In The End: a pre-apocalypse novel

by Edward M Wolfe

  Josh eventually made it to the door and collapsed onto the welcome mat.

  “Help!” he cried out. “We need help.”

  “Oh, God. I can’t stand this,” Angela said. Jim moved away from the window and led her to the kitchen.

  “Help! Please!” They could still hear Josh calling out from the other side of the door until they entered the kitchen and Jim shut the kitchen door. Terry stayed where he was, thinking that Josh might try to break a window to get in, but then considered that to be unlikely as he heard Josh go into a coughing fit, followed by terrible vomiting. Then he was silent.

  Terry looked over at the ash-covered heap lying next to the SUV. Hailey hadn’t moved once since falling out of the vehicle. He was pretty sure that she was dead. Just then she started to cough and then she stopped as her throat and mouth filled with vomit. Her body spasmed briefly, causing ash to tremble and fall away from her clothing and hair, and then she was still again.

  “Now she’s dead,” Terry said.

  "L'Enfer,

  c'est les autres." - Jean-Paul Sartre

  “Hell is other people.”

  Part 2

  Hell on Ice

  Chapter Eight

  It rained the night that Josh and Hailey died and it continued almost non-stop for the next three days. Terry said it was exactly what they needed to wash away the radioactive ash that coated everything. They did not have a Geiger counter to see if it was safe to go out after the rain stopped, but they assumed and hoped that it was because they needed to do something with Josh’s and Hailey’s bodies.

  When the rain ended, it was followed a short time later by a light snow. Terry drove his truck over to the maintenance building and came back with shovels, tarps, plywood, hammers and nails. Jim went out to help him, saw the supplies and asked, “Are we seriously going to make coffins?”

  “We’ve got two immediate concerns: Dead bodies and food preservation. So…”

  “So we’re gonna eat them,” Jim deadpanned.

  At first Terry didn’t get what Jim was saying. Then he got it and laughed, wishing he hadn’t. He wondered if being around Jim for too long could warp a person’s mind.

  “No, we’re not gonna eat them! Jeez. We’re gonna bury them. But we also need to make an outdoor freezer for the stuff that’s thawing out.

  “So we’re making a freezer out of wood?”

  “Well, yes. Sort of. First, we build a box. Then we pack snow around the box, and that oughta work to keep the food cold during the day. And it’ll protect it from predators. I just wish I had some hinges. It’d make it easier to get in and out of.”

  Jim glanced around and said, “We have plenty of hinges.”

  “We do?”

  “Yeah. On all the doors in the motel rooms.”

  “They don’t call ‘em motel rooms, but yeah, you’re right. We can take some from a bathroom door. Why didn’t I think of that?”

  “Cuz you’re old and feeble, and sometimes need to be rescued from ski lifts.”

  “Okay, youngster, I’ll hold the boards and you can do the nailing. Being that I’m old and feeble, I’m liable to miss the nail and smash your fingers.”

  “Isn’t it cold enough up here to keep the food fresh without packing snow around the box?”

  “It should be, but you never know when you’ll get a warm spell. We can’t take any chances.”

  Jim agreed and they took the supplies they needed behind the lodge and constructed their refrigerator box near the back of the kitchen. By the time they had finished, there was still a light snow falling, but not enough accumulation to pack around the box they had built. That also meant that the ground was not too frozen to dig two graves.

  They had used up too much wood on the refrigerator box to have enough left over for making coffins, but they had plenty of tarps and duct tape. They agreed to not tell Angela how the bodies were buried – unless she specifically asked.

  It was dark before they finished digging the graves so Terry grabbed a lantern from his truck that he’d brought from the supply garage. Once they had light again, they finished digging and then gently lowered the bodies into their separate graves.

  “Do you wanna say something?” Terry asked Jim, not knowing that Josh and Hailey were more Angela’s friends than his. Being that Josh and Hailey were Jewish, the only thing that came to Jim’s mind was, “L'chaim” but he decided to keep his warped humor in check out of respect for Angela.

  “We’ll save it for the service,” he replied instead.

  Surprised for not even thinking of what would have ordinarily been obvious, Terry said, “Oh, right. Good idea.”

  Nine

  They held a funeral service the next day, then moved their refrigerator box behind the kitchen and packed as much fresh snow around it as they could. They only needed the snow in case the weather went above freezing, so they weren’t too concerned about the lack of snow. They transferred the perishable food from freezer and the walk-in cooler, going back and forth for the better part of an hour. That evening they went on what Angela called “raids,” but Jim insisted were “supply runs.”

  Terry made a long list that included items Jim hadn’t thought of when he and Angela had scavenged the cabin across the street from theirs. Jim and Angela thought some of the items were strange, but they didn’t ask questions. He told them to keep an eye out for certain things:

  Candles

  Batteries

  Salt

  Axes or hatchets

  Soap

  Toilet paper

  Unscented bleach

  Pens, pencils & paper

  Metal hangers

  Gas cans

  Matches & lighters

  Jewelry

  Guns & ammo

  First Aid supplies

  He advised them that the list was not exhaustive or exclusive. They should grab anything else they thought might be useful, but he wanted them to specifically get those items if they could.

