Resurrecting Home

by A. American

  There were a number of wagons scattered about. It seemed every sort of cart was used to transport one’s belongings, with shopping carts, garden carts, little red wagons, and even baby strollers pressed into service to haul all that one possessed. The faces of many of those scattered around the parking lot displayed the anxiety of this new terror facing them. While for the most part the kids seemed oblivious to it, the very young among them, toddlers and infants, seemed to sense the stress from their mothers. A number of them were wailing, seemingly ignored by their mothers, who could offer little to soothe them.

  While some of the group ran, most stayed where they stood, obviously clutching weapons and eyeing us with suspicion. We pulled to a stop, and Calvin and Shane jumped out and walked toward a group of men. We all stayed back as there were certainly more of them than there were of us. In the turret, Mike was alert. Ted had pulled the Hummer up on my side. Looking up, I could see Mike.

  We were forty-odd feet from Calvin and the men he was talking to. Being out of earshot, I asked Mike, “See anything hinky from up there?”

  “Naw, not yet.”

  As he replied, a very loud engine suddenly started. The source of the sound revealed itself when a familiar-looking old green truck pulled out from a paved path.

  As soon as Thad saw the truck his eyes lit up with rage. “That’s them sumbitches from the woods that day.” Hearing Thad, Doc, Jamie, and Ted got out of the Hummer, offering him formidable backup.

  He didn’t need to elaborate. We all knew what he was talking about. It was the green truck from Grasshopper Lake, the day we found the body hanging in the tree. Thad quickly stepped out, his eyes locked on the cab of the truck. It stopped as the driver spoke to one of the people gathered in the parking lot. They were looking at the Hummer and at Mike in the turret. My eyes moved between Thad and the truck. Looking at the truck, I saw the passenger when he noticed Thad. He quickly grabbed the driver by the shirt and tugged, pointing at Thad.

  Thad started walking toward the truck, his shotgun at his side. Seeing him start moving, I called, “Mike, Mike!” pointing at Thad. Mike looked down and followed my arm out. He quickly swung the turret and his SAW around to cover Thad. Jamie and the guys were right behind him. The truck started to move, slowly at first, but Thad was quickly closing in on it. The driver suddenly floored the old truck, causing the antique engine to belch a huge cloud of blue smoke. As they hit the exit onto the road, the passenger looked back and flipped Thad off. He stopped walking and watched the truck as it sped away.

  “Who the hell was what?” Mike called down.

  I got out of the Suburban, opened the door of the Hummer, and stepped up on the ledge of the door. “We came across those guys the day we found that body hanging in the trees.”

  Mike looked back at Thad, then back at me. “You think they did it?”

  “Did what?” Sarge asked.

  “I’m not sure.” Pointing at Thad, I added, “But he damn sure is.” Then, looking at Sarge, I added, “Hung that guy we found in the woods a while back.”

  Sarge looked over at Thad, and after a moment he said, “Oh yeah, that—we’ll have to fix that.”

  After a moment Thad came back to the trucks. “You all right, man?” I asked.

  I was surprised how he looked. The last time he saw these guys he looked really messed up, but this time he looked like the old Thad. It’s almost like the encounter gave him a jolt of energy. “Oh yeah, I’ll get ’em one of these days,” he said as he leaned back on the Hummer. Jamie and the guys stayed just off to the side, forming a bit of a perimeter.

  Calvin and Shane returned to the trucks. I asked if any of their people were part of the group.

  “No, but we know many of them. They all thought we were dead,” Calvin replied.

  “Well, let’s get you home so they’ll know you’re not. Why are there so many people here?” Danny said.

  Calvin looked back for a moment. “Most of them are fleeing the fire, said it’s burning up toward Palatka. A bunch of these folks have walked for a couple of days to get here.”

  “They think the river will stop the fire,” Shane added.

  “That little creek won’t amount to a speed bump to that fire. If they were smart they’d get back on the road and fast,” Sarge replied.

  “That’s what we told them, but a lot of them are tired. Plus they’re scared, don’t know which way to go. No one knows exactly where it is, where it’s going,” Shane said.

