sleep early so they could leave in the wee hours of the morning.

  27 November 2020 N-day +140

  Atlanta, GA

  It was 02:00 hours and they were ready to go. Jina and Sophie were both outfitted in dust masks with clear garbage bags over their heads, they really just needed them to protect them until they got to the van. They gave the sleepy people that were remaining a quick goodbye and loaded up.

  They decided to take the major highway north. If it wasn’t blocked it would be their quickest route. Tom had pulled the fuses on all of the lights on the van and was going to drive with night vision goggles. Sam just hoped they didn’t have a repeat of the last time they drove at night.

  Sam sat tense in the front passenger seat the whole way. They did have to go around a few car piles and they had to turn around and get off the highway once to go around a major pile up, but it wasn’t far they had to go, only 14 miles, it took them 20 minutes to get there. They had warned the two members of the team to only talk if necessary and no lights at all were to be used unless they area was secure.

  They pulled up in front of the surplus store, it had a big brick front and none of the windows were broken. Sam was feeling optimistic. She quietly told Tom she would check the gate to the back so they could pull through and stay hidden. The gate was locked with a chain and padlock. She signed to him and he parked the Van in a parking slot and turned off the engine.

  The front door was locked. They checked the other doors and they were locked too. The sign on the window said they opened at 9 am, which means they probably weren’t open yet when the bombs went off. Tom and Sam discussed what to do with sign language as the other two women stood and watched them questioningly.

  Tom went to check the gate to the back, if they could get in and break open the back door, it would be better than giving someone a front door easy access to them. Tom motioned to Sam to get in the Van and pull it over to the gate. She had the women get back in with her and started it up, cringing at the noise of the cranking engine. When she pulled up to the gate, she saw he had simply lifted it off of the hinges and moved it out of the way. She laughed quietly as she pulled through.

  He put the gate back on the hinges and got in the passenger side and told her to pull to the back. There were two doors leading into the building, which Sam saw was not brick, but actually metal, only the front was brick. Tom didn’t use his knife this time, this door was not light weight. He used the tire iron from the back of the van.

  There were no windows in the building, other than the ones at the front for the doors. They let Tom go in alone with his night vision goggles to clear the building. Sam waited nervously for him to come back and wondered how they were going to search the store with it so dark. It was still a few hours before the sun even came up. Tom was gone a long time and Sam was beginning to worry.

  Tom got back and told them to come inside. He put something behind the door to keep it closed and they were standing in the pitch-black wondering what to do. Suddenly a small light came on. Tom handed each of them a small flashlight and said they should be safe to use them. He had found some big tarps and tape and did a quick cover up of the front windows. He said, “Just don’t point your lights up, there are small windows up there, not sure the light will shine through.”

  They had talked about what they needed and each person had a list. There first thing was bags and Tom had located them when he cleared the store. He led them to the bags and they picked out a mixture of eight rucksacks and backpacks, then the biggest duffel bags they could find and they each took two duffel bags to fill up. The other three took off and Sam stuffed all of the backpacks in a big duffel and added the few hydro-packs they had hanging on the wall.

  Tom had gone to find any weapons and ammo. Sophia was looking for food of any type. Jina was looking for camping gear, including a propane stove and fuel, plus canteens for everyone. Sam’s job was to find gas masks and MOPP gear. And of course, they were all to take anything else they thought might be useful.

  Sam found the gas masks and saw they were all mostly old masks. She hoped the seals were still good, the filter could be replaced. She loaded all of them in the bag in case some were bad. She counted ten. She found some boxed filters and added those too. They had three of the old chemical suits and she stuffed those in. Looking around she found some rain gear and Gortex suits, those might work in a pinch so she stuffed those in the bag and her first bag was full. She took it to the back door and left it.

  She passed by Tom and he was going through a gun case looking at guns. She went to find Sophia to see what she found and found her in the same area as Jina. They were looking at the camping stuff and Sophia showed her she had found some dried food and a few MRE’s. Jina didn’t know which camp stove to get, they had several types. Sam showed her the best one and told her to get two since there were so many people they needed to feed. She also had her get two small single burner stoves. She then helped her load all of the little propane bottles. Jina’s first bag was full and she took it to the back door.

