Down the Hole

by Sally Six

  As he neared the shop at the cemetery, he stopped at the large bin, put the trash in the big bin for the city and got rid of all that was in the back of his work pickup.

  By the time he parked his truck and took out the empty cleaning supplies and replaced them with full ones for Monday, it was 3:55 PM. It was about time to clock out. As his Mom and Dad would say, another day another dollar.

  He parked in the city lot for the Park trucks, locked up the truck and headed for the office. He clocked out at 4:00 PM on the dot. Now time to go home, shower and head over to Aaron’s house that Aaron shared with two roommates. Andrew only lived about 12 minutes from work. It didn’t take long to get home. Funny it seemed like the people that were on the roads were in an awful hurry. There were more fender benders than normal in such a short drive. He supposed that he really should have been riding his bike like his older brother, Tom. Tom did so now because of gas prices, but he just hadn’t brought himself to do that yet. He was listening to a favorite CD as usual as he drove home. The radio had so many advertisements and not enough music for him even on the FM stations.

  It was relief to get home and off the road.“Boy those people are nuts out there,” he thought. He was showered, dressed and was back out the door by 4:48 PM. He grabbed a bag of chips off the counter as his contribution to dinner as he headed out the door. The traffic was about the same. There were maybe a few less people on the road. Of the ones that were, they were zipping around like bees on fire. It was five minutes later and he was pulling up to his brother’s place. Aaron would be home from work in about ten minutes.

  Andrew’s cell phone rang as he walked up the sidewalk. He picked it out of his pocket and saw that it was his older brother, Thomas. He was knocking on Aaron’s house door at the same time. Aaron’s girlfriend, Crystal, opened it. She said, “Hi.” He gave a short hi back and a nod to Crystal. Then he said, “Andrew here, what’s up Tom?”

  He heard. “It’s me Fred, Uncle Andrew. Dad says to say, getting time has come. The crap is hitting the fan. Now I have to call Uncle Aaron, bye.”

  Andrew brought the phone out in front of him and just stared at the phone for a few seconds. Crystal became alarmed when she saw Andrew’s face go white with a look of shock that came over his face.

  “What is it Andrew? Is someone hurt?”

  Andrew looked up at Crystal and seemed to be at a loss for words. His eyes suddenly really took her in. He seemed to come back from wherever his mind had been.

  “That was my nephew, Fred, Tom’s boy. He said it’s ‘Getting time’. That means were in a nuclear crises. We planned this code about a year ago. Turn on some news loud and start packing. I will continue to try and get Aaron on his cell phone as I drive back to my apartment.” He turned and ran back out the door for his Chevy truck.

  Crystal just stared for a moment not understanding. Then she walked over to the TV and turned on the news on the channel that Aaron liked to listen to. You see Crystal also lived in this house. She was one of the roommates. She and Aaron had hit it off right away. Her friend, Lucy Moore, had another one of the bedrooms. She was off on a trip to Boise at the moment. It really cut their expenses down to split things three ways.

  There were big red letters on the TV. “ALERT” it read. Please stay tuned for the Emergency Broadcast System. You will be advised where to tune in for information in your area. Then it repeated itself. She ran for her room.

  She pulled out her school backpack and dumped out her college books. She began to stuff warm clothes into the bag. That done, she grabbed two large duffel bags that she used for trips. They had long straps on them that you could throw over and carry on your shoulders.

  Aaron had talked about 72 hour kits or BOB bags that were already packed with clothes and food and ready to go. All you had to do for the one you had at home was fill a canteen or water bottle and you were ready to go. She hadn’t listened. She thought that was one thing she would never need. The kind of stuff that made people leave their homes in a hurry didn’t happen here in the Lewiston Valley. She knew he had a small pack in his Blazer and a larger one here at home in his closest.

  In the meantime, Andrew continued to call Aaron’s number as he drove home. He also switched off his CD player and turned the radio on. He didn’t like what he heard. “That will teach me to pay more attention,” he said to himself. “No wonder people were acting like nuts.”

