“By all means, go right ahead and try,” Agnes encouraged him. “I’ll go and find some blankets for you both to use in the meantime, give you a bit of privacy.”
Smiling in thanks, Samuel pushed himself away from the table and walked out into the hallway, picking up the receiver from the wall mounted phone. He paused for a moment with it in his hand, trying to remember the number. When he was little, his mother had made both him and Jessie memorize their address and phone number. It took him a second to recall it but then he punched in the number and put the receiver to his ear.
“Hello?”
“Dad! Is that you?”
“Samuel? How are you? Where have you been? We’ve been trying to reach you for days.”
“I’m fine dad. Are you guys okay?”
“Yes, yes, we’re fine. We’ve had to board up some of the windows. Things are getting pretty dicey outside. What about you? Where are you calling from?”
“Um…” Samuel paused, “a friend’s place. I’m on my way out of the city, heading to Poughkeepsie. I just wanted to call to make sure you’re both okay and let you know that I am, too.”
“Poughkeepsie? Why are you going there?”
“It’s a long story,” Samuel replied, smiling to himself at his father never being able to leave a question unasked. The old man sounded well though and that was comforting for Samuel. That his mother was safe, too, also made him feel at ease. “I don’t know when I’ll be back. I just wanted to call and remind you both to stay indoors and stay safe. And,” he paused again, “to let you know that I love you.”
There was a moment of silence on the line. Samuel and his parents weren’t usually up for displays of affection, especially him and his father. But it was something Samuel knew he would regret if he didn’t say. He didn’t want to even consider for a second that his parents wouldn’t be around when he returned to New York. But he wasn’t willing to take any chances.
“We love you too, Samuel,” Charles replied on the other end, his voice catching a little in his throat as he spoke. “Whatever it is you need to do, make sure you look after yourself.”
“I will dad,” Samuel swallowed. “I’ll call you again when I get the chance, okay?”
“Okay, son. Take care.”
“You, too. Goodbye.”
Samuel returned the phone to its cradle on the wall and leaned back against the plaster for a second. There was no telling when he would be able to speak to his father again, the phone lines may still be working for the time being, but eventually that technology would fail like almost everything else had. It was likely that until he had returned from Poughkeepsie, he wouldn’t be able to talk to them again.
Perhaps he was better off staying in New York so he could keep his parents safe. Indecisiveness suddenly plagued Samuel, a moment of weakness overshadowing his previous strength. But what could he really do for his parents if he stayed behind?
He could help Austin get back to his family. Already the two of them had been through so much together, he couldn’t change his mind now. He would be far better off helping Austin, than he would playing board games and doing puzzles with his parents. They could keep themselves safe and relatively out of the way of things. Austin needed his help.
That settled it—there would be no turning back for Samuel. He was going to Poughkeepsie and nothing was going to stop him now.
Chapter 12
Leaving Agnes’ apartment the following morning was a bittersweet feeling for both Samuel and Austin. They’d slept relatively well despite being in very close quarters on the two couches and were fueled from the oatmeal they’d eaten first thing. Their goal for the day was to get out of the city. While the daylight brought with it some semblance of safety, they were still in a very dangerous part of New York and neither wanted to hang around much longer.
“Are you sure there isn’t anything more we can leave you?” Samuel asked as the two men loitered by the front door, feeling bad about how little Agnes had taken from them. They’d shared the contents of their rucksacks with her and allowed her to take whatever she needed, not wanting the old woman to struggle for food in the coming days. Nothing more than a couple cans of tuna and some refried beans had made it to her countertop though. Agnes was determined that she could fend for herself.
“I’ll be fine,” she replied, shaking her head as she had done when they first offered. “Like I told you, I’ve only got one mouth to feed now. You don’t need to worry about me.”
Samuel looked at Austin sheepishly, unsure how to respond. It was an awkward situation as they could only push so far, and both men knew they would also need the supplies in the coming days.
“Thank you again for letting us stay here last night,” Austin said instead. “And my apologies again for breaking in.”
Agnes smiled. “It was nice to have the company,” she replied. “I hope you reach your family safely.”
“Thank you,” Austin nodded. “Me too.”
Samuel and Austin left the apartment, navigating their way out of the building down the small stairwell and onto the street.
“Do you think she’ll be okay?” Samuel asked as they stood in the morning sunlight, looking both ways up and down the street.
Austin shrugged. “She seems like she can take care of herself. I wouldn’t worry.”
“Fair enough.”
“Come on,” Austin encouraged his friend, not wanting to linger outside anywhere for any length of time. “Let’s go.”
One good thing which had come from their time in Agnes’ apartment was that she had showed them both exactly where she lived on a map Samuel had taken from the sporting goods store. As a result, they’d been able to plan their route out of New York and up to Poughkeepsie, hoping to find a vehicle on the outskirts of the city that they could drive up route nine all the way to Austin’s husband and son. That meant first getting out of The Bronx and into Yonkers, the most dangerous leg of their journey by far.
