Day After Disaster, The Changing Earth Series, Uncut Edition

by Sara F. Hathaway

  When the three of them got out to the porch, Erika knew that Carol had the right idea. It was so fresh outside, but there was a smell in the evening air that Erika knew immediately was the smell of a major wildfire.

  “Carol, it smells like a fire, but there was no smoke today. Was there a fire?” Erika wondered.

  “Don’t really know, Erika. After the quake, there were days when the smoke hung thick for long periods of time. It would clear and then come back. Without the TV, we have no idea where it came from, but this is California in the summer, and, with all that has happened, I bet some big wildfires burned in more than one place,” Carol answered honestly.

  “Wow! Crazy.”

  “There you guys go bringing our celebration down again. I know what will cheer us up. You guys just sit tight," Henry insisted.

  Erika pulled a smoke out of her pack and lit it. Carol and Erika sat in silence, each preoccupied with their own thoughts. They sipped their cognac, and Erika puffed on her smoke while

  Henry went to get another surprise.

  “You know,” Erika said, while twirling her glass so the liquid made a little whirlpool, “I once saw a shot of this cognac sell for $100 a shot.”

  “Oh yes, I believe it. We were just kids when we bought this bottle, and it just about broke the bank. Henry never opened it, though, and he has been saving it for a lot of years. He always said we will know when the time has come to have a glass,” Carol answered.

  “It’s not so bad, but I could have never paid $100 for a shot. It better get me drunk for a week at that rate,” Erika laughed.

  “Some people like to show how important they are by paying way too much for good alcohol.”

  “Yeah, I guess all that doesn’t really matter now, huh?”

  “No, I guess not. Maybe all the rich people are held up in rich-person sanctuary. All day long, they sit in their comfy bunker sipping cognac and eating caviar.” Carol was laughing out loud as she said this.

  “Well, I guess I am in rich-person sanctuary,” Henry rumbled as he came in, “because I am surrounded by beautiful women, sipping cognac, and eating better than crummy old caviar.”

  “Henry, you are just full of the devil tonight. I will have to sleep with one eye open,” Carol giggled.

  “You better, woman,” Henry replied flirtatiously.

  They all laughed. It was nice to laugh out loud with friends again. It seemed like it had been years since Erika had partaken in this banter and laughed. There is something to be said about laughing with friends. It brings joy to the heart and is something that should be appreciated. People used to take this social interaction for granted, never realizing that one day it would be so precious. It relieved stress and gave hope to those who could not see it.

  Erika had begun to slur her words slightly and was having so much fun goofing around. She was doing a fine job of forgetting the recent past and was not looking forward to retelling the story of her horrible experience in the cell, as she had begun to call it. Henry could see this but wanted the story anyway. Now was a perfect time for the telling. The senses had been dulled, and he knew its telling would not affect her as much now.

  “Well, you better get used to telling your story because you may have been the only one to survive. Many people will want to know how you survived the flooding of the Sacramento Valley,” Henry said matter-of-factly while staring Erika directly in the eyes.

  Erika looked up, startled. How could this man read her mind so well? Was she so transparent? She wanted to escape, but she knew that he was right. She would have to tell and retell the story until one day it would become legend—the legend of the girl who survived a toxic flood because of cellophane and duct tape. Oh boy, what a legacy, Erika chuckled to herself.

  But Henry knew that Erika was a very special individual. Not just strong but deep in spirit and in possession of a very big heart. If she was going to get home, she would need all of these strengths. There was no time to be weak. Erika would have to face the reality of this situation. She would have to face what she had gone through and the bleak situation she was now facing. Henry knew it and would take every opportunity to destroy her weaknesses and prepare her to harness all the strength she would need in the future.

  “So, let’s hear the story.” Henry was looking at her again, his fierce brown eyes piercing her. Erika saw a man that demanded respect, and she knew that she could never refuse a direct request from him.

  Erika began, “I woke up just the same as any other day. Dexter was running all over the place, and I had to keep telling him to calm down. I got the dishes done and I went down to my in-laws to check on the house. My in-laws were up in Washington visiting my husband’s grandmother. I could see some raccoons were bothering the chickens at night. I know they are nocturnal, but I was eager for something to do and Dexter was so antsy. So I went back home, which wasn’t very far away, and loaded up Dexter’s BB gun; my dog, Ripper; and my slingshot. I called Vince on my cell phone and let him know that I would be spending the day there.” It was hard for Erika to talk about her family, and her voice began to quiver.