  Aaron had gotten off work a few minutes late. He was walking out to the parking lot. He slipped his cell phone out of his pocket and turned it on. He saw that he had six messages and pushed the buttons to retrieve them. The first one was Crystal asking him to stop by the store on the way home and pick up some ice cream for dessert.

  The second one went like this, “Uncle Aaron this is Fred, Dad says it’s getting time. The crap has hit the fan. We’re headed up to Grandpa and Grandma’s, bye.”

  That stopped him in his tracks. He no longer cared what the other messages were. He hung up his phone and started to run to his Blazer. Just as he got to his truck and was unlocking it his phone rang. He jumped as he was so intent on unlocking the door and what the message meant from his brother, Tom. The phone ringing had scared the living daylights out of him. He saw that it was Andrew. He flipped open the phone as he got in the truck and stuck his keys in the ignition.

  “What in the world is going on Andrew, I got a message from Tom via little Fred and, and,” that’s all he got out as Andrew started to talk, and told him to be quiet a moment so he could tell him.

  “Aaron nukes are on the way, inbound at this moment. Tom was right for getting the message to you. I was at your house already. I left Crystal and told her to pack while I ran home to grab my things. I am headed into my apartment right now. I will head back to your house. I should be back there about the same time you pull in. I would hurry if I were you.” Andrew then hung up.

  Andrew had packed in record time. He didn’t have much to do just throw some more clothes, winter gear, a pair of boots, his rifle and ammo into the truck along with some of his camping gear, two canteens of water, some freeze dried food, his two swords and a case with the knives he had been collecting. He grabbed his BOB bag and was out the door. Two trips back and forth were all that he needed. He didn’t have all that much.

  Andrew had left his truck running, but had locked the doors and used his extra set of keys to get back in the truck. By now his nosey neighbor was openly staring at him out her living room window. He thought, “Egads lady. Don’t you have something better to do at this moment?” He took off trying not to overdo the speed limit too much, but not daring to be going too slow either.

  Then all of a sudden he started to talk out loud to himself and said to himself. “Who the heck cares right now?” He then put the pedal to the medal and sped off to Aaron’s.

  Aaron was really getting nervous now and about to panic. He said to himself. “Breathe deep, breathe deep. I will only get home as fast as I can get there.”

  But he did step on it and made it home in record time. He turned on the radio to hear the Emergency Broadcast System sounding as he drove. It was now 5:12 PM. He ran into the house to find Crystal dragging out his BOB bag along with one of her bags. She was panting and red in the face. “We have to hurry, Aaron. Andrew will be back soon. He called me and said be ready to head out as soon as he gets here. We’ll convoy.”

  Aaron ran to his room and took his hunting rifle, a 30.06 out of his closest and his metal army case of ammo. He had ordered some MRE’s of different meals from a preparedness site and grabbed those also. Crystal was filling half-gallon canteens of his with water. She then ran them out to Blazer carrying one of her duffels.

  Aaron picked up his rifle and slung it over his shoulder. Picked up his BOB bag and the ammo can and took them outside to his Blazer. By then, Crystal was back in and coming out with another duffel bag and her backpack.

  “Crystal, we need our coats and other winter gear. Go get them,” He said this as he passed her an
d she ran to the hall closet to pull them out.

  The last thing to get of their stuff was the case of MREs. As they were finishing, they heard tires squealing around a corner and saw it was Andrew’s gray Chevy pickup. Crystal ran back in as Andrew pulled up. She was headed for the chicken that she had cooked on the grill. She wrapped it in some foil that that was sitting on the picnic table and ran for Aaron’s Blazer and hopped in. He already had it started and was waiting for her.

  As Andrew rounded the last corner to Aaron’s, he could see Aaron hauling stuff to his Blazer and Crystal taking off for the house again.

  “Oh no,” Andrew said to himself. “We have to leave now. Who knows when the shoe will drop?”

