Mike laughed. “Not hardly.”
“Well then,” she asked quietly, her eyes serious.
Mike nodded, which caused a huge smile to spread across her face. His own smile answered it. But, he thought, did she really mean…? He didn’t complete the thought as she stood and walked across the cave to where she had put her things and spent her first night. She turned and looked back at him. Mike stood and walked over to help her move her things over to his side of the cave.
Several pairs of eyes watched the move.
~
“Guess that settles that,“ Robert Dove said to his wife Jan.
His wife nodded, a slight smile on her face. For the last few days Tom had been pushing Kate. Jan had disapproved. Let the girl make up her own mind, she had thought.
“Maybe it’s for the best,” she said now. “That young man is much more likable, Bobby.”
Bob nodded in agreement. The fly in the ointment might be Lydia who had been making eyes at Tom since they’d first met, but who, for the last few days, had only had eyes for Mike. Bob looked over just as a look passed between Tom and Lydia. Oh oh, he thought.
Jan shook her head. She had noticed the look pass between them too. “Maybe if those two get together it will level everything out,” she said softly. Tom had made it clear he was interested in Kate, not Lydia, but the girl had made her choice. Tom would have to accept it. Jan felt Kate had made the better choice of the two. She turned her attention back to the conversation she had been having with Bob.
Tom watched as Kate moved her sleeping bags and back pack over to Mike’s side of the cave. He didn’t see what she saw in Mike, but it was her choice, and she wouldn’t get a second chance with him. He frowned at his own thoughts. Don’t be an ass, he told himself. It’s not that serious. He looked over and caught Lydia's eyes; the question was right there. He nodded, and she sprang to her feet like a rabbit. A mean look on her young, pouty face as she looked towards Kate. The look went unanswered by Kate. She turned her back to the girl as she walked back over to Mike’s side of the cave.
~
Lydia quickly gathered her things and moved them over to Tom’s area. Stupid bitch, she told herself. She can have the cave man dude. She’d only wanted Tom all along, even the last few days. Chasing after Mike the last few days had only been an attempt on her part to make Tom jealous. Tom would take her out of here. She hated this place and everything to do with it, always had. Tom was tough, tougher than the other guy. She didn’t think of it in terms of Alpha Male and territory, but it came down to the same thing. Tom was the top dog. Her top dog.
The fire burned lower as everyone settled in for the night. Some happy, some worried, some undecided, but everyone along for the ride.
~ March 13th ~
Bob leaned around the hood and looked through the windshield of the old Suburban. He nodded. “Try it, Tom.”
The motor turned over a half dozen times then suddenly fired and rumbled to life. Tom gave it a little more gas, pulled out the old fashioned choke. The motor smoothed out and began to run a little better.
Bob backed away from the engine compartment, a large smile on his face. “Know what this means?” he asked, raising his voice to be heard above the noisy truck.
Tom grinned and nodded back. “As long as they’re not electronically controlled, they’ll run. We should find a few more.”
Bob nodded in agreement.
They had found the old Suburban in a lot out in back of one of the car dealerships on outer Washington Street. The lot itself was wrecked; the buildings not much better, but hundreds of new cars and trucks sat on the cracked pavement, or pointed their noses or tails at the sky where they were half buried. The Suburban had been set up with a plow, and they all agreed it was probably just used to plow the lot.
Before they had even gone looking for a vehicle, Tom and Bob had gone hunting for a small gasoline powered engine. Lawn mower, leaf blower, it didn’t matter, just something small without an electronic ignition or brain. They’d come up with a heavy duty chain saw. Several tugs and a little choke had gotten it running. That had convinced them that it would be worth finding an older, full size truck.
“We could convert one of these newer trucks. It would take some work but if we can find the right parts we could do it,” Tom said.
“Maybe,” Bob agreed. “Trouble is finding a block that’s still the same. Heads, intake, it’s a lot to hope for. It would be easier to just fix the old stuff up. New tires, battery, we could even do the axles if we absolutely had to.”
Tom nodded his head. “Hmm,” he grumbled. “Guess so.”
