Cassie pulled out a map of the area and showed Andy the route she was thinking of taking. “There are a couple of small roads around the airport, mostly service roads for airport employees. We’re probably better off taking them even though it might add a mile or two, rather than taking the main exit out of the airport. I’m afraid there may be a lot of people around the main exit trying to figure out what to do. I don’t want to tempt anyone with our back packs and stuff. We’ll have to take the main highway for the first fifty or so miles, but then we can move onto back roads. There is less likely to be people on the back roads, and they are flatter than the main road. Of course, that way is longer, but I believe it is also safer.” She pulled out a second map. “This one shows all the hiking trails between here and home. In the past, I’ve hiked a lot of them, but that’s been a few years. At least, it can give us some alternatives to the roads if the roads aren’t safe.”
Andy looked at the maps and agreed with Cassie.
“Where do you think we ought to plan to stop tomorrow?” he asked.
They looked at the map again, and Cassie pointed to a hiking trail leading off the highway. “I know that there are a couple of places along this trail where we could probably set up. There are a lot of trees and some really big rock formations there and not much else.”
Cassie looked at her watch and suggested that since it was getting close to dinner time, they eat the sandwiches she packed and then try to catch a few hours of sleep. “I think it would be best if we tried to leave around three AM – that will give us a couple of hours of darkness to leave the airport and be well on our way by the time the sun comes up.”
While Andy reached into the passenger seat to get the cooler with their dinner, Cassie fixed dinner for Petra. Petra started to eat, but as soon as Cassie and Andy unwrapped their sandwiches, Petra began to whine.
“Oh, you hush, girl,” Cassie chided. “You’ve got your dinner. Eat up and if you behave, maybe you’ll get a treat.” Petra stopped whining, took one last look at Cassie’s sandwich and went back to her dinner.
“You’ve got her trained really well,” Andy observed. “Can she do the same things our military dogs did?”
“She’s a good guard dog. She knows how to attack on command, although it’s not something she’s done a lot of. She’s a good hunting dog and can find things really well by scent. She helps me herding sheep and goats and is incredibly smart. I’m sure there’s a lot of other things she can do that we just haven’t tried yet.” Petra could tell she was the topic of conversation and snuggled up to Cassie.
“Well, I’m glad she’ll be with us on the way home.” Andy stretched and yawned. “We probably ought to try to get some rest. It will be time to leave before we know it.” Cassie agreed, and stretched out on her sleeping bag. Andy took the blankets he found and wrapped up in them. Petra curled up on her dog bed, and within minutes, they were all asleep.
Chapter 4
Pete Jessup had just finished putting his housekeeping cart away in the environmental services closet and was getting ready to take his lunch break with his friend Les. He grabbed his lunch box and checked his front pocket to be sure he had a pack of cigarettes. He didn’t smoke, but Les did. Pete learned the hard way that Les had a bad temper when he ran out of cigarettes. He carried an extra pack so he always had some if Les ran out. That would keep Les from getting too angry. The last time Les got mad at him, he called Pete a moron. That really hurt his feelings. Pete knew he was different, but that didn’t mean it was okay for other people to call him names. After all, his mama told him every day that God made him different because he was special. He knew his Mama was proud of him. He had been working at the airport for almost seven years now after flunking out of the eighth grade twice. He worked hard and had never missed a day of work in all that time. He didn’t make a lot, but since he lived at home with his Mama and sister, he didn’t have a lot of expenses.
He was almost to the employee exit door near the back of the terminal when the lights suddenly went out. Although he knew he wasn’t supposed to, he decided to cut through the baggage claim area as he headed out to the tarmac to meet Les for their break. He didn’t want to be late because that would make Les mad, too.
Pete met Les last year when Les came to work as a baggage handler. He didn’t know a lot about Les, other than that he was single and rented a room somewhere in town. Les did a lot of things that Pete didn’t like, but he was Pete’s only friend, so he tried to ignore it when Les took things from people’s suitcases or when he talked nasty to the ladies at the ticket desk.