  But she was back out in a couple of minutes. As they waited for her, he had pulled his truck up beside Aaron and rolled his window down. “Follow me Aaron. We need to get out of town as fast as we can.”

  They also both noticed a few neighbors were running for their cars and speeding off.

  “You got that right,” said Aaron. This is going to be no place to be shortly.”

  Crystal was shutting the door of Aaron’s vehicle and then they were speeding down the road.

  They were over the new bridge across the Snake River in four minutes time. The clock now said 5:30 PM. They were roaring down the highway for Asotin at over 80 MPH. Good thing there were no bad corners here along the riverbank. There were a few cars, but most of them were heading into Clarkston instead of out of town.

  Just a few people were hightailing out like they were. The red Ford SUV that passed them didn’t get far as he was going way too fast for even the gentle corners and lost control ending up in the Snake River. They couldn’t stop and they knew it. Crystal just stared at the wreaked SUV as the front of it started to sink into the Snake River. She looked at Aaron and told him that they had to go back and help those people. His grip was like iron on the steering wheel and his knuckles were white. All he said was, “Can’t,” as they continued their high-speed drive down the road. When 5:35 PM hit on the clock both of their vehicles engines shut off, they were only three quarters of the way to Asotin.

  There were houses on the right not right next to each other, but spaced out here and there. The bike/walk path was there on the Snake River on the left. They drifted and stopped in a bike path parking space across the highway from the homes.

  Andrew got out of his truck and walked back to Aaron and Crystal. Aaron opened the door and just sat there and looked up at Andrew. He said. “Now what? This is a fine mess you have gotten us into Ollie.”

  “Oh ha ha, Aaron.” Andrew said to him. “You’ve been watching too many old movies.”

  The reason Andrew knew this line was that he was an old movie buff also.

  It was getting pretty cool here in the valley and dark now. Really dark, not a light anywhere to be seen. You would have thought you were in the middle of nowhere. Aaron and Crystal got out of Aaron’s blazer. They turned and looked at a house across the street. It seemed to have a faint light. As they were all looking at it, Crystal said. “They must have candles.”

  They just stood there looking at the house. Then Andrew came to. “Hey we best get with it. Who knows when the rats will start to come out?”

  Crystal looked at Andrew. “RATS? What rats? What do you mean?”

  Aaron and Andrew just looked at each other. Then Aaron turned and said to Crystal. “Andrew means the human kind Crystal. When they realize that there’s no way the police can come to any calls because there is no way for people to make those calls, we’re all in for a world of hurt from the criminal element.”

  That got a look of shock from her. “I hadn’t thought about that kind of thing. I know you told me things could get rough if something like this happened, but I never dreamed it really would.” She leaned against Aaron and started to sob.

  Aaron put his arms around her. “Crystal we have to get what we can out of the truck and blazer and get going. We have to try and make it at least up to the meeting place on top of the grade.”

  They started to pull things out of the truck. They packed and then repacked another time some of Crystal’s things.

  “I turned out to be such an idiot.” Crystal said. “I can’t believe that I just ignored all you were telling me.” She said out loud, chiding herself.

  “Look,” Andrew said to Crystal. “You were like so many others. It always happens to someone else. No way any of that kind of stuff can happen to us, is what they say to themselves. Now they’re going to be kicking themselves or crying to the government for help. Some just plain didn’t learn from when the hurricanes hit or the other disasters struck. It was true even when the government Officials started to tell them to be prepared to take care of themselves. They just didn’t believe them. They had spent too many years getting handouts from the government. In fact, generations had been on the welfare system. Very few have escaped its clutches. Or should I say that it was a ploy to never do better and await their checks each month. Now we’re in a fine mess. Too many don’t even know how to cook a pot of beans or bake a loaf of bread unless it’s frozen or canned. We’re going to see a lot of people trying to find something to eat and then starving to death. It isn’t going to be pretty.” He continued to talk as they packed and put what they were taking beside Aaron’s Chevy Blazer.

