Under the Gray Skies

by Jacqueline Druga

  She had two sons. Caleb, who was nine and Bad Bruce, who was eight.

  “Bad Bruce?” I asked.

  “Well, I hate the Big Bruce Little Bruce thing. And forget Senior and Junior. I figured good and bad, since my husband is a good guy and my son is just … bad.”

  Mischievous was more like it. She shared stories of them, as I did about my family. We made a pact that while traveling north we would both start from the beginning, sharing stories of our lives, each year of our lives, until we arrived. It would pass the time because we both vowed, that unless we were told with a hundred percent certainty that our families were evacuated, that we, despite the odds, would look for them, no matter what the outcome.

  TWENTY – LAST ON LEFT

  Not just physically before my eyes had everything transformed, but internally as well. I went from being trapped in a pocket to finding my way out. When you focus on one thing, nothing else exists. You tend to miss a lot.

  Sitting in the back of the truck on those hard bench seats whipped not only by cold air, but by a chilling reality of the world.

  There was no color. None at all.

  As we rolled down the highway we were encompassed by a cloud of dust stirred up by the wheels of the fast moving vehicle.

  I watched a desolate world through the slats of that truck. Madison and I were the only ones back there. Ruth was up front with the two soldiers that arrived.

  I didn’t get their names or even speak to them. They brought boxes to Doug, spoke to Anna and escorted us to the back of that military truck.

  All the items we lugged with us before we arrived at Doug’s were gone. Buried in ash when we left them at the perimeter. We now traveled with minimum belongings. I at least had my backpack from the first plane.

  The trip to Hilltop took all of an hour and it was evident that we had arrived because suddenly some color came back. The noon sky still looked like an early evening summer storm was brewing, but there was very little ash on the road or buildings we passed.

  We stopped not long after arriving and the second we began to climb from the truck, a buzz filled my ears, like a pressure. It turned into a hum, then a vibration and suddenly the ground shook. It wasn’t mild or a tremor, it felt like a ride, bucking up and down, left to right. The side grates on the truck waved as if they were going to crack and a chorus of screams flowed our way. I held tight with closed eyes, begging in my mind, “Stop, please stop.”

  I swore I even held my breath.

  When I opened my eyes, I saw the horrified look on Madison’s face.

  “Don’t have a panic attack,” I told her.

  She shook her head. “That was really long.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  One of the soldiers opened the back and extended his hand to Madison, helping her down. Then he aided me.

  “We’re taking your friend to the medical tent,” the soldier said. “You can find her there.”

  And then he walked away.

  “Wait.” Madison called out, nearly following him. “Where is …”

  She stopped.

  It was when I joined her that I saw what rendered her speechless. A huge camp was set up on the street. I couldn’t see how far it extended. There was a degree of chaos as people tried to straighten things and pick up items after the quake.

  Someone moved us out of the way and a school bus rolled by slowly. I looked up to the windows, to the people inside, the nameless faces that went by. One image, one person was forever embedded in my mind.

  A little girl, her hair dark, her face tiny and petite. She pressed her hand against the window looking at me, so helpless and lost.

  I watched her until I couldn’t see her any more.

  Was she alone? Did she have family or someone to ride with her, telling her everything would be all right?

  The bus moved farther away and I turned to face Madison.

  “What now?” Madison asked.

  “I don’t know. Find this Major Graham?”

  “Where?”

  I just shrugged.

  They unloaded us and left. There were hundreds of people, so much confusion. We’d start at the first tent and work our way in. One positive thing to the whole mess … we weren’t the only ones alive.

  <><><><>

  He wasn’t visually what I expected. Upon hearing the name ‘Major Graham’, a staunch older man with a barrel chest and crass demeanor came to mind. In fact that was what I searched for. The first man that matched my description of Major Graham wasn’t in the military at all. He was a local coffee shop manager who ended up pointing us to the correct tent.