  Angela thought they should go in separate vehicles so they could cover twice as many houses in the same amount of time, but Terry said it was not safe for them to be separated. He insisted that they both go in his truck. Angela felt that the biggest threat they faced was boredom, but she didn’t argue.

  Terry didn’t say what he would be doing while they were away, but they saw his handiwork upon their return four hours later. He had sawn multiple bathroom doors into pieces that fit over all of the lodge windows. When Jim saw what Terry had done, he just nodded. Made sense. Angela hated it.

  “Now it looks condemned!” she said.

  “Now it’s more secure,” Jim replied.

  Angela continued to complain as they went inside and got Terry to help them bring in their haul of supplies. “What are we secured from – the sun?”

  “I’ll explain after we unload the truck,” Terry said.

  A half hour later they were standing inside the lodge looking at the massive pile of items they had brought in. Now they had the task of separating and storing. Terry and Jim began making separate piles of stuff while Angela cooked. A short time later, she came out with a large serving plate loaded with hamburgers, toppings and a bag of potato chips. They all sat down at the large dining table to rest, eat and talk.

  “I know I haven’t explained what I’m thinking or why I’m doing what I’m doing, but to be perfectly honest, I’m not entirely sure myself. I’m just wingin’ it.”

  Angela said, “I understand going for supplies. Jim had us do the same thing right after the bomb. It was good thinking. I know I wouldn’t have thought of it. But I don’t understand the windows being boarded up.”

  The amount of light coming in through the two skylights was fading. Dusk outside meant dark inside. “If one of you will start a fire, I’ll tell you where my head is at – as soon as I grab some coffee.”

  Jim got up and worked on starting a fire, and then he and Angela sat on the floor near the fireplace and waited for Terry to come back. After Terry
boiled water for instant coffee, he returned, dragging a chair behind him. He stopped a few feet from where the others were sitting and sat down.

  “You may have noticed, I’ve been checking the radio for any kind of signal at least once a day. So far, I ain’t got nothin’. That’s a bad sign. Really bad.” He looked at Jim who looked back at him, waiting for him to go on. He looked at Angela and she had a question, as he suspected.

  “Why? We know the power is out, so it makes sense that no one is broadcasting.”

  “How much do you know about short-wave radio?”

  “Um… nothing.”

  “Here’s the thing – it ain’t just local. It’s national, and when the conditions are good, which is most of the time, it’s international.”

  “Oh. That’s bad,” she said. “Nothing from anyone, anywhere?”

  “Now you see where I’m comin’ from. We should be hearing something, but we’re not. And I’m no expert, but I can only think of two reasons why. First, and I don’t think this is likely, but it could mean that things are bad all over. Second, and this is what I’m hoping – the signal just ain’t getting through to us because of electro-magnetic interference, either here or somewhere else. If that’s the case, it should clear soon and we’ll hear from somebody. Maybe even find out what’s going on.”

  “Does this have anything to do with the boards on the windows?” Angela asked, hoping it wasn’t a stupid question.

  “It does.”

  Jim struck a stick match on the hearth and lit a cigarette. Terry thought of saying something about the wastefulness of using an irreplaceable match while sitting next to a fire but decided to wait until after he’d addressed the subject of their resources.

  “We don’t know what’s happened with the rest of the country, or the world for that matter, but we do know what happened in Denver. A lot of people were killed when the bomb went off. And even more will have died from radiation since then.”

  “Like Josh and Hailey,” Angela said, quietly.

  “Yes. Like them, and worse; slower, with more suffering along the way. But what we need to be concerned with is the survivors. Most folks don’t have but a few days to a week’s worth of food in their homes at any given time. When they run out, they’ll have to forage. Only the fools will forage in town. The smart ones will look on the outskirts. Someone really smart is gonna think of the cabins up here that are empty most of the year, and this resort, which was fully stocked for the season.”

  “So the boarded windows are to keep people out?” Angela wasn’t sure she understood.

  “Well, I’m hoping that if people see the place boarded up, they’ll think the resort wasn’t going to open this year and therefore doesn’t have any supplies. I know that’s a long-shot that’s only likely to fool people not from around here, but the second purpose is to help keep people out who are intent on getting in no matter what.”

  “If someone was lucky enough to survive in the first place, why wouldn’t we just welcome them in? I understand why we have to raid, but I’m not going to be a hoarder and a shut-in too.”

  “Survival, Anj,” Jim said and flicked his cigarette into the fire. “We can’t take in anyone and everyone who comes along. The more people we have, the quicker we run out of food.”

  “But we have way more than enough for three people to get through the winter. That means we have plenty to share too.”

  “We’re looking at more than just the winter, sweetheart. Once that food’s gone, there’s a chance that there won’t be any more.” Terry looked at them for a few seconds, hesitant to bring up his next topic. “We haven’t talked about this yet, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you two haven’t even thought about it, but if we decide to stay together come spring, we’ll need to find a place to grow food. And we’ll need something to eat between planting and harvesting seasons. I don’t think we have near enough food to take us that far – if we decide to stick together.”