  “Even up at Dad and Mom’s, we will see people roaming through trying to find handouts or worse.”

  Aaron gave a scowl at that and said. “Man alive Andrew, now isn’t that a pleasant thought. NOT! So you really think that we will be having to defend ourselves?”

  “There’s no doubt about it Aaron.” Andrew said back to his brother. “You can bet your bottom dollar that things are going to get much worse before they get better. If things stay this way which I think they will, we may have roving bands of bandits for years to come.”

  All of them finished packing their bags in silence for now. All were lost in their own thoughts about what all this was going to mean for their future.

  Andrew looked at them. “All right. Let’s see how we’re going to handle carrying this stuff?”

  “It’s getting cold.” Crystal said. “How cold do you think it’s going to be up on top of the grade?”

  Aaron told her. “It’s going to be at least 20 degrees colder than down here. We’re better off just dressing for it now so we don’t have to put everything down again or to have to carry the warm clothing.”

  They decided that he was right. They put on their coats over their jackets and gloves went into their pockets as did stocking caps for now. Warm boots were put on and their tennis shoes stuck into their backpacks.

  Aaron then started to rummage through his right side backpack pocket. He pulled out a small hunting knife and case. “I think you need to put this on Crystal. You never know when it will come in handy.”

  She looked at him aghast and said. “Why in the world would I possibly need a hunting knife, Aaron?”

  Aaron rolled his eyes.

  “Crystal, again we are not living in normal times any more. If you would somehow get separated from us, you may need it to defend yourself. Who knows? Just take it and put it on, okay.”

  She looked at him glumly. She took it and unfastened her belt and slipped the knife scabbard onto it. Aaron already had a 12 inch bowie knife on that was sitting on the right side of his belt. He looked over at Andrew and saw that Andrew had on two of his special knives, one on the left and one on the right on his belt. One was a medieval 14 inch blade with a dragon handle. The other was a 12 inch blade that got wider and wider as it got to the handle with a leather strapped silver handle. It was really a wicked looking knife.

  If that wasn’t enough, he noticed a Samurai and a medieval sword sticking out of the top of Andrew’s backpack.

  “Dang Andrew,” Aaron said to his brother. “I thought the knives were something. I didn’t realize you had your swords along too.”

  Andrew just looked at his little brother and ha
d that crap-eating grin on his face. At least that’s what their mom called it. Like an naughty elf that has a secret that no one else knows.

  “Don’t leave home without them.” Andrew said and continued to heft his stuff onto his back with his rifle coming last.

  All Aaron could do is shake his head and smile.

  Aaron turned around and picked up Crystal’s pack and helped Crystal on with it. He also clipped one of the canteens onto the belt at her waist.

  He picked up his backpack and slipped it on. He had the duffels ready to be picked up after he slung his rifle over his shoulder and head. Crystal had one duffle. Aaron had one with a few MREs in it and her backpack in case she somehow lost the duffle. He and Andrew also had divided all the other MREs and had them packed tight in their backpacks.

  It was pitch black out except for the faint light coming out of that living room window across the highway. Andrew shook his head. “They really should draw some curtains. They’re advertising that they have a way to light the house. If they have that, maybe they have more.”

  Crystal just looked at Andrew like what he said was crazy and thought. “Ah come on. I just don’t believe things will get that bad. We’re more civilized than that now, after all this is the 21st Century. I think we will have a few bad guys that will try to get things their way, but not normal people.” She kept her thoughts to herself, but she couldn’t wait for the time when she could say. “I thought so. You two were way off base with how people would really be.”

  She was going along with it for now because she really cared for Aaron. She thought just maybe she was better off being with him, better safe than sorry. She just couldn’t seem to make up her mind. She thought first one way and then the other about the whole preparedness thing. She didn’t want to voice this out loud because she knew she may have been right a while ago when she called herself an idiot for not learning more. “What’s wrong with me?” She thought.