by Sally Six
“Oh Gads!” Ellen thought. “Now what?” “Well that lasted a long time,” she said to Ed.
Ed chuckled back. “I didn’t think they were supposed to have the TV on.”
“You know the kids Ed. First thing they do when they go into the house is flick that thing on.” She said as she went over to the cabin and went in to the open door.
Ed went to unhitch the trailer from the truck. He was pulling the truck alongside the house when Ellen came bounding out of the house with her face white as a sheet. She ran up to the truck as he was getting out of it.
“Ed, Ed, there talking nuclear war on the TV. Like in missiles are headed to the U.S. right this minute.”
Ed at that bit of news also went white. “How long did they say we have?”
As they were walking to the cabin, she told him they said they had about 90 minutes to take cover.
“90 minutes huh. Well we aren’t too close to any major town, but if they hit Portland or Sea Tac by Seattle, we will get fallout headed this way on the prevailing winds if there coming from the southwest. We need to hurry and start packing.” He stopped in his tracks. Then he said. “You continue in and start packing some clothes, shoes, coats and other things we will need for winter. Have the kids do the same. I am going to hook the trailer back up to the truck. I’m going to bring the truck as close as I can to the cabin, so we won’t have far to load, the truck and the trailer.”
Ellen went back in. The kids were all cleaned up, but hungry. She told them what needed to be done and they would eat afterward. A few minutes later, she heard the truck pull close to the house. It must be sitting right smack in the flower garden, but that was the least of their worries. Ed rushed into the house and had a couple of empty cardboard boxes with him. He went straight to the kitchen and started to unload the canned goods cupboard.
Ellen was carrying out suitcases and backpacks and the kids were doing the same. She went over to the hall closest and started to pull out winter coats and boots. Ellen went into their bedroom and grabbed the box of yarns, crochet hooks and knitting needles. She knew those would come in handy. She made sure to throw in school books, reading books, paper, and pencils.
“I already have the long johns, gloves, mittens, caps and scarves packed,” she told Ed.
She went over to the cupboard, pulled out trash bags and started to fill them with boxed foods, pasta and anything else that wouldn’t go through the bags. She looked up and Ed was headed out the door. Turning he said. “Come on. Let’s get some empty plastic containers in the garage.”
They did that and came back in. Ed put down his tubs and then went over to the phone to make a call to his parents and best friend. He then headed for their half basement and started to bring up the camping gear, tents, sleeping bags, camp stove, Coleman fuel, lanterns, camp chairs, cast iron pots and pans, wash pan, metal tubs, clothes line, extra nylon rope, meat saw, axe, all the freeze dried foods and the two cases of MREs. They had ordered the MREs for this year’s hunting trip. He then brought up five – 5 gallon water containers and began to fill them.
Ed told Ellen. “Don’t forget the large 2 and 4 gallon stainless steel pots, honey.”
Ed ran back out to the garage. He had almost forgotten all the tools. Those for working on the truck and the shovels, pick, hatchet, extra axe and anything else he could think of to throw in.
Ellen and the kids were hauling things out to the truck and trailer and shoving them first into the truck bed. Ed went in and grabbed a box and saw it was plastic and metal plates and cups plus large bowls with spices thrown into the spaces between things. Ed went back down when Ellen reminded him they had put away 100 pounds of flour, sugar, beans, rice, a case of tomatoes sauce, a case of canned beef and chicken, cans of fruits, fruit juices, 50 pounds of powdered milk, plus a few other things like 25 pounds each of TVP (textured vegetable protein), ham, beef, taco and sausage flavored meat alternative. He started making trips up and down to the trailer with the 5 gallon buckets and the cases of foods along with his guns and boxes of ammo. He told Ellen as he went by. “We have to be out of here in 15 minutes tops.”
She told the kids to hurry. They had to be done soon. She still didn’t know where they were headed, but she had an idea.
“That’s it.” Ed said. “We have to leave now if we’re going to make it to the mine in time.”