  “Sitting here damn sure isn’t helping them any at all,” Sarge replied.

  We got back in the trucks and headed back down the road. As we crossed the bridge over the run I looked down. Many people were in the water with fishing poles, or walking the shallows along the banks looking for food. A number of kids were playing at the water’s edge, their mothers standing on the bank looking north at the ever-increasing mass of gray and black in the sky, their trepidation obvious. The opposite side of the river was also crowded with camps, smoke hanging in the canopy of the trees.

  As I drove I thought about those souls down there on the river, about how this fire was compounding an already dire situation for them, for us. With all that’s happened to our world, the plunge back to a lifestyle a hundred or so years distant, mother nature didn’t care, and we were still at her mercy. The thought of having to grab what you could and flee in the face of an advancing inferno was terrifying.

  Coming into Salt Springs, Calvin told me to hang a left onto Salt Springs Highway. After another couple of miles he directed me onto a small dirt drive. Stopping at a closed gate, Calvin got out and disappeared into the woods. After a few moments he reappeared and unlocked the padlock on the gate, opening it so we could pull through.

  Back in the truck, he told me to follow the road but go slowly. He and Shane both were leaning out of the windows intently watching the woods on either side of the road. The dirt track wound through scrub oaks and pines mixed with palmettos. The edge of the road was lined with puffy green lichen, and dead leaves and pine needles littered the two-track.

  Eventually the woods broke out into a clearing, live and scrub oaks creating a canopy over the area. Under the cover of the trees were a number of small houses. It reminded me a lot of the place we dropped Jess off. Calvin told me to stop and for us to stay in the truck. He and Shane both got out and started looking around, checking the small houses, which all appeared to be locked.

  “I think they’ve left,” I heard Calvin say.

  “No, they haven’t,” Shane said, pointing at a tall oak with a large spreading canopy.

  Calvin looked over to where Shane was pointing. Danny and I did as well. Shane was pointing at a birdhouse mounted to the trunk.

  “Looks like it, but where are they?”

  Curious about the significance of the birdhouse, I asked Calvin about it. “Hey, what’s with the birdhouse?”

  “It’s one of our signals. If for any reason we had to bug out, the house would be turned upside down.” He smiled. “Who’s going to pay attention to a birdhouse?”

  “Wow, I guess that works,” I said, more to myself than to him.

  Calvin looked around, then cupped a hand to his mouth. “Lori! Daniel! Anybody!”

  After a moment a reply came out of the woods. “Calvin?”

  Calvin spun around. “Yeah, it’s me! Where are you guys?”

  A woman’s voice erupted from the woods, accompanied by the sounds of crashing brush. “Calvin?! Is Shane with you?”

  Both men moved in the direction of the sound, and soon a woman appeared. Shane and Calvin embraced her, and she burst into tears. Several other people, armed people, emerged from different points of the tree line surrounding the small compound.

  As the group gathered around their returning members I saw a familiar face and called out, “Hey, Daniel!”

  Hearing me, he walked over. I offered my hand as he approached. As we shook hands I said, “Hey, man, good to see you’re all right.”

  “We’
re better now that these guys are back. Where’d you find them?”

  “They were taken to the DHS camp.” I pointed to Sarge and Ted and added, “These guys took the camp over and we finally managed to get ’em home.” I then introduced everyone to Daniel, and a quick round of handshakes went around.

  Daniel shook Sarge’s hand. “Thanks for getting them out. I was with them the day we were ambushed.”

  “I know, I saw you,” Sarge replied.

  Confused, Daniel asked, “You saw?”

  “We were there for the ambush. Most of it, anyway,” I said.

  “I didn’t know, I thought you guys went the other way after our little meeting. Don’t blame you for not getting involved. It was ugly.”

  “We wanted to, but it would have been suicide,” I said.

  “No worries, you guys got him back just in time. With this fire so close, it looks like we’re going to have to move now,” Daniel said.

  Sarge asked, “Do you know where the fire is?”

