by Harley Tate
He nodded. “Me, a wife, couple of kids, and some land? We could make that work for years and never need to see another living soul.” He paused at the landing. “It’s too late for that, I’m afraid.”
Melody fell silent as she descended the stairs, only resuming the conversation when she reached the lobby. “You really think it’s over?”
“What?”
“A normal life.”
Larkin paused at the door to the garage. “This is normal. Now, anyway.” He pushed the door to the garage open with his back. Colt caught it on the other side.
“How’s everything upstairs?”
“Everyone else is still asleep.”
Colt nodded. “We need to canvas the area for some gas. A few containers if we can find them, too.”
“How much fuel does the sedan have?”
“Not enough. Maybe two hundred miles. The Humvee is worse.”
Melody let Colt take the bottles from her arms. “How are we going to get to Lake Tahoe with so little?”
“We have to siphon it. Larkin and I are about to go scouting. Hopefully we’ll get lucky and find some diesel, too.”
“But first things first.” Larkin set his bottles in the back of the vehicle and turned around. “We eat some breakfast.”
Melody laughed and shook her head. “Men. All you ever think about is food.”
Larkin grinned and strode past her. “Not all the time, Ms. Harper.”
She watched him walk away until the door to the building shut behind him.
“You stare too long, you might go blind.”
Melody spun around. “I wasn’t staring.”
“And I’m not telling.” Colt wiped his hands on a rag and nodded at the door. “He’s a good man, Melody. You could do worse.”
“I—” She hesitated, unsure what to say. After a moment, she settled on the truth. “There’s nothing going on between us.”
“Do you want there to be?”
“I don’t know.” Melody pushed her hair behind her ear. “Would it bother you?”
Colt tilted his head. “Me? Don’t think I have any say in the matter.”
She ran her tongue over her lower lip. She didn’t know why his opinion mattered, but it did. “So that’s a no?”
“It wouldn’t bother me.”
“Good.” She stood there, not sure what else to say. She shifted her weight back and forth on her feet, all of a sudden awkward and shy.
Colt’s expression didn’t change. “You should probably get going.”
Melody nodded and turned around. She could feel his eyes on her all the way inside.
After climbing the five flights of stairs, she paused at the door to the apartment. Maybe a family wasn’t impossible now. She thought about Larkin’s comment about a house with some land and a white picket fence. If the right man came along and they could find a place to settle down…
The door to the apartment opened and her brother and Harvey spilled out, both carrying bags and rifles. They stopped when they saw her.
“You okay, Mel?”
She forced a smile. “Just tired.”
“You can probably sleep on the drive.”
She nodded at her brother as he walked past her. Whatever the future held, they needed to leave Eugene to make it happen. It was time they got on with it.
An hour later, Melody was back downstairs, standing outside the two cars along with everyone else. Lottie sat in the crook of her arm, quiet and still.
Colt raised a hand for quiet. “Larkin and I have siphoned all the gas from nearby cars we could manage. It’s given us a mostly full tank in the Corolla.”
“As soon as we find a vehicle running on diesel, we’ll do the same with the Humvee.” Larkin pulled out a piece of paper with a hand-drawn map. “Thanks to Harvey’s handiwork we have a rough idea of where we’re going.”
He pointed at a star. “This is where we are.” He traced a line from the star to a meandering blue strip halfway across the page. “This is the Willamette River. The main bridges across are three highways. The 569, the 105, and the 5. The lower two will be guarded by Jarvis’s troops for sure.”
Doug spoke up. “So how do we get across?”
“There’s a small bridge here, just south of the 569. Harvey thinks it’s our best shot.”
“It’s a lot closer to the University than the 569.” Doug shook his head. “I say we try the highway first.”
“We’re in a stolen Humvee. If the militia has any lookouts, they’ll spot us and put it together. We’ll be too exposed on the highway.”
