Billy spoke as they finished eating. He had been thinking non-stop about everything that had happened, in just the last few days, and he was no longer certain he wanted to risk traveling on.
“Beth?” he began, not quite sure how to proceed with what he had been thinking. “Do you want to go? I mean, do you want to go all the way across this country? It's just that, well, I'm not as positive as I was that it has to be done, or that we should.”
She thought for only a brief second before she answered him.
“I think that we have to, Billy. It's not a question of whether we should. We have to,” she paused. “I know it may be dangerous, and I suppose it could mean that we may even die, but to me it would be worthwhile. To me it would be, because I am not the woman for you... And she is out there.” Beth locked her eyes on Billy's as she finished speaking, waiting for him to respond.
Billy thought over what she had said. It was not really a decisive thinking though, as he knew she was right. It was more of an acceptance of a decision he had already made, and not really wavered from. He nodded.
“I've changed a lot of that thinking,” Billy told her. “I really have. I don't always pay attention, but I did when it came to you. I don't think I've ever had a friend like you. I don't want to lose that. And I thought... Well, I thought there must be a woman out there like you... Not one I would compare to you, I mean one that gets inside of me and hooks me the way you did, but where it works. I'm explaining it wrong, I guess.” Billy said.
“No... No you're not. I know exactly what you mean. How about some tea?" she asked.
“Tea?” he looked puzzled. “Where did you get tea from?”
She held up a small package, and said, “It was in the camping gear, a free sample package. Want some?”
“Sure,” he said, as he smiled at her, “it sounds good, actually.”
While Beth made the tea, Billy took the small tin cups, along with the plastic bowls that had also been in the camping kit, and walked down to the water to wash them. The moon had begun to rise and a silver trail spread across the lake, seeming alive as it rode the small ripples of the water. When he finished, he stared off across the shimmering surface. It was calm and peaceful, and he listened as somewhere in the distance an owl hooted its greeting into the night. He walked back to the fire feeling good. The night was dark, but it held no fear for him. Beth looked up and smiled.
“Billy, where do you want to be when this is over? I mean to live?” Billy thought for a second and considered before he responded.
“I guess it would depend,” he said. “I don't think I would want to live in a city though. I like it here... It's peaceful. I guess some place like this.”
Beth lay on her back, staring up into the diamond studded sky. She rolled over and propped herself up on one elbow next to him as she spoke.
“Not like this place,” she said, “this place. It used to be a state park, but now it's just a nice lake. Nobody owns it anymore. Billy, I would like to come back. I'd like to live here; you know, build a house and live here.”
“It would be a good place to be... Away from the city... Build a little community here... Too bad the others took off. But there must be thousands of state parks... All over the place.”
“There are others we haven't met yet. Others that could love this place, or another place like it. You're right, there must be thousands of places like it.” Beth said quietly.
Beth removed the pot from the fire, setting it to one side so it would be there in the morning when they awoke. They crawled into the tent and were asleep within minutes.
The silvery moonlight shown down as they slept, the nearly full circle slowly traveling across the darkened sky.
Old Towne NY: Conner and Katie
Sunrise once again found Conner seated on the small pile of bricks at the factory entrance watching the sky. Katie sat quietly beside him. They both sipped at their coffee as the new sun colored the sky a light pink on the far horizon behind them.
A low fog hung over the river. There was a distinct chill in the air, and both of them were wearing jackets.
“So about twenty-nine hours sunrise to sunrise is pretty good, or at least better than we’ve seen in a while,” Conner said softly. He sipped at his coffee.
“Might be the new norm,” Katie elaborated.
Conner nodded. “Could be,” he agreed.
The rising sun finally touched the cliffs across the river and turned the fog into a glowing yellow-red mist which began to drift apart with the early sun's heat. They sat in silence, leaning against one another, and watched the colors paint the cliffs.
Off to their left, Janna and Sandy watched the fire and sipped at their own coffee, talking quietly with each other. Closer by the river Amy stood watching the roads and bridges that serviced the north side. She had given a half wave as Katie and Conner had come from the factory. Katie had waved back; Conner had nodded.
The smoke from the fires rose slowly into the air. The smell of the smoked meat was on the air and most likely drifting for miles. Several times during the night whines, growls, scuffling and the clicking of nails on asphalt had come from the darkness. As the sun rose further, it outlined a small, mixed breed dog lying about thirty feet from the fire, nose on paws, looking hopeless.
“So there you are,” Sandy said.
The dog lifted its head and vigorously wagged its tail, but remained where it was.
“Got an admirer, I think,” Conner called over.
The dog focused on Conner and Katie and wagged its tail even harder.
Sandy reached for a piece of meat that was already tough and stringy and tossed it to the dog. The dog was up and after the meat before it hit the ground near where it had lain. Katie put two fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly. The dog stopped just short of grabbing the meat, spun around and sat down staring from the piece of meat to Katie.
“Go on, Boy. You can have it,” Janna encouraged. The dog seemed to think about it, glancing from Janna to Katie, but he only hesitated for a few moments, hunger won out and he lunged for the chunk of meat, snatched it up, then retreated down the road where he sat holding the meat between his paws, gnawing hungrily at it.
