Now the streets were deserted except for small groups of soldiers. As a sudden wave of anger washed over him, Asher realized that these were patrols. They were not actually forcing people to go back inside at this point, but they were urging people to get home. His neighborhood was completely transformed. Most of the shops and all of the restaurants and markets were closed. Many were actually bolted shut, he noted with an involuntary shudder.
When they first joined the crowds earlier that day, Asher and Jeff had come across a storeowner with a large family who was being dragged away by soldiers. A large crowd had gathered around to protest.
“What are you doing?” a woman in the crowd demanded. “Where are you taking him? You can’t do this, he didn’t do anything wrong!” She yelled and the others joined her. Asher and Jeff exchanged a glance and both began filming. Asher tried to approach a soldier who occupied with containing the irate storeowner’s wife.
“Excuse me,” he said, trying to push his way near the soldier. “Excuse me! What did this man do?” The soldier frowned at him and ignored the question. He continued dragging the woman away to the side of the crowd while her husband was being handcuffed and placed in the back of a supply truck. The crowd remained separated, held behind a wall of silent soldiers protecting the scene.
“Ma’am! He will not be hurt, I promise you!” The soldier reassured the frightened wife while she shouted and wriggled. “We can’t let people panic and your husband is panicking people! Our orders are to keep the peace and close all locations with food until further notice!” he said, turning his head and finishing his sentence by shouting over the entire crowd.
“What is happening?” she sobbed. “What is going on?” She collapsed onto the curb, the soldier’s grip now helping to steady her as she sat. One soldier stepped up with a loudspeaker. His demeanor suggested that he was the person in charge, Asher noticed. He addressed the crowd.
“Folks, please go back to your homes and families. All work is suspended and you need to proceed as calmly and quickly as you can back to your homes! Anyone disturbing the peace or caught looting will be taken into custody immediately. Please move on now,” the soldier continued to urge. The crowd jeered and shouted. Asher was still trying to engage the soldier who had corralled the wife, when he heard a gunshot ring out, followed by screams. Some people hit the ground and some ran.
Asher stared back at the soldiers in shock, crouching with his hands above him. Had someone been shot? He didn’t see any bodies, just traumatized people. Those who had not run stood sobbing and rooted to the spot.
“Enough!” the leader shouted to the cowering group. “That was a warning. We will follow our orders to keep the peace by whatever means necessary.” He took a breath. “There are millions of people in this town and no one person has the right to threaten the safety of everyone else. Now please…disperse!” he ordered and the remaining people scattered. Only Asher remained.
When the leader turned around, Asher approached the soldiers from the side, his open hands in the air. He tucked his camera away.
“Please,” he said quietly, “I just want to know what is going on here.”
The soldier who had taken away the storeowner turned to him. “Are you stupid or something?”
The other soldier who had grappled with the wife chided his fellow soldier. “C’mon Allen,” he said. “We have to remember that we are here to help.” The other soldier sighed.
“Fine, you explain things to each and every one of them if you want to,” he said, sounding tired. He glared at Asher and tilted his head, “It’s been a long day,” he spat and walked back to join the group bolting steel over the door to the store. Asher stared in silence until the other soldier finally spoke.
“Look, we did tell you the truth,” he said. “Our orders are to take the city and to keep the peace to make sure that food distribution is safe and fair. We can’t let people break into the restaurants and markets and loot them…or anything else here,” he waved at the City around them. Asher nodded.
“Is it that bad?”
The soldier shook his head. “It’s not like they tell us a heck of a lot more than they tell you,” he admitted. Asher nodded, that was true, he knew. The soldier stepped backward a pace. “Here’s the thing,” he murmured. “I have thought about it and I keep coming back to this…” his voice trailed off and his eyes grew distant. “What would you do if you weren’t sure that you could feed everyone, that there would be enough?” He leveled his gaze at Asher, who shivered. “Think about it,” he added and turned to rejoin his squad.
