“That’s a great idea, mom.” Will said. The storm intensified. The constant pounding of the rain on the roof changed and became more intense, sounding like a thousand ball-peen hammers trying to tear through the tin roof. “Shit. That sounds like hail.” The lights went off. “Guess the storm took out the power lines.” Joey said as he reached into his pocket and wound the crank of the emergency radio/flashlight. After a few brisk cranks, he turned on the led flashlight and sat it up on its end in the center of the table. The sterile blue light reflected off of the rafters and tin roof of the cabin to bath the room in a soft, eerie light. Will looked back over to his mother. Her skin had taken on the tone of a dead person in the light. “So, you want to be in charge of the emergency bug-out supplies?”
“Sure. Everyone just let me know what we want to put out there and I’ll take Barry with me to find a place tomorrow.”
“We might want to arrange something beyond our agreement with Old Jeff to protect against bandits to include a lookout for the locals.” Chuck said.
“That sounds good.” Joey said.
“You have to think that if things are that bad in small towns, things have got to be much worse in the bigger areas. I don’t think things are going to go back to normal for a long time.” Will said. The comment hung in the air for a moment. “They may never go back to normal. I think we have to start thinking of the long term.”
“How long?” George asked.
“The way I see it, I don’t think things will stabilize until at next least spring.”
“Why spring, sweetheart?” Jenny asked.
Joey provided the answer for Will. “Because by then, all of the people who are going to die, will have been killed off either by the roaming bands of thieves, starvation, or disease. The folks that are left will be the ones who are strong enough to survive. The population will balance to what the land can naturally support. Things can begin to rebuild from there.”
“Ah. The ugly side of natural selection.” George said.
“Yep.” Will agreed.
“So, will things go back to normal by then?” Pam asked. “Once everything settles down, they’ll get the power back on and the gas running again, won’t they?”
“That will depend.” Barry said.
“On what?” Chuck asked.
“On who the survivors are.” Will said. He looked around and saw that not everyone understood. “If the people at the gas companies don’t make it, no one will be around to refine the gas. Even if they do survive, did the guys who drill the oil or load it into tankers, or ship it to the refineries survive? Even if all those people do survive, did the guys who make the parts for the refinery survive? If something breaks after being shut down for so long and not maintained, can they make a replacement? The world as we knew it was built on so many specialized people stacked like dominoes. When one piece falls, the others will go with it if no one can step in to replace that part of the chain. It took the US over a hundred years to develop the connections and specializations to make everything work right. Without gas and power, how long will it take the folks that survive to learn how to do all of that stuff again? After things stabilize again, it’ll still be years before those things begin to fall back into place.”
A sad look descended on the family. Will figured it as good a time as any make his next announcement. “I do have one more favor to ask of everyone, especially Jenny… Seeing that everything is probably not going to go back to normal for a while, we may be out here a while. Jenny, I know we’ve been engaged for a while and you were planning a big wedding.” He got up and walked over to where Jenny sat. He got down on one knee, just like he had in those beautiful gardens when they had gone away for the weekend to the Biltmore over in North Carolina six months ago. Jenny had always loved that place for some reason. “I know it’s not the big wedding you wanted, but will you marry me?”
Jenny began to cry as she breathed out a yes and bent down to hug Will.
“That’s all good, and I’m happy for you, but who are you going to get to marry you? It may be a while before we find a preacher and the justice of the peace seems like a long shot.” Chuck said.
“I was thinking that Uncle Barry might do it.” Will said.
“I’m not ordained or anything. It wouldn’t be legal.” Barry said.
“Who cares?” Jenny said. Not legal? She thought. Does legal even matter anymore? If people weren’t already a law unto themselves at this point, then they soon will be. She continued talking to Barry. “It’ll be as legal as it needs to be. You have the most legal authority as there is now. You own this land. It’ll be enough for us, for the family, and for God; and it’ll be more than enough for me.”
“So, guess that’s settled.” Chuck said. “When do you want to do it?”
“Tomorrow’s fine with me.” Jenny said. “If the weather cooperates, we’ll just do a small ceremony down by the pond.”