  The store was full of a lot of clothes and junk. They didn’t find any more food but they did load the rest of Sophia’s bag with some winter gear and tactical vests. Sam grabbed some empty ammo cans and took them over to Tom. She helped him load the ammo out of the cases into the cans and then got more. They ended up with four ammo cans full of ammo. Tom showed her the duffle bag he had filled with guns and it didn’t seem like that many to her.

  They finished up and checked around the store, Tom grabbed some machete’s with sheaths and a few hatchets, Sam found some gun holsters and rifle bags. They were all grabbing whatever they thought would come in handy now. Sam checked the time with Tom and told him she had noticed a food place next door when they pulled in and thought they should check it out too.

  They loaded everything up in the van and Sam had grabbed more duffle bags just in case they found food. After they loaded everything Tom handed Sam something. She looked at the big bulky box in curiosity and saw it was a new set of night vision goggles. She hugged Tom and carried them with her to the front of the truck. He said he had already put batteries in them. They were about to leave when Sam noticed the small fence leading into the parking area behind the food place and suggested to Tom that they cut the fence and go out that way. She knew he had found a set of bolt cutters in the store and had kept them with him which had given her the idea. He had her get in the driver’s seat while he cut the wires holding the fence to the pole.

  He pulled the fence open and she drove through, there wasn’t even a curb. She watched as he pulled the fence back to hide their exit. She pulled up behind the restaurant and since it was so small they told the two women to stay in the van. Sam had put her night vision goggles on and was trying to get use to them over her gas mask.

  Tom broke in the back door and they cleared the small place. It was a little pizza joint. She found a display of chips and loaded them in a bag and Tom found some giant cans of pizza sauce and mushrooms and other pizza toppings. They looked in some big buckets and saw they were full of moldy cheese. Sam also found some pizza dough mix but she wasn’t sure how they would cook it and then she saw the huge bottle of oil. There were also a few big unopened jars of parmesan cheese that were good.

  They hauled it all out to the van and got ready to pull around the building and leave. Sam was concerned they still didn’t have enough food. She saw there was a Piccadilly across the street. She knew that if these places hadn’t been looted yet, that place probably wouldn’t be either and they should have tons of food. She pointed it out to Tom and
said, “Let’s go there too.”

  They pulled around to the back and the only entrance was a roll-up door. So, they drove around to the side and found a side door near the front. They told the women to stay in the van again so they could clear the building. Tom took his bolt cutters and tire iron. After he busted the door open with the tire iron he stuffed it in his belt with the bolt cutters. They went through the building quickly and when they got to the back of the kitchen they were stunned at the number of can’s and other non-perishable foods that were on the shelves. They found the back door and he cut the locking bar on it and rolled it up while Sam went to move the Van.

  She backed the Van up to the open door and they started loading all of the stuff. They had to pack the food in the seats and on the floor between the seats. There was everything for mixed fruit to green beans, beans and rice. There were bags of croutons, pastas, cornbread mix and gelatin mixes. They had enough food to last the group for quite a while. They checked the walk-in fridge/freezer to be sure and both of the women cringed at the smell. Sam and Tom were immune thanks to their masks and Sam grabbed masks for the women quick. She hadn’t thought of it before.

  They shut the door behind them and took off. The sun still wasn’t up and they made a mad dash back to the house. Sam was feeling good about the load of loot they had found and was sure it would give them enough to take their time going to Fort Jackson.

  They were almost to their turnoff and were going under an overpass when suddenly shots were fired at the Van. The girls screamed and Sam yelled at them to duck down. Tom gunned the engine and Sam could still hear the gun fire behind them, but there weren’t any vehicles following them. Tom took the lane that lead to their exit but he bypassed it and continued to the on ramp and took that sharp turn going down what would originally have been the wrong way. He then bypassed the road leading to the house and took the next one. He went up and down several streets and then finally turned on the road next to the church and backed up to the back door.