As Pete expected, Les was waiting for him behind the shed where the baggage carts were parked.
“Hey, Les, what happened to the lights?” he asked as soon as he saw his friend.
Les rolled his eyes and asked, “What about the lights? I’ve been working out here. Did something happen to the lights?”
“Yeah, they all went off a minute or so ago.” Les stopped to think, looking around him as he did. He noticed the runway marker lights were not on. Suddenly, they heard a loud whistling sound. As they looked up, they saw a huge commuter plane crash into the departure end of the terminal. Both men dove to the ground, covering their heads as the plane and terminal seemed to explode. After a minute or so, they looked up, expecting to see emergency vehicles and people running around. To their surprise, there were no emergency vehicles or crowds of rescuers, just the tail end of the plane sticking out of the now heavily burning terminal. Several other explosions sounded, and they could see crashed planes down at the end of the runway and off in the fields surrounding the airport.
“Oh, my God, Les, what is happening?” Pete was terrified. He had never seen anything like this and did not know what to do.
“Calm down, Pete. I think our day just got a lot better for us. Let’s go inside and see what’s going on.”
“Uh, Les, shouldn’t we go see if we can help the people on that plane?”
“Why would we want to do that? It’s burning, they are all probably dead. We need to look out for ourselves.”
“But there might be people who need help down there. I think we ought to go see if there’s anything we can do for them.” Pete started to get up, but Les reached out his arm and stopped him.
“You want to go down there and help, but that’s where the fuel tanks are. What if the plane crash makes the fuel tanks explode? You’d get killed and then who would take care of your mother?”
“Oh, my gosh, Mama. I hope she’s okay and nothing crashed near our house. I better go home and check on her.”
“I’ll go with you, Pete, but first there are a couple of things we need to take care of inside.”
Pete followed Les into the dark terminal. “Stay close to me, Pete, and don’t make any noise,” Les instructed. The two men went first into the baggage area.
“Start opening suitcases and look for money, jewelry, or anything else valuable.”
“Why, Les? Isn’t that stealing when we take stuff like that out of the suitcases?”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, don’t be an idiot. It’s not stealing. This is an emergency. We’ll need this stuff so we can trade for food for your mother, right? Do you have a lot of money with you?”
“Um, no, I don’t. You know I don’t get paid a lot.”
“Well, then, with all the power off and with airplanes crashing, don’t you think food is going to be expensive? Plus, we’ll need money for your mother’s medicines, right?”
Pete looked at Les with a shocked expression. “Oh, no, if the power is off, how will she get her medicines?”
“You let me worry about it, okay?” The men continued to look through luggage for a few minutes without finding much. Finally, Les stood and stretched.
“Come on, Pete, let’s go get some lunch.”
“How are we going to do that if the power is off?”
“Just come with me and quit asking so many questions!” Les shook his head, muttering “moron” under his
breath. The two men headed for the restaurant where Cassie and Andy had lunch. Of course, now it was completely dark in the restaurant. Les pulled out a tiny flashlight and led the way back into the kitchen. He was happy to see the gas was still working on the grill.
“How do you like your steak, Pete?”
“I can’t afford to get a steak,” Pete answered.
Les sighed in exasperation. “It’s my treat. Is medium okay?”
“Oh, thank you. Medium is good.”
Les grabbed a couple of steaks from the refrigerator and threw them onto the grill. As the steaks cooked, he searched the kitchen, pulling out all of the cans of food from the pantry.
“Hey, Pete, you know that big black tub thing on wheels you use to collect the trash? Can you go get it and bring it back here while lunch is cooking?”
Pete immediately hopped off his chair and went to go get the trash bin. When he came back with it, Les had him wipe out the inside with rags to try to get it as clean as he could. He then started putting cans of food into the bottom of the bin. Bags of flour, sugar, and potatoes went in next, and then Les started wrapping meat in trash bags and putting it on top.
