by T M Edwards
He chuckled wryly. “If I knew that, I would know how far we are from our destination.”
“Oh.” I sighed and laid my head on my backpack.
“What?”
“Nothing. I just feel so useless.”
“Hey.” I tipped my head back to look at him. “It’s my fault your ankle’s broken. The least I can do is take responsibility for helping you.”
“I didn’t think you remembered that.”
“Of course I remember.”
I moved my head to look forward. “I don’t blame you, you know.”
“I’m aware. That doesn’t mean I’m not responsible.”
I shifted the tent bag under my arm. Everything was digging into me today, no matter how much I moved around. I was bored out of my mind. I was cold. I was hungry.
Just a few more days.
Day 40, October 26th
That morning, only a mile or so into our journey, one of the wheels on the cart gave way. The cart tilted to the side and I tumbled out onto the road, crying out from the pain in my ankle.
Sam rushed to my aid, but I refused to let him help me, and dragged myself a few feet away from the cart. He inspected the damage to the wheel, and swore loudly. “I can’t fix this.”
I felt the beginnings of panic tightening my throat. “So what now? It’s not like you can carry me. We haven’t seen any cars in days.”
Sam wearily rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. “I don’t know. Let me think.’
So I shut my mouth, even though a million anxious thoughts were demanding to be expressed. I pulled my uninjured leg up and rested my forehead on my knee. The fall had made me feel slightly dizzy...or was that just an oncoming panic attack? Either way, my head felt like it wasn’t quite firmly attached to my shoulders.
Sam walked back to where I sat, and lowered himself to the ground until he was kneeling in front of me. “Deidre,” he bobbed his head until he caught my eyes. “I think maybe I should go on alone.”
My stomach sank instantly, and I opened my mouth to protest, but he held up a hand. “Not permanently. But I could travel to Vegas myself and find help.”
“What makes you think there will be help? We don’t even know if the people that made the broadcast are still there. Or still alive!”
“Do you have a better idea?”
I opened my mouth again, then closed it.
“I could try to carry you, but it will slow us down dramatically. We’ll run out of food and water long before we reach Vegas. If I go alone, I can reach it in a day and a half, and be back in three, or less, depending on what kind of transportation they have. I’ll leave most of the food with you. Deidre,” he reached out and touched my chin to force me to look at him when I dropped my eyes. “I promise I’ll come back.”
I choked back the tears that were burning my eyes. Sam’s face blurred in front of me. “How do I know you’ll keep your promise?”
Sam reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out his wallet. From inside it, he took something which he pressed into my hands. “This is how you know.” Without another word, he jumped up.
As Sam gathered up our belongings and started to set up the tent just off of the edge of the road, I looked at the little piece of paper he’d given me. It was the photo of Isla, his daughter, the person he cared about most, and this photograph was the only reminder he had of her.
The tears escaped my control and rolled down my face as I stared at the photo. The bright eyes of that little girl looked back at me, so much like her father’s. This man, who I’d only met a few days ago, who I had been forced to befriend if I wanted to survive. This was the person I’d once worried was a serial killer, and who I was now desperate to keep near. Just the thought of being alone again filled me with such panic that I could hardly breathe.
After a few moments, Sam knelt in front of me. “Please don’t go,” I gasped through the sobs. “Please don’t leave me alone.”
I could have sworn that Sam was now holding back tears. “I have to.”
“I’m scared.”
He reached out and caught a tear that was running down my cheek on his fingertip. “So am I.” His voice broke, and he pushed himself to his feet. He pulled his coat on, and slung the backpack over his shoulders, then used the waist and chest buckles to secure it. I watched him as he set off at a jog, and the dull thuds of his shoes on the pavement soon receded into silence.
I watched as he ran. He didn’t slow down, his legs drove him forward at the pace of someone who has spent much time running. It hit me how little I still knew about him. I knew his darkest secret, his deepest longing, but hardly any of the little things that made him the person that he was.
I watched until he was lost in the faint haze that lay over the land.
Day 41, October 27th
I had lain in the tent sleepless for most of the night, listening to the hum of my little radio as it played the message over and over. The air in the tent was finally beginning to turn gray, and the sun would be rising soon.
I pushed myself up and pulled the blanket with the food in it toward me. I realized, with a sinking feeling in my stomach, that Sam had left me almost all of the food. I tossed an energy bar at the side of the tent in anger. That man! He wouldn’t help anybody if he collapsed from hunger on his way to Vegas. It wasn’t just himself he was hurting if he didn’t make it, and all he’d done is prolong my suffering if he didn’t come back, by leaving me more food.
At least he’d taken two of the water jugs.
I chewed and swallowed a tasteless bar, and tossed the paper out through the door of the tent. I unzipped the door all the way and looked out, at where the cart lay pitifully on its side, with the left front wheel on the ground beside it. Sam was right, it wasn’t fixable, not without a welding torch or something similar.