  “It’s only a couple miles north of Salt Springs now, and it’s moving fast.” As he spoke he looked up, causing the rest of us to do the same. The smoke was now heavier and ash had begun to slowly drift down.

  “Looks that way,” I said, holding my hand out as a piece of delicate white ash drifted into my palm.

  “Where are you guys going to go?” Danny asked.

  “We’ve got another place at the lake over there,” he said, pointing north. “It’s a last resort, though. We’re going to watch the fire and see if goes around the west side of the lake. If it does, we’re heading out. If it sticks to the east side, we’ll try and wait it out.”

  “Don’t wait too long. As fast as this thing is moving, it’s going to be damn dangerous to wait,” Sarge said.

  Daniel nodded. “Yeah, but everything we have is here. Leaving here means a hard life.”

  “Well, brother, I can relate. I think we all can. I hope for the best for you,” I said.

  He looked around the group. “What about you guys, you going to try and stick it out or are you going to move out of the way?”

  Danny looked at me. Now that we knew how close it was, we were going to have to come up with a game plan. “Well, now that we know where it is, we’re staying put. Hopefully it will burn itself out first,” Danny said.

  Daniel looked at Sarge. “What about the camp?”

  “That camp don’t stand a chance. We’re pulling back to Eustis, to the Guard armory there. Some civilians want to stay, can’t say I agree,” Sarge replied.

  “Smart move for you, dumbass move for them,” Daniel said, agreeing.

  Calvin and Shane walked over, Calvin’s wife between them holding their hands.

  “Thanks for getting us back, we really appreciate it,” Calvin said.

  I smiled. “No worries. Sorry it took so long.”

  The woman, her cheeks still wet from tears, added, “I can’t thank you enough. I thought I’d lost them both. It was terrible not knowing where they were.”

  Calvin smiled and looked at his wife. “It’s all right now, honey, we’re back.”

  We spent another few minutes saying good-bye to everyone, telling them if they needed anything to look us up. I gave him directions to our place, offering his group a place if they needed it. He thanked me but said they had a plan. Shaking his hand, I said, “Hope we see you again someday.”

  Calvin smiled. “Me too.”

  After Daniel opened the gate for us I stopped for a moment to shake his hand again and wish him luck. He did the same and watched as we drove away. At the intersection with Highway 19, I stopped and looked north again. The smoke, if possible, seemed thicker now and ash fell like light snow. It completely covered our view of the horizon to the north and east, like an enormous cancer on the blue sky.

  We made the trip back to the camp quickly. At the road to the main gate I pulled off the side of the road just past it. Ted pulled the Hummer into the drive and stopped and we all got out.

  “What are you guys going to do? You don’t normally stay here. You gonna stick it out on the creek or what?” Thad asked.

  Sarge rubbed the stubble on his chin. “Don’t know yet. The way that looks it could get ugly down in them woods.”

  “Why don’t you guys come up to our place?” Thad said.

  “I’m for that,” Mike said from the turret.

  “Me too,” Ted added. “I could use one of Mel’s home-cooked meals.”

  “How do you think your place is going to fare with this fire?” Sarge asked.

  “Tough to say. We’re going to hit the Forestry Service facility and see if there is any of the firefighting gear left, just to be safe,” I said.

  “You know how to fight fires?” Mike asked.

  “I know some theory, that’s about it,” I replied.

  “Before joining the army I spent a couple of summers after high school working wildfires out west. I can help you a little,” Mike said.

  “And when were you going to share this information?” I asked, shaking my head.

  “I just did,” Mike replied with a smile.

  “I’m a volunteer for Lake County, or I was,” Jamie said.

  “Anyone else a closet firefighter?” I asked, looking at everyone.

  “I have an idea for something too,” Danny said.

  We all looked at him. “Do tell,” Thad said.

  Danny looked at Thad. “Over behind your place there are a couple of those big poly tanks in the cages. I thought we could take those and put them on my trailer. Then, using my generator and the irrigation pump from Morgan’s place, we plumb it all up and have a fire trailer of sorts.”