Will looked up to see smiles all around, the least of which on his face. The women’s eyes were wet. He supposed that was to be expected. At least this time, he could take comfort that the tears there were for a happier purpose. God knew they needed as many of those as they could scrape up in these troubled times. “There’s one more thing I would ask you all. We didn’t get all of the supplies we needed to really add on to the cabin. I think we should begin cutting some trees and build a log cabin. We got the chainsaw, axes, chisels, and the draw knife. That should be everything we need to build one. We can cut the logs to size with the chainsaw and use the limbs to make fence posts for the goats. The camper is nice, but it’s not made to be lived in for months on end. If we start now, we could have a new cabin done by winter.” He scanned the faces and saw acceptance dawning around the room. “Besides, my new wife and I will probably want some privacy.”
“I’m in, but do you think we can do it?” Joey asked.
“Sure we can.” Chuck said. “It’ll be just like the pioneer days. Once we get the hang of it, we can make others for ourselves or just add on rooms to the new one.”
The family became engulfed in discussion as they waited out the storm. No one was likely to sleep with all of the noise from the storm. They talked about well wishes for Will and Jenny, plans for their wedding tomorrow, and arrangements for building the cabin. Barry noticed Pam move over to stand by herself as the others talked. He saw the small sobs shaking her shoulders as she looked out the kitchen window at the raging storm, tears cascading down her troubled face as the rain washed down the panes of glass set into the window. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?” He asked as he walked up and put an arm around her.
“Even in all of this, Jenny just looked so happy. It reminded me of when our Suzie got engaged. I’ve been trying to hold back all the worry and fear over her and Jeremy and our grandsons because I knew there wasn’t anything we could do for them. Seeing Jenny just brought it all up to the surface. We haven’t heard from them since we came out here. Do you think they’re ok? Do you think they’re still alive? Do you think they’re……” She cut off as the sobs racked her again. She buried her tear streaked face into Barry’s chest. Tears fell from his eyes as well. He had the same thoughts and fears about his little girl and her babies.
“Listen, babe.” He said as he cradled her head in his hands, working his fingers through her graying hair. “They’re in a small town in Texas. You know those crazy rural Texans. They all have big guns and horses. If anyone’s gonna keep things under control, it’s those guys. Jeremy was doing well in his law business. I’m sure he made a lot of connections out there, connections with land and cattle and resources. Plus, his whole family is out there not far from them. I’m sure Suzie and the babies are either at Jeremy’s folks’or with one of his buddies. Maybe even the one that owned the deer hunting ranch. They’re probably living in a cabin and waiting things out, just like us. Until we know any different, we just have to hope and pray that God is watching over them and keeping them safe.” He looked down at his wife. She looked up
at his face. “Let’s say a prayer for them right now.” He said. “I could use the practice, since I’m apparently performing my first wedding tomorrow.” She smiled, barely. After they prayed together for their daughter and her family, separated by distance and God only knew what chaos in between, he felt better. He could see in the way his wife relaxed her shoulders and let the tension drain from her face that she did too.
After they finished their short prayer, they rejoined the group and the talk of weddings and cabins and goats. No one asked them what was wrong. For that, Barry was thankful. They all knew what was eating at them and that they sometimes needed their privacy to sort it out. Everyone at the compound had felt the same way at one point or another in the last few weeks. Brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents, friends, cousins: they all had someone they cared about out there in the crumbling world and no way to know if they were ok or dead, finding food or starving to death. The family talked late into the night about plans for the cabin. The storm raged on into the night It passed shortly after dawn. The power never came back on.
Chapter 14
Travel was slow for JJ and his family. After leaving the compound, they had toiled with road obstacles and avoiding large groups of people evacuating Chicago. They spent the first few hours trying to find their way out of suburban sprawl around Lombard. Dead cars and bloated corpses clogged several roads. They had ever seen anything like it except Hollywood apocalypse movie. The bodies and burned hulls of cars lay strewn across the roads. Scott and Jimmy could only guess how some of the arrangements had come to be. Some were obvious wrecks. Some had been piled onto the sidewalks or in yards to clear the roads. Some had been placed to block off a road or protect a house. It was a depressing and ominous drive. Once they had avoided the first mass of people, they stopped to treat Scott’s bullet wound as best they could, which ended up being an old shirt cut into ribbons, splashed with whiskey, and tightly tied around his shoulder. The hole stopped bleeding.