Now, the man’s words played over and over again in Asher’s mind as he walked through the nearly empty streets…streets that had come to feel like home over the course of the school year. Tonight instead of the usual families with strollers and the happy groups of teenagers, there were only a few hurried people scurrying by with their heads down. On occasion he saw people jeering at a group of soldiers, but their protests were half-hearted. Everyone knew that those who got out of control would be bound and taken away…somewhere.
Or worse, Asher thought, thinking of the smattering of gunshots he’d heard in the hours that he and Jeff had roamed the City. Between their show of arms and their determination to keep the peace, the soldiers had quickly convinced most people to settle down and obey, for now. He was reminded of a documentary he’d seen.
“You always think that you will fight,” the man in the film had said, referring to his kidnapping by the FARQ in South America. “You think that you will grab someone’s gun and blast your way out…or run off and escape when they aren’t looking,” he’d said. Asher remembered the sadness, the helplessness in his voice. “But actually what most people do is whatever they are told.” As he walked in solitude Asher realized that it was true. People mostly did what they were told.
The early afternoon and evening had been marked by the slow march of cars and transportation out of the city as the soldiers oversaw the last evening rush hour that the City would see for a while. How long would it be, Asher wondered? Feeling a sudden urge to answer an internal question, he turned north. Wishing to appear as if he had someplace to go, he kept his gaze down and his walk purposeful. He sensed that if he seemed like he was wandering, the soldiers would direct him back home.
As it grew later he noticed that the City was darker and quieter than he had ever seen it, even at three o’clock in the morning. It was eerie to know that you were walking in a place filled with millions of people and yet you neither saw nor heard them. Nothing was open and most streets were completely empty, even of soldiers. Occasionally he saw a supply truck parked on a corner or near a street barricade. There were barricade barriers everywhere.
It was when he got to the far north end of Manhattan that he truly saw what he’d been looking to find. He stopped, staring down the avenue at the barricade ahead. Wow, he thought. Even though he had expected it, he hadn’t really been ready to see it himself. He jogged east to check the other avenues. Each time he found a consistent set of barricades at the end of each one. He never actually approached any of the soldiers posted there, assuming that would not go well. After what he’d seen and heard today, he wasn’t ready to test the boundaries. Standing in a deep shadow halfway down the block, he snapped pictures.
“I can’t believe it,” he murmured, his tablet clicking as he snapped. His flash caught the attention of a soldier who turned his way.
“Hey!” the soldier shouted and pointed his rifle at him. Shocked, Asher stood frozen for a split second. Then he dashed onto a dark side street and took off, heading west. He ran without sound, his mind racing as he put distance between himself and the barrel of that rifle. After a time he stopped and as he gasped, he listened. In the darkness, the quiet was eerie. There were no sounds. No footsteps or shouting. Nothing. The soldier hadn’t followed him. Jesus, Asher thought, putting his hands on his knees and bending over to truly catch his breath. I can’t believe the guy pointed his freaking gun at me.
<
br /> His heart was pounding. He’d never experienced anything quite like that before. In an instant, Asher realized that he was not just playing at being a journalist, he actually was one now. Walking back toward the west side, he continued onward toward the bridge. When he got to the water, he was close enough that he could see what he’d wanted to see. Bright lights illuminated the heavy, manned barricades set up at both ends of the bridge. The lights of a supply truck could be seen trundling across the bridge. Hmph, he thought annoyed. So they can get in and out, but we can’t? Wow, he thought, we really are trapped.
Sticking to his purpose of documenting everything, Asher filmed for a few minutes. Even with the prior events of the day, this physical evidence stunned him. In a stupor, he turned back toward his dorm and reflected on what he’d seen. It was obvious that the island was completely surrounded by the military. He assumed that the other tunnels and bridges must be blocked off as well, with armed patrols running from Chinatown to Harlem. The low thump of helicopters overhead only confirmed his sense of confinement. It felt like being in a war zone or military camp or something.
