by E S Richards
He recognized the places around him easily now. There were only a couple of blocks left until his apartment and—due to the poorer nature of this part of the city—there were considerably fewer people around. Blake hoped that this would work in his favor and he would be able to get what he needed from the corner shop.
If he was lucky, Vic, the old man who owned it, might have a few extra supplies in the back he could barter for as well. Blake knew exactly the kind of back street dealings that went on in that store. He didn’t care for them himself so had never got involved, but that didn’t mean he didn’t keep up to date with the items that could be bought there. He saw enough people going in and out every day to understand it was still in business—if he got lucky, he might be able to get everything he needed from there now that he thought about it.
Jogging the final few hundred feet before the turning, Blake held his heart in his throat as he closed down the distance. His head was spinning out of control with possibilities for what was going to happen over the next few days. He wished he’d watched the news report for longer to understand their situation more. He’d been out of the door almost as soon as the words “stay indoors” had left the news anchor’s mouth.
What an idiot he’d been. Perhaps Vic could supply him with information too. He’d always been friendly with the old man, buying his staples from him every week instead of the new superstore that had opened a couple of blocks away. Hopefully that would be enough. With his apartment and the corner finally in his sights, Blake knew it was time to make or break this disaster.
Chapter 9
“Okay,” Chase spoke after downing the contents of his coffee cup. “What’s on the agenda for today?”
The four family members were seated around the kitchen table once more. A quick breakfast of cereal and coffee had been had by all except Riley, who was still too young to have developed a taste for the dark stuff. It was early. Just before 6:00 a.m. The sun hadn’t even attempted to break through the clouds outside, though Chase was uncertain whether it could. He’d been up at this time of the morning on plenty of occasions for lacrosse practice before, but he’d never seen the sky as dark as it was now. It scared him, though he wouldn’t admit it out loud. The pressure of looking after everyone was something that had only grown heavier overnight for the sixteen-year-old.
“You fixed up the generator last night, right?” Grandma Linda asked, pushing herself to her feet and starting to gather up the mugs and bowls from the table. She worked on autopilot at this time of the morning, not often putting much thought into her tasks until the clock was a bit later in the day.
“Yep,” Chase nodded. “So that’s taken care of. The animals are tucked away and the vegetables have been harvested and stocked in the pantry. What’s next? Water? Do you think we should pump extra out of the well?”
“Hmm, not a bad idea actually.” Pop rose to his feet now, getting involved in the conversation while also helping to clear the rest of the table. He’d woken in a good mood—his body and mind both felt strong and he was ready to do everything he could to prepare his farmhouse for whatever was to come. “We should probably take inventory of the food as well. And I don’t know whether it’s a good idea for us to try and get down to the store before it’s too late?”
“I’m not sure about that, Pop. Don’t you think that’s what everyone will be doing? It’ll probably be crazy down there; I think we’re better off staying away.”
“All right, Chase,” Pop agreed with his grandson. “I’m happy to go with your judgement. Who wants to do what then—water versus taking inventory? I suppose I better volunteer myself for the latter. Not sure I can pump that much out of the well these days.”
“Riley and I can get the water,” Chase offered, looking to his younger sister for confirmation. She had been quiet since yesterday and he wanted a chance to talk to her alone. As much as she could annoy him, he was still worried about her and he wanted to make sure she was dealing with things okay. Hopefully a task as monotonous as getting water would encourage her to talk to him. It was something they all knew needed doing in case things really went south. They wouldn’t be able to use the backup generator for everything, so extra water would be necessary to bathe, wash the dishes, and even flush the toilets. They were really taking a step back and away from technology, something Chase was more than a little apprehensive about.
“Yeah,” Riley replied in a small voice. “That’s fine with me. Where can we store it all though?”
“There are some plastic barrels in the barn,” Pop offered. “The ones we used to use to transport the cow’s milk. They should be fine, just might need a quick wash first.”
“Awesome,” Chase smiled. “All good to go then?”
“Sure.” Grandma Linda returned the smile, looking lovingly at her two grandchildren. “Let us know if you need any help out there, will you? We’ll just be in the pantry counting cans.”
“Okay, Grandma.” Chase walked over to the woman and gave her a kiss on her forehead. “I’m sure we’ll be fine though, won’t we, Riley?”
Riley looked up at her brother and gave him a forced smile. She didn’t show her teeth like she normally did and her eyes didn’t crinkle at the sides like when she was laughing. There was definitely something up with her and Chase was determined to get to the bottom of it.
“Is everything okay?” He asked his sister once they were outside, making their way to the barn to collect the barrels. “You seem a bit quieter than usual.”
“I’m fine,” Riley shrugged. “Just thinking about things, I guess.”
Chase didn’t say anything, giving Riley a look that told her he was waiting for her to continue, to elaborate on her answer.