Bob turned away. It was obvious to him that Tom didn’t like being disagreed with or second guessed. Yes, parts were parts, and if they were just parts, no problem. There were even kits to convert non-electronic ignition motors over to electronic ignition, but not the other way around. There were motors built mostly for racing applications that were designed to use carburetors and simple distributors. There were things they could do, but it wasn’t simple black and white.
He had been seeing more and more of this close minded attitude from Tom since they had moved into the cave. Tom had lost his place as leader. It didn’t matter that he had been nearly the only one who had seen himself that way. He had seen the situation that way, and now the situation had changed. He didn’t see himself as leader any longer, and he didn’t like it. Oh well, Bob thought. He’d get over it, or he wouldn’t. There was nothing for it except to watch it happen whatever way it happened.
Tom let the truck idle high for a few minutes then reset the choke dropping the idle down to normal.
“We got wheels,” Lydia said happily. She, Mike, Kate and Jan had come walking back from further down the lot. Pulled by the sound of the truck starting from where they had been searching for other vehicles that would be good candidates for starting.
“We found three others that seem as though they might work out,” Mike said. “One's an old crew cab state truck the other two are old pickups. All three are four wheel drives.” He grinned at Bob.
Bob laughed. “Well, let’s go get them,” he said. He turned and started away.
“Hey,” Tom said, leaning against the door of the truck, “Wouldn’t you rather drive?”
Bob laughed again. “Yeah,” he agreed. “Much rather.” Everybody piled into the Suburban. Tom pulled out of the back of the lot and headed back in the direction the others had come from.
Mike ~ March 13th
Man, it’s been a long day. We walked out Washington Street to the car dealerships. Everything’s torn up out there, but there are tons or cars and trucks out there. We found three trucks that we got running, and we drove them back. So we have a pickup truck, a suburban and a big four door state truck, one of those ones you always used to see along the highway when they were doing road repair. There were a few others we found that also ran, but they were in such bad shape that we left them.
Tom wanted to build one. I mean take one of the new trucks and put old parts on it. I got the idea from Bob that it probably wouldn’t work out the way Tom thought that it would. The right parts would be hard to find. I could see the idea, the appeal of a newer vehicle so we wouldn’t have to be concerned about break downs. But I could see Bob’s point of view too. I think it pissed Tom off though. But it seems that almost everything pisses Tom off.
I didn’t write this in here yet, but Kate and I are together. It just happened that fast. I was surprised in a way, but in another way I wasn’t all that surprised. Who knows how long this world will last, what it was that really happened? Maybe there is no time for slow anymore.
Kate said that, and once I thought about it, I agreed. Things are so different. And she’s right for me. Maybe it wouldn’t have happened this fast in the old world. Maybe it wouldn’t have happened at all. But everything’s changed. It’s all different, and this seems right. It seems like the way it should have happened with her and me, the right way for it all to work.
It also seemed to work out for the others as well. By that I mean Tom ended up with Lydia. She’s a lot younger than he is, but like I said, it’s a different world now. They seem to be happy together. I thought I felt some animosity from both of them at first. But either I imagined it, or they’ve moved past it, gotten over it, something like that.
We haven’t discussed leaving again. It’ll come up. Kate and I want to go. I think Bob and Jan want to go too. Tom and Lydia seem to be against it. Lydia keeps talking about how none of us know what it might be like anywhere else, like she wants to throw that out before we even discuss leaving at all. Here we have food, shelter, what’s so bad? I guess we have been talking about it without really talking about it at all.
Tom backs up everything she says with a nod of his head. He pointed out we’re in an area of mainly limestone, that’s what made this cave, and we may not find that anywhere else. At least not easily. Maybe they’re right. Hell, they make sense, but it’s the attitude. The rest of us bend. They refuse to.
We decided to go out to Arsenal Street tomorrow to the sporting goods store, and also look at some of the super markets out there, something else I didn’t check out while I was out there.
Lastly, I’m glad Kate and I have each other. It makes all of this easier to deal with.