  “We didn’t find any coons, but we did have fun running around, shooting. I knew my slingshot wasn’t really going to work, but I figured Dexter would have fun with it and his gun. We had a blast running around in the woods. Then I went and dropped Dex and Ripper off at my mom’s house. We talked about our days for a while, and then I had to change and go to work. I hugged and kissed my mom and Dexter. As I drove off in my car, I looked in the rearview mirror, and that was the last time I saw them. I called Vince on my cell. He was on his way home. I let him know we were safe and sound after a day of coon hunting and that I loved him. That was the last time I spoke to him. After that, I drove down to work at El Primero. I was late because of traffic so I threw my stuff in the break room and went to work, prepping food in the kitchen. Halfway through the night, this girl I worked with, Casey, came in and asked if I would grab a ‘bottle of our best Merlot’ for this frequent customer that always acted like a regular asshole.” Erika stopped for a minute, realizing she swore in front of Carol. She felt like she had just said the “F” word in front of her grandma and had to apologize. “Pardon my French, Carol, but he really was a jerk.”

  “Don’t worry, Erika, just don’t stop now.” Carol was more irritated about the break in the story rather than the harsh language.

  “Okay, where was I? Oh yeah, so I went down to the basement and as I was grabbing the bottle the quake started. Now this was not just any old basement, it had originally been a bomb shelter constructed during the Cold War by some lunatic fanatic that owned the house.” Erika’s story was starting to flow now, thanks in part to the alcohol.

  She went on to tell Henry and Carol all about being trapped under the wine rack, sleeping on tablecloths and napkins, living off of oats, fruit, and nuts, her first failed attempt at escape, and how she thought up the suit and the raft. Then she explained her escape, her first night under the stars when she got caught in the eddy, and, finally, her long voyage across the toxic sludge. By the time she was done, it was very late, and the oil lamp needed more fuel. Carol got up to fill it.

  “That is some story, young lady. You truly must have a guardian angel at your side. I wonder how many other people may be stuck under the sludge,” Henry pondered.

  “I don’t know, Henry. I didn’t even think about other people stuck in basements or crazy bomb shelters. I didn’t even try to look for anyone else alive. All I could think of was getting to shore, getting home to my family. Believe me, Henry. I saw my fair share of bodies above the ground, though.” Erika was freaked about the idea that more people could have been stuck in situations just like hers. Maybe they were still there in cells under the water. Maybe one day the water would recede, and they could open their doors into the air instead of a lake, if they made it that long.

  “That’s not what I meant, Erika, don’t go crazy over it. You will learn that in life it is never good to think of
the ‘what could have been,’ only what was, and what will be. You must stay focused on the future. No one could have survived without a suit like yours, and you wouldn’t have made it yourself if you got to shore any later than you did.” Henry was kicking himself for planting that thought in her head. He had looked for survivors for so long that he couldn’t help wondering.

  Carol brought the lamp back to the table and announced, “I am going to bed. It’s too late for an old woman to be up worrying.” She was looking tired, and she kissed Henry before she headed up the stairway.

  Erika had watched them embrace and kiss the way she and Vince always did when they shared passionate moments together. She longed more than ever for the touch of her man and his warm love that always made her feel better no matter what. Everyone has hard days, and Erika had her share as well, but the love of this one man could light up her whole world. He would always find a way to make her smile no matter what, and sometimes when Erika was trying to act really mad, it drove her nuts. What she wouldn’t do to feel that feeling now.

  “Good night, guys, and don’t keep her up all night talking,” Carol yelled down the stairs as she reached the top.

  “Yes, dear, good night,” Henry answered as the light at the top of the stairs went out. All that was left was the dancing light from the lantern on the table.

  Chapter 8

  Erika seized the moment and looked Henry directly in the eyes. It was her turn to make a request of him, and she was not going to miss this opportunity. “Henry, you know I will have to go towards Auburn to get home. What is it like out there?”

  “Well, I guess it’s only fair that since you have told me your story I will have to tell you mine. You must promise me, though that you will never, ever tell Carol. To her, the world is still a beautiful, safe place filled with the good will of men. That is the way I would like to keep it.” Henry demanded.

  “You have my word, Henry, but I must know,” Erika stated with an extreme desperation in her voice.

  “Okay, okay. I will tell you then, but give me another one of those Marlboros first.”

  “No problem, Henry, take as many as you like. Just tell me the darn story,” Erika replied impatiently as she tossed him a smoke.

