by Bruno Miller
The last couple bathrooms she had used were beyond disgusting.
She glanced at Ben. Being responsible for her and Joel while trying to get to his other children must have weighed heavily on him. Not knowing if his other two kids were okay or not had to be a constant thought.
At that moment, Allie realized how much of a sacrifice it was for Ben and Joel to get her to Pittsburgh, knowing that they must feel the same way she did about the odds of actually finding her dad.
Ben and Joel were doing their best to put a positive spin on it, but she knew the chances weren’t good, and there was a feeling of futility to the effort that she was certain they felt as well.
What would she do if they found her dad? Would she stay in Pittsburgh with him? How could he take care of her? She might have to take care of him by the time they got there.
She stared out at the blank landscape. For the first time she was beginning to have thoughts about the possibility of her and her dad continuing on with Ben and Joel. Allie didn’t want to think about the fact that she might never see Joel or Ben or Gunner again if she stayed in Pittsburgh.
Allie looked down at Gunner, who was breathing heavily as he drifted off to sleep. His large head weighed heavily on her leg as she rubbed the soft fur on his ear. She’d come to love this silly dog. Her eyes began to water as she thought about life without them.
How could she ask them to take on the added responsibility, though? They had already done so much for her. The last thing she wanted to do was burden them even more with her father.
He was good with computers, but he would be lost without modern conveniences. Who was she kidding? He would probably starve if it weren’t for the Chinese takeout place around the block from his apartment.
He would be more of a liability than an asset.
Allie loved her father dearly, and they had a decent relationship, albeit a long-distance one. They FaceTimed and emailed each other often and never went more than a few days without at least texting.
Moving with her mother was one of the hardest choices she ever had to make, and it had broken her heart a little to leave her father behind. But he worked long hours and often weekends as well. At least her mother had a few days off in a row between shifts and was around more.
There were many times when her dad had missed her field hockey games because of work responsibilities. He had bought into the software company where he had worked a couple years ago, and since then, she felt like he was more concerned about the company’s welfare than hers and her mom’s.
The two other partners at the company were younger and single. Allie had heard her mother argue with her dad on more than one occasion about how they were asking too much of her father at work and didn’t understand what it meant to have family priorities.
With the opening of a second location in Raleigh, North Carolina, Allie’s dad had begun to travel on top of his already busy schedule. That was the last straw for Allie’s mom, who’d realized things weren’t getting any better for their marriage.
She’d decided to call it quits. Her mom had never been fond of Pittsburgh anyway. She’d taken the opportunity to accept a job in Durango in an effort to improve their quality of life. At least that was what she told Allie. And for the most part, it had improved their lives.
Adjusting to the change had been hard at first, but the people she met in Durango seemed nice, and she made friends quickly because of field hockey. She had never really been fond of Pittsburgh, either, so it wasn’t hard to embrace the clean air and the beautiful landscape Durango had to offer.
Getting to spend a few days a week with her mom had been good, too. They had just gotten into hiking a few months ago and hadn’t even scratched the surface on the trails around Durango. Allie and her mom were looking forward to exploring some new areas on her days off this summer. Allie had picked out a few trails that promised wonderful views and breathtaking waterfalls.
But none of that would ever happen now.
Chapter Twenty-One
They gave Topeka and Kansas City a generous berth as they skirted the edge of both cities. Ben thought he probably went a little farther around each one than he needed to, but he wasn’t taking any chances. Based on the information he had, he knew both places were trouble, so there was no need to feel bad about the extra time it took to navigate around the cities. Being cautious was well worth the extra effort and navigation.
Besides, a more direct route could have cost them a lot more than time.
They were able to make good time otherwise on I-70, when they did use it, and Ben found himself able to actually exceed the speed limit for long distances. Slowing down to avoid hazards had become the exception, rather than the rule, on the big multi-lane road.
This is what he’d hoped to find, figuring that traffic would have been light on this road at the time of the EMP attacks and mostly limited to trucks and the occasional car.
His assumption proved to be true for the most part, and the large remains of the 18-wheelers were easy to spot from a distance and avoid without slowing down at all.
Of course, they paid for the speed with frequent stops for fuel, but they could time it with their deviations from the interstate and take advantage of the safety of the secondary roads.
They also benefited from the opportunities the lesser roads provided in the way of smaller gas stations to top off the tanks on the thirsty Blazer.
Ben felt better at these smaller, out-of-the-way locations. Less population usually meant less chance of trouble. But he knew the landscape would change soon and they would be forced to refuel in some less desirable areas in the not too distant future.
The mood in the truck improved briefly when they passed the sign that welcomed them to Missouri. Small talk filled the cab for a while as they speculated on things to come.
But the feeling of progress diminished as the unrelenting road, seemingly unchanged despite all their hard hours of driving, stretched out in front of them.
