by Dennis Elder
“But what about the bad guys?” said Mark again.
“Them?” said Marylin. “Oh, they’re harmless after 10 pm or so. They start drinking after their dinner and pass out after it gets dark.”
“Pass out?” asked Kevin.
“Yea, they’re usually out of it by 9 pm,” added Marylin, “I was just over there watching them. Frankly they don’t look like much to me.”
Chapter 73: Victor
Victor Sanchez had been walking East along Interstate 80 for over a week now. Finally, he and the other fifty three men he was with were getting close to Salt Lake City. They were tired, hungry and very thirsty. The sun was high in the sky, and they could faintly see the downtown skyscrapers. To the North was the Great Salt Lake. It stretched all the way to the horizon. Only Antelope Island was visible. It looked like a brown pile of dirt sitting in the middle of an ocean.
Victor had seen enough of that stupid island to last him a lifetime. He had a good view of it from the bared window high on his prison cell wall. Two years ago, the community fathers of Salt Lake City Utah decided the property that the old prison sat on in the city of Draper was too valuable to local developers and home builders. So, the State built a new prison way out in the middle of the Great Salt Lake desert and transported all the prisoners out there. The only thing remotely near them was a magnesium plant down the road. The prison was over a 175 miles from the old one in Draper. All Victor knew was it was near the Bonneville Salt Flats, and nothing, I mean nothing ever grew out there. The place looked dead when they arrived, and soon the inmates began to feel just as dead as the surrounding landscape. They also hated the new prison because it was so far away from family members. The distance made it hard on prisoner relatives to make the long trip for visitations. Because of that, regular visits were down sharply, which added to the men’s poor moral.
Two nights before the “big burn,” as the Vegas army had called it, a few of Victor’s fellow inmates started a fight. Two members of separate prison gangs were initially involved. One of the inmates was stabbed pretty bad. The fight quickly grew to a full-scale riot. Everybody was burning their mattresses and anything else they could find. Riot police were finally called in and slowly, cellblock by cellblock the convicts were driven back deeper and deeper into the bowels of the new prison building. They’d put together a final stand in the basement where the laundry was. Together the men piled washing machines and other heavy equipment against the big iron doors, hoping to keep the dogs away. But after two days of no food or water, the men began to realize they’d have to give up. Victor knew he’d get the death penalty for sure this time. He’d killed two guards after the riot started. At least he’d been able to make um pay a little for moving him to this new hellhole of a prison.
When the trapped convicts woke up the morning of the third day the prison was silent, and the regular power was off. Yellow colored emergency lights kept the laundry room semi illuminated. During the previous night there were constant helicopter, siren and truck noises coming from the outside. But by morning it was dead quiet. Thirst was driving them mad, and, after a couple of hours, Victor and the sixty other survivors finally decided to open the big laundry room doors and surrender.
When they first cracked open the doors they found no one in the basement. They were sure there would be a riot team there ready to throw in tear gas. But nobody was behind the doors. So, they climbed the staircase. When they came to the ground floor they found plenty of guards and inmates, but most of them were lying dead on the ground. A few were standing but seemed to be out of it - like they were drunk or something. A few convicts were lying on in the hallways, groaning and holding their stomachs. There was a lot of blood on the bare concrete floors.
At first Victor and the sixty other men didn’t know what to make of it. They were sure the guards would clamp down hard on them with gas and handcuffs. But no one challenged them as they came up from the basement.
“Something happened here,” thought Victor to himself.
Quickly Victor told the men with him to grab weapons. Because a large number of riot police were on the floor, nearly all of the men were equipped with automatic rifles. They took the officers’ bulletproof vests too and put them on. It was strangely ironic watching convicted criminals creeping toward the exit wearing black vests with the words, “POLICE,” stenciled on the front and back. Victor found a key on one of the dead guards and opened the main entryway cell doors.
The closer they got to the outside door the more dead bodies they had to crawl over. When they finally got into the sunlight, the brilliance was initially overwhelming. But soon their eyes adjusted. The devastation was significant.
All around the entrance police and riot vehicles were pointed toward the prison’s entrance. The hoods on all the cars were blackened. Two of the police vehicles were completely burned up by fire and a few flames still licked up from the inside.
Bodies were everywhere. There was some helicopter wreckage burning out in between two of the high fences.
When the convicts came out of the building they had their weapons ready to fire. But now their guns were tipped to the ground. There just wasn’t anybody alive.
Chapter 74: Smelly Jell-O
Mark had the crew up at 5:30 am, fed and then on the road by 6:30. He was impressed with how quickly the new women and two kids had adapted. They were all riding well too. Doc and Sylvia rode scout today. From time to time the scouts put too much distance between them and the rest of the group. Then Mark would have to call up to Doc and ask them to slow down a bit. After a few miles they got the pace right.
