Out of LA

by Dennis Elder

  Mark leveled his eyes with Silvia’s and said, “Good to know. We’ll talk on that later. Right now, we’re limited on time, so get the kids over here and we’ll take their measurements for clothes.”

  The total group gathered together quickly, and measurements were recorded from each kid. After five minutes the entire group moved off. Mark had the kids walk together. Mark’s team positioned themselves around them. They walked up Euclid Ave and then turned right on Imperial road. There were twenty people in Mark’s little army now. It was four more miles to the indoor shooting range.

  Once the group had turned the corner and were out of sight, Oscar Farrington slipped out of the shadows and stepped into the morning sun. He’d been very close to the picnic table where the kids had been sitting. He watched curiously as the last of Mark’s group passed out of sight. Mutt and Jeff stood behind Oscar with their mouth’s hanging open.

  “Attack?” asked Mutt, one of Oscar’s two HB leaders.

  “No,” replied Oscar, as he smiled and raised his binoculars to watch the group walk farther and farther away.

  “I know where Salt Lake City is.”

  Chapter 44: Pink Lemonade

  Dr. Kevin Phillips and Marylin Stanza spent their first night on the road in Jean Nevada. It was about halfway between Nipton California and the city of Las Vegas. The only things that moved while they walked along on I-15 were a few birds and one coyote. Their water was gone by the time they got to Jean and they were a little dehydrated. They found bottled water in the Gold Strike Hotel and some food. They also found a terrible smell. The hotel was full of guests the night of the Gamma ray burst and Nevada’s November afternoon temperatures had reached into the mid-eighties. They filled their backpacks with what they could scavenge from the Hotel kitchen and then backtracked to another building, the Clark County Fire station. It was a volunteer station so there weren’t any bodies to remove. They found a couple of saggy mattresses and were asleep in minutes. Neither of them anticipated how tiresome a day’s walk could be.

  They awoke the next day around 8 am. Their backs were stiff, but their legs were much worse. Neither of them had been much for exercise and their muscles ached from the strain of yesterday’s long hike.

  “Ouch,” complained Susan as she slipped her legs over the side of the sagging bed and began rubbing her calves. She still had her shoes on. They were so exhausted they’d slept in their clothes.

  Kevin was rotating his neck and rubbing one of his shoulders. He was feeling the pain too.

  “This is what happens when you spend seven years working full time to get your Ph.D. and neglect a regular exercise program,” complained Kevin. “There isn’t a muscle in my body that isn’t screaming for relief.”

  “Same here,” replied Susan.

  They sat there for a while longer. Then Susan got up and went into the bathroom. She came out a few minutes later accompanied by the sound of a toilet flushing.

  “Still have water pressure here,” said Susan with a yawn.

  “Better not drink it though. Could make us sick,” suggested Kevin. “But a shower would be nice.”

  “Yes, a shower would be heavenly,” said Susan.

  They spent the next hour and a half showering and eating a meager breakfast. They found over a hundred energy bars in the hotel and feasted on a few of them.

  At 10 AM they started out again and began walking North on the I-15 freeway. They hoped to find somebody in Las Vegas. Or at least hoped to find plenty of water and food.

  Eighteen miles and six hours later it was four o’clock in the afternoon. They’d come to an overpass called Sloan Road. They were now on the very southern outskirts of Las Vegas. South Las Vegas Boulevard ran parallel to the freeway now, just a hundred feet to the east. After they passed under the Sloan Road overpass they suddenly noticed an old woman to their right standing on a house porch and waving a white scarf at them. The house appeared ancient, and the paint was pealing on every surface. Neither Kevin nor Marylin had seen a living person in over a week so it was a bit of a shock. Marylin saw the woman first. She quickly grabbed Kevin’s forearm and silently pointed toward her. They both stopped and stood staring at the woman.

  “Somebody else survived?” said Marylin.

  “Amazing,” replied Kevin.

  “What do you think she wants?” asked Marylin.

  “I don’t know, but she looks pretty serious,” said Kevin.

  The old woman continued to wave her scarf as best she could. But she kept looking nervously down the road toward the North.

  “Do you think it’s safe?” asked Marylin.

  “Don’t know for sure,” said Kevin. “But it would be good to find out what she knows.”

  Kevin and Marylin stood there uncommitted for a moment longer. Kevin had been watching the woman as she kept looking toward Las Vegas. So, he began looking in that same direction, to see what she was worried about.

  “I don’t think she poses much of a threat,” said Kevin. “Let’s go see what she wants.”

  Kevin and Marylin were able to find a break in the fence line and after a couple of minutes were standing at the base of the wooden steps leading to the old woman’s weathered home. The windows were all boarded up.

  “Come inside quick,” said the white haired lady, as she again looked nervously toward Las Vegas to the North. “You don’t want them to see you girl.”