Melody stared at the map while the men argued about the best way to cross the river. At last, she spoke up. “I don’t think we should cross the river at all. Let’s head west, away from Eugene and Springfield. We can get away from Jarvis faster and easier that way, then loop around and head southeast.”
“That would add hundreds of miles to the journey.” Harvey walked up to the map and pointed. “We need to take 58 through the national forest. If we head west, there’s no good way to get there.”
“What are you talking about? We can take I-5 straight south. It’ll save hours.”
Colt shook his head. “Not gonna happen. I-5 is probably a parking lot by now. Think about all the people that ran out of gas trying to get somewhere. It’ll be full of looters and thieves. We need to stay on the back roads. Go unnoticed.”
Melody frowned. “You’re sure there isn’t another way?”
“Not that we know of without a map.”
“I lost all my maps in the fire.” Harvey kicked at the dirt as he remembered. “I can get us to 58 without one, but I don’t know much more than that.”
“Then it’s settled.” Larkin handed Colt the hand-drawn map. “We head to the smaller bridge first. If it’s out, we regroup, head up to the 569.”
Melody still didn’t like the idea. Who knew what waited on the other side of the river?
She ran a hand over Lottie’s fur. The little dog would have to sit on her lap the entire drive to Lake Tahoe if they didn’t find a carrier to use. It wasn’t the bet mode of travel, but Melody wouldn’t give up Lottie for the world. The dog would just have to adjust. Like they all did.
She hoisted the last of the supplies into the back of the car and everyone divided up into the vehicles. Colt took the sedan with the Wilkinses and Larkin motioned for Melody to join him, Doug, and Dani in the Humvee. Colt pulled out of the parking spot and Larkin followed.
Melody watched out the window while they turned onto the road. The rain pelted the car in a million little goodbyes. She was leaving her hometown behind for good.
Chapter Nine
COLT
Streets of Eugene, Oregon
9:00 a.m.
He spotted the wreckage a few seconds before anyone else. Colt slowed the car. The windshield wipers sloshed the rain, but did nothing to hide the obvious.
“Jarvis blew all the bridges.”
Colt nodded in Harvey’s direction. “That’s why no one from Springfield is coming to Eugene. They can’t get through.”
After finding the small bridge blown to bits, with not even the foundation left as evidence, Colt’s optimism had faded. He backtracked to Highway 569, expecting the worst. Finding the highway’s bridge shorn in two turned any thoughts of an easy passage out of Eugene to dust. They would either have to drive all the way around like Melody suggested in the first place, or find another way across.
Colt sat in the car, listening to the raindrops and windshield wipers, lost in his own frustrated thoughts. No one said a word. Not even teenaged Will in the backseat.
Ever since the ambush and the fires, the boy had been quiet. Docile, even. Colt couldn’t tell if it was a good sign. The kid had lived a pretty sheltered life before the power went out. Did the last week of gunshots and fires and ambushes kill Will’s spirit or awaken something new?
Colt turned to Harvey at last. “Is there another way across?”
“Not a man-made
one.” Harvey caught his wife’s attention. “Gloria, do you remember that cut-through we used to use up by the Harralson farm?”
“That old thing? No one’s used it for years. And we’re in a car. We would never make it.”
Harvey reached for the map and pointed to a curve in the river. “If we follow the frontage road for about a mile, there used to be a family farm tucked in the bend. In the low-rain months, we crossed the river on four-wheelers. There was a sand bar on this side and the river broke into smaller tributaries we could jump.”
Colt peered out at the rain. It had been coming down thick for hours and had rained on and off for the last few days. Good for catching rain water, bad for crossing a river. “What’s the chance it’s passable now?”
“I don’t even know if it’s still there.” Harvey handed the map back to Colt. “But it’s worth a shot, isn’t it?”
After a moment, Colt nodded. “Can’t hurt to look.” He rolled down the car window, stuck his hand out, and whirled it in the air, signaling a turn-around to Larkin.