  Angela looked at Jim. “If we have to be all survivalist and live like this from now on, we’d all do it together, right? It doesn’t make sense for us to split up.”

  “Sure. I hate people in general, but you guys are cool with me.”

  Angela shook her head in mild dismay at Jim’s standard line about not liking people. He had always talked as if people were a blight on the planet and she never did understand what his issue was. She knew he’d had a rough childhood, but she didn’t think the whole world should be indicted because of a few bad people.

  “I think we definitely stand a better chance of surviving well as a group than we do as individuals, and I’d be honored to be part of a continued group with you youngsters.”

  “Good,” Angela said. “Then that’s settled. We’ll stick together until surviving isn’t an issue.”

  “And that brings us back to the topic of other survivors who might not be as civilized as our small group is,” Terry said, bringing them back to the unsettled issue of defense. “You guys brought back plenty of guns and ammo from the houses that you searched for supplies. Do you have any experience with guns?”

  Jim lowered his eyelids and said in a baritone voice, “I shot a man in Reno.”

  Terry asked, “Just to watch him die?”

  “Yep,” Jim replied, hooking his thumbs into his belt loops.

  “This isn’t funny, you guys.

  “You’re right, Angela. This is a dead-serious topic. I’m sorry,” Terry said. “Jim’s a real bad influence.” He tried not to smile.

  “I’ve never shot a gun before, and I don’t want to now. You guys can be the sheriffs and I’ll be your dispatcher, or whatever. I’m not learning to shoot.”

  “I’ll teach her,” Jim said.

  Angela responded non-verbally, pursing her lips and shaking her head defiantly.

  Ten

  Three days earlier

  Tori and her three year old daughter Elizabeth were heading back to Denver after visiting Tori’s sister, Kelly in Salinas, Kansas. Just before reaching the northward curve of I-70, Tori saw a mushroom cloud rise up over Denver. Completely freaked out at what she was seeing, but still managing with some part of her mind to execute some form of rational thought, she took the exit for highway 24, steering southward away from Denver.

  She lowered her window an inch to create an exit draft and lit a cigarette with a shaking hand. Her other hand was gripping the steering wheel tightly. She fought the urge to cry. She was horrified by what she saw outside but was also determined to maintain a façade of normality for Elizabeth’s sake.

  Her mind flashed on images of mushroom clouds she’d seen in school films: testing on Bikini Island; bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Other than that, she’d only seen them in movies. She wanted to think that maybe this was some new type of special effects; something that made an image in the sky that didn’t really exist. But she knew that was just wishful thinking.

  Feeling pretty certain that it was real because it couldn’t be anything else, she began to visualize people dying; children playing at school, mothers strolling babies in parks, couples sitting at tables at outside cafes. Her parents! Oh god, was California hit too? Her sister in Kansas? Her brother? Wherever he was.

  She hit the power button on her car stereo and the speakers hissed, filling with the car with the sound of static.

  “Mommy. I don’t wike this.”

  She hit the number two preset button and it was the same thing. She hit the other buttons in sequence. Nothing. She hit the power button again, returning the car to relative silence; just the sound of air rushing past her partially opened window.

  “Is the music broke, Mommy?”

  Tori was even more scared now. She had never even considered the possibility of one day turning on a radio and not hearing something. There were places she’d been where all she could get was country & western or Spanish, but there was always something. Tears slowly made their way down her cheeks and her nose started to run.

  “Yes, honey. I t
hink the radio’s broken.” Her voice cracked at the end of the sentence even though she tried so really hard not to sound like she was crying. Then she sniffed and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

  No, dammit. I’m not going to cry. Everything is going to be fine.

  “It’s okay, Mommy. I’ll sing for you.”

  “Lizzie, you are the sweetest, dearest little person in the whole world. Thank you.”

  Elizabeth made an exaggerated big smile showing all of her teeth and bounced her head from one shoulder to the other, basking in the compliment with delight.

  Tori saw her daughter’s pigtails flopping around in her rearview mirror and smiled.

  “I love you, baby.”

  “I wuv you, Mommy!”

  Elizabeth sang the few songs that she knew, over and over until she fell asleep. Tori needed to get her daughter somewhere safe. She didn’t know if she had a home anymore, but if she did, going there was not an option. The next thing she thought of was her parent’s cabin near Vail. It was far enough from Denver and high enough in the mountains that it ought to be safe. She would take Liz there and hope there was enough food to last until… she didn’t know when. She didn’t know what would happen next or if anyone would ever be able to go to Denver again. For now, she just wanted to get someplace safe and get off the highway before another bomb exploded.

  Her drive up the mountain was uneventful. There was very little traffic and the weather was clear. Several times she passed cars that had pulled over to the side of the road and she saw the drivers talking and pointing at the mushroom cloud. She was tempted to join them due to an urge to commiserate with other adults and to ask if they knew anything, but she knew that no one could know anything yet, so it would be pointless.

  When she arrived at her parent’s cabin, she gently removed Liz from the car-seat and carried her to the front door.