Everyone fell silent watching the skinny, yellow dog gnawing at the piece of meat. The sun continued to creep into the sky behind them, burning off the fog and painting the cliffs on the other side of the river with brilliant yellow-red light.
The small dog finished the piece of meat and looked back over at Sandy hopefully. Sandy took another piece of meat off the drying rack. This time the little dog’s eyes stayed on Sandy and the meat, paying attention. She threw it, and the dog caught it in mid-air, spun around a few times, causing everyone to laugh, then lay down once again, holding the chunk of meat between his paws and chewing with great delight.
“Probably been pretty tough for you, huh, Boy?“ Jan asked. The dogs ears pricked up and its tail thumped against the asphalt, but it continued to worry at the meat it held between its paws.
“Well,” Katie said, “we’re going to use the vehicles to run for supplies today. Looks like we better pick up some dog food besides.”
“Already have some,” Conner said. He jumped to his feet and disappeared inside the factory. He reappeared a few minutes later with a can of chunky beef dog food and a small can opener. He opened up the can, dumped the contents onto a disposable plastic plate, poured some bottled water into a disposable plastic foam bowl and carried them over towards the dog.
The dog stopped chewing, its ears flattened back, but it didn’t run. Conner stopped about five feet away, set the plate and the bowl down on the asphalt and then returned to the brick pile with Katie.
“Did you have a dog before we came,” Katie asked?
“No, but I saw a few tracks, and I heard them too. I could hear them at night. I was hoping one would come by. I spent a lot of time alone. I didn’t like it at all, and truthfully, I thought, well, if a dog could eat it…” He trailed off.
/>
“You were going to eat it?” Sandy asked.
“Lots of seniors ate it all the time,” Janna said. “It’s meat.”
“That was my reasoning. I couldn’t... hadn’t found a lot of meat at that point. I was thinking about protein,” he shrugged.
“Yuck,” Sandy said.
“Double yuck,” Katie agreed.
“Well, I didn’t. It was just a sort of emergency thing,” Conner said defensively.
“It’s okay,” Katie said. “I love you anyway.”
Conner looked at her and smiled.
“Yeah, I know. I said the L word.”
Conner continued to smile. He kissed her back as she kissed his lips.
“I love you too,” He said and kissed her once more.
“Get a room,” Sandy said. Everyone laughed, Conner and Katie included.
The dog, having finished the venison, had discovered the chunky beef and was now busily wolfing down the plate of food.
Katie leaned close and sniffed at Conner’s breath. ‘Nope. I guess you never did eat it,” She said seriously. Conner smiled and smacked her shoulder lightly.
“Anyway,” he said, “I only got one case of it, so I suppose I better get a few more.” Everyone agreed. The dog looked up guiltily, wagged his tail, slurped some water from the bowl and then went back to eating.
~
An hour after dawn the entire factory was up and getting ready for the day. Sandy and Janna would stay to continue curing the meat, but everyone else would be going to collect food and other items they might need. They were all armed, and no one would be going anywhere alone. One team of four would go over to State Street and the market that Conner had been bringing food from, the same one Lilly had brought the ears of corn from. The other group of five would head out Arsenal Street searching for food items, as well as anything else that might be useful to them.
“More flashlights,” Nell reminded.
“The CB radios you guys had talked about too. We can put those right in the trucks,” Aaron contributed.
“Uh,” Lilly said. She bent and whispered to Amy. Amy nodded.
“We need to find a drug store too… for some personal things,” Amy said. Lilly turned red, but smiled through her embarrassment.
“More dog food,” Janna reminded. The stray had moved over to the fire where it had curled up close to Sandy and had fallen asleep.
“Battery powered radios and a T.V., just in case,” Conner added.
“I thought you tried that,” Jake asked.
“Only the radio,” Conner agreed. “But the batteries are dead.”
“Do you really think there will be anything on the T.V.?” Nell asked.
“Honestly? No,” Conner said, “But we should make sure.”
“Do you think,” Dustin asked, every bit as embarrassed looking as Lilly had been, “That a little battery powered C.D. player and some music would be okay?”
Katie and Amy both laughed. Dustin instantly looked worried as if he wished he hadn’t said anything.
“No, Dustin,” Amy said, waving her hands at him. “It’s a good idea. There’s nothing wrong with it. It just surprised me that none of us had thought about it. It’s okay to need or want things for ourselves.”
“We need to get some good footwear… good socks. Like that,” James said. “Our feet are important.”
“We need sizes,” Conner said nodding.
“Got it,” Katie said. A pen and a small note pad appeared in her hand. She’d been writing down other suggestions as they were made. Now she copied down the shoe sizes as they told her. “Babe,” she looked at Conner.
“Eleven,” Conner said.
“More first aid stuff,” Janna said.
The suggestions went on for a few minutes and then began to taper off. Katie folded the cover on her small notebook and slipped it into her shirt pocket. “We’ll think of more stuff I’m sure. Just write it down when you do, or if you’re somewhere where you can get what you thought of, get it.”