They rolled in their two-vehicle caravan down the frontage road, Colt on the lookout for a bend in the river or any place low enough to cross. Harvey thumped the window on his side of the car. “This is it.”
Colt parked and climbed out. What used to be a sand bar was now a shallow widening of the river. Water lapped at the bank, spreading all the way to the other side. It appeared passable in the shallows, but the middle ran swift and deep. The car would never make it.
He swiped the rain out of his eyes as Larkin came to stand beside him. “This is the best shot, isn’t it?”
“Afraid so. Can the Humvee make it?”
“It’s got a deep water kit. Assuming there’s not a chasm ten feet deep, yeah. We can get across.” Larkin leaned back to look at the little car. “But that thing doesn’t stand a chance.”
Colt rubbed the beard on his chin. “It’s already mid-morning. If we circle back around town to the west, we’ll be hours from anywhere when the sun sets.”
“We’ll run out of diesel long before then.” Larkin glanced up to the sky, calculating in his head. “It’s lower than I thought. We’ve got a hundred miles if we’re lucky. Eighty is more likely.”
Shit. That would barely get them out of Eugene.
“Even if we had enough diesel, the Humvee will never fit all of us and the gear.”
Colt glanced at the vehicle. It was an old army Humvee, designed to seat four with room for gear in the back. “We can make it work for a few miles until we find another car.”
Larkin squinted at Colt. “That blow to the head must have scrambled your brains. Even if the girls sit on the floor, what do we do with all the gear?”
Colt snorted out a laugh. “I’m not addled, just desperate.” He wiped his mouth and leaned closer. “We can’t be on the road with everyone into the night. We’ll be sitting ducks. Anyone with half a brain and scruples to match would ambush us.”
Larkin turned his attention back to the river. “It’ll be a wet crossing, assuming we make it.”
Colt figured as much. “Don’t tell them. It’ll only make them more resistant. We’ve got to find a place to hole up that’s dry and has a good, defensible perimeter. We can do that if we head into Springfield. It’ll have gas and diesel.”
“And another car.”
Colt nodded. “The other way is just forest.”
Larkin wiped the rain from his eyes and stared out at the river. “The lowest point is up there, where it bends. We’ll be halfway into the river before the water comes in. Even if we get across, it won’t be easy.”
“It never is.” Colt clapped him on the back and headed to the car to break the news.
“This is never going to work.” Gloria sat in the back with Lottie on her lap and her grandson at her feet. Harvey sat on the other side with Doug wedged into the footwell and Colt crouched on the corrugated divider in the middle. Not the most comfortable Humvee ride, that was for damn sure.
Melody shifted in the front where she shared a seat with Dani. “I can’t feel my feet.”
Dani laughed. “I can’t see my feet.”
Colt shook his head. “If we can get across this river, then we’ll be able to find another car.”
Larkin eased the Humvee into the water. It bounced and slipped on the sand and Larkin slowed even more. The water lapped at the hood and the doors. The river was swallowing them whole.
“Hold your valuables up, everybody.” Larkin clipped each word with tension. “It’s deeper than I thought.”
“What’s that mean?” Dani twisted around as the Humvee plunged ahead into the river. “Colt?”
He opened his mouth, but Melody’s scream filled the silence. “My feet! They’re getting wet!”
Will jumped up from the floor and clambered up on top of his grandmother’s lap. “Water’s coming in. Everywhere!”
Doug scrambled to half-stand, practically on top of Harvey. Lottie let out a frantic bark and jumped at Colt, clawing her way up onto the divider. Water sloshed against the floorboards, first a little puddle, then more and more, until it threatened to spill over laps and bags.
Colt thrust his backpack up in the air. Others followed suit. They looked like a bad sitcom come to life. Only there wouldn’t be a soundstage and a wardrobe trailer when they reached the other side. The vehicle lurched into a dip in the river bed and the water crested over Gloria’s knees.
Melody shrieked.