  “All right, all right, don’t get all fussy.” Henry chuckled a little as he lit the smoke, holding Erika in suspense. "I'll just start at the beginning: I packed up one horse to go to Auburn to get some supplies we were running low on. You see, at that time I did not know the extent of the earthquake damage. Around our house was a mess. We had lost our home and our roads were impassible, but I figured it could not be like this everywhere. There was no way of getting to the car. It had been buried in the garage. The horse was the only option, so I rode off on my horse toward Auburn. It was very difficult because when the earth moved, it created a completely foreign landscape. Valleys that had not been there before were now deep cracks in the earth, and many obstacles had been created when this upheaval happened. The road was split into pieces around these valleys. After a day and a half of traveling, I started to smell the foulest stench of death imaginable. It wove its way into every one of my senses and made me sick a few times before I finally saw what used to be Auburn. It was literally a pile of rubble, Erika. The road that I was traveling used to be Auburn-Folsom Road, but as I said before, it was in pieces wedged between newly formed valleys. I use the past tense, Erika, because there is nothing left. The homes and stores that were there are all gone. Rubble and sunken land was everywhere.” Henry sat back and took a big puff of his smoke. There was a sense of fear and horror in his eyes that Erika had never seen before. She knew that this scene had an immense impact on him. It took Erika by surprise. When Erika looked at him, she saw a huge, immensely strong man, and she couldn’t believe that it could have been that horrifying. She knew she would have to follow that same road and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end.

  Henry took another puff and returned to his story. “Up until now, I had not seen anyone. I was completely inundated with the overwhelming smell and sense of death, but I did not see anyone. I was still really curious though, where was everyone? Many people must have died but a lot of people used to live in that town, and I had not seen one of them. I knew there had to be other survivors like ourselves but where were they? Just then, a shot from a gun rang out. I was shaken and quickly turned my horse and ran toward what used to be Old Town Auburn. The gunman was in the rubble at what used to be the 7-11. I did not know it at the time, but now I know why he was there.”

  “Why, Henry?” Erika was completely enthralled in the story now. Erika should have known the answer and immediately felt like an idiot for asking it in the first place.

  “He was hoarding the food that was left by the store, and he wasn’t going to let me anywhere near it. After I ran into old town, I chose a path that would lead me to what used to be a grocery store. I was hoping I could just get a few of the most important supplies that we needed and then I was going to get the heck out of there. I learned from the experience at the 7-11, though. I left my horse down in a secluded valley and climbed up a hill a little ways away so that I could scout the area that I was headed for first. I could not believe what these people had become. All of the buildings that used to comprise the shopping center were piles of rubble, and anything that was worth anything had already been pilfered. There was a group of people that were using the area as a compound. They had made new buildings out of the rubble that surrounded the whole shopping center. Then they gated all the openings and used all the surrounding buildings as walls that they could guard so no one else could get the supplies that were left there.”

  Henry lowered his voice a bit and said, “Erika, the dead bodies were piled everywhere outside the complex. They put people’s heads up as decorations on the walls to deter attackers and thieves. It was absolutely sickening to see how fast society deteriorated when faced with disaster and no sign of relief. That is why I am telling you, you must never, ever go toward people. I know you will want to, and I am not sure that it is the same everywhere, but you must not take those familiar old roads home. You will need to chart a new route with my help and your memory. From here, you must follow the road but stay far off of it and go directly toward the river. Then you will have to go to where the original road went down before the dam was built and weave a new course down and up the canyon. Stay away from Auburn, always.”

  “What did you do? Don’t get off track now. Did you get the supplies? What happened next, Henry?” Erika was not happy with the sudden change from hearing an intriguing tale to listening to a lecture and wanted to know how the story would end.

  “Well, after seeing what happened at this shopping center, I had no idea what to do, and I wasn’t expecting to need a gun so I went back to my horse and found a quiet way to ride home. I did not get the supplies, and it was a very long ride home without any food. See, I had only taken enough to get to Auburn and figured I would restock there. Also, I didn’t expect it to take me so long to get there in the first place, so I was already running low on the trip there.” Henry paused for a moment and took a long drag off of his cigarette.

  “I made it home to my sweet Carol, and I realized then how stupid I’d been. What if people looking for shelter had come while I had been gone? God knows what they would have done to my precious Carol. I realized then that we probably should not burn fires during the day so that we do not attract any attention. I just hope my son gets here soon. We could really use the help, and a bigger group is a safer group. With all the supplies we have, we would be easy pickings if they knew we were here.”

  Erika did not know what to say. She figured it would be a long trip home without a car, but this news was heartbreaking. Now she would have to travel through this new alien world, and she could not depend on anyone but herself to get her there safely.

  She sat there for another minute, silently reflecting on all that information she had just learned. She put the cigarette she had been smo
king out then said, “Thanks, Henry, for telling me. At least I know what I will be up against.”

  Henry put his smoke out and looked Erika dead in the eyes. He had a very intimate stare. “Look, Erika, you don’t have to go. You can stay with us. I hate to say this, and I know that you will not want to hear it, but you may have to face the fact that your family may be gone, and all you will return home to is chaos and heartache.” Henry knew she would never stay, but he had to let her know she was welcome. If there were any doubts in her mind, she must stay. Not many people actually survived, and those that did were more concerned about essential supplies for their survival, not banding together as a people to recover.

  “Henry, you know I can’t stay. I have to go; I have to see for myself. Who knows, I may be back someday, but all the same, I have to know,” Erika said without question.