  Marylin turned her head to look in the same direction but she didn’t see anything. Kevin was still hesitant to go inside the woman’s home. The old woman sensed their distrust.

  “Please, come in the house,” the old woman stressed. “You don’t have anything to fear from me.”

  Kevin nodded his acceptance and the tired couple followed the woman through the front door.

  They entered a sparsely decorated living room with a couch and two old worn chairs. The old woman set her wooden cane to the side and closed the door behind Kevin and Marylin. Then she set a large wooden board across the door. Kevin noticed the musty odor of cats. A small white feline darted between the opening to the kitchen and the hallway. The woman moved toward the couch and sat down slowly. Then she motioned Kevin and Marylin to sit in the chairs facing her.

  “Sit,” said the woman. “Sit now and rest, you look tired.” I’ll get you something to drink in a minute, but for now you need to sit and listen to me.”

  “Forgive us mam,” began Kevin. “We haven’t seen a living sole in almost a week and, well, we didn’t think any one was alive but us. How did you survive?”

  The old woman waved her hand in protest and then cut Kevin off.

  “We can talk about that in a minute,” began the old lady. Here hair was white and stood nearly straight out. There were large bruises on her face too. She didn’t seem to care much about her appearance.

  “You are in danger here,” she continued. “They may have already seen you. If they did you must hide, or you must get away.”

  “Who are you talking about?” asked Marylin. “We haven’t seen anyone else for two days.”

  “The convict army,” said the woman. “At least that is what they call themselves. But they are worse than convicts. They are murderers.”

  “Who are you talking about?” asked Kevin.

  “In the city,” replied the woman. “I heard them talking and they said they control the entire city. They captured my husband and me three days ago and tried to take us back to the city. They forced us to walk. My husband resisted and so they killed him. Shot him dead right in front of me. They laughed when I knelt over his dying body. They told me to get up or they’d kill me too. I didn’t care. They’d killed my best friend and husband. When I didn’t get up they kicked me hard, several times. I think they figured I was dead. But I fooled them,” the old woman said with a wink. “I just laid there until they were gone. That night I dragged my husband’s dead body into the culvert and covered him with rocks. It was very hard to do. Then I walked back here. Been hiding out ever since.”


  “You’re very brave,” offered Marylin.

  “Just a tough old bird,” said the lady. “By the way we haven’t introduced ourselves. Name’s Olivia Martin.” She shook Kevin and Marylin’s hands.

  “I’m Kevin Phillips, and this is Marylin Stanza,” said Kevin.

  “Nice to meet you,” said Marylin.

  “It’s nice to meet both of you,” replied Olivia. “Now, I promised you something to drink. I’m afraid it won’t be cold. Give me a minute and I’ll come back with some glasses.”

  The old woman got up with some effort.

  “Let me help you,” offered Marylin.

  “No, no,” responded Olivia. “We didn’t get many guests before the recent business and certainly none have come since. I’d like to do it myself if you don’t mind.”

  “Of course,” said Marylin.

  Olivia moved off to her kitchen. Clinking glasses could be heard. Then Marylin looked at Kevin.

  “She said we should leave this place,” began Marylin. “Do you think we should go now?”

  “I don’t know,” said Kevin. “It will be dark soon. We wouldn’t get very far.”

  Suddenly Olivia appeared in the living room entry with a tray of drinks in her hand. She was bent over, and you could tell it was difficult for her. Kevin stood up and took the tray from her craggy fingers.

  “Thank you, Kevin,” offered Olivia. “I may think I’m a tough old bird, but there are times when reality reminds me how old I really am.”

  Olivia sat down and Kevin put the tray on the coffee table between them. All three glasses were filled with what looked like pink lemonade. There were a few cookies on the tray as well.

  “This is the good stuff. I’ve been saving it for a special occasion,” said Olivia, with a smile on her face. “Please,” offered Olivia. Kevin and Marylin each took a glass and a cookie.

  “The cookies are good too. Last package unfortunately,” said Olivia, as she bit into the crumbling but delicious morsel.

  “Thank you, Olivia,” said Marylin.

  “Yes, thank you,” added Kevin.

  Once the cookies were consumed and the lemonade drunk, Kevin and Marylin started asking Olivia a few questions. They learned that the convict army kept a constant lookout on the St. Rose Parkway overpass. The overpass sat right on I-15, the primary southern entrance into Las Vegas proper. Olivia’s husband had some good binoculars and Olivia used them to watch the St. Rose overpass over the last few days. There were always men on the overpass.

  Olivia and the young couple hit it off and a couple of hours passed like minutes. It turned out Olivia was once an Olympic swimmer in the 1948 games in London England. She brought out some of her medals. She got silver in the 100 yard freestyle and a bronze in the 50 yard butterfly.

  “I was pretty good in my day,” said Olivia with a broad smile. “Not so fast now.”

  “How did you and your husband survive, the recent business, as you put it,” asked Marylin.