  Major Graham wasn’t older. He looked more like he just graduated college. An average height man, whose build was hard to tell hidden beneath the military jacket. He wore a cap, stood behind a desk while shuffling through large papers, I assumed were maps.

  “Can I help you, ladies?” he asked.

  I stepped farther into the tent. “I hope so. We’re just lost, confused and haven’t a clue where to go, or what to do.”

  “They just dropped us off,” Madison said.

  “Who did?” Graham asked.

  “The two soldiers who picked us up,” Madison replied. “We were with Doug.”

  “Ah.” Graham nodded and placed down his pencil. “You guys were the last of the four people to come from the dead zone?”

  “The … dead zone?” I asked.

  He waved us over to the desk, shuffled some maps, finally lifting one from the bottom of the pile. He indicated with his finger to the west coast. “This entire area from Los Angeles to Seattle. We assumed everyone else suffocated.”

  “I survived the choke,” Madison said. “Others did too, they had to.”

  “The choke?” he asked.

  “That’s what I call it.”

  “I like it. It’s easy. I’m gonna borrow that.”

  Madison nudged me and said, “Told you it would catch on.”

  “Well, aside from the one person, if others did survive … the choke,” he said. “And didn’t make it out, I doubt they will now. Ash is piling on in some areas, an inch an hour. They speculate a second wave rolled in three days ago, turning it all to mud. It’s speculation. Any attempts to see with satellites is futile, Earth is pretty much a shrouded ball at this point.”

  “There is no communication?” Madison questioned.

  “Some. Not us. We get very little information. It’s like the pony express.”

  “Doug called it that,” Madison said.

  “I got it from Doug.” Graham flashed a smile. “I know they are trying desperately to figure out some sort of communication. Each day it gets worse. Antarctica was our link to the satellites. They can see, but the images aren’t clear. They spotted the wave … but then the earth just got too covered to see if it made land.”

  My voice perked with a tad of excitement, finally some answers. “So you know what happened?”

  “Happening,” Graham corrected. “It’s not done yet. No one knows how long it will last. I’m gonna assume you felt that last quake. Expect more. Is the worst over?” He shrugged. “Destruction wise. Yes. However within two weeks, maybe three …. If the Mason Dixon line extended straight across the US, every area above that will be a frozen wasteland.” His finger trailed across the map. “Between that and the Tropic of Cancer, will be largely uninhabitable due to the cold. Farther south, we’re hopeful, but who knows.” He folded the map. “It’s just the best bet for survival.”

  “How …” I asked. “How did everything suddenly just blow?”

  “We’re in the middle of a pole reversal. I think that’s what it is called.”

  “No.” Madison shook her head. “I’m smart enough to know a pole reversal or magnetic reversal doesn’t happen overnight.”

  “It does,” Graham emphasized, “when a large planetary body passes too close to earth, or strikes the moon shifting it slightly in orbit. That will cause an immediate chain of events within twelve hours. S
o ... I’ve been told. Please, I’m not an expert.”

  “How did they not see it coming?” I asked. “Something so large.”

  “To quote a favorite movie,” Graham said. “It’s an awfully big sky. My guess is they did see it, my guess is also, they either knew, or believed, it would pass on the other side of the moon.”

  “The moon controls a lot,” Madison said. “Do we know if it hit it, missed it, or passed too close?”

  “Reports in Africa say they watched the night sky light up,” He said in almost a daze. “Even with those reports, what is a twelve hour window? What is a one week window? Anything less than a year warning would send people into the streets panicking. Quietly without warning, they let things happen. And …” he exhaled. “As far as if it was a hit or miss. We’ll know when the sky clears, won’t we? Whenever that is.” He sat down. “I wish I could talk more. I enjoyed this break and I say that sincerely, but I have buses to plan, people to move south, and search parties to send out.”

  “You’re not doing all this on your own, are you?” I asked.

