AWOL: A Character Lost

by Anthony Renfro

  Barbara opened her eyes and saw lights above her; she squinted at them as she lay there on her back. She was confused, lost, and unsure of her surroundings. She sat up and rubbed her eyes then looked at Danny. He looked back at her. Rage flashed across her face when she thought of the hallway and the way he had attacked her. She smacked him, and the sound of the slap echoed off into the tunnel, faded out into the distance. “That’s for the hallway,” she replied. “And, if you ever touch me again like that . . .”

  The red haired guy appeared on the TV above them, interrupting her. He was wearing a bright red shirt, which really didn’t work with his bright red hair.

  Danny let the stinging slap subside as he looked up at the screen.

  Barbara seemed content with her hit so she let it go and looked up at the TV.

  “We are all meeting in the common area,” the red haired guy replied. “If you live outside of downtown Raleigh, call the number on the card we gave you when we first met. If you don’t see a phone in your area, walk until you see one. We will send a shuttle out to get you. Stay by the phone, the shuttle will only go as far as the phone you call from. Those of you seeing this in the common area, welcome.”

  A sound of something opening found their ears, and they looked down at the floor. The center portion of it opened up, exposing two clean steel rails, which began or ended, depending on how you looked at it, just inches from where their children slept. This floor transformation went on all the way down the tunnel for as far as they could see.

  “I guess we should get moving.”

  “What the fuck’s going on Danny?” Barbara looked around as she said this, unwilling to budge unless she got answers.

  Danny thought about that question for a moment. He breathed in deep, sterile air, for the immediate future air, and tried to explain something to her, anything; because this is the kind of thing that could and would send a person into hysterics if it wasn’t handled just right.

  “I don’t even know where to start, Barb.”

  “Try, because the longer I go without answers, the worse I’m going to get.”

  “The world’s over,” Danny replied, blunt and to the point; but in times like these, it really is the best and only way. “Sometime this morning that Middle East Nuclear Arms Association, that we heard so much about, set the world to glow.” Danny paused, studied her. She was doing okay, but it was starting to sink in. It wouldn’t be long before she flipped out. “The world is over, and you are safe and secure, so are the kids. This is home for now.”

  She looked down at her sleeping children and then back to him. From there she looked at the tunnel, the TV screens, the closed and sealed door, felt the fresh air from the vents on her face, checked out the lights, soaked it all in, then tried to hold it all in, but couldn’t. It wasn’t tears that started to form, but vomit. She got up, found a corner, and threw up. She wretched until she was dry heaving.

  Danny tried to comfort her, but she held him back. He, wisely, and I mean wisely, stepped away.

  She wiped her mouth and let her stinging stomach fall back to normal as she looked at him. “Family, friends, the kid’s friends . . .”

  “I don’t know. I just know we’re safe.”

  “So, what you were telling me, before, at the house, about that guy. This was what he was preparing you for?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m such an idiot. I could have told so many, had so many here now. I could have gone on the news, blasted it all over social media, so many more could have been saved, if I just believed you. Why didn’t I believe you? You’ve never lied to me before. I’m so stupid, stupid, stupid . . .”

  She started to ramble like this, as she slipped over into shock. Danny knew what he had to do. If the attack in the house was bad, man, he was about to get it now. She kept babbling, acting like a lunatic, cussing herself, cussing everything around her. Danny raised his hand, her eyes saw it, but her mouth kept going. And then he smacked her, had to do it, no choice. It broke his heart, because he always told her he would never hit her, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

  She stumbled a bit and then, as her brain registered what he had just done, she looked up him. Rage flashed across her face. She charged him, and he grabbed her, held her arms as she tried to swing at him.

  “It’s okay. I know it’s hard. I’m here. We will get through this together.”

  The fight was going out of her. She was getting tired, and the urge to kill was passing, and a new emotion was forming. She stopped fighting, and fell into Danny’s arms. She started to cry; Danny let her, holding her until she had no more tears.

  “I’m sorry. I should have included you more,” he replied, trying to make it right.

  Barbara stepped away from him, wiped a little bit of blood from her lip, and dried her eyes. She had nothing to say to him at the moment, apology not accepted.

  While Barbara collected herself, Danny kneeled down in between his sons and put a hand on each of their bodies. He tried to gently wake them. Like kids do, they came to, after a moment or two of poking and prodding, waking like they had been asleep for centuries.

  “Can I pee?” Barbara asked. She felt like she hadn’t peed in days.

  “Sure,” Danny replied, as he looked at her. “We all should.” Danny ran the stuff he had found on the memory stick through his head. Bathrooms were the one thing he knew they would need most, so he made sure to remember where they were along their rout. He walked over to a slot in the wall, reached in, and pushed a round red button. A door swung outward revealing a chemical toilet, toilet paper on a roll, sink, and mirror. Hand sanitizer and not soap hung on the wall in a little plastic container.