Les saw Pete opening his mouth to ask another question and rolled his eyes. “Don’t ask me any more questions. When I know something, I’ll tell you.” Les took the two steaks off the grill and set them onto plates. He then carried the two plates out to the bar, with Pete following him. Les set Pete’s steak on the bar and asked, “What do you want to drink?”
Pete thought for a minute, and asked, “Can I have a coke?”
Les laughed. “We have an unlimited bar and you want coke? Sure thing.” He poured Pete’s coke, and helped himself to a bottle of scotch. Taking the top off, he tipped the bottle up and took a huge swallow. The two men spent very little time wolfing down their steaks. When they were finished, Les began taking bottles from the shelves and putting them into the trash bin with the food.
“Hey, Les? I think I hear somebody.”
“Duck down, quick.”
Pete squatted down behind the bar while Les quietly slipped into the darkness of the restaurant where he had a better view. He saw a single male, armed and pushing a wheelchair loaded with loot. “I could sure use whatever he has, and that rifle he’s carrying looks pretty good, too.” Les thought to himself. He watched as the man took the first aid kit from the front of the restaurant, and then helped himself to salt and pepper shakers and buckets of peanuts. He waited until he saw the man leaving, then slowly followed him into the terminal to see where he was headed. The man headed towards the parking lot but then disappeared in the smoke.
“I really want that rifle,” Les muttered. “No, I really NEED that rifle.”
Pete looked over at Les. “Were you talking to me?” he asked.
“Nah, I was just thinking out loud”, he said, as he resumed squeezing liquor bottles into every open area he could find in the tub. “Go find something we can use to cover this.”
Pete jumped to his feet. “What should I get?” he asked.
“I don’t care. A blanket or a tarp, or maybe one of the side curtains from the luggage carts. It doesn’t matter. We just need to fix it so people can’t see what is in here.”
Pete stood for a moment in thought, then trotted off to the baggage claim area. After a few minutes he returned to the restaurant, carrying a large tarpaulin, ropes still attached at each corner.
“Where did you find this?”
“It was covering the machines out back near where the carts are parked. Is it OK?”
“Yeah, it is actually better than I expected. Help me cover this load up and tie it down.”
The two men worked for a few minutes until Les decided the tub was properly covered.
“OK, Pete, here’s the hard part. You are going to help me push this thing to your house. We are going to take the back way out of the airport so we don’t run into any people. If we do see anyone, you are not going to tell them what we have in here.”
“But what if people are hungry? Shouldn’t we share some stuff with them to be fair?”
Les shook his head, a disgusted look on his face. “This food is for us, and for your mama and that hot little sister of yours. If we give it all away, your mama will starve to death. You don’t want that to happen, do you?”
“No, but. . .”
“No buts, Pete. Now shut up and start pushing this.” The two men slowly pushed the tub through the dark terminal and into the parking lot. The smoke was still very heavy and daylight was waning, making it hard for the men to see more than a few feet ahead of them. Les kept looking around, hoping to see the man with the rifle. Pete, on the other hand, looked straight ahead, pushing the heavy tub.
It took the two men almost three hours to push the tub to Pete’s house on the main road just past the back gate of the airport. Les noted that in spite of the power failure, the soft glow of oil lamps lit up the front windows of Pete’s small home. The driveway was empty of vehicles, but a late model pick-up truck was pulled off to the side, it’s open hood testifying to the fact it would no longer run.
As they reached the top of the driveway, Pete stopped pushing and ran to the door, calling his mother.
“Mama, are you OK? I’m home and I brought someone with me.” Pete’s mother stuck her head out the front door, and Pete saw she was holding his father’s old shotgun.
“Mama, why are you holding the gun? Did something happen?”
“Pete, I’m so glad you’re home safe,” she cried. “The gun is for protection from people who might be out wandering around taking advantage of this situation,” she explained. “Who did you bring home with you?”