Once they got a mile or two out of Victorville, buildings all but disappeared. Even billboards began to decrease. Boon, Frank, Junior and Mark studied their maps for an hour the previous evening. They knew the next leg of their journey was mostly desert with just few towns between Victorville and Las Vegas. They’d have to plan carefully on water and food.
Barstow was the next town. It was about 24 miles away from where they started in Victorville. They had two flats along the ride. The team deployed like clockwork when both flat tires were discovered. Mary had the second flat and got some coaching from Susie. They were taking a long time to change her flat. But it was her first time and she hadn’t seen it done before.
While everyone rested, Tyrone decided to make sure little Sally was doing OK. He stacked his bike against the highway dividing rail and went back to talk to her.
“You doing Ok in there miss Sally?” asked Tyrone as he sat down next to her trailer.
“Doin great!” said the energetic Sally. She was comfortably seated with her leg slightly elevated on a couple of pillows. She had a hat on her head to keep the sun off and the Princess Puffy sunglasses made it easy for her to see.
Doc also came back to Sally to check on her. He brought Pam with him to make sure the little girl wouldn’t be scared.
“Sally,” began Doc. “I’m the group doctor and I’d like to check your temperature.”
Pam bent over so Sally could see her and said, “Nothing to be afraid of, honey. No pain, no shots.”
“Sure thing,” offered Sally. “I’m use to it.”
Doc reached in and put his hand on Sally’s forehead to check her temperature. She was a little warm but that couldn’t be helped with the warm sun overhead. He took a quick check of her pulse.
“You’re good to go girl,” said Doc as he stood up. “Just keep your hat on and you’ll be fine.”
“Good to go,” repeated Sally.
Tyrone was still sitting next to Sally’s trailer and looked up at Doc.
“Hey doc,” began Tyrone. “Is it Ok to give Sally a little treat. I found some candy in the 7-11 last night on our way back from scavenging.
“Sure,” replied Doc. “But not too much. We don’t want princess puffy here to get sick.”
Once Doc and Pam left to check on Cedric, Tyrone pulled out a three musketeer’s bar. They were Tyrone’s favorite.
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�You like three musketeer bars, girl?” asked Tyrone as he slowly unwrapped the bar. Tyrone couldn’t see them, but Sally’s eyes went wide with anticipation and she made a great smile.
“Three musketeers are my very favorite,” cheered Sally.
“Yea,” responded Tyrone. “There my favorite too.”
He split the bar in half and handed one half over to little Sally. She reached out to grab the bar and greedily took a bite. After a few seconds of chewing Sally turned to Tyrone.
“I guess this makes us two of the three musketeers then,” said Sally between bites.
“I guess it does,” replied Tyrone, trying not to crack a smile.
“One for all and all for one,” said Sally.
“Sounds good to me,” agreed Tyrone.
The two continued to chew.
“But we need another musketeer to make three don’t we?” asked Sally.
“Yea,” said Tyrone as he looked down the bike line. “Maybe we could include Cedric in our club.”
“Sounds good to me,” parroted Sally.
Tyrone made his way to Cedric who was sitting close to Teresa. The little guy was drinking water from his bottle. Slowly Tyrone brought out another musketeer’s bar and went through the same pitch he made with Sally. Cedric accepted the bar enthusiastically and agreed to join the three-person club. Cedric and Tyrone made up a secret musketeer handshake. They both agreed to share the handshake with Sally at their next stop – but not with anyone else.
By the time Cedric had finished his candy bar, Mary’s flat was fixed. Mark radioed Doc and Sylvia to get moving again and the group mounted their bikes and pushed off.
They made good time the rest of the morning and arrived in southern Barstow around 12:45 in the afternoon. From his maps, Boon had already identified a grocery store in a residential neighborhood close to the freeway. Riding in the dry desert seemed to make them sweat like crazy. After a quick check on how much water they were using, Mark instructed the lunch scavengers to bring back extra water for the afternoon ride. The others all stretched out in a small three bedroom home, after clearing the dead bodies and storing their bikes in the garage. Mark was part of today’s body detail. Before and after every assignment Mark made a note in his book. The duty rotations were going well now. He knew the importance of dividing assignments evenly.
Dead body details were also getting more difficult. Since yesterday they decided it was necessary to carry the mattresses out with the bodies. So, four people were now assigned to each body detail.
When a dead body goes untouched for several days the results become… messy. When the heart stops beating the blood stop circulating. But the enzymes and the bacteria in the body, especially in the intestines, continue to live. To survive they attack the dead tissues and organs. The pancreas has so many enzymes in it that it will completely consume itself. This bacterial consumption process ends up creating a lot of gas, and as a result, the body swells up like a balloon. When the pressure gets too high, tissues pop and the insides leak out. Tissues and organs basically turn to liquid Jell-O. Finally, after the bugs take their turn, the body dries out completely and all that’s left are the bones. From now on there would be smelly Jell-O bodies and mattresses to clear from the homes they chose to stay in.