Officially, he thought, the soldiers were there to hand out food and to keep the peace. But the sheer number of soldiers suggested that the amount of food available would be minimal. They’re expecting people to get scared, Asher thought, really scared. They are expecting people to panic. He whistled quietly to himself. Yes, fifteen million people in panic would be a very, very scary thought. They can’t let complete panic break out. There would be looting and violence. The soldiers would have to keep the peace by force.
Asher felt his heart squeeze into a tight fist as he remembered what the one, kind soldier had said earlier in the day. What if there really wasn’t enough food for everyone? What if the government knew this and they were surrounding them for a different reason? Asher’s mind started to race and he broke into a jog. It was time to regroup. He had to figure out what was going on.
When he got home, he trotted up the stairs to capture all of his thoughts in his journal. Though he hadn’t known what he’d expected to find by following all those weird food stories, he thought wryly, this definitely wasn’t it. The room was dark when he entered. Jeff still wasn’t back. For a moment, Asher wondered where he was and then he plopped down at his desk. Tapping his tablet, he tried calling his parents again.
“Dammit!” he growled. The network was still jammed. For just a moment Asher wondered if the government had shut down the network, but then, that was ridiculous. He sighed, things would have to calm down sometime and then he’d get a chance to reassure his parents that he was ok.
“Time to find out what is going on outside the City,” he said as he pulled out his journal. “Thank goodness I downloaded these early,” he murmured as he sorted through the articles he had managed to download before the Internet connection disappeared. Holy cow, there are a ton of them, he thought as he reviewed the list of stories that had come on the feed. Scanning quickly he noted that there were almost as many international stories as those in the U.S. What in God’s name is going on, Asher wondered, his eyes widening.
He jammed one hand into his shaggy blonde hair and tapped on a headline in the London Times, “Camden Burns as Crowds Panic!”
Escape
----------- Fi -----------
The hedges made an excellent hiding spot, Fi thought, satisfied. She had been able to guide the whole family around the darkened edge of the mall parking lot and just across the road from her planned escape point. Despite the late hour, crowds of citizens still stood gathered beneath temporary lights at the ‘processing’ center below. Most of the soldiers’ attention seemed to be directed to that area. Still, she thought as she peered over the hedge in the darkness, they had to be careful.
“Alright,” Fi whispered. “We are almost there. Only one more step.” She gazed across at the small, hidden break in the barricade beside the bank across the street. There were soldiers milling about, but they were not expecting action. The casual attitude was obvious in their posture and demeanor, she thought. This was a boring assignment. Staring at her planned escape route, Fi could see that they could crawl one by one through the barricade and into the concrete drain nestled in the ravine. Just a hundred yards more to make it to the woods and the freedom that lay on the other side, she thought, her heart pounding.
For just one second Fi thought about the consequences of leaving. They would truly be on their own to survive. Who knew what the hell awaited them. Turning back again, Fi saw her frightened sister and made up her mind. This was the only way, she thought. We will cross each bridge as we come to it.
“Ok,” she whispered. “You know the order. Maggie will go first with Kiara, then Lucy and Zoe, then John and Rachel, and finally Sean and then myself. No arguments or I will stand up and shout to the soldiers right now.” She whispered as forcefully as she could. “You follow me or we surrender, that is the choice.”
“We’ve come this far Fi,” Lucy nodded. “We’re ready to go.”
“Good. Ok, Mama and Kiara, you go first. When I say ‘go’, hurry through and get down as quickly as you can, but be quiet too. Make sure not to hurry so much that you fall or make noise. Got it?” They nodded. Kiara’s face was serious and focused. Fi peered over the bushes at the soldiers. They were all facing the other way and engaged in conversation. Perfect.
“Go!” she whispered and Maggie and Kiara scuttled across the road and through the barricade, disappearing noiselessly into the ravine beside the bank. Fi took a long deep breath. “Great. That worked great. I want you all to repeat their action exactly. Quick but not frantic, and above all, quiet.”
