Down the Hole

by Sally Six

  “Okay you two, I have a job for you. Two people just went by here on bikes. I want you to grab some bicycles from one of these houses and tail them. Then report back to me where they are headed. One of you can come back and report while the other stays behind keeping an eye on them. Make sure you take a few days food and some camping gear. It’s getting cold outside.”

  Both men hung their heads. They wanted to stay right here and continue to have fun. They began to say so and Big Jim hit them both across the face. They knew better than try to hit back. That would have meant death for them both.

  “Now get you two before you lose them,” he yelled.

  “Oh boy,” said Weasel. “I get that blue motorcycle. I always wanted me a blue tanked bike. Which one are you picking Scat?”

  Scat never got to say as Big Jim roared at them. “I am not wasting gas on the two of you. Besides they will hear you on motorcycles. I meant bicycles you morons.”

  Weasel and Scat just stood there hardly believing what they had just been told.

  “Get,” yelled Big Jim and the two left as quickly as possible.

  Weasel fit his name. He was small, thin, with a long nose, beady eyes and greasy brown hair that was 4 inches long. He had to keep brushing it out of his eyes. Scat was even dirtier. He was around 5 foot 8 inches, but most of all he smelled worse than he looked. It was hard to figure out what his hair color was.

  Jim then grabbed the teenaged girl that had lived in this fancy house. He went to a room to have some fun and get some sleep. Big Jim knew he was going to have a pretty good kingdom. He was happier than he had been in a very long time.

  Weasel knew right where there were two bicycles that they could use. They were right next-door.

  “Come on Scat. There’s some bikes over here in this garage and a few houses down some camping gear and stuff. We better hurry or Big Jim will have our hides.”

  They were really going to have to hurry. It took them 20 minutes to get packed up and ready to go. Hopefully those people on the bikes didn’t ride real fast. They would hate to have to come back and tell Big Jim they had lost them. It never even occurred to them if they lost the couple on the bikes to just not come back here.

  It didn’t take all that long to catch up to the other riders. That surprised them. In an hour they weren’t far behind the two.

  * * *

  Beulah had to rest after again after the second hill and the longest one was still ahead of them. They were on a steady incline up to the top of the grade before they could coast down the highway and into Horseshoe Bend. She wasn’t complaining as much as she did on the way out of Mountain Home at least. This trip was going to take forever. He didn’t think that they were going to have enough food for the trip after all. Maybe they would be able to find some somewhere or buy some. He had brought what little money that he could find in the house and in his mother’s purse. Plus, they had her jewelry. He had put the jewelry in different places so if they were robbed maybe the thieves wouldn’t find it all.

  They were halfway up the mountain when they stopped to rest again. Brian happened to look back and saw a flash of light on something metal coming up the road. “That had to be people on bikes too,” were his thoughts. “It sure would be nice if they could join up with some others for safety.”

  “Okay Mom, time to ride again.” They had kept it to five minute breaks with a bathroom break here and there for them both. Being on good bikes had helped. An hour later they reached the top of the mountain and looked down into the valley where the town was far below.

  “One good thing,” Beulah said. “We can rest while coasting down.”

  That made them both smile and down the mountain they headed.

  Keeping from going too fast was now the order of the day.

  * * *

  Both Weasel and Scat were breathing hard when they reached the top of the grade. The couple ahead of them were almost down the mountain and into Horseshoe Bend. They also started down taking their time. They didn’t want to catch up too fast and be spotted. Too bad that had already happened.

  * * *

  As Brian and Beulah started into Horseshoe Bend, a young women about 30 years old came running towards them from her front yard. Barb had spotted them before they rode into town. Brain was afraid this woman was going to attack them.

  “Keep going Mom. Ride faster. Don’t stop,” he yelled at her.

  As the couple on the bike neared, Barb started to yell. “Stop please stop. I won’t hurt you. What’s it like in Boise? You came from there didn’t you? Oh please stop.”

  “Is it okay Brian,” said Beulah as they rode past. “I don’t think she’s going to hurt us.”

  “Yeah, I guess so Mom.” They began to break, but it was harder for Brian with the wagon. It had a mind of its own.

  They were passed her place and she had run out of her yard and was running down the road to them.

  “Thank you, thank you. I was right that you came from Boise, didn’t you?” She said.

  “Yes, we came through Boise,” Brian said. But we’re not from there. What do you want to know?”

  “I’m sorry, my name is Barb Yoder. I have been waiting for my husband to come home from Boise. I wanted to know what it’s like there, if there was some reason you saw why he couldn’t make it home. Maybe why people couldn’t get this far?”

  Brian looked at his mom as if he was waiting for her to talk first. When she didn’t, he began.

  “We really didn’t see anything in Boise, Mrs. Yoder. We came through there very early this morning. We were trying to avoid as much of Boise as we could. Sorry we can’t be of more help.”

  You could see the let down in her whole being.

  “Well I guess there’s nothing you can do about that. I was just so hoping. One thing if you could get here, he should have been able to by now too. Now since you stopped to answer my question, the least I can do is feed you both some lunch. How about it?”