Chapter 75: Haven’t moved a muscle
Kevin slept comfortably on the couch. Marylin felt he needed it after she saw the size of the bruise on his head and the deep cut. She rubbed some more antibiotic salve on the wound before he fell asleep. Hampton gave up the couch without protest. The dog spent the night on the floor in a corner.
Marylin and Kevin both slept pretty well. That was due to the peanut butter and saltine cracker feast they enjoyed the night before.
Kevin was still asleep when Marylin felt Hampton’s big head nudging her hand. Marylin had been watching the two bad men from the old trailer’s kitchen table. She reached up to pet the dog and as usual he enjoyed the attention.
“Morning, boy,” whispered Marylin. “Remember no barking, Ok.”
The big dog sat down quietly. Marylin could swear the dog seemed to understand exactly what she said.
“I bet your hungry,” offered Marylin as he stood up. Hampton’s tail started wagging like crazy. His big tail knocked over a water bottle and the dull thud woke Kevin with a start.
“What,” Kevin mumbled, still half asleep.
“It’s OK,” said Marylin as she looked into the cupboard to find a big bowl she could use to feed Hampton.
“Hampton just knocked over a water bottle,” she said as she poured two cups of dog food into the bowl and put it on the ground.
Kevin sat up and stretched out his muscles a bit. His neck popped and he reactively reached for his head. “Ouch,” he yelped, blinking his eyes open and closed several times.
“That’s what you get for falling down the stairs,” said Marylin watching Hampton inhale his dry dog food.
“You check on our boys this morning?” asked Kevin.
“Yea,” said Marylin. “They’re still asleep. Haven’t moved a muscle.”
Chapter 76: Heaven on a stick
The lunch scavenging party found a few apples that hadn’t gone bad yet. Everyone enjoyed the fruit. Fresh food was becoming more and more scarce every day.
It was eighteen more miles to Yermo from where the team stopped for lunch. They arrived around 4:30 in the afternoon and were a little behind schedule due to a few flats. They found an unusually large number of automobile accidents and one pile up that completely blocked their passage. There was so much glass from the pile up that they had to unhook all the bike trailers and lift the bikes, then the trailers and then little Sally across the scorched shoulder of the road. Glass crunched with every step.
They exited on the Calico off ramp and went south until they came to Yermo Road. They went east there and came to stop at Upton’s Complete Market. Those on dinner duty parked their bikes against the building and went inside. The rest of the team coasted across the street to some condominiums. They looked brand new. Ten open house flags flew on the lawns. The heat and lack of water had scorched the recently laid sod.
The team stored their bikes and gear in two of the small condo garages. The dead body detail went in first and searched but found no one. Sam came back to the garage with the good news.
“Attention K-Mart shoppers,” said Sam, holding his hands around his mouth like a megaphone. “Our special of the day is no dead bodies in the building. Repeat. There will be no dead bodies in the building tonight.”
A small cheer went up from the others.
Everybody unpacked their gear and began wandering through the buildings looking for a semi-cool place to sleep for the night. They limited themselves to the model condos. The models were well staged with furniture, beds, sheets and towels. There were two-bedroom and three-bedroom models. Tonight, everyone would get their own beds. Except for Doc and Sylvia. Everybody knew they were sleeping together.
From upstairs somebody yelled, “We got water pressure!”
That got another cheer from the group.
Mark went to Mary and Pam.
“Would you guys go over to the grocery store and see if you can find a few pots, utensils and spices for tonight’s meal?” asked Mark. “Since these are models, I doubt there is anything here we can cook with.”
“Sure,” piped Pam. “Our pleasure.”
It was obvious Mary didn’t like being told what to do, but she swallowed her pride and followed Pam toward the small store.
Little did she know Mark was testing her by giving Mary an easy assignment. “Good,” he thought to himself. “One miracle at a time.”
After a thoroughly satisfying dinner made mostly from Rice, Oatmeal, cookies and dried mangos everybody headed for the showers. It had been a long time between showers and the cold water felt wonderful. Mary and Pam had the sense to bring shampoos and bar soap back with them. Buy 7 pm everyone was squeaky clean and full. At 7:15 pm Mark called a meeting
in the living room of one the three-bedroom models. It was growing dark and a few candles illuminated the space. The curtains were closed tight. Boon stood watch with his Bushmaster. Every so often he’d peek out through a crack in the living room curtains. Everyone was spread around the room – all twenty four of them. A few sat on the kitchen counter facing Mark. Little Sally and Cedric had fallen asleep thirty minutes earlier in a smaller bedroom down the hall. Pam stood by that partially closed door, keeping one eye on the babies and the other on Mark.
“Ok,” began Mark. “Good ride today. We made about 40 miles.”
A muffled cheer went up.
“That’s our best yet,” added Mark, followed by a few claps of applause.