Pete turned to Les and introduced him to his mother. “Mama, this is Les Weston. He and I work together. Les, this is my mother, Emma Jessup.” Les nodded at Emma.
“Nice to meet you, Ms. Jessup.” He turned to Pete. “Hey, we need to get this food inside and put up before people try to steal it from us.”
“What do you boys have in that tub?” Emma asked.
“Mama, we took a bunch of food from the restaurant. Les said it wasn’t stealing because he called it a state of emergency. Besides, the terminal was on fire, so it would have just burned up anyway.”
“Terminal on fire? What are you talking about, boy? Both of you come on inside and tell me what happened.” Emma shook her head as she held the door open for the two men.
“I’ll be inside as soon as I push this tub into the back yard,” Les said.
Twenty minutes later, Les and Pete were sitting in front of the fireplace in Emma’s living room, telling her about the planes crashing and the terminal on fire. Emma asked many questions about what they saw, what was working, how many people they saw, and so on. Les got the impression she did not believe him and was rapidly getting irritated at all of her questions.
“Look, lady, you can believe what you want, but we are telling you exactly what happened. I think this was an EMP, and that the power is going to be out for a long, long time.”
Emma stood up. “Don’t you be rude to me in my own house, young man. You can leave as easily as you came here if that is going to be your attitude.”
“Mom, don’t get mad at Les. He’s tired from pushing that big tub of food all this way. Why, the first thing he was worried about was making sure you had enough food and stuff.” Pete looked so pitiful that his mother relaxed.
“OK, son, why don’t you and Les go get some rest. In the morning, we will all pitch in together to get the food put away.”
Les stood up with his hands on his hips. “No, we are going to bring it in now. I have stuff in there I don’t want to leave out overnight.” He pointed at Emma. “Go wake up Pete’s sister and have her come help us.”
“Now, you hold on. You don’t come into my house giving me orders. Pete is tired and needs to rest. Your stuff will be fine overnight, and if not, you can just take it with you and leave.” Emma stood, hands on hips staring Les down. She wa
s totally unprepared for what came next.
Les got right in her face and snarled, “Look, old woman, you are not a part of my post-EMP survival plan. I don’t mind you staying around because Pete tells me you are a good cook. I am running this show now, and you’d better get that through your head, or else.”
“Or else what? This is MY house, and I control who is here. You have 15 minutes to get your stuff and leave.”
Les looked at her in shock and started laughing. “I’ll say this for you, you’re feisty.” He then balled his fist and punched Emma in the face. Emma went flying backwards, landing on her back on the living room floor.
“Hey!” yelled Pete. “You hit my Mama.” Pete ran at Les and began hitting him. Les pushed Pete away and smirked.
“Go take care of your mama, you moron. Then, come outside and help me bring this stuff in. Oh, and find your hot little sister. She is part of my EMP survival plan.” As Les strode out the front door, Pete rushed over to his mother.
“Mama, are you okay?”
Emma shook her head slowly and wiped blood off the side of her mouth. “I’ll be all right, but he has to go.” She looked around the living room, as Les walked back in carrying her shotgun.
“Are you looking for this, old woman?” he asked. “I fixed it so you can’t shoot me.”
Pete looked shocked. “What did you do to my daddy’s gun?”
Les laughed. “Nothing, really, just bent the barrel so it wouldn’t fire.” He tossed the shotgun down and went back outside.
“Oh, Mama, I’m so sorry. I knew he was not really a good person, but I didn’t know he was this bad.” Emma put her arm around Pete’s shoulder.
“Don’t fret, son. We need to be very careful around Les until we can get rid of him. Go wake your sister, tell her what is going on and tell her I said to dress like a nun to protect herself.”
Several hours later, the food had all been brought inside and Emma and Tina, Pete’s sister, were busy in the kitchen canning all of the meat. Pete had been helping, but was so tired, he fell asleep on the living room floor. Les was busy making himself comfortable with another bottle of scotch in front of the fireplace.
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