Ellen looked up at Ed as she put on another load. “That’s what I thought you were thinking of. That’s the only place that I thought we could be safe from fallout and anything else that might come out of the sky.”
Ellen ran back and grabbed the crock-pot of food. They piled the kids into the truck after the last box and bag were thrown in the trailer. Ed didn’t worry about the tarp for now. He just threw 2 of them into the trailer and jumped into the truck.
He jumped back out of the truck and ran to the shed. Ellen thought, “What in the world is he doing now?” He pulled out his 4, 5-gallon gas cans and put them in the tail end of the trailer, as well as going back for the 5-25 pound propane tanks and the small propane fueled grill. He jumped back in and said. “We’re stopping at a gas station, topping this thing off and filling those gas cans. You never know when we will be able to get gas again.”
Ellen thought,“Gads, I never thought of that. Will anything ever be the same again?”
About 10 minutes later, they were down the mountain and pulling into the gas station in the tiny town. Ed hopped out. He asked Ellen to do the same and start filling the gas cans at the other pump while he topped off the tank on the truck. He turned to the pumps and there sat a sign that read Pumps ON: Take What You Need.
There was no one around inside the small gas/store. He saw that they too must have heard the news. Ed filled the tank and then grabbed the gas cans and filled them also. He took them to the back of the trailer, put them on and off they went. About 12 minutes later they were pulling in front of the old mine gate. Ed jumped out, unlatched it and swung both doors open on each side. Ellen slid over behind the wheel and pulled the truck and trailer through the gate. Ed debated closing the gate again as they were expecting his parents along with his friend Pete and his family. He just went ahead and closed it just in case somehow no one else made it here.
He hopped back in and pulled over to the cave entrance and opened that fence gate also. Ellen pulled inside the mine. Ed decided to not close that one as the people behind them didn’t have much time to get here as time was getting short. One gate closed should be good enough for now. He would come back out and close it later if no one else got here. He got back inside the truck and drove down the mine tunnel.
The old gold mine was still in real good condition. The tunnel was still half again as wide as his truck and trailer. He had worked here a short time before it closed so he knew the tunnels pretty good and what was here. At 500 feet down the tunnel widens even more. Some of the equipment and carts were stored here. They could grab them and head down the tunnel to work. There were also other rooms off this big main one. One was for tools, another for a lunch room and 2 for bathrooms. The owner hadn’t wanted to build many separate buildings outside. He hated cold winter weather and it was almost an even temperature in here at 59 degrees year round.
“First thing I need to do,” said Ed. “Is to see if the old generator is still here. The last thing I knew it was. The mine was used last year to store some things for the boss and they needed light in here. Hopefully, those 55 gallon drums of treated diesel and oil are still here also. Else I don’t know how long our oil lamps and Coleman fuel are going to hold out.”
They were just pulling to a stop when they heard a vehicle coming in behind them.
Ed and Ellen got out of the truck. They told the kids they could also get out, but to go into the room marked lunch room for now. Ed reached into the cab of the truck and pulled out his 30-30 that was on the rack in the back of the cab of the truck.
Ellen looked at Ed nervously. “I am sure it’s who we think it is Ellen, but now w
e can’t be too paranoid about things.”
They both breathed a sigh of relief when they saw it was Peter and Margaret O’Brien and family. They both still had their headlights on.
Pete pulled his large SUV and trailer beside Ed’s truck and turned off the engine.
“Wow buddy can you believe this? I sure can’t. I never dreamed it would really come to this.” Pete said.
“You and me both bud. You and me both.” Ed said.
Ed asked. “Pete did you happen to see my dad and mom out there? Pass them or something?”
“No I didn’t Ed. I wish I had.”
Pete looked nervous and told Ed. “My wife isn’t taking any of this very good I’m afraid. She stopped talking half way here. You know that’s not like Margaret. I need to go talk to her.”