They saw a sliver of order when they passed by three neighborhoods that had erected similar compounds to the one they had left. Looters had broken in and cleaned out the first compound leaving it a smoldering ruin. The sight made JJ thankful Scott had been such a persistent ass about leaving the city. He finally began believing the old man was right.
The second neighborhood fort they passed stood in worse shape than the one they had left, but it was intact. Scott wondered how long it would remain that way. The scarecrows manning the makeshift walls of cars and piled junk gazed at the passing vehicles with a mixture of loathing and lust. The convoy breathed easier as they left the vicinity of the new waypoint for the sitting dead.
The third compound was the best organized of all. The family couldn’t get a decent look at it since road blocks had been erected blocks before the old church building that housed the main compound. These folks had set up multiple layers of defense. Maybe they’ll make it. Clay thought. He would never know. They left the area as quickly as possible.
Everywhere they turned, obstacles seemed to spring into the road to block their escape. They had driven around for over three hours when Scott ordered Jimmy to flash the car’s lights at Sherry and stop the caravan. Scott rolled down his window as Jimmy pulled the Bonneville up beside Sherry’s gray Honda Pilot. “No. Stay in the car!” Scott barked. Sherry shut the door and rolled down her window. “I think we need to stay in the cars just in case we need to make a quick getaway. We’re just burning gas running around here. We need to get the hell out of town as soon as possible.”
“I know, dad!” Sherry said. “It’s just that everywhere we turn, there’s something in the damned way. We still have to get across the 355. Did you see the onramps? Junk was piled up everywhere. How are we going to get across there?”
“I don’t know, sweetheart. I just don’t know. I know that Flores guy said the roads were bad, but this just bullshit.” Scott said.
“Let’s head north. Maybe we can go up and hit East North Avenue and get across. I think there’s a pass under the highway.” Scott heard JJ say from the back of the SUV.
“We could, but that’s a long ways off, close to back where we came from. You think we can get back up that far? I really want to be outta this shithole before it gets dark. It’s hard enough to dodge all of the shit in the road now. It’ll be almost impossible once it gets dark.” Scott said.
“Dad, are you sure you know where we are? Because I have to admit, I don’t have a clue. Hardly anything looks the same anymore and we’ve had to take so many turns.” Sherry complained.
“Hell, girl, don’t you have that GPS in your car?” Scott asked.
“I do, but I haven’t turned it on. I didn’t think it would work.”
“It should work. The power going out doesn’t have shit to do with the satellites. Turn it on and make sure we know where we are.” Scott said.
Sherry reached down into the center console, pulled out the little GPS, and plugged it in to the power port of the SUV. After waiting a few seconds, the GPS found the satellites and pinpointed their location. Scott heard it ding and asked, “So, where are we, exactly?”
Sherry looked at the device and responded, “It says you’re wrong; we’re up by Villa Park.”
Scott heard people talking in the back of the SUV. He heard Clay’s voice speak out of the rear window, but couldn’t see him. “Hey, Scott, if we’re that far northeast, we’re not far from the railroad tracks. Do you think they would be as bad as the roads?”
“That’s a brilliant idea! It’ll be a bumpy ride, but at least we’ll be moving in the right direction instead of wasting gas trying to find a way out of this rat nest. We’ll follow you.” Scott said.
The convoy headed northwest dodging wreckage until they reached the Grace Street crossing and were able to get on the tracks. Once on the tracks, they made much better time. They encountered a few obstacles, but nothing that they couldn’t get around. All trains had stopped running by this point. The family kept as fast a pace as their bodies and the cars could handle on the rough tracks, which equated to roughly twenty miles an hour. Scott wished they could go faster but wasn’t sure the Bonneville could take it. Hell, he wasn’t sure he could take it.