  “Holy crap, that’s a hell of an idea,” I said.

  Thad smiled broadly. “Where you been hidin’ all them smarts?”

  Danny laughed and I said, “And here we thought you were just another pretty face.”

  “Hey, I thought I was the pretty face,” Jamie said, trying to smile, which didn’t come off well.

  Mike looked at her and grimaced. “Eeesh, don’t smile. Just don’t.”

  Jamie kicked sand at him. “Screw yourself, Mike.”

  “Ahh, but it’s not as fun to screw myself,” he replied. “Care to join?” he asked, with a wink.

  If looks could kill, the one Jamie gave him in return would have turned him into cinders. Mike laughed even harder until Sarge reached over and slapped him on the bottom of his chin, forcing his mouth closed with a pop.

  “Ow, dammit, bit my tongue,” Mike shouted.

  “Serves you right,” Jamie said with a smirk.

  “This is fun and all, but it looks like we’ve got work to do,” I said.

  Sarge nodded. “Us too. We need to get to it. I wish you luck, Morgan.”

  “We’re going to need it,” Danny replied.

  Chapter 6

  Perez drove the Hummer down the center line of the road, passing through Altoona. Ian was up in the turret, scanning the road with a SAW. There were two other Guardsmen, one riding shotgun and one in the back. They were being followed by another Hummer with four Guardsmen in it. As they made their way through Altoona, conditions worsened considerably. Ash was now falling on them as a nightmarish snow, the sunlight filtering through it. This gave everything an odd appearance, like it was being viewed through a sepia filter. For the first time, the world did look apocalyptic.

  Coming into Umatilla, they noticed several people out in the parking lots of the Kangaroo Store and the McDonald’s. They were gathered in groups and all looking to the north and at the growing malignancy in the sky. At the sight of the two approaching Hummers, many of them scattered, peering out from behind corners or around trees as the trucks passed.

  “I’ve got bodies,” Ian said into the headset radio attached to his helmet.

  “Roger that, I see them,” the Guardsmen in the turret of the second Hummer said.

  Sheffield, Livingston, and Sarge were listening to the radio back in the CP. Hearing the call ab
out bodies, Sheffield raised his eyebrows and looked at Sarge. Sarge shrugged and looked back at him. “Nothing to worry about yet.”

  “Let’s hit the drive-through and get a burger,” Ian joked.

  “You can walk in if you want,” Perez replied.

  They were through the small town quickly. On the stretch between Umatilla and Eustis, just before the Three Lakes area, they passed a subdivision of well-tended older houses and a liquor store. Ian scanned the store. Its parking lot was covered in trash: scraps of cardboard and empty cans and bottles.

  “Imagine that, a looted liquor store,” Perez said.

  Ian looked over at the metal gates that once covered the windows, now pried open and hanging in their frames. “One of the essentials of survival.”

  Coming into Eustis, Highway 19 was four lanes divided by a grass median. As the trucks rolled across Highway 42, a small two-lane road running east–west, Ian had a bird’s-eye view of the Publix grocery store on the west side and the Winn-Dixie sitting across the divided highway from it on the east. All of the windows of both stores were shattered, and the Winn-Dixie had been partially burned. Just like at the liquor store, the parking lots of these two were completely littered with trash and debris, burned cars, and piles of shopping carts, but unlike the other, there were many, many people milling about.

  “We’ve got lots of people ahead,” Perez shouted into his mic.

  “Look at ’em all!” Ian shouted back.

  “It’s like a Mad Max movie,” the gunner from the other Hummer added.

  “Let’s hope there’s no Thunderdome,” Ian replied.

  Several of them were standing around fires or a few tattered makeshift shelters. Again, the appearance of the two Hummers drew the attention of many of these people. Unlike those in Umatilla who hid from the trucks, some of these people actually began to run toward them. And some of these people had weapons.

  Seeing the armed people reacting to the sight of the trucks, Ian swiveled the turret around to face them and quickly shouted into the radio, “Gun!”