by Harley Tate
Danny thought it over. He wished he remembered more of the class on World War II. It had been an easy elective and not part of his pre-med curriculum; it was one of those classes he blew off more than he cared to admit. Bethel snorted and Danny shook his head. “Even if we’d fit, how do we get the horses in?”
“It’s not that high,” Midge said hopefully. “We could unhook the carriage and coax them inside.”
Danny flicked the reins as they left the train behind. “There’s no food or water and a box car can’t be airtight.”
Midge clenched a fist. “So we’d be breathing in fallout and not even know it.”
“Probably.”
She cursed beneath her breath. “We’re never going to find a place.”
“Hold on.” Danny rose up in the seat as the horses adjusted to the road. “What about that house?” Barely past the tracks, a squat brick ranch sat surrounded by weeds and unmowed grass. A small basement window peeked out at ground level. “It’s got a basement. Looks to be all brick. It might work.”
Vines grew over the front of the house and one window on the main floor appeared broken and boarded up. A rotted planter box circling the mailbox held nothing but weeds and gravel.
Midge shifted in anticipation. “It looks abandoned.”
Danny turned the horses toward the gravel drive and eased them forward. The longer he stared at the house, the more promise it held. All by itself next to the train tracks, it provided safety and clear lines of sight through the nonbroken windows. The front door appeared big enough to lead Bethel and Beatrice through one at a time. After the fallout dissipated and the threat of radiation eased, the grass and weeds would give the horses food for a few days.
It could give them time to regroup and figure out their next steps. Danny smiled with hope for the first time in forever as he pulled the horses to a stop. “Let’s check it out.”
Midge hopped out of the carriage and Danny did the same. They converged on the shabby, broken front step and Danny reached for the handle. He jiggled it before letting out a groan. “Locked.”
“I’ll check the back.”
Danny reached for Midge. “Wait. We should knock.”
“What? No—” Midge began to protest, but Danny already rapped his knuckles against the faded front door.
“Hello? Is anyone home?” He knocked louder before cupping his hands around his mouth to shout. “Hello!”
Midge almost hissed at him. “We should just break in.”
“And do what with whoever lives here?”
Midge gesticulated at the faded front door. “Who could live in a place like this?”
Danny tried again. “Hello? Anyone?” He knocked again and waited. No one answered.
“Come on, let’s try the back.” Midge took off down the step and around the side of the house before Danny could say a word. He wanted inside as much as she did, but if someone lived there, they couldn’t just break in and kick them out.
Midge whooped and called out. “Back is open! Going in!”
“What? No!” Danny ran down the side of the house, past overgrown bushes and a stack of broken terra-cotta pots and into the backyard. A postage-stamp back patio nestled against the wall and the rear door stood open. Danny sucked in a breath and raced inside, only to be confronted with the wrong-end of a double-barrel shotgun.
An elderly man wearing an undershirt and forty-year-old plaid pants held the gun in a shaking grip. “I don’t take kindly to trespassers!”
Danny skidded to a stop and held up his hands. “I’m sorry, sir. I was only looking for my friend.”
“Over here.” Midge crouched behind a worn recliner, Max’s revolver in her right hand. She was lucky to be alive.
Danny tried to smile at the older man. “We didn’t mean any harm. We were just looking for a place to stay for a few days.”
“I don’t care if you’re here to tell me I’ve won the Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes! I don’t want no trespassers.” He waggled the gun at Danny. “Now git out before I pump you full of double-aught!”
Danny took a step back. The inside of the home was as dilapidated as the outside. Years of use wore a track down the middle of the linoleum in the hall and the underlayment peeked through a patch of carpet in front of the recliner. He smiled again, hands still raised in the air. “We’re sorry to have bothered you.”
“Darn right, you are!” The man’s suspenders shook as he held the gun, the brass buckles tarnished with age. “You young’uns ain’t got no sense these days. Breakin’ into an old man’s house and for what?”