“Maybe you should just let her be a few minutes. Let her think about this all.” Ed didn’t realize just what kind of state Margaret was in.
“Maybe we should start unloading some of this stuff and get the camp set up.” Ed said.
They heard a yell from the other room. It was Frank, Ed’s oldest. “Can we come out now?”
Ed yelled over. “Fine Frank you can all come out now, but he wasn’t happy about the boy yelling when he didn’t know what was going on out there.”
Pete looked at Ed a bit strange and Ed grinned. “Oh I had the kids take cover when we heard you coming down the tunnel, just in case,” At that time Ellen came out of her hiding place with her gun.
Ellen said as she came up. “Hiya Pete” Then went over to talk to Margaret.
Margaret was still just sitting in the seat of the SUV in a stunned state. Their two boys had been trying to get their mother to answer them and let them out of the SUV, they knew the other kids had to be here somewhere.
Ellen came over and opened the door of the SUV beside Margaret.
“Hello boys.” She saw Margaret didn’t seem to be with it at the moment. She told the boys. “Why don’t you go ahead and get out on the driver’s side and I will talk to your mom. Ok?”
Both the boys said ok and got out as fast as they could.
Margaret look at me. “Margaret.” Ellen said louder. “Look at me.”
Ellen put her right hand up and turned Margaret’s head toward her.
Margaret was just staring. “Margaret.” Ellen said again.
“Sorry about this Margaret.” Ellen said as she gave Margaret a good slap across the cheek with her right hand.
Margaret eyes opened wide. The men heard the slap as it echoed off the mine walls, jumped and came running. Margaret screamed. “You hit me!”
Pete said. “What’s going on? What happened?”
Margaret got out of the SUV and ran to Pete. Margaret sobbed. “Ellen hit me Pete.”
Ed was looking at Ellen and thinking, but didn’t dare say it out loud. “If Margaret needed a slap, I am sure she deserved it.” Everyone was looking at Ellen and even the kids all ran over to see what was up after they heard the scream.
Ed turned to his kids and said. “Kids I want you to go to the back of the trailer and start getting the stuff off of it. We’ll talk to you later.”
Pete told his kids to do the same.
“Ah man.” They heard Frank say as all the kids went towards the trailer. “They never tell us nothing or it’s always we’ll tell you later.”
Pete, Margaret and Ed turned back to Ellen again. “Ok,” said Ed. “What happened?”
Ellen looked at Pete. “Pete didn’t you notice that Margaret wasn’t talking?”
“Yes I had, but I thought she was just thinking about all this or something on that order.” He was just a bit confused.
“Well she wasn’t Pete,” said Ellen. “She was in a state of shock. I tried talking to her and got no reaction at all. Even your boys kept asking her if they could get out of the SUV. She wasn’t answering them either.”
Margaret was still sniffling but piped up. “Is that why I don’t remember when Pete or the boys got out of the vehicle?”
“I told you before I slapped you Margaret that I was sorry that I had to do it. That was the only way I knew to bring you out of that catatonic shock that you had yourself in.”
Margaret then broke down crying even more and Pete just hugged her to him and patted her on the back.
Ellen put in. “That’s better. She is better crying it out than what she was doing. If this really happens, we are going to need all of us to protect each other. We have to be able to count on her if things get even rougher.”
Ellen then turned to Ed. “Ed did you ever get to see if the generator and fuel were still here?”
Ed said. “OH, I completely forgot about it. I best go see hadn’t I. Come on Ellen, come along with me.” They walked over to the pickup and Ed grabbed a LED flashlight out from under the truck seat.”
As Ellen passed Pete and Margaret, she said to them. “We will be back as soon as we find out. Can you watch the kids for us?”
Pete gave a nod. “Sure go ahead. We will be fine now. We’ll keep an eye on the kids”
Ed talked to Ellen as they were headed over to a room on the right, “I thought maybe they needed a little more private time.” He got a hold of Ellen’s hand as they walked.