  “No. There are a lot of stations. I’m just the last one before the west.”

  “One more question,” I said. “Are the places south, are they organized. Do they know who is going where?”

  “You mean are we registering people?” he asked. “I don’t know. If we are there will be no way to coordinate that info for a long time. Are you looking for someone?”

  “Our families. Both of us,” I said. “They are very north east of here.”

  “I see.” He nodded. “I’m not sure what teams made it where. I do know a lot of folks headed south. I can ….” He looked down. “Get you two on a bus in a week. That’s the best I can do.”

  I looked at Madison then to Graham. “Thank you, but I don’t think I’ll be on that bus.”

  “Me either,” Madison said.

  “What?” He asked with a chuckle. “Are you staying here? Where are you going?”

  “Home,” I said. “I need to find my family, or see that they left.”

  “It’s already dangerous,” he said. “In a week it could be suicide.”

  “That’s a chance I am willing to take,” I said. “Wouldn’t you?”

  He stared for a moment. “I am responsible for your safety. Will you give me a day to see if other camps maybe hit your home towns?”

  Madison glanced my way, I conveyed my agreement and she nodded at Graham. “Yeah. That would be great if you can see what you can do.”

  “I’ll catch you later for the information,” he said.

  “And we’ll let you get back to work,” I told him. “Thank you so much for your honesty and answers.”

  “Not a problem.”

  We both turned and stopped.

  “What do we do now?” Madison asked. “Where do we go?”

  “Just find a tent and empty space,” he said. “There’s a few sleeping ones, a mess tent …”

  “Medical?” I asked. “We’re looking for our friend and they took her to the medical tent.”

  “It’s the large white one a block down.”

  We thanked him again, and with what little belongings we had, we headed out to find the medical tent.

  <><><><>

  Despite the fact that there were several large white tents we ended up finding the medical one. In my mind, from all the movies I had seen and books I read, I pictured a tent packed with sick and injured people. That I’d have to walk through aisles of the dying, searching for Ruth.

  That wasn’t the case.

  Ruth was one of three people in a large tent lined with cots. A worker at the entrance pointed at her bed, positioned in the back. I could hear her talking and that made me feel better, Ruth was recovering. She spoke to another worker who stood by her bed.

  “Maybe we should sleep in here,” Madison suggested in a whisper.

  “Maybe.”

  As we walked closer, I noticed Ruth was holding the workers hand. If he was even a worker at all, he looked like a teenager. Then again, like Ruth, maybe everyone just looked younger to me. The shorter Latino young man was wearing dark blue scrubs. His dark wavy hair was messy, he not only was petite in height but in stature. He peered up to us with these amazingly big eyes when we approached.

  “There they are,” Ruth said brightly. “My new adopted daughters. Madison and Lacey. Lacey as in ‘Cagney and’, actually thinking of changing Madison’s name to that…” Ruth paused and noticed the young man shook his head in confusion. “Sorry, that was before your time.”

  “How’s she doing?” I asked.

  “Great. Fantastic,” he answered softly. “Thanks to you. Thank you. Thank you very much.”

  My immediate thought was, ‘aw, look how much this young worker cares.’

  “My name is Estaban,” he said. “It’s really nice to meet you.”

  “Isn’t he sweet?” Ruth asked.

  “Yes,” Madison answered. “Very.”

  “Of course, he is,” Ruth smiled.

  Just as Madison made a joking comment that, ‘Someone has the Florence Nightingale effect.’ It hit me.

  “Estaban,” I said. “Stevie?”

  “Stevie?” Madison repeated with surprise. “Are you the Stevie from the home?”

  “Yes.” He nodded. “That’s me.”

  “Where the hell did you go?” Madison barked.

  I tapped her with the back of my hand. “She didn’t mean for that to come out like that.”

  “Yes, I did.” Madison said. “You left a ninety-two year old woman alone.”

  Immediately Stevie looked horrified and panicked.