I tried to avoid thinking about how alone and vulnerable I was. We hadn’t seen any animals bigger than birds and squirrels. Yet, that didn’t mean they were gone. Maybe the more intelligent animals had been affected by the radiation just like the humans. Or maybe they were just hiding out, waiting for prey that couldn’t run away or defend itself. Prey like me?
Morning wore on toward noon, and turned into afternoon. It was warm today, warm enough that all I needed was my shirt and pants. I chanced a look at my broken ankle, but quickly lowered the hem of my pants as my stomach twisted in disgust. I had no idea the human body was capable of producing such colors. If the fracture had once been visible like Sam had claimed, it was now obscured by swelling and bruising.
I flopped back onto the sleeping bag with my arms over my head, and stared at the tent ceiling. The sound of the radio began to flicker, and I reached over to grab it so I could crank the handle.
My arm was tired by the time the battery had reached two bars. I laid on my back with the radio propped between my chest and my chin. I had the broadcast memorized by now.
I had almost dozed off when the radio crackled with static, making me jump. My heart raced as another voice, a familiar voice, spoke.
“Deidre.”
Sam! It’s Sam! He made it!
“Deidre, it’s me. I made it. I hope you’re listening. We’re coming to get you. Just hang on a little longer, okay? We’ll be there soon. I’m setting this broadcast to loop between the regular one every hour. We should be there by sunset. See you soon.”
Sam made it. He’s coming! We. Who’s we? The people are still alive! Someone is coming with him!
Elation soared in me so strong that I could no longer feel the pain in my leg. It was, what, maybe mid-afternoon? Maybe four hours until sunset? I looked at the little clock on the radio. It was just after four in the afternoon. Okay, three to four hours.
We were almost there. Our journey was almost over. We were about to see the people who were working to end the silent apocalypse. Normalcy was nearly in my grasp.
I laid down and put my arms under my head. I felt like I was buzzing with the anticipation. My stomac
h was tight and my heart wouldn’t stop pounding. It was almost over.
I stared at the roof of the tent, begging the sun to move more quickly, until I somehow managed to doze off.
Day 42. October 28th
I woke with a start to darkness. I sat up, forgetting that the radio was on my chest, and it went tumbling to the ground.
Sam said he’d be here. Where is he??
I grabbed the radio and cranked it until it came back on. Please, please let there be an update. Please let him just be delayed. Please.
Nothing. Just the normal broadcast. I screamed in frustration, and hurled the radio against the side of the tent. If anticipation and tension could kill, I was dangerously close. My whole body ached with desperation, as my ears strained to hear the sound of tires approaching. There was nothing. Silence. Not even the croak of an insect.
Tears of frustration, hot and saline, ran down my cheeks. I unzipped the tent door so violently that the canvas tore, and crawled out to sit on the dirt. Now my eyes joined in the search for any approaching vehicle.
What’s that sound? For several minutes, I was sure I was imagining it. It wasn’t a car. There were no headlights in the distance. It was more a whir than a rumble. It sounded like…
“Helicopter!” Forgetting my ankle, I jumped up, and nearly fell straight back down. I stood unsteadily on my good leg, as the now-unmistakable beat of helicopter blades approached. Two stars resolved into moving lights, which coalesced into a metal body that glinted in the moonlight.
I waited with my heart in my throat as the helicopter drew ever closer, terrified they wouldn’t see me. I waved my arms like a crazy person, then remembered that the radio had an emergency light. I fell to my knees and searched frantically through the tent in the dark until my hand closed on the radio. I pushed the button, and held it as high as I could, waving it in long arcs.
Whether they saw me, or just by instinct, the helicopter went into a descent. The breeze from the blades stirred my hair as it lowered itself to the ground about a hundred feet away. I thought my heart would burst from the effort it took to stop myself from running forward.
One of the doors opened, and a figure emerged. It came running toward me, and eventually resolved into Sam. He was grinning widely, and he grabbed me in his arms and swung me around, laughing.
“I thought you weren’t coming!” I blurted, and immediately kicked myself for not saying something that sounded more grateful.
Sam sobered. “I know. I’m sorry. There was a small mechanical issue. I couldn’t get back to the radio to let you know.” Then he laughed, and reached down to pick me up. “Come on, Tom wants to get back.” He carried me toward the helicopter with my arms around his neck and his behind my shoulders and knees. The wind from the blades tugged at my hair, and the elastic on the hair tie snapped, which made my curls go wild. Sam got a facefull of hair, but he just laughed.
He set me down on the step and I looked up to see a man sitting at the controls. This must be Tom. As soon as I’d grabbed hold of the handle near the door, Sam took off to gather up our belongings.
Tom was as skinny as a rail, and obviously tall, even while sitting. A helmet and headset covered his hair, and he was wearing a gray hoodie that was several sizes too big. He was also wearing some sort of face mask, like doctors and nurses wore to protect themselves from germs.