Agnes lived in an area called Fordham Heights, which was by no means the worst part to find themselves in, but it could certainly have been better. The roads were fairly wide and were blocked up in places by car crashes, vehicles turned over on their sides and burnt out, the drivers nowhere to be seen.
Turning a corner and cutting through what was a marketplace before the crash, Samuel looked around and flinched, seeing a group of rats munching through the forgotten foodstuffs.
“Uhh,” he suddenly wretched. Looking closer and Samuel saw that the rats weren’t just eating through abandoned food from the market, but the former stall owner as well. He doubled over, fighting to hold down the oatmeal he’d eaten that morning. The stall owner was long dead now, the rats feasted on his flesh and left his corpse mangled and ragged. They tore off tiny pieces with their teeth and gulped it down, occasionally fighting over scraps that were thrown further into the stalls.
“Oh jeez,” Austin covered his mouth as he realized what Samuel was reacting too, unable to tear his eyes away from the dead body. “That’s disgusting!”
The rats continued to swarm the dead body, their greasy, black bodies rubbing up against one another as they ate. The sounds they made were equally gruesome, the grinding of teeth and the squelch of flesh being chewed. It was enough to turn anyone’s stomach as Samuel wretched once more and his breakfast splattered all over an abandoned stall.
“Let’s get out of here,” he whimpered as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. That was not how he’d wanted to start the day, his stomach still feeling queasy as they weaved through other stalls and made it back onto the sidewalk.
“You okay, pal?”
Samuel grimaced but forced himself to nod. “I wasn’t expecting that,” he sighed, taking a sip from his water canteen and swilling the liquid around his mouth to try and clean it out. “I’ve never seen rats like that before.”
“Horrible aren’t they,” Austin replied, waiting for Samuel to be ready to start walking again. “I wonder how that guy ende
d up like that.”
“I don’t want to know,” Samuel shook his head. “Let’s just get out of here.”
Austin glanced up at the street sign above his head and then nodded, the two of them rushing away from the market stall, Samuel swearing he could still hear the sound of rats gnawing on bones in his ears. He shuddered again, picturing the dead man’s gaunt face, one cheek practically hollowed out by the animals. In another couple of days, he would be nothing more than bone, the rats moving on to the next corpse they could find. That was one lifeform that would flourish in New York now, no pest control to keep them in check and no shortage of rotting bodies for them to feast on.
The city in general carried an oddly musty smell now which Samuel assumed was from the number of dead. It was quiet too, with almost no cars left on the roads, their routes either obstructed by crashes or running too close to riots and angry mobs. People still formed groups where they had something to protest or demand. Hot spots included hospitals and supermarkets, people now going after what they knew still held value as opposed to the first few days when the mobs targeted banks.
Samuel wouldn’t easily forget the violent mob that had chased him and Austin out of the Trident building, nor the aggressive criminals that stormed into the epilepsy ward at the hospital and shot Doctor Miller dead. There may be some people left in the city who still had their humanity, but it was clear to see that most had lost it in the collapse. As he had thought a number of times before, Trident had truly taken a great deal more than just the money in people’s accounts.
“Whoa. Stop.”
Lost in his thoughts, Samuel had been following Austin robotically, not paying the appropriate attention to their surroundings. Austin was forced to grab his friend by the arm and pull him back as Samuel continued walking, unaware of the group of men waiting just across the road.
“Shh,” Austin held a finger against his lips, indicating the men Samuel hadn’t noticed. There were perhaps ten or twelve of them all standing around outside a fast food joint. The place – Dixie’s Fried Chicken – actually still seemed to be open, the aroma of herbs and spices floating down the road and caressing the two men’s nostrils. Clearly this was a key location for one of the gangs from The Bronx and not something that Austin and Samuel wanted to get caught up in.
“Let’s go around,” Austin whispered, keeping his voice low and his back against the brickwork to ensure they weren’t seen. “We can cut through the back alleys.”
Samuel nodded, he could see at least three of the men had guns stuffed down the back of their pants. They wanted the weapons to be noticeable. If someone carried a gun like that, Samuel could only assume it meant they had little problem with firing it. They stood around, talking and laughing like they weren’t in the middle of a major catastrophe, their lives seeming quite unaffected by the situation that had upturned so many others’ lives.
Austin moved more carefully now as he led the two of them back the way they had come, then down a narrow alleyway with high brick walls on either side. They kept quiet, communicating only with their eyes as neither wanted to be overheard by the gang of men.
While they technically didn’t pose any threat, they were both carrying large rucksacks which even to an untrained eye likely carried some useful resources. That made them both targets and neither one of them wanted to be caught. Samuel was petrified of the wrong person bumping into them and recognizing him from the television just like Agnes had, aware just how badly it could end up for him.
Creeping through the alley, the pair of them reached what had to be the back of Dixie’s Fried Chicken. The aromas wafting out of the back of the air filtration system and into the alleyway made both men instantly salivate, the mouthwatering smells reminding them of the food they were already missing.