  Barbara stepped in, and closed the door. The boys finally pulled themselves out of slumber while their mom was in the bathroom. The guys took turns at the bathroom when she was done, and then they all met back up at the sleeping bags.

  Michael shied away from his dad, as they stood there waiting to go.

  Barbara caught on to it. “What did you do to him Danny?” She asked, that motherly instinct kicking in. Michael let her hold him, rare, so, so, so rare, for him to let her do this.

  “I kept him safe. Now, we need to get walking.” Danny started rounding up their gear, and getting them ready for traveling. He wasn’t sure how far they would have to walk before they saw a phone, so it was urgent they get started.

  “Are you okay, honey?” She stroked Michael’s hair as Johnny looked at his brother.

  Michael noticed and pushed her away. “I’m fine mom, okay. I’m a big boy.”

  “Okay, everybody grab something; let’s get moving,” Danny replied, slapping his hands together.

  They all started collecting their things; Barbara stopped the process for a moment.

  “What’s this?” She asked.

  Danny looked at Barbara who was currently kneeling, and looking inside the bag of pictures, both boys looking over her shoulder, curious as to what was inside.

  “I didn’t know if they would be safe in the house or not, so I grabbed what I thought were the most important ones.”

  Barbara was stunned. Here was this man who had just put her through absolute hell, and now this revealed itself to her. It didn’t let him off the hook, but it did remind her of the type of guy he was. The type of guy he was before this day happened.

  “Okay, let’s go now. Time is wasting,” Danny replied, slapping his hands together again.

  No one hesitated; they followed his lead, grabbed their stuff, and started to walk.

  The walk was about two miles in length.

  Danny was the first to see the phone. A small red number set back inside the wall with push buttons and a headset attached to it by a silver wire cord.

  “There it is,” Danny replied, stopping them. “How about you guys go into the cooler for some food and snacks? I’ll make the call.” He set them up in an area just beyond the phone, where he thought the shuttle wouldn’t run them over. “Eat li
ght, food and water are scarce,” Danny replied, walking over to make the call after taking the card out of his pocket that had the number on it.

  Barbara looked down at the cooler and what was inside of it when it was opened. She then looked at the sleeping bags and the suitcases. So many secrets, she thought, so many secrets. She had loved this man and known this man for so long. How had he done all of this without her knowing it? The wifely instincts must have slipped somewhere along the way.

  When Danny came back, he sat down beside Barbara who was looking through the bag full of photos.

  “They are sending a shuttle as we speak. It should be here within thirty minutes to an hour,” Danny replied.

  “Dad, what’s going on?” It was Johnny talking as he munched on some beef jerky and water.

  Danny looked at Johnny and then to Barbara.

  “No sir, you don’t get the easy way out with this one,” Barbara replied, sharp and bitter. “You have to explain, not me.”

  “Yeah dad, why don’t you tell him, tell him how you let his friends die?”

  “Michael! Don’t talk to your father like that. Apologize!”

  “He doesn’t have to Barbara; none of you do, no matter what you say to me. This is going to be tough on all of us.”

  “Don’t be my hero, dad,” Michael replied, turning to his food and ignoring his father.

  Danny let Michael go off into his own world and focused in on Johnny.

  “Is that true, dad?” Johnny asked, waiting for an answer, still munching on food.

  “It wasn’t my choice. I could only save us. I couldn’t save anyone else. Believe me, I wanted to.” Danny paused for a moment and looked at Barbara. She looked up at him, and then quickly back to the pictures. Danny turned from her, and continued. “You see Johnny, those guys on the news . . .”

  “The guys that were threatening to blow up everyone?”

  “That’s the ones, well, they went and did it. We’re down here because of them. They nuked the world.”

  “So, there’s no home to go back to?” Johnny asked, still munching on food.

  “Eventually we will get to go back, once the radiation is cleaned up.”

  “What happened to everyone?”

  “Some were brought down here, like us. Some were not. Throughout the country the same thing has happened, people safe, just like we are.”

  Johnny’s questions died after that as he finished up his snack. At his age, he wasn’t really sure how to process this information. Mad or sad, both of them seemed like obvious choices. He just didn’t know which one to pick.

  Time clicked forward.

  No one talked.

  Danny had thrown in a few games they could play to pass the time. Johnny took to one of them, but Michael just sulked. Danny left him alone with his thoughts.

  About thirty minutes later, they heard the whoosh of air as something was fast approaching. They all looked down the tunnel and saw a big shiny object coming their way. This object looked like a beige egg-shaped street car. It arrived, and stopped just where the phone was located.

  A small door rose up, and a ladder unrolled itself to the floor as they stood there staring at it This vehicle had four individual seats inside; two on each end of the compartment, so whoever was riding in there together would be facing one another. The seats were covered in soft plush tan leather with over-the-shoulder seat belts attached to them. It also had 4 windows, one on each side, and one on each end of the vehicle.