“There’s a bomb, sir. A nuclear bomb just detonated in Chicago.” The old man needed to know to stay inside. “It’s not safe out there.”
Midge’s voice squeaked from behind the chair. “We need shelter for a few days.”
“So that’s the latest scam, is it? Well, I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck and I don’t need the likes of you eatin’ all my food and stealin’ all my money. Now git!”
Danny swallowed. He couldn’t just leave the man there and not warn him. “You need to stay inside, sir. Stay inside for two days and don’t go out.”
“Do I look like I’m goin’ anywhere to you?” The gun wobbled. “Now move it before I decide to decorate my parlor with your head.”
Danny took a step back. There was no point in trying to talk to the man. He didn’t want to listen. Danny glanced at Midge. “Come on, let’s go.”
She hesitated behind the chair and Danny gritted his teeth. “Come on.” He backed up again toward the patio door and Midge finally emerged.
The old man swung the shotgun toward her. “You’re lucky I like that chair so much. Now go.”
Midge opened her mouth to say something, but Danny reached for her arm. He dragged her toward the back door, free hand still in the air and most of his body still facing the old man. “We’re sorry to have bothered you, but please, stay inside.”
He shoved Midge out and stepped back onto the patio before reaching for the door. As it swung shut, Midge crowded close against him. She pressed her lips together and focused on the ground before looking him in the eye. “I’m pretty sure he lives alone.”
“Yeah, so what?”
Midge pinched the back of her neck. “That shotgun’s got how many shots before he needs to reload?”
“I think it only has two. But what does that matter?”
“You think he’s a good shot? I saw the gun shaking. I don’t know if he could even hold it up much longer.”
Danny tore a hand through his hair. He didn’t like this conversation at all. “So what? He told us to leave and that’s what we need to do.”
Midge glanced back at the patio door. “We could take him out. Wait until he runs out of ammo and tie him up or knock him out.”
Danny staggered back, staring at Midge in disbelief. “What?”
“It’s risky, but…” She held up the revolver. “Max’s gun isn’t empty yet.”
Danny couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth. It hadn’t even been two days and Midge was ready to attack an innocent man? He didn’t know what to say or what to think. He stepped away from her, backpedaling toward the side of the house.
Midge didn’t move. Was she going to do it without him? He pointed toward the road. “I’m leaving right now. Either come with me or don’t, but I won’t help you hurt an innocent old man.”
Danny turned and stalked toward the front. Without a driver to direct them or an anchor for their bridles, Bethel and Beatrice had pulled the carriage over to a spot in the yard teeming with grass and weeds. Beatrice tugged a clump out of the ground with her teeth and chewed while Danny clambered into the carriage.
He fell into the seat, too shocked to move. If Midge wanted to stay behind and fight an old man for his house, she could, but he refused to be a part of it. The world might have gone to hell, but it didn’t mean he had to go along with it.
Everything they’d seen… Everything they�
��d done to escape Chicago. It didn’t compare to this.
He flicked the reins, but Beatrice merely shook her mane and stamped. Bethel snorted. Danny cursed out loud. “Come on, we have to go!” He flicked the reins again and the horses lurched forward, first one step and then another. Directing them in a wide arc across the grass, Danny headed for the road. If this was the end of his friendship with Midge, then so be it.
As Bethel clomped one hoof onto the road, Midge ran up from the house. She grabbed the side of the carriage and vaulted into the driver’s seat, flopping beside Danny with a cloud of dust. She shoved the gun into her messenger bag and leaned back against the seat as the horses settled into a trot on the road.
After a few moments, she spoke. “I’m sorry.”
Danny cut her a glance. “You seriously wanted to get into a shootout? Risk our lives and his? What if we killed him? What if he killed us?”