What was of even more interest though, was that they could hear voices coming from inside the building. The back door which led out into the alley was partially ajar, meaning Samuel and Austin could hear the conversation being held on the other side. Raising their eyebrows at one another, both men stopped walking to listen.
“We really missed the boat with all the hospital raids,” one voice said. “Those meds are definitely the best trade option.”
“Everyone needs food as well though. Once word gets out that we’ve got this place up and running, people will flock here. And not just for what’s on the menu either.”
“Yeah it’s a good trading base. How’s it going getting the word out about everything we’ve got?”
“Well that’s the hard part. We don’t really want to give too much away, do we? What if someone tries to raid us?”
“Let them try. I don’t think they’d get very far.”
Laugher erupted from inside. Samuel looked at Austin with caution. The gang was using the fried chicken shop as a base. Curiosity got the better of them and Austin and Samuel remained still and pressed up to the door, listening as the conversation evolved.
“Did you see what happened to RJ? He nearly had his kneecaps blown off when he and Max were snooping around the bikers’ turf.”
“Their haul has given them too much power. They think they own the whole city now.”
“They don’t.”
“They’ll fall pretty hard if they’re really acting like that. Long way to come crashing down.”
“What happened to RJ? Is he okay?”
“Bullet nicked the back of his leg. It’s just a flesh wound so he can walk still, but he’s got a bit of a limp.”
“I’d like to see them try that around us again. Once this place is up and running, I bet they won’t dare come around these parts.”
“I’m not so sure, Deke. They seem pretty serious.”
“So are we. I’m not letting any biker get the better of me.”
They were referring to the gang that had busted up the hospital they were in the day before. The power of the gangs throughout the city was growing bigger and bigger each day, turf wars already resulting in gun fights. It sounded like RJ got off lightly.
Samuel caught Austin’s gaze and raised his eyebrows. “Wanna get out of here,” he whispered. They’d heard enough for one day and if nothing else, he was left feeling more afraid of the gang inside the shop. He was eager to get out of The Bronx for good. His life wasn’t worth risking to hear what else these men had to say.
Austin agreed and took a step away from the door, turning around so he was facing the right direction down the alleyway again. As he did, his rucksack caught on one of the metal bins, shoving it sideways. The metal lid clattered closed.
Both men froze as the sound echoed through the alleyway, the high brick walls making it echo for what seemed like a lifetime. They looked at one another in horror. The conversation inside the chicken shop had ceased. They held their breath, waiting to see what would happen next.
Chapter 13
Returning home after one of the longest working days of her adult life, Jessie slumped down on the couch and immediately closed her eyes. She was granted about twenty-five seconds of peace and quiet before the boys realized she was home and bounded into the room, jumping on her and abruptly bringing to a halt any chance of relaxation she had.
“Mommy! We learned what to do on a farm today, mommy. They showed us where milk comes from!”
“It was gross. You had to squeeze the cows’ boobs and then it squirted everywhere!”
“They’re called udders, Axel, don’t you remember?”
“Whatever,” Axel groaned at his older brother. “It was still yucky.”
Jessie forced her eyes open and pushed a smile onto her face, determined not to let her exhaustion show and ruin the limited time she now had with her children. They were only three days into the new regime that the leadership council had put in place and already things were more different and intense than she could have imagined. Jessie knew the council was doing everything they could to keep island life going as regularly as possible, but she was drained and depleted, wanting nothing more tha
n to climb into a hot bath and soak for hours with a glass of white wine. It was a fantasy far out of her reach, especially with the rationing of supplies and limited hot water allowances now in place.
The leadership council had changed a lot of things on Kauai, most of them for the better, though Jessie wasn’t happy with her new job. Having been deemed a non-essential worker, she was tasked with looking after the islands food supply and ensuring that each household was pooling their supplies fairly. It meant that Jessie went from door to door acting like a repo man during the day, sharing the ration list with each household in her assigned district and then taking any extra that people had.
She didn’t disagree with the job itself, aware that it made perfect sense for each family to have an equal share of food and other necessities. There was no point one person hoarding all of one item and leaving everyone else struggling to find it. However, it was hard work. Not everyone was happy to give up what they had, especially if they had spent good money on it before the crash. That meant a large chunk of her day was spent arguing with other people and already it had resulted in some of the newfound security force having to be involved.
“Did you manage to make some milk then? What else did you learn?” she exclaimed to her two boys, trying to ignore the fatigue she was feeling and entertain her little ones at least for a short period of time. Arthur was still out working with his engineering team, her husband practicing even longer hours now than he had done before Trident’s collapse.
As Zayn and Axel talked over one another to share details of their day, Jessie forced herself to smile and remain positive for her children. Thankfully due to the school structure that Martha and Kat, another woman from the leadership council, had put in place, the boys managed to maintain a pretty rigid routine that didn’t differ too much from before.
Children on the island were divided up into three age groups now, the first being those too young to be put into any practical situation. Those children mainly spent their time in large supervised play, building sandcastles or doing paint by numbers.
Wipeout | Book 2 | Foul Play Page 9