Fi sent the next groups out until she alone remained. The soldiers had started to return to more of a patrolling pattern, so she had to wait a longer time to make her move. While she waited, she studied the soldier standing directly in the way of her path to freedom. In another world she would have found him attractive. He looked like a movie star for Pete’s sakes. Ugh, she thought, what a weird place the world had become overnight. She should be worrying about prom dates and instead she held the fate of two families in her hands and had to fear a soldier who should have been there to protect her, not kill her.
Impatient, she glared at him. ‘Go away!’ she thought. ‘Please just look away for one minute!’ A rock clattered to the right of them and the soldier’s head spun. Fi took her chance. She bolted across the street, crouching as low as she could. At ground level she saw the glint of Sean’s eyes just behind the barricade. Of course, she thought, Sean threw the rock.
Suddenly she saw his eyes widen and her head whirled in alarm. In an instant, she was frozen in her crouch, pinned down in the darkness by the gaze of the movie star soldier. Terrified, she stared into the barrel of his gun and then lifted her gaze to meet his eyes. For what seemed like an eternity, they stayed this way. Then Fi broke the standoff, silently and minutely shaking her head, ‘No’. He lowered his gun and she bolted through the barricade.
“Go! Go!” she whispered to Sean and they ran for the drainpipe. The pipe was not large enough that a person could stand up, but you could crouch and run.
“I already sent the others on together Fi, but I had to stay to make sure you were ok.” Sean explained as they ran.
“Thank God Sean,” she whispered. She puffed as they both ran through the wet darkness inside the drain with their packs bouncing on their backs. They emerged into a moonlit field. Like many places now, the open meadow did not include the wide covering of grasses and plants she would have expected. Bare patches showed in many areas, with some weeds and shrubs beginning to take hold. Across the expanse lay the blessed inky black darkness of the woods.
“Do you think he sounded the alarm?” Fi asked. “Maybe we shouldn’t lead him to them?”
“No,” he shook his head. “I don’t know why, but I’m sure that he let us go. When you ran he actually turned the other way as if he didn’t want to see us.”
“Let’s g
o quickly then,” Fi said and they bolted across the field. On the other side they walked together, holding hands in the complete darkness beneath the trees.
“Hello Family,” Fi called, using the new name they had given themselves. “We’re here for you Family.”
She heard rustling to the right and Maggie’s reassuring voice. “Thank God you two! Thank God!” She rushed out of the darkness grabbed them both, wrapping them in a ferocious embrace. “We were so frightened for you,” she whispered.
“I know Mama,” Fi said and kissed her cheek. “But we are ok. Well, we did it Family…” Fi spoke to them all. “Now we must start something that will become second nature to us. We must travel and find shelter in the darkness. Let’s try to put as many miles between us and home as possible before dawn.”
The Family shared water and made sure all packs were strapped on and all laces tied and they lowered their heads. Fi pulled out her LED compass and studied it.
“Ok guys, let’s head this way,” she pointed in the darkness. “Can everyone see me in the moonlight?”
“Pretty much,” John said.
“Well, you can hold hands. The little ones should see pretty well in this light, and Sean and I can see, right Sean?”
“Yeah, I can see ok,” Sean nodded.
“And I have night vision if we think we really need it,” Fi added. “I just want to be careful not to wear down the batteries. If we go this way we will hit a small road that goes north a ways. That will make walking easier,” she explained.
They set out, following Fi’s lead. It was slow going over the wooded terrain. The rest of the group was very unused to it, and they kept tripping and slowing down. Fi was glad that the flat, steady road lay ahead. She strode forward, enjoying the feel of her muscles working, losing herself in physicality.
A few hours later Fi realized that she had been right. Things moved much more quickly once they made it to the road. It was a perfect, dark, unlit country road. In every direction all Fi could see was the velvety midnight darkness of forested hills. There was no twinkle of lights from homes on the mountainsides. There were no headlights in the distance when the trees opened and they could see across open fields. The only light was the half-moon in the sky and the glow of millions of stars.
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