She ducked her head and her black hair fell across her face. “I swear I thought the house was empty. When he stuck the gun in my face—I panicked. All I could think about was the fallout and dying from exposure and I saw an easy way out and—” her voice faltered. “When did hurting someone become the easy option?”
“When a nuclear bomb blew Chicago apart.” Danny didn’t like to admit it, but it was the truth. From here on out, it would be easier to do the wrong thing than the right. He was determined not to give in to those baser impulses. At least not yet. He leaned over and bumped Midge with his shoulder. “Thanks for not choosing the dark side.”
She let out a breath of a laugh. “What did Yoda say, something about cowards choosing the dark side?” She tucked her hair behind her ear. “I think he was right.”
Danny smiled and eased back in the seat. “We’ll find a place. Don’t worry.”
They continued on, rolling down the street toward what appeared to be a row of warehouses. Midge perked up beside him. “Most businesses have a loading dock, right? That means a garage door or something big enough to wheel the carriage inside.”
Danny stat up straighter, eager to find a place to hide. But as they approached, Danny’s optimism faded. What used to be a bustling warehouse district now sat broken and ruined. Graffiti covered every surface and most windows gaped where glass used to be. Hiding in a warehouse without a window wasn’t any better than standing on the street.
He ground his teeth together. There had to be something.
“That one looks okay,” Midge said slowly, gesturing at a building on the left side. “The parking lot is empty and the sign is faded, but the windows in the front aren’t smashed.”
Danny eased up on the reins and directed the horses off the road. The sign above the window read George’s Garage, although the lettering had long since faded to a pale orange instead of red.
Midge motioned to the roll-up door. “If it opens, we can bring the horses inside while we check the place out.”
The carriage rolled to a stop and Danny hesitated. “What if we leave them out here? It’ll be faster to search that way.”
Midge climbed out of the carriage and turned to face him. “We’re not doing things the easy way, remember? We’re doing them right. We can’t risk someone stealing them or Beatrice spooking and running off. You saw how she freaked out over the dog. Either we bring them in, or one of us stays here.”
Danny swallowed. Midge was right. They needed to be smart and do things right. He pointed at the handle. “Try the door. Maybe we’ll be lucky.”
Chapter Three
DANNY
Saturday, 5:15 pm CST
Gary, Indiana
Midge yanked on the garage-style door and rusted gears screeched. “It’s moving!” She tugged harder and the door rolled up, exposing a dim cavern of interior space beyond.
Danny eased the horses forward. They protested a fraction, swishing their heads back and forth, but Midge clucked and held out her hand, coaxing them into the dark. As soon as the carriage cleared the door, Midge rolled it shut.
The bank of high windows facing the afternoon sun cast the warehouse in an eerie, grime-filtered haze. Danny rolled his shoulders and reached for his backpack before fishing out the shiny gun he’d stolen from the pawn shop owner. Almost too big for his hand, the monstrosity had to weigh close to three pounds, but it got the job done all the same.
He gripped it tight and clambered down to the warehouse floor.
“We should search the whole place,” Midge whispered across the carriage. “Make sure no one else has the same idea.”
Danny stared at the dust motes dancing in the dim light. “It looks like no one’s been here for years.”
“That’s what I thought about the house, too.” Midge held Max’s gun in her right hand, still unable to use her left thanks to the gash across her palm. She motioned toward the far side of the warehouse. “I’ll take that side, you take this one and we’ll meet at the other end, deal?”
Danny nodded and watched Midge sneak across the space until her black clothes blended into the dark. From the outside, they appeared a most unlikely pair: Danny with his faded T-shirt from a trip out to San Diego a few years ago and Midge with her jet-black locks and lace-up boots. The end of modern civilization made strange bedfellows.
An image of Danny’s life years ago burst into his mind: one of those freeze-frame portraits stuck in his memory forever. He was eight and his brother was six. They had just moved to their house in Connecticut. As soon as the SUV came to a stop, his little brother burst out the door and raced into the backyard. Danny followed a few steps behind, almost slamming into Joey’s small frame when he cleared the back fence.