She asked me why I’m writing this journal. I felt kind of stupid. I told her why I started it though, and that I’m continuing it for someone in the future. Maybe a child? Someone to come later on?
I expected her to laugh that off, or look at me like I was crazy, but she only nodded as if that made perfectly good sense. She told me she has a journal too. A diary, she said. Of course Lydia jumped on that also. At first arguing against it, then saying she thought it might be okay. Tom said he wouldn’t do it. He said he’s not leaving to go anywhere and if someone shows up here, he’ll be here, not some journal. Okay.
It’s stuff like that that makes me wonder. And, anyway, I only mentioned it; it wasn't like I wanted anyone else to do it or was trying to encourage someone else to do it. It's that kind of a jump on it attitude I don't like, like they think I'm looking to screw them over some how.
But it’s all good. I’m alive. I looked back at some of what I wrote in here. I had no one just a short time ago. I didn’t even know whether there was anyone else. Now I have Kate. We have some plans, things we’ve begun to talk about, agree about. A little ego trouble with Tom is really just bullshit in the scheme of things. I have to try harder to look past that. Maybe I'm too damn sensitive. And anyway things are good. This could be a lot worse.
A thing that bugs me and I can not figure out, where are all the bodies? I mean there don't seem to be enough bodies to match all of those that were killed. It bothers me. Maybe they weren't killed? But that makes no sense. Where would they be? I don't have an answer. I only know it bugs me.
Lydia ~ March 13th
Hi! My name is Lydia. I’ve never written a journal or kept a diary before. We’re all here in this cave. A cave, yes. We’re living in a cave. I can’t believe it! There are no showers, no toilets, no kitchen. Ha! We’re eating out of cans. It’s about as hard as it could be. I don’t know how cave men did it. Or cave women.
We’re all writing these journals to leave them behind in case someone comes after we, or some of us, leave. I might not ‘cause I’m sort of with Tom right now, and he doesn’t want to go. There are six of us; Mike, Tom, Bob, Janet, me and a girl named Kate. We’re all stuck here until spring, I guess.
I guess that you know all about the world ending or whatever it did. We don’t know. I don’t know. Not really anyway, but hopefully we’ll get everything fixed up pretty soon. I mean, a lot of stuff is F’d up, you know? But, like, it could get fixed up eventually.
I had a boyfriend in the old world. His name was Paul, but I don’t know where he went. His apartment was gone. The whole street he lived on was gone. So I don’t know. It made me feel really bad. Hopefully this will be over really soon.
We have, like, some old trucks now to drive around. We used to have to walk everywhere. That sucked. The trucks are really old, like shit boxes as Paul would’ve said, but at least we’re not walking, right? Paul had an old shit box truck too. These trucks are even older. If we break down we can’t call Triple A. Ha Ha!
There are six of us and Tom thinks more will come to us, probably know we're here and are just waiting. I guess that's cool.
I don’t really know what else to write in here. I’ll write other stuff down too though. Oh, I’m almost nineteen…
Kate ~ March 13th
I did it. I don't know how I worked it out or where I found the courage to do it, but Mike and I are together. It's like I wasn't breathing, like I was waiting to breath. Something like that. All I know with absolute certainty is that tomorrow looks better. Isn't that all that's important?
March ~ 14th
Everyone was up early and ready to go before the sun was barely above the horizon.
“Yesterday,” Tom said to no one in particular. “Thirty two hours long.” Silence greeted his remark. Kate checked her own watch.
“So, like, that means things are slowing down?” Lydia asked.
“You think?” Tom asked unkindly.
“Well, something like that,” Lydia shot back defensively.
“Why would it go backwards,” Bob asked?
“Yeah. Wasn’t it supposed to stop, reverse and then start up again?” Lydia asked.
“Maybe,” Mike agreed. “But that was all based on theory. No facts involved at all. I think they had some evidence that the poles had reversed at a few points in history before. And some legends that spoke about the Earth standing still for a day, something like that. But even so, that’s all theory, not fact.”