When they passed the sign saying they still had 87 miles to go before the first exit to St. Louis, Ben began to realize that his hope of getting through a good portion of Illinois was probably a little too ambitious for the day.
It was already well into the afternoon, and if he stuck to the travel plan they would most likely end up at the Illinois border around six, maybe a little earlier depending on the roads after he got off the interstate.
He planned on going around St. Louis to the north and stopping at the Mississippi River to take a break before they continued on, but by the looks of things, they would make camp along the river instead tonight. That would be a good place to stop. They would have plenty of fresh water and with any luck could catch some dinner.
He was grateful for the dehydrated food, but a change of menu would be welcome. There were only so many times he could look forward to eating beans and rice or some kind of pasta with a protein substitute other than meat. The fact that he and Joel had been eating like that on the camping trip the day before it all happened didn’t help any, either.
“I think the best we can hope for today is to make it to the Mississippi River,” Ben announced.
“How much farther is that?” Allie asked.
“I think we could be close in another couple hours, with a fuel stop in there as well,” Ben answered. They had a little better than three-quarters of a tank and had about another hour or so of driving before he would get off the main road and start to wind around St. Louis. They had enough gas to get to a campsite, but he wanted to make sure they had as close to a full tank of gas as possible for the next morning.
“I wonder what kind of fish are in the Mississippi,” Joel said.
“Bass, catfish, bluegills, and crappie,” Ben said. “And probably lots more I don’t know about. It’s really big water.”
“I hope I can catch something we can eat.” Joel grinned as he looked back at Allie.
But Ben had more pressing concerns on his mind. There were limited ways across t
he Mississippi, and they would all be through highly populated areas. The bridges would be choke points that could easily be jammed by an accident or, even worse, a roadblock.
If the bridge was impassable, they would have no choice but to drive to another crossing point and hope for the best. Unfortunately, the river crossings were few and far apart. This could put them behind schedule by a day or more if they chose poorly.
Ben had been looking at one spot in particular on the map. Alton was the name of the town, and it was on the Illinois side of the river. He’d never been to the place or even heard of it, but it looked like a smallish town.
His map showed a waterfowl sanctuary on the otherwise uninhabited western bank of the river. That could be the perfect place to camp tonight. The sanctuary was highlighted in green on his map and was located between the Missouri River and the Mississippi River on a small peninsula that ended where the two merged together.
They would have to cross two bridges, which he wasn’t thrilled about, but it looked like the least populated route. Alton was on the other side of the Mississippi River, and they could pass through quickly in the early morning hours without any trouble if they were lucky.
The next nearest crossing was to their south, but it came close to passing through the center of St. Louis. He thought that was too risky. Going that way would certainly lead to trouble. To the north was another bridge, but it would take a few hours to get there and a few hours back to I-70. He knew that would realistically take them a day out of their way, and that was farther from I-70 than he wanted to go.
Joel had the atlas open on his lap. “So where were you thinking tonight then?”
“See that green area there?” Ben glanced over and pointed to the spot.
“Hey, it’s a waterfowl sanctuary. Maybe we could bag a few ducks? It’s not like there’s anyone enforcing the season.” Joel raised his brows.
“Yeah, I thought about that, but fishing is quieter. We’ll have to see what it looks like when we get to the campsite. It would be a nice change to have a little duck for dinner.” Ben grinned.
Joel seemed excited at the prospect, and Ben knew Gunner would be more than happy to help. Just this little bit of talk about hunting had been enough to rouse the dog from his nap.
His big brown head came up.
“You’re too smart for your own good, boy. He must have heard the magic word.” Joel reached back to give Gunner a few scratches on his head.
“And what word is that?” Allie asked.
“Duck.” Joel looked at Gunner when he said it, causing the dog to tilt his head to the side.
“Don’t go getting him worked up. We still have another hour or so of being cooped up in here,” Ben warned.
The sign ahead had the exit mileage for Route 67. About 15 more miles and they would get off the interstate and head north for another half hour or so, by his estimation.
With each passing mile, their surroundings transformed. For the last hour or so, the density of houses and buildings had steadily increased. More houses and more buildings meant more people—and more possibility for trouble.
Was he being reckless bringing them this way? He had debated this section of the route in his mind before reluctantly settling on coming this way. It was closer than he wanted to be to an area with this size of a population, but the other options would cost them days in time.
And those days might mean the difference in seeing his kids again or not.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ben was happy to keep up the pace they were setting by using the interstate, but it came at a cost. He felt like a moving target as they sped through the increasingly congested areas. They had passed a few random people along the sides of the road and seen more down the side streets.
The people they saw seemed to be lost in their own little world, and only a few looked up to watch them go by. At least maintaining a decent rate of speed through here meant there was no chance for any interaction.