“It’s okay, everyone. I know what I’m doing.” Larkin steered the Humvee through the water, over and down rocks hidden beneath the surface of the water. “We could drive this thing deeper than I am tall and the engine would keep running.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better!” Melody clutched the door while Dani held onto the seat back.
Most of the color had drained from Gloria’s face as she clutched her grandson to her chest. Doug gripped the back of Larkin’s seat with a grimace. Even Harvey had grown pensive and still.
The river splashed over the hood and Larkin slowed. “It’s going to get a little dicey now. Hang on.”
He gripped the steering wheel with both hands and Colt took a deep breath. So far, Larkin proved himself to be an excellent driver, although Colt knew at this point in his career he probably never sat behind the wheel. Majors didn’t drive anymore.
The front of the Humvee disappeared beneath the water and a torrent rushed inside.
“We’re going to drown in this stupid tin can!”
Melody’s shout pierced through the grinding of the gears and the rain, but Larkin grinned. He leaned toward the passenger seat. “Steel and aluminum, to be accurate. Not tin.”
She cursed at him and he eased down on the accelerator. The Humvee lurched and for the first time since entering the river, began its ascent. The vehicle gained momentum, rumbling up and over a chunk of rocky river bottom.
Colt exhaled. They might just make it.
Everyone fell silent. Harvey closed his eyes as he clutched the door. Gloria held onto her grandson like he would drag her to safety. Even Melody stopped mumbling. The Humvee rocked and skidded up the muddy bank, but Larkin did it. Water poured out of the floorboards and the tires crunched over the sandy shore of the river.
The tires dug into the road’s shoulder and Larkin eased it up onto the asphalt before shifting to park. They had crossed the river.
Melody reached out the second he let go of the steering wheel and swatted Larkin on the arm. “That’s for making fun of me.” She hit him harder. “That’s for driving straight into that dip in the river.” She curled her hand in a fist and tried to punch him, but he caught her swing with his open palm.
“What’s that one for?”
“Getting my shoes all wet, you jerk.”
Larkin let her hand go and laughed so hard it shook the back seat. “What’s a little river crossing if there’s not an element of surprise.” He turned to Colt. “Am I right?”
Colt shook his head
and tried to contain his own laughter. “Just find us another car, will you?”
“Yes, sir.” Larkin winked before turning his attention back to the road.
Chapter Ten
DANI
Streets of Springfield, Oregon
11:00 a.m.
Larkin drove the Humvee through the streets of Springfield just above a crawl. The town reminded Dani of pictures of war zones she’d seen in history class. Blown-apart buildings reduced to rubble, trash in the streets, a car turned black from soot.
Thirty days without power and the residents of Springfield had torn the town apart. For all that she hated Colonel Jarvis and what he did to her and her grandmother, his men kept Eugene orderly. She frowned as she stared out the tinted windows. They passed a row of shops and Larkin slowed to get a better look.
A restaurant with overturned tables and a burned and blackened kitchen. A grocery store with nothing left but broken glass and destroyed shelves. A massive freezer unit sat on its side, door hanging open and empty. It was all so senseless.
Dani pulled her sweatshirt closer around her body and tucked her hands inside her sleeves. No one inside the Humvee said a word. Not even Will. They all stared, open-mouthed and confused, at the remains of the town.
Melody shifted on the seat they shared and Dani risked a glance in the woman’s direction. No color in her cheeks, no fire in her eyes. Nothing but shock and dismay. Just like Dani.
Only Colt and Larkin didn’t seem fazed. Maybe they had seen it all before in another country halfway around the world. Dani turned back to the window and caught the glimpse of a body sprawled out on the sidewalk, dead and decomposing.
Every block held more of the same, but the farther they drove, the more life Dani spotted. A face peering out from a gaping window. A flash of light in an apartment three stories off the ground. A blur of movement in a shop cordoned off with steel security bars.
The town wasn’t empty. Not by a long shot. She twisted around. “I don’t have a good feeling about this.”