“Just, like,” Riley paused, struggling to choose the right words. She felt comfortable talking to Chase about most things. They had a very close relationship, which had only improved over the last fifteen months. But even she wasn’t sure what she was trying to say; her worries seemed much greater than anything that could be put into words. “What’s going to happen? We don’t really have any information about this eruption. How do we know how it’s going to affect us? And what about Mia? Do you think she’s okay?”
“All right,” Chase stopped as the two of them entered the barn, giving a quick look to the cows, Milk and Shake, to make sure they were still standing before turning to look at his younger sister. He placed a hand on her shoulder and knelt down slightly, positioning himself so he could look her directly in the eyes. “First things first, Riley. Mia will be fine. You know what she’s like. She’s a Clarke. She’s one of us. If anyone can get out of a bad situation, it’s Mia. You know it is.”
“You sound just like him,” Riley replied in a whisper. Her eyes glazing over with tears.
“Like who?”
“Dad,” Riley sniffed. “That’s what he always used to say to me. ‘You’re a Clarke, Riley. No matter what troubles you’re faced with, you can get through them.’”
“And he was right,” Chase replied after a moment, forcing himself to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat. No one had ever really told him that he sounded like his father before. He knew that he carried some physical resemblance, but it wasn’t something that had been mentioned since he died. To hear it from Riley made him feel both vulnerable and proud. If he could be half the man his father had been, he would be happy.
“Not for everything,” Riley whimpered, shaking her head slowly from side to side. “Even he couldn’t get out of that crash. Him and Mom were both Clarkes. What good did it do them?”
“Hey!” Chase quickly dropped onto both his knees in front of his sister, his hands clutching her shoulders firmly. “Don’t you think like that, Riley. Don’t you go trying to point the finger of blame. What happened to Mom and Dad wasn’t anybody’s fault. They couldn’t do anything about that crash. What happened, happened. They wouldn’t want you to feel like this about it.”
Riley looked up at her brother through tearful
eyes, a few of them breaking as she blinked and rolling down her cheeks. She knew he was right. She didn’t really blame anyone for what had happened to her parents. It was a freak accident. No one could have predicted what happened, but it did. She had dealt with it through a lot of crying at first, but gradually it had become easier to think about and remember her parents without breaking down. It was just times like now—when everything seemed like it could so easily fall apart—that she desperately wanted to see them again.
She wanted her mom to tuck her into bed at night. To run her long fingers through her blonde hair until she fell asleep. She wanted to smell the perfume that she wore. The faint notes of honeysuckle mixed with ginger and some other flower that Riley had never been able to place. She wanted to hear her mother’s voice as she whispered goodnight.
If Riley had known that the last time she saw her mom was going to be the last time, she would’ve never pretended to be asleep. She’d been sulking that night, her parents not letting her go to a friend’s party that weekend because they were staying overnight and there would be boys there. That meant that when her mom had come into her room to say goodnight, Riley had refused to open her eyes. She’d pretended to sleep, turning away from her mom as her hand reached out to touch her head. It was Riley’s biggest regret. The next morning her parents had left the house before she was awake and they had never returned. The crash happened as Riley was eating her breakfast, the bowl of oatmeal never finished.
“Riley,” Chase pleaded with his younger sister. “You understand that, don’t you? It wasn’t anybody’s fault.”
“I know,” Riley eventually nodded. She sniffed several more times and focused her eyes on her brother, the tears finally fading from them. “I just miss them.”
“Me too,” Chase agreed, feeling the words deep in his heart. “Me too. But we’ve got to be strong for them now. We’ve got to get through this and help Grandma and Pop, too. They need us, just as much as we need them.”
Riley nodded again. She knew things weren’t as they used to be for her grandpop. She’d seen him lose himself the night before and she’d overheard Chase and their grandma talking about it. He’d been ill some time ago, though she had thought he’d gotten better. Now it seemed there was something else wrong with him. Something no one really had a name for, but that they all agreed was bad. She didn’t want to lose her grandparents as well. For the time being, Riley knew they were all she and Chase had. If she had to be strong and carry some additional weight on her shoulders, she was willing to do so.
“Okay,” her voice immediately sounded much stronger than before, her back straightening as she spoke so she stood up a couple of inches taller. “I’m with you, Chase. You don’t need to worry about me.”
Chase laughed. “Yes, I do.” He playfully pushed Riley in the side; standing up from the crouched position he’d been in in front of her. “That’s my right as your older brother. I’m always going to worry about you. But I’m glad you’re okay. And I’m glad you can talk to me about these sorts of things. I’m always going to be there for you, Riley.”
“Okay.” It was Riley’s turn to push her brother away now. “You don’t have to go and get all sappy on me. There’s still a job to be done here.”
“That’s the girl I know,” Chase laughed louder, pleased to see his sister back to her usual, playful self. “Come on then, let’s get these barrels outside. Pop will be thinking we’ve gone missing if we take much longer.”
After forty-five minutes of pumping water, Chase was covered in sweat. The sun had finally risen, though it was a weird sort of twilight light, a hazy glow that just made it through the clouds and provided very little heat. The physical exercise of pumping the water up was more than enough to heat his bones though, the buckets of water seeming heavier and heavier every time he filled another up.