There was no doubt in Ben’s mind that most people’s supplies had run out by now, if not earlier. By now, all the stores had been cleaned out and looted and there would be no point in scavenging for supplies at those types of places anymore.
He thought that might actually be good for them and translate to empty gas stations when they stopped along the way. Most people would stay indoors if they still had a house or a place to hide.
But some people might not have either of those.
Some areas they had been through had entire blocks burned to the ground. Row after row of streets lined with charred remains of what were once neighborhoods. Some of the larger debris piles still gave off small trails of smoke that wafted into the already thick air, leaving an acrid tang that stuck in the back of his throat.
They had definitely seen a decline in the air quality as they’d gotten closer to St. Louis. Looking to the southeast toward the city, they could now see what was causing it. A thick, dark cloud of smoke seemed to cover the entire sky over the city. A smaller column of blackish gray smoke rose up several miles into the atmosphere and pushed up into the larger cloud at the center.
Joel leaned toward the window. “St. Louis must be completely destroyed.”
“Wow,” Allie whispered.
“Yeah, that looks pretty bad. Maybe…” Ben paused.
“What?” Joel turned to look at him.
Ben quickly rethought his plan. “Maybe we stay on the interstate and get through here as fast as possible. We can always camp on the other side near the river. If we stay on 70 for another 15 minutes past the exit, we’ll be at the bridge just outside of the city. It’s far enough away from that.”
He nodded in the direction of the looming smoke cloud. “I didn’t expect the road to be this open this close to the city. Maybe there aren’t that many people left around here. Staying on 70 would save us a lot of time compared to going north to Alton.”
He rubbed his ever-thickening beard. This was the longest he’d gone without shaving in a while. And he noticed more gray than he remembered when he looked in the rearview mirror.
“Sounds good to me.” Allie nodded her approval from the back seat.
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to check it out.” Joel slumped down in his seat a little.
“What’s wrong?” Ben asked.
Joel shrugged. “I was hoping to get a few ducks for us.”
“You will have plenty of opportunities for that in the days ahead. We’re getting ready to drive through some of the best waterfowl areas in the country.” Ben shook his head. The kid loved his hunting.
“Okay.” Joel sighed as he sat up a little.
Ben reached over and shook Joel’s shoulder. “We’ll take a look as long as the road stays like this.”
They could use a break. It had been a long day of driving and they were all tired—at least Ben knew he was. It wasn’t like him to change plans spur of the moment, but when an opportunity presented itself, he couldn’t pass it up.
The road was in good shape and the obstacles were still spaced far enough apart to make travel easy. They were able to maintain speeds above 40 miles per hour pretty consistently. Plus, they had plenty of gas to make it over the bridge and into Illinois if the bridge was clear. If it wasn’t, they would only have to backtrack a few miles to pick up an alternate route that would take them toward Alton. It would be foolish not to at least check the shortest route across the river.
By the enormity of the cloud that hung over the city, Ben imagined there was nothing left of St. Louis. The place was probably a wasteland by now, which meant there shouldn’t be too many people around.
If the city was destroyed, people would try to get away from there. With any luck, they could get across the bridge and do the same.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Joel knew his dad had been right. The interstate remained open enough for them to continue toward the bridge. Eventually, the mixed residential and business buildings gave way to a more light industrial area with more o
pen space.
The air was heavy now with a strong burnt smell that reminded Joel of a plastic bag he had once accidentally dropped into a campfire. The smoke from the city, aided by a warm breeze, drifted in their direction. It settled over the road like a thick fog.
Joel noticed his dad had slowed down quite a bit now from how fast they had been going just a few minutes ago.
“It’s getting pretty thick.” Joel squinted as the smoke stung his nostrils and eyes a little. Even the sun couldn’t get through.
“I’d turn around if it was any farther, but the bridge is just up ahead. We should see it any minute now.”
Joel glanced back at Allie and Gunner to see how they were coping with the smoke. Allie had her shirt pulled up over her mouth and nose. Gunner was sitting up straight on the seat next to her and let out a big sneeze.
“Can you guys hang in there for a few minutes more?” Ben asked.
“Yeah, just keep going,” Joel answered.
Allie motioned with her hand to keep driving. “I’m okay. It just smells bad more than anything.”
Ben continued on at an even slower speed than before. Joel glanced over at the speedometer and noticed they were only going about 15 miles per hour.
“There’s the sign,” Allie mumbled through her shirt collar.
Joel read the road sign out loud as they drove past. “Chain of Rocks Bridge.”
Less than a minute later they were on the divided, four-lane bridge. There was no shoulder on the bridge, only a guardrail separating them from the drop-off to the water below. The smoke was so thick that only a few car lengths ahead were visible. They were really creeping along now.
Joel strained to see the river below but only caught fleeting glimpses through the almost opaque smoke that was getting worse somehow now that they were out on the open bridge.