“Yeah,” Tom chimed in. “It’s like an asshole. Everyone’s got one.”
“Don’t you mean opinion?” Lydia asked sweetly.
“Whatever. We ready to go, or what?” Tom asked. Everyone followed outside in the uncomfortable silence that fell.
~
“What’s up with those two,” Kate whispered as she followed Mike outside.
“Who knows,” Mike whispered back. Bob met his eyes and raised his eyebrows. Mike shrugged his shoulders and shook his head as if to say I don’t know.
“We may as well take all three trucks,” Bob suggested. “That way if we find stuff we want it’ll save us driving back to get them.”
“Easier if we get stuck also,” Kate suggested.
Tom shrugged his shoulders. “Fine by me,” he said. He headed for the Suburban with Lydia right behind him. Jan and Kate headed for the pickup truck. Bob broke into a laugh and grinned at Mike. “Guess that leaves me and you in the old dinosaur. Want to drive?”
“After you,” Mike said laughing. Bob started the truck and pulled out last in line and followed the other two trucks as they picked their way along the edge of the ruined road.
~
“It was me that asked Jan to go with Kate,” Bob said as they followed slowly along behind the other trucks.
Mike nodded. His eyes following the sides of the road as Bob drove along. “I thought it was something like that,” he said. “What’s on your mind, Bob?”
“Well… A lot,” Bob said after a second or two. He hesitated a little longer. “I guess mainly to say Jan and I would like to go with you when you leave, and Kate, I assume.”
“Yeah,” Mike agreed. “I know that probably seemed kind of quick.”
“It’s a…”
“Quick world,” Mike finished. “Kate said the same thing. I don’t know how much better off we’ll be, but we’d be glad to have you two with us if you want to come.”
“We would. Jan and I talked it over. We talked all night long last night. I got nothing personal against Tom; he did alright by us, but he’s a little too…”
“Demanding? Aggressive?” Mike supplied.
Bob looked thoughtful. “I don’t know… Something like that
. I just don’t see him being able to see this through. I feel like if we came back here in ten years we’d find him still holed up in that cave. He’s… I don’t know... too immature to talk to about it. He has only one way of looking at things. That can’t work.”
“You’re probably right. He’d still be here with Lydia, probably with a couple of babies running around. But, maybe that’s not such a bad thing. Maybe that’s a good thing.” He shrugged. “The immaturity… I don’t know… It’s there though. Maybe he’ll move out of that. Maybe it’s just the situation.”
“Maybe,” Bob agreed. “But that’s exactly the time he should be mature, isn’t it?”
Mike nodded. Bob continued.
“So, maybe it’s a good thing, maybe it’s not. But not for me. I don’t want to stay here. Nor Jan either. I wouldn’t want to quit this unless I knew this was all there was. I mean, this couldn’t be worldwide, could it?”
“I don’t know,” Mike said softly. “But I agree. I know what you mean. Kate and I talked about it last night too and came to the same opinion. It could be better elsewhere, and whatever is right for Tom or Lydia isn’t necessarily right for us. I was for going from the start. I have to know if this is really the end. If there’s anything else. If it is, I’ll deal with it, find a place to settle down. Thank God I have Kate, you and Jan. Maybe we’ll meet others on the way to... well, wherever.”
“I think so,” Bob said. “There are people, other people around. We just got to find them. Or them us.”
“Yeah, we got to remember rifles or pistols. I hate to say it, Bob, but we may need them.”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “Yeah.”
They continued on in silence as the small caravan made its way past a collapsed building partially blocking what was left of the road.
“I think… It’s not my business,” Bob said, “But I think you made an enemy of Lydia. She was thinking you would be with her.”
“Yeah, I could see that, Bob. I don’t think Tom was any too pleased either.”
Bob nodded. “Nope, none too. Him I wouldn’t worry about though. Her, she’s pretty spiteful. I’ve only known her for a week, but it’s enough. That child did pretty much what she wanted to, I’ll bet. Used to having her own way, getting what she wants when she wants it.”
The Rising of the Dead Page 6