  She was desperate for company and someone to talk to.

  “We wouldn’t want to put you out any Mrs. Yoder. We know things are going to get pretty thin food wise for people from now on.” Brain said to her.

  “Stop calling me Mrs. Yoder, will you? Just call me Barb. You won’t be putting me out. Will had us stocked up good. Maybe I shouldn’t say that. I guess I will have to be more careful of what I tell people from now on. That it’s just me here. I am still hoping somehow William will get home to me. I didn’t catch your names?” She was talking rather quickly to cover her nervousness and grief.

  “I’m Brian Reynolds and this is my mom, Beulah. We’re from Mountain Home. If you don’t mind, we would love to have lunch with you. That would make for a nice break in the day for my mom before we tackle the next mountain.”

  They started to walk towards her house. They were only a few feet from her front yard as it was.

  Barb started to talk. “So from the looks of it, you choose to leave home and go somewhere else. It must be a pretty good place if you are willing to travel at a time like this with the trouble and the cold weather.”

  They were now in her front yard and they brought their bikes up on her porch.

  “It’s okay to bring our bikes up here and bring the wagon inside with us isn’t it?” Asked Brian.

  “Yes sure its fine. Go ahead.” Barb opened the door to let Beulah go into her house first and then her.

  Brian wasn’t taking any chances. He chained both bikes to the post on the front porch before going inside. He and the wagon went on into the house. After they were inside, Barb went on into the kitchen and put together some cooked Spam sandwiches with mild cheddar cheese. Brian made sure he checked the bike every few minutes by sitting in a chair that was right by the window. He still found it hard to be trusting anyone so his gun stayed with him. He did notice she had a Winchester 30.30 sitting by the doorframe. She wasn’t all that trusting after all either. She could have been fooled by them. They could have easily as not been bad as good. She w
ill have to learn that.

  While they ate together and discussed this and that, Brian told her she best not do this again. Wait and see what people do first.

  He told her. “You could have been taking your life into your hands by stopping us. You wouldn’t have known it until it was too late. Especially coming outside without your gun.”

  “Yes, that was most likely a stupid thing to do, but the site of you two coming down the grade with that red wagon, I couldn’t help it. I thought what kind of bad guys would have a little red wagon. Bad guys would have stolen something better. But you’re right, I have to be more careful from now on. I really took a chance especially being all alone like this. Are you sure you both wouldn’t like to stay here with me and help each other out?”

  Brian was first to speak up. He was afraid of what his mom might say.

  “Sorry, no we can’t. We’re headed for my grandparents. We have about 250 miles to go and it’s important that we get there.”

  Beulah did keep quiet again which surprised him.

  Barb spoke up. “I’m sorry too. It would have been good to have others here with me. I’m afraid I haven’t gotten to know anyone close to me. We just moved in here four months ago. Will really wanted to be out of the big city but not too far. Looks like that I had better find out if any of them are friendly or not, hadn’t I, before I find out the hard way. Better for me to share and have someone at my back than to wait until they are ready to kill for what they want to feed themselves and their kids with me being alone. Well, you two have a safe trip and God Speed to you.”

  * * *

  Unknown to Barb, her William was never to come home again. He had been working late on a project at work and wasn’t going to take off for home until at least 6:00 PM. The lights and everything else had gone out on him after 5:30 PM. He had to walk the five flights down to the main floor of his office building. He looked around him at the wholesale pandemonium.

  He said to no one in particular. “What in the world is going on around here?”

  He headed for the parking lot to get his car. He did notice a few others standing around their cars, but most people had already left for home. The electric lock wasn’t working when he pushed the button on his blue Ford Focus. Will grumbled and unlocked the door the old way with his key. He climbed in and inserted the key and turned it, nothing. It was dead as a doornail. In fact as he looked around, nothing anywhere seemed to be running. No cars were going down the streets, no stoplights were on and no street lights, nothing. A light went off in his head instead.

  “Ah Oh,” he said and climbed back out of his car. He walked over to Al Gully who was standing by his car talking to someone that Will didn’t know. As Will got closer, he noticed that Al had a shocked look on his face and was turning just a bit white.

  “Hey Al, what’s up? You okay?” Will said as he stepped beside Al.

  Al turned to face Will and sat down hard on the blacktop. Will rushed over. He and the other guy helped Al back up to his feet.

  “I’m okay I guess.” Al said. “It was just such a shock to learn that we’ve been nuked. I thought we were just having some kind of black out.”

  “WE’VE WHAT?” Will said with a shock Al.

  “Yes that’s what Mort just told me. He heard it on the radio just before it went dead. He heard we were about to be nuked. Isn’t that what you said Mort?” He asked the tall man next to him.

  “You have that right. By the way, I am Mort Stanley. My car stopped about one block south of here. I was beginning my walk home when I ran into Al here trying to start his car.”

  Will shook hands with Mort and asked if he had heard anything else.

  Mort said, “Just that we should take shelter. I guess that I should have made a beeline for the office basement, but all I could think of was getting as far as I could if not home.”

  “So it’s true?” Will said.