The two groups split up, climbed into their vehicles and headed out; splitting off where the broken and twisted River Road ended, one road heading towards outer Coffeen Street, where they could cut over to Arsenal Street, the other turning abruptly up a small rise and back towards the public square where they could access State Street. Two of the trucks headed in that direction, Conner, Katie, Amy and Aaron in those vehicles. The other three headed for Arsenal Street, carrying Jake, Lilly, James and Dustin.
~ State Street ~
“This was all me,” Conner said as they stood just inside the shattered front windows of the market. The large piles of debris he had pulled out of his way as he searched through the rubble seemed to frame the dark opening that led into the interior of the store, piled high on either side of the twisted steel frames. They formed a dark, forbidding tunnel.
“Maybe it’s a little worse for wear and tear from the rain and the last earthquake.” He looked around and shook his head. “Maybe not though. It doesn’t look any worse at all. Doesn’t look like the rain got in.”
The smell was strong though. It made Conner wish he had removed the bodies the last time he had been there. Amy, Katie and Aaron all had faces on, wrinkled noses, squinting eyes, partially turned away from the darkened tunnel and the aisles that were barely visible in the gloom.
“It’s pretty bad,” Aaron said.
Conner simply nodded.
“I worked here,” Katie said. “I know the basic layout.” Her voice caught. She looked to the left then to the right. “Mostly canned vegetables, soups, stews, that sort of thing?” She continued. She pointed to an area Conner had cleared out.
“Yeah,” Conner agreed, impressed. “I was trying to remember which way to go.” All three of the others were nodding in understanding. “You okay?” He looked at Katie. Katie smiled and nodded.
“Amy... You and Aaron came here? I think that's why you look familiar to me. I think we want to go to the left. I think the next aisle is paper goods, utensils stuff like that.” Katie said.
“A few times,” Aaron elaborated.
“All the time,” Amy added. “Separately...” She looked at Katie and nodded. “Now it makes sense to me too. I knew there was something abut your face,” She laughed. She turned to Ronnie. “He doesn’t like to shop if I remember correctly.”
Aaron laughed. “Pizza delivery for Two C,” he said and laughed. Then, “Yeah, it was easier to get something on the way home, have a pizza delivered. I think my refrigerator had two or three boxes with leftover pizza, and a couple of six packs… maybe an old jar of Mayo.” He looked apologetic.
“Stuff’ll kill you,” Conner said.
“Yeah. Yeah, but it tastes good,” Aaron laughed.
Amy rolled her eyes. “Yeah… Paper stuff… Toilet tissue. Some medications, gadgets, you know, like little can openers, oven timers.”
They all looked at each other.
“Good a place as any to start,” Aaron said. They all nodded and started to work clearing the debris from the front of the aisle, piling it outside the shattered front windows.
Everyone wore heavy gloves to protect themselves from all the broken glass and brick, so the work went quickly. They had pulled the trucks as close to the front of the building as they could, so once they reached the aisle it was easy to retrieve and load what they chose to keep right into the trucks.
Moving the debris that blocked the aisles went much faster with three extra pairs of hands. In no time at all they had progressed down the aisles and were nearing the back wall of the supermarket.
“The end,” Amy said, thinking out loud, “Breads, Cakes, fresh produce…”
“I think so,” Katie agreed.
The closer they got to the back of the store the stronger the odor of corruption became.
“Bad,” Amy said.
“Yeah... I think that’s lunch meat… Produce…” Aaron agreed. “The butcher shop is back there as well.”
“Storag
e...” Katie said quietly.
“Probably where Lilly got the corn. She probably used the back door though,” Conner said. They had gone around to the back of the building earlier, but the last earthquake had caused a hill of earth to slide down onto the store, burying the back of the building up to the roof line. There would be no more easy access to what they needed.
“I don't think she got it from back there,” Katie said. “It's...” She shook her head and went back to work without further comment.
Conner looked to Amy and then to Aaron, they both shrugged. He made a mental note to talk to her about it later.
They had already come across two bodies as they had dug their way through the aisles. Rather than leave them there as Conner had done, they had dragged them out of the market and covered them with a tarp at the front of the store. Despite that, the store didn’t smell any better than it had. Rats, mice, and bugs had also infested the market and scurried away as they dug deeper into the aisles.
“Both the Suburbans are packed. The pickup nearly is,” Aaron said.
“Yeah,” Conner said. “I’m thinking, what else is there here that we could need?”
“Duh,” Amy said and smacked her forehead with an open palm. “Hang on. Follow me,” she turned and walked down to the destroyed front window area and stepped out into the bright sunlight. The others followed, stopping to blink their eyes rapidly in the overly bright sunlight. Slowly adjusting after so long inside the dark interior.
Amy made her way along the front of the store in the same direction they had been walking inside. Just about twenty feet from the end of the store a single steel door rested.
“The other back door,” Amy said. “It used to be a drug store, but when it was closed the supermarket snapped up the lease on that space. They took out the front windows and bricked it all up, put in this steel door unit. We can get into the back storage area from here. That’s what they used it for, more storage. I remember reading about it in the paper. One of those days when I was so bored I read every story in the paper.” She laughed. “You know, in a small town everything’s a big story.”
Earth's Survivors: box set Page 32