There were only two seats in the helicopter. Tom stared straight ahead, and didn’t even greet me. I stood on one foot, in awkward silence, willing Sam to return quickly.
When Sam finally came back, he tossed the blanket with the food into the floorboard. “Sorry, it’s gonna be a bit tight. You’re going to have to sit on my lap.”
“Is that...safe?” We were both nearly yelling to be heard over the noise of the helicopter.
“Probably not!” Sam shouted, and somehow maneuvered himself so that he was in the seat and I was sitting on top of his legs. He reached over and pulled the door closed, then gave Tom a thumbs-up. The noise of the helicopter abruptly increased, and the ground receded, feeling like it left my stomach down there with it. I grabbed frantically for something to keep me from tipping over into our pilot, and ended up pinching Sam’s arm. I heard his voice in my ear, and his arm went around my waist to steady me. I couldn’t hear what he said.
We sped over the ground at unbelievable speed. I could hardly see anything in the dark, anyway. I just held onto the handle over the door for dear life, feeling unsteady from the vibration of the helicopter even with Sam’s arm around me.
I’d only flown once, and that was in a commercial passenger airplane. This was completely different. After a while, I had to fix my eyes on the horizon to avoid feeling airsick. A mass of dark buildings rose in the distance and gradually grew closer. Vegas!
Tom flew us over miles and miles of city, heading north. By the time we reached the edge of the desert again, the sky to our right had faded from black to pale gray.
Just as the helicopter started to descend, it shuddered horribly, and the engine sputtered. I screamed in terror, and screwed my eyes shut, clutching at Sam’s arm.
I faintly heard a voice yell “Hang on, ground’s coming up fast!” and I couldn’t be sure if it was Sam or Tom.
The engine roared, and the helicopter lurched. There was a loud sputtering noise and the blades slowed. We plunged toward the ground with sickening speed for what felt like hours, even though it was mere seconds. Then the engine roared to life again, and our descent slowed.
I managed to open my eyes just enough to see the ground rising up to meet us entirely too fast, just a split second before we hit the dirt with a deafening screech of metal. Sam lost his hold on me and I went flying forward into the windshield. Blinding pain lanced through my forehead as I hit the glass, and everything spiraled into darkness.
Day Unknown
When I woke, I had no idea where I was. My head was throbbing like someone was pounding the inside of my skull with a hammer. I was in a room that was dark except for an oil lantern that burned on a plastic folding table near the other wall. I was laying in a bed, covered with a white sheet and thin blanket. My right ankle was sticking out of the covers and propped on a pillow, and it was splinted and wrapped in bandages.
I moved my arm to push my hair back and something tugged on my skin. There was an IV in my hand which led to a bag of fluids that hung from a pole.
I used my free hand to push myself to a sitting position. The pounding in my head intensified and the room began to swim. I laid back against the pillows and tried to catch my breath.
The wall of the room shivered, and for a moment I was convinced I was hallucinating. Then I realized that I wasn’t in a building at all. I was in some sort of tent. The “door” was nothing more than a slit in the tan fabric. On the other side of the walls, I could hear people talking somewhere outside.
“Hello?” I called, then winced when the effort made my head hurt worse.
The voices ceased, and a hand reached inside to push the canvas aside. A woman appeared in the opening, short and Asian with a chin-length bob, and dressed in a white coat that went to her knees.
The doctor smiled at me, then stuck her head back through the doorway. “Sam!” she called. “Your friend is awake!”
I heard rapidly approaching footsteps, and Sam burst through the doorway next to the doctor. “Deidre!” He ran over, and sat on the edge of the bed as he grabbed my hand. The woman walked to the other side, and placed the cold end of a stethoscope on my chest. I realized awkwardly that I was only wearing some sort of thin gown.
Sam didn’t seem to notice. His grin looked like it might split his face. “Deidre, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have let go.”
He hadn’t escaped unscathed either; his other arm was in a sling, and there was a stitched gash on his left cheek.
“I’m okay. It wasn’t your fault.”
The doctor pulled out a blood pressure cuff and I stuck my arm over the rail of the bed for her to put it on.
“I still feel awful. You were just lying there...I thought you were dead…”
The doctor’s warm, accented voice interrupted. “None of that, Mr. Harrison. There’s no reason to believe she’s not going to make a full recovery.”
I looked straight into his troubled eyes. “I’m fine, Sam. Just a headache.” I gestured at my ankle. “Well, and that. But I’ll be okay, I swear.”
“You did get a pretty nasty concussion,” the doctor remarked. When I turned to focus on her, I noticed the nametag on her coat. Dr. Haroun. “We’ll be keeping an eye on you for a few days. I need you to report any dizziness or nausea, okay?”
“Okay.”
She smiled and patted my arm. “Great. I’ll let the two of you get caught up and see if the kitchen is still open. I’m sure you’re hungry.”