  “Yes, it sure is.” Mort replied.

  “In that case gentlemen, I need to be on my way. Bye and good luck to you both.” Will then headed back towards his car.

  He took the key out of the ignition. He went and unlocked the trunk of the car. He pulled out his B.O.B. backpack and changed into the tennis shoes that he had in his trunk along with a change of clothes and a jacket. He just changed right there in the parking lot. He decided why the heck not. No one was paying attention to him anyway. He noticed while he was changing that Al and Mort had started down the sidewalk walking north in their dress shoes and suits. Will thought, “Boy are they gonna have hurting feet.”

  After he was all changed, he closed the trunk of his car, slipped on his backpack and headed west towards home. Will decided he was going to walk as far as he could and only rest when he absolutely had to. He continued walking and then resting from time to time. Five hours later, he was nearing the outskirts of Boise. Will had thought he was in tip top shape, but found out he was not in as good a shape as he had thought after all. His feet weren’t used to all this walking and his shoes weren’t as good as he thought that they were going to be either.

  Just as he was nearing the entrance to a housing tract, he heard a scream. The screams got louder as if the person screaming was headed in his direction. He turned into the entrance. He could see in the moon light a young girl who was running in his direction. Just as she was about to cross the street, she had been caught and was being thrown to the ground. Without stopping to think, he ran towards the big man that was now hitting and kicking her. Will plowed into the guy. Will was picking himself up off the ground when he heard a gunshot and felt something strike him in the back. He fell back to the ground now in pain.

  “I got him Big Jim. I got him.” Yelled a man coming up from behind him.

  All Will could think of was, “That was a really stupid thing for me to do. I’m sorry Barb.” He died before the scum that had shot him kicked him in the head. Will never felt a thing.

  * * *

  Now:

  Weasel and Scat stopped at the curve before town. They were about 400 feet up the road from the house that the couple had gone into.

  Scat spoke up, “They must know who that person is Weasel. She was waving to them and they went right in like long lost friends or something. You beat it on back to Big Jim and report. I will stay here and keep an eye on things. I just don’t know if Big Jim wants to come all the way out here when there’s so much easy pickings in Boise.”

  “Me neither Scat, but no way that I am going to second guess Big Jim. I best be getting back to Boise now. This mountain is going to be one heck of a hard ride up on this side.” He turned his bike and headed back on his way to Boise.

  Scat took up his vigil behind an old pickup truck a little closer to the house. He thought he would get out his sleeping bag and curl up in that as he watched the house. Now that he had cooled down from the ride, he was a little chilly. He also decided some food was in order. He pulled out a stiff light brown plastic bag thing. On the front it said Meal Ready to Eat. Scat had never heard of such a thing, but they had found them in the camping gear. He cut it open with his pocketknife. It had crackers, peanut butter and a beef stew packet. He pulled a spoon out of his pack and began to eat. It wasn’t too bad after all. He had been leery of eating it, but not bad at all even if it was cold.

  No one seemed to be coming outside of the house. He figured this must be where they were coming. No one in their right mind would ride further than this. This ride out here had been bad enough. As Scat got warmer he got drowsy. He wasn’t used to all this exercise and it had really worn him out.

  A few minutes later he was sound asleep. In fact, he was in such a sound sleep that he never heard the door closing and the bicyclers leave the house and go on their way.

  * * *

  Brian and Beulah said their goodbyes. Thanked Barb for the lunch and letting them refill their water bottles and canteens and went on their way. Brian wanted to get going. Just sitting around made him nervous. The longer that they stayed, the later it
got. He wanted to put a few miles between here and whatever was making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Beulah did notice Brian look around quite a bit more than he had been when they started to head back out. As they rode up hill out of Horseshoe Bend, they talked.

  “Is there a problem Brian?”

  Brian looked at his mom; he didn’t want her freaking out again and just plain phasing out, but they were in a bad situation again. He decided nothing was better than the truth no matter what.

  “I have been getting this awful feeling that we have to get out of here. Like were being watched or something. The hair on the back of my neck has been feeling like it’s standing up. I know that sounds odd to you Mom, but Granddad once told me if I got that kind of feeling to go by it, don’t ignore it. He told me it was a survival reflex to my surroundings and anything different in it. I thought he was just being a bit crazy. Now I understand what he was talking about.”

  “You’re right Brian. I don’t understand, but you’re the man of the house for now. I will go along with it this time. Shouldn’t we tell that nice young lady that you feel there might be a problem?”

  “Mom that would mean both of us going back there. Not only would we lose needed time, but the biggest thing there is no way she is going to leave while she thinks there is a chance her husband will still come home. There is no way and I know it. Maybe we should have asked when we were there, but I am 98% sure she wouldn’t have. I would welcome more people with us even one more means added safety for us.”

  “All right Brian, I guess you’re right. I won’t fight you on this, onward and upward.”

  They continued their ride uphill into the mountains.

  * * *

  An hour after Brian and Beulah had left, Scat woke with a start. He heard a dog barking in the distance.

  “That must be what woke me.” He whispered to himself.