He and Riley had developed a good system though. He did all the work at the well, pumping the lever up and down to fill the buckets, then passing them over to Riley for her to pour them into the barrels. His biceps were gleaming from it, something he hadn’t failed to mention at least a couple of times to his sister. Despite it all, he was proud of how he looked and hoped that by the time lacrosse season started up again, he would be fit enough to make the varsity team.
They had two buckets in rotation so Chase was able to lower another in and start filling that while she emptied the first into the barrels. When they were working at full speed, they were a well-oiled machine, able to fill a whole barrel in just less than half an hour. It was hard work though, so when Grandma Linda appeared at the kitchen door and called them in for a drink, they were more than happy to take a break.
“How’s the inventory going?” Riley asked her grandma as she guzzled down a glass of lemonade. “Tired of making lists yet?”
“A little,” the old woman chuckled. “Though probably not as tired as you both seem to be. How’re you getting on outside?”
“Good,” Chase answered. “We’ve nearly got two completely filled. Then there’s just three more to go.”
“Great work,” Pop beamed. “Do me a favor and leave the rest of them about eighty-five percent full though, will you? That way we can tilt them over onto their sides and roll them around to the front so we can bring them in. Once they’re all the way filled, they’re just too heavy to maneuver.”
“Okay,” Riley replied. “I can empty some of the water from the first one and put it in another. That way we can move them all.”
“Perfect. Thank you, Riley.”
Riley smiled. She couldn’t help thinking how weird it was that her pop was so completely fine one minute and apparently so damaged the next. He seemed like the same man to her that he had always been. Happy, smiling, resourceful, and ready to face the next challenge head on—no matter what it was. That was the man she wanted to stick around, so like Chase had said to her, if there was anything she could do to help, she was going to do it.
“Shall we get back to it then?” Riley asked, looking around the kitchen table once more at her family. “No time like the present I suppose.”
Chapter 10
Several hours later, the entire Clarke family was completely exhausted. As much water as the well could give had been pulled up to the surface, not quite filling all five of the old milk barrels but coming pretty darn close. Every single canned item in the house had been accounted for. Along with the supply of fresh fruit and vegetables they had, and the various spices, staples, and other sundries that were normally kept in the pantry.
If one of the four of them thought there might be some use for it, then there wasn’t a single item in the old farmhouse that hadn’t been marked down on one list or another. Riley had truly gotten into her element when it came to the list-making. Quite frankly, Chase was surprised she hadn’t made a list of all the lists she had, pieces of paper floating around the kitchen table like ducks on an overcrowded pond.
She’d itemized their food according to how long it would last and how valuable it was. For example, things like salt and pepper scored very highly, being an important component to almost every meal and able to last for years if needed—providing they used them sparingly. That was something quite scary about the whole ordeal. They were being as realistic as possible about how long each thing would last, but none of them knew how long they would actually have to survive off it all. The scare from the eruption could be over in a matter of weeks, or—as Pop pointed out—it might be years before things returned to normal. They had a vast supply of frozen food and dried goods, but could they really survive in the farmhouse for years? It was a question that flew through Riley’s head on several occasions as she added item after item to her lists. A question that she wasn’t sure she wanted the answer to.
“This weather looks like it’s taking a turn for the worst,” Grandma Linda mused as she looked out of the kitchen window. “I think there might be a storm coming.”
A loud clap of thunder punctuated the end of her sentence, setting
Chase’s face in a stern line. “Sounds like you’re right,” he replied, not too thrilled about the advent of a big storm. They’d prepared as best they could through the day, but he knew the old farmhouse still needed a lot of work done to it. The roof was broken in several places, the one over the barn even worse. And the mudroom often leaked during bad rain pours, plus the wind swept in under the door.
Repairs on the house had been talked about. Unfortunately, the discussion had come too late in the day for anyone to feel comfortable climbing up onto the roof. What little sunlight they had was gone by about four in the afternoon, the murky dusk once again claiming the surrounding fields and then giving way to darkness quicker than anyone could have predicted.
So, it had been agreed that first thing tomorrow morning, Chase would go up on the roof and try to fix the various holes and splintered pieces of wood that were up there. Considering the high-tech solar panels that were strapped to the roof, it was a bit ridiculous that the thing was in such bad shape. Pop said they’d struggled to get a few of the panels attached at first so they had made a few adjustments, though Chase wasn’t sure exactly what he meant. He just hoped the old thing was strong enough to stay above them through the storm and the coming weeks. He didn’t want any unnecessary bad luck bestowed on his family.
“Holy cow,” Pop exclaimed as he looked up—a flash of lightening illuminating the room for a moment. “It’s raining cats and dogs out there. I haven’t seen rain so heavy for some time. It’s practically bouncing off the deck—look!”
“I hope Milk and Shake are okay,” Riley wondered out loud. “Do you think they’ll be safe in the barn?”