  Behind this vehicle, or in front it, depending on which way it was traveling, was a small trailer for any personal items. This trailer was big enough to hold all their gear with some room to spare.

  “Okay, Johnny, Michael, you guys get a seat where you can look forward. Barbara, you’re beside me.”

  The kids climbed in, and Barbara followed suit after zipping up the bag full of photos. She wasn’t sure she wanted to sit beside Danny, but she took the seat anyway.

  Danny put their stuff in the small trailer and then climbed inside. Once everyone was secure, seat belts locked tight, the ladder rolled up and slid into place. The door closed, and the machine moved on to the common area.

  Danny took one last look at the door they had come through as it faded into the distance and faded into memory. He held back the tears as the egg-shaped machine rushed forward to their new life underground.

  Barbara sat beside him, staying strong, thankful they all were safe. She was wrestling with so many issues at the moment, mostly geared toward her husband. However, as she watched the door fade off into the distance, she felt like she needed some comfort. She reached out for Danny’s hand, and he took it. The time for arguing wasn’t over, and the conversations would surely linger; but for now she just needed him.

  As for the boys, Michael sulked and said not a word as he drifted back to sleep, eyes staring at the plain white walls on the inside of the egg-shaped machine. Johnny played his game seeming not to mind the movement of the vehicle or the fact that the world had just gone nuclear.

  They traveled on, and away from their home, a home they wouldn’t see again for one whole year.

  *

  The vehicle cruised along without any noise, gliding easily down the rail towards it’s one and only destination, descending as it went, going deeper and deeper into the Earth. The vehicle passed other tunnels on the left and right side as it moved on. These tunnels had egg-shaped cars coming out of them, and these cars were heading off in the same direction as Danny and his family, towards the common area.

  Danny ran thoughts through his head, silent tormenting thoughts, as he leaned his head back against the seat. He looked across the car, Michael now awake and staring straight ahead, Johnny still involved in his game. He wondered what they were thinking; how they were dealing with all of this now that they both knew the truth. Sure, Johnny seemed okay after their talk, but was he? Danny just didn’t know. As for Michael, who really knew what he was thinking at any given time, let alone about this?

  He looked at Barbara, and she looked at him. She smiled as he continued to hold her hand, but it wasn’t a believable smile. This smile had sharks behind it, sharks with big white angry teeth, sharks that would be a part of this marriage for many years to come. Danny was sure he was chum for not doing more before the bombs exploded; but as it stood, he was still unsure of what he could have done differently. He had told Barbara about it, and she had dismissed it. It wasn’t her fault. Who would believe something like that, but Danny felt like he had at least tried something?

  The vehicle started to slow, pulling Danny, as well as the rest of them, out of their silent thoughts. The boy’s eyes grew big as they saw the stopping point. Danny and Barbara followed their eyes and turned to see what they were seeing.

  The car was heading towards a place where sixteen different sets of tracks ended, each one of them with their own docking bay, which could hold about six cars at a time. It was a bee hive of activity as egg-shaped cars moved into and out of this area. People of all shapes, races, and sizes, like a caravan of dazed zombies went about their task of collecting their things, and checking in.

  Air brakes whooshed.

  The vehicle Danny and his family were in, eased to a stop like a roller coaster finishing its ride. The door opened, and the ladder rolled out to the platform. Danny’s family descended one by one onto the hard silver surface as other cars with more families started to line up behind them. Danny grabbed their bags and placed them at their feet.

  He surveyed the area.

  About a hundred yards from them, the length of a football field, were booths lined up from one wall to the other. There had to be at least fifty of them, and at each of these booths, like customs at the airport, were lines and lines of people waiting for their turn to be checked in.

  These booths had four short white walls, squarely placed around the person inside, who was sitting in a chair behind a counter, which held a computer, a printer, and various other office devices. The attendants inside
these booths were wearing zip up jumper suits that looked like something a convict would wear, not the traditional orange color, but a pleasing blue.

  In front of these booths, was a large platform where people could gather and wait to be checked in. On this large platform there were several places for food, supplies, and clothes. It was a grand area, with concrete walls, silver floors, and vaulted ceilings.

  “Okay guys, grab something, and let’s get our place in line,” Danny replied.

  Danny’s family did as they were requested and made their way over to the booth closest to them. They took their place in line and waited, and waited, and waited, shuffling forward ever so slowly. Finally, after what seemed like hours, they reached their booth.

  “Your name please,” The guy asked, as he smiled up at Danny and his family. He was a skinny male about twenty-five years of age, with his hair tied back in a pony tail, goatee trimmed tight.

  Barbara looked up as they stood there and ogled the archway which stood high above them, just beyond these booths. This archway was made of a heavy thick plain concrete and at the top, in the center of the arch, was a big neon red sign which read: COMMON AREA