They passed through Glen Ellyn and Wheaton without any trouble. With the exception of the odd stalled railcar and the occasional hobo or two, they had the tracks to themselves. They saw burned out buildings and general riot as they passed neighborhoods, but they didn’t see any people. Scott took this as a good sign. With any luck, most folks had forgotten about the railroad tracks and had stuck to the streets and roads to flee the city.
They made good progress until the came around a curve in the tracks and into view of the West Chicago Metro station. Sherry’s brake lights lit up as she brought the SUV to a stop. Jimmy pulled up and stopped beside her. After everything they had seen in the last couple of weeks, the hundreds of people gathered on the tracks still managed to shock Scott. What the hell are they doing? Scott asked. It didn’t really matter. They blocked the tracks. He tried to count a few, but there were just too many. Two hundred? Four hundred? He didn’t know. All he knew was that an assload of people stood between his family and their best shot of getting out of town. “Dad,” Sherry called over to him, “what do we do?”
“I don’t know, hun. Who’s in the front with you?” Scott asked. He saw that several of the people gathered at the station had noticed the two vehicles sitting on the tracks. Some pointed while others began to drift toward the stopped cars. They were about five hundred yards away. Scott feared that the crowd might rush them. He didn’t know what would happen then. If they were as bad off as he guessed, they would tear the vehicles apart with their bare hands to get to the food inside.
“Mom is in the front with me. Why?” Sherry asked.
“Tell her to trade places with Clay.”
They didn’t ask questions as Tara got out and shuffled to the back of the SUV to let Clay out. When Clay emerged from the vehicle, Scott call
ed him over. “You know how to use this, son?” Scott asked as he handed the M-16 and the extra magazine to Clay.
“I think so. Just point and pull the trigger, right?”
“This here is the select button. I’ve got it on semi right now. Don’t touch that. This is the safety. Flip it to go live. With any luck, we’ll scare them off with a couple of shots, but don’t do warning shots. Shoot at them. If we shoot and nothing happens, it won’t stall them for long. If they see a few of their friends drop, that should slow them down more.” One of the leaders of the mob, a large man with a long gray beard and wild hair appeared, at the front. He held a scary black rifle, similar to the one Clay now held. The man yelled something at the crowd and pointed the rifle in towards Scott and the family. The crowd broke into a quick trot. The man raised his rifle and began shooting at the cars. “Everyone down!” Scott yelled as wild bullets began screaming towards them. The idiot shot while running over rough terrain. No one could aim doing that. Scott hoped that was a sign the big ass didn’t know what he was doing. The windshield of the Bonneville turned into a giant spider web in front of Scott’s face as one of the wild bullets passed through it with a cracking sound. “Clay, get back in the truck. Sherry, don’t stop for anything! Anything, you hear me!” Clay climbed into the passenger’s seat. “And, Clay, shoot that bushy motherfucker first!”
Sherry slammed down the gas, and the SUV lurched forward. The big bushy man kept firing at them. Clay leaned out the widow and flipped off the safety. The SUV pounded along the railroad tracks, making aiming hell. He fired into the crowd. The M-16 spat fire and threw brass out the window. His first few shots went wild, kicking up track gravel yards before the rushing crowd. He fired again and saw people drop to the ground after his last two shots.
The crowd recovered from the loss and rushed forward at a sprint. Why aren’t they moving? Sherry thought to herself. What’s wrong with them? She held that thought as the SUV slammed into the front line of the mob. The first several people jumped clear and revealed a small child. Sherry couldn’t avoid the child. She couldn’t tell if it was a little boy or a little girl. She just knew that it made a crunching sound as the weight of the SUV plowed through it. She screamed and wanted to cover her eyes, but didn’t dare. “Don’t fuckin stop, Sherry!” Clay yelled at her as he pulled back in from the window. She sucked in her bottom lip and bit it to keep from screaming. She tasted blood but didn’t care. She lost count of the people she hit and the bodies that the SUV left in its wake, but she didn’t stop.
Fifty Falling Stars Page 20