Water shimmered in the afternoon light. They had a pool.
He still remembered the look of sheer joy on Joey’s face. They tore off their shoes and socks as fast as possible and splashed into the freezing spring water. Their mom didn’t even scold them. He smiled at the thought of the two people he loved more than anything. They had both died within the next few years. He pushed a wave of old pain aside. At least his mom and brother were spared the misery of this new world.
When his brother died, Danny went to boarding school, his father sold the Connecticut house, and the last vestiges of Danny’s happy life disappeared. His dad moved into an apartment within walking distance of his office: a two-bedroom where Danny didn’t even have a room. Sure, he could crash on the guest bed if his father wasn’t entertaining company, but it wasn’t his home.
He didn’t have a home anymore. If a bomb detonated in New York, neither did his dad. Did his father make it out of Manhattan?
He shoved his hair away and the past along with it. He didn’t have time to mourn a man who gave up on him. He needed to focus on Midge and the horses and finding a safe place to hide.
With a deep breath, Danny eased away from the entry and toward the expanding darkness. On his side of the building, the high windows gave way to cracked concrete walls and abandoned shop machinery. Running his finger along an old, scarred work bench, he came up with months, if not years, of dust. The place had been abandoned long before the EMP or threat of nuclear war.
He stepped forward and yelped as his shin slammed into something solid and unforgiving. He grabbed his leg, hopping on one foot as he squinted to make out the culprit. A lever for a hydraulic lift. He’d missed it while canvassing the wall. Wretched darkness. What he wouldn’t give for a flashlight.
As he passed through the main work area, a breeze ruffled his hair. He walked toward it, discovering a window frame with nothing but black garbage bags and duct tape instead of glass. A sliver of light lit up a square of peeling linoleum and Danny frowned. Unless the warehouse had a basement, it wouldn’t work. They might be able to hide on the opposite side of the building, far away from the gaping hole, but what if Midge found more broken glass?
He hurried through the rest of the main space and opened an interior door near the rear corner. The stench of sewer hit his nose and he recoiled. The bathroom. Another broken window lit up t
he filthy tile floor and a toilet teeming with mold. Even if the glass remained intact, no way could he spend two days trapped in a room with that smell.
He shut the door and kept moving, clearing the rest of his side before finding his way over to Midge. She wiped her forehead with her sleeve and hurried to join him. “I found a set of stairs. Looks like they go to the basement.”
Danny perked up. A basement? The broken windows wouldn’t matter if they could find a secure spot downstairs. The horses wouldn’t be able to join them, but staying inside the main part of the warehouse would give them better protection than just outside. He followed Midge to the set of stairs and hesitated at the top.
“It’s pitch-black down there.”
She shrugged. “Our eyes will adjust. Come on.” She led the way, gripping the handrail tight as she eased down the metal stairs. Her feet thudded on the floor and Danny eased around her, blinking against the darkness.
“Smells like stale oil and grease.”
“I don’t think anyone’s been down here in ages.” Danny swallowed a thick glob of spit. He couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of him. Midge took a step away and he reached for her, suddenly afraid of being alone. “Let’s search together. I can’t see a thing.”
Midge’s hand slipped around his and she tugged him toward the right. “I must have better night vision. It looks like a storage area. Come on this way.” She pulled him toward the darkness and Danny blinked over and over, trying in vain to see.
She stopped and Danny stumbled into her. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. There’s some storage lockers over here. I’m going to search them.”
Danny ran his tongue over his lips. “Are they big enough to climb inside?”
Midge snorted. “No. Why?”
“We should be looking for a place to camp out, not searching lockers.” He ran a hand through his hair, unnerved by his inability to see. “We’re running out of time.”
“We also need food. What are Bethel and Beatrice going to do without anything to eat for two days? They can’t stay in a warehouse with nothing.”