  “Be nice,” Ruth said. “He feels really bad.”

  “As well as he should,” Madison said. “He left you.”

  I swore it looked like the young man was ready to cry. He was completely mortified by Madison’s cross examination.

  “Why didn’t you take her?” she asked. “We did.”

  “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t think I would be gone that long,” he said. “I didn’t. I went to look for help. I left her food and water and thought I’d get back. I walked east. I got lost. After so long, I had no landmarks to give me direction, everything looked the same. I kept on walking hoping to make it back.” His head lowered almost as if in shame. “I never made it. I had no intention to abandon her. My heart broke. I love Ruth.”

  “Shh.” Ruth patted his hand. “It’s fine. I knew you didn’t leave me on purpose. It’s okay.”

  I looked over at Madison. She looked like she was in debate over the young man’s story. Me, I believed it.

  “How did you get here?” I asked.

  “A truck was making a search. They found me. At that point I had walked five days. I told them about Ruth and they said that they could not go into the dead zone. I prayed for her. When I got here, I volunteered.”

  I felt bad for Stevie, I really did. It was evident he was torn up about what happened. “The bus will be taking Ruth south,” I said. “To safety. Will you go with her?”

  His eyes widened. “Of course I’ll go with her.”

  “Good. Good.” I nodded. “That makes me feel better that she won’t be alone.”

  Stevie shifted his eyes from Madison to me. “You are not going south? There is trouble coming.”

  I shook my head.

  “Can I ask why?” asked Ruth.

  “We are gonna search for our families,” I said. “Whether they’re still north or they went south, we both need to know. We made a pact.”

  Ruth reached out to me and grabbed my hand. “I understand. I really do.”

  I felt comfort in her touch, then she released Stevie’s hand and grabbed for Madison.

  We stayed in the medical tent for a while with her and Stevie. Talking, planning and hearing stories about Ruth when she was in the assisted living. It was good to see her recovering and I was at ease that she wasn’t going to be alone when she went south. There was a sense of guilt that accompanied
my thoughts of leaving her alone.

  One thing was for certain, finding Stevie not only made me feel better about Ruth it renewed my faith that miracles could happen. We believed him gone, he wasn’t. That alone was a miracle.

  After seeing Stevie, finding my family seemed less of a pipe dream and suicide mission and more of a possibility.

  NOTEBOOK – DAY TWENTY

  Ev,

  I think I met a professional wrestler today. Or a former one. She is a soldier at this camp. She shares our tent with us. Madison told me she is going to challenge her. I thought it was funny. Madison jokes and makes a lot of sarcastic comments. Between you and me, kiddo, I think she uses that as a cover up for a lot of pain. I might be wrong. I am not wrong about missing you with all my heart.

  I love you!

  Mommy

  TWENTY-ONE – THE BEAST

  It was a bit more difficult than just finding a tent to sleep, as instructed by Major Graham. There were several types. There was a tent for women, men, families, and children alone. There was a sense that they did that to bus survivors south by order of importance. That was probably why I saw the little girl on the bus.

  We had dinner which consisted of a thick broth soup, crackers and coffee, then finally Madison and I found the women’s tent and took over a corner. Even though the tent was pretty empty except three other women sleeping, we stayed far enough away. Our cots were close, touching head to head and feeling a bit more energized and optimistic, we talked a lot.

  There probably wasn’t a reason to be optimistic about things, but considering a few days earlier we hadn’t seen a person, now we were surrounded by people. That was enough of a reason.

  I wrote in my journal more names of those who helped us. I didn’t get the names of the soldiers who drove us to Hilltop so they were simply soldier one and soldier two.

  I started something new as well. Notes to my family. I wrote down the date and to each of them a small note. It was something I wanted to do for the trip. Give them my thoughts during my progress of making it home or at least to them. I kept them short because it was hard to see and accomplish. I held a flashlight in my hand while I wrote.