Ed walked over to the room marked Generator, turned the knob, the door opened and he shined in his flashlight. The generator was a big old thing. The boss had got it at an auction and there it sat like a prized bull.
“Now to see if the fuel is here.” Ed said. They walked back out the door and over to the next door.
Ed opened the door and there sat 35 - 55 gallon barrels. He went over to them and said. “Great.” He turned and saw a few drums and also cases of oil and grease over by the left wall along with a few boxes of spare parts.
A metal pump was sticking out of one of the barrels and there were two gas cans.
“Let’s go back to the other room.” He motioned to the next room.
Ellen turned to Ed. “Anything wrong Ed?”
“No, he said. Nothing, just needed to see if there is a diesel can in the other room, but I am thinking twice about starting it up yet. I wouldn’t want the EMP to take it out even though I do think were safe from that down here.”
They went back to the generator room. There sat a small 5-gallon can. He walked over and picked it up. It felt like it was ¾ full.
“Okay,” Ed said. “If I know the boss everything’s been treated to with Pri-D. We can get back to the others to see where everyone wants to settle in.”
They walked back hand in hand. They saw that Margaret was at the back of her trailer. Pete was standing there with a small object and he was winding it. As they got closer to the back of Pete’s trailer, Ed could see it must be some kind of radio. Just as they got up beside them, Pete clicked it on and though the static they could hear the news. It wasn’t maybe or if anymore, the newsman told of confirmed nuclear hits on cities already in the United States.
Margaret started to cry again and Ellen went over to console her while they all listened to the news of the Emergency Broadcast System alert.
“I have a few other nifty things in here we will need, like a Geiger counter too.” Pete said as the continued to listen to the news station hoping for more information.
They were listening so intently to the radio that they didn’t hear the running footsteps coming their way until they heard the deep breathing right next to them. They all jumped with a start as they noticed Ed’s dad standing there.
“Dad,” said Ed. “Where’s Mom? What’s wrong? Why are you on foot? And dang dad you about scared me half to dealth.”
“First thing, Mom is out by the truck with a 30.06 watching over the truck and the trailer. Second, the truck stopped working. Third, the second one answers the third.
“Well Dad, we had better get out there and push it in here. I hope that we can with that trailer of yours attached to it. We need the kids to help too.” Ed yelled for the kids to come join them.
&n
bsp; The kids ran over and Ed and Ellen’s 3 gave their hellos to their granddad. Ed told them they were going help push Papa’s truck into the mine. The kids then started to take off down the mine tunnel and Ed called them back.
He told them. “I don’t what to scold you. I won’t this time, but from now on I will. None of you can do that anymore unless you’re old enough to have been told to take the lead and have a gun with you. This is not going to be the safe world anymore that you kids knew. I hate to tell you this, but this is going to be a fight to survive world now.”
“Do you all understand what I have just said?”
The kids all shook their heads up and down.
“Another thing, it doesn’t matter what any adult here tells you to do. You will do it whether there your parents or not. It could mean life or death to you and all of us.”
Margaret turned to Ed. “You shouldn’t tell our kids that Ed. They need to listen to us not you. What do you mean a fight for survival? It won’t be long and the government will come in and take over. We can than come out of here and go back to our homes.” She turned to her husband Pete. “That’s right isn’t it Pete?”
Pete looked into his wife’s face. “Sorry Margaret, Ed is right.” He turned to the kids. “You will listen to Ed, Ellen and Ed’s parents like they were us. Do you hear me?” The two boys, Gary 12 and Luke 9, shook their heads yes. “Do you understand boys? I want verbal answers out of you.”
“Yes.” Both boys said together.
Margaret was still ticked about it. “I don’t understand Pete. Why are you siding with Ed?”
“Margaret, no one is coming to save us or take care of us. It may be a very long time until we get to go back to our home, maybe even years.”
“But Pete, look how they came to the rescue of the hurricane victims and took care of them. They will do the same here.”