  “Don’t know. We were in the basement, if it made any difference,” said Olivia. “Much cooler down there. We just happen to live in one of the older homes that were built with basements. We seemed to be the only ones around here to survive whatever it was that killed everyone.”

  Kevin and Marylin then explained to Olivia about the Gamma Ray radiation and how they barely survived the burst.

  “That explains a lot,” responded Olivia. “We always wondered why we survived when so many of our neighbors died.

  Kevin and Marylin also learned that Olivia had very few supplies left in her kitchen. So, they waited until it was fully dark and then raided a local Convenience store that stood about 200 yards east of her house. They made two trips each and made sure she had enough water for weeks to come. They brought back all the non-perishable food they could find too. It would keep her going for a while. Based on Olivia’s warnings, they agreed it would be best if they left early in the morning, before the sun was up. They encouraged Olivia to come with them, but she knew her old frame wouldn’t take her very far.

  “Besides,” she said with a smile. “I couldn’t leave my husband.”

  So, they re-supplied their own backpacks and lay down to sleep in a second bedroom on the main floor. It was a small twin, so they slept close together. It would be dawn in a few hours, so they kept their clothes and shoes on.

  Around three AM in the morning they awoke to thunderous banging on Silvia’s front door.

  “Open up,” shouted a gruff and impatient voice from the outside.

  Olivia, Kevin and Marylin met in the hallway simultaneously. Silvia put her fingers to her lips to keep they from speaking. She motioned to the hallway ceiling and motioned Kevin to pull on the recessed ring set in the center of the hallway ceiling. Kevin obeyed and a wobbly staircase unfolded down to the floor.

  “Promise me you’ll keep quiet as a mouse,” whispered Olivia. “These men will rape you Marylin. They will rape your several times. And they will kill you, Kevin.”

  The banging on the front door was twice as loud this time. “Open up bitch!” screamed the man outside. There were five men standing on her front porch and they were growing impatient.

  “Take your packs with you,” said Olivia. Kevin grabbed them both and quietly followed Marylin up the steps.

  Olivia looked up into the ceiling at the scared couple looking back down. “Remember, keep quiet and best of luck to you.” Olivia then quickly folded the tiny staircase in half and let it slide back up into the ceiling with a soft click.

  A second later the front door gave way as Hector Munoz applied his entire 275 pounds against it. Hector had been with Ivan Petrovich when they first walked out of prison together. Hector was a lieutenant in Ivan’s army and was now in charge of border security.

  Kevin and Marylin froze and sat down quietly in the crawl space above the bedrooms.

  Hector walked toward the kitchen, followed by the four other convicts. They had flashlights and met Olivia suddenly coming down the hallway.

  “Get out of my house,” Olivia demanded

  Hector shined the light into Olivia’s face. Then he recognized the woman.

  “Hey, I thought we wasted you on the road,” said Hector.

  “Guess you’re not quite the man you thought you were,” teased Olivia.

  Hector’s face suddenly went dark. His hand flashed out in a millisecond grabbing the old woman by the front of her dress. With just one arm he lifted her frail body completely off the ground. Then he drew her right into his own face. She could feel his breath. It smelled like old wet leather. Hector’s rage came out through gritted teeth.

  “Where’s the woman and the man?” questioned Hector.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Olivia, as she turned her tiny head to the side.

  “Tell me where the woman and man are!” demanded Hector. “We saw them earlier today, out by the overpass.”

  “There’s no one here,” offered Olivia.

  Hector handed his flashlight to one of his companions and then took the old woman’s right hand in his left. With one decisive twist he broke her wrist.

  The pain was immediate, and Olivia cried out. This made Marylin jump as she sat next to Kevin in the crawl space.

  “We should do something,” whispered Marylin.

  “No, we promised Olivia we’d stay safe, no matter what,” said Kevin.

  “If we go down those stairs they’ll kill her for hiding us.”

  “Tell me where they are!” shouted Hector again.

  In an act of pure defiance and hoping to protect the young couple hiding above them, Olivia Martin, Olympic swimmer, mother of four and devoted wife spit directly into the face of Hector Munoz. The five men who were watching jeered at the woman’s defiance. The added humiliation and existing rage in Hector was too much. The ex-convict grabbed the woman by the neck with both hands and twisted with all his strength. There was a distinctive snap like the sound a dry branch makes when stepped on, an
d the light and soul of Olivia Martin went out.

  Hector stepped back in added frustration. One of the other men saw that she was dead and said, “Oh man, you killed her. How we gonna find the girl now?”

  Hector back handed the man and sent him flying into the wall of the small home. The guy crashed to the floor. The other men quit smiling and looked down. None of them wanted any of Hector. The guy was just mean.

  “Search the house!” barked Hector.

  The men obeyed and began a thorough search. They were not delicate in their approach. After ten minutes they all came back to the living room.