THE COLLAPSE: Seeking Refuge

by Frank Kaminski

  “Earthquake! Earthquake!” multiple people shouted.

  Stephen tossed the bike and the bowl to the ground and snatched up Katrina, who was closest to him. Fish was already picking up Kyla.

  “Get them under the table, now!” Stephen yelled as everyone scurried to the screen tent, where the sturdy picnic table was.

  Tarra held the screen door open as Stephen and Fish shuffled the Kays and Wolf under the thick wooden table.

  Stephen tried to take the screen door from Tarra, saying, “Your turn.”

  “No, you,” Tarra argued.

  “I’m serious, get under there! There might not be enough room for everyone,” Stephen shouted.

  “I’m serious too, get your ass in there, Stephen!” Tarra barked back and glared at her husband. Stephen knew better than to argue, because she would never back down. Tree branches could start falling at any second, so there was no time to waste arguing about it.

  “Goddamnit, Tarra,” Stephen cursed as he awkwardly crunched himself under the table with the children, leaving Fish and his wife still exposed.

  Fish nodded at Tarra, as if to say, “you’re next,” - so she crawled under the table and put the three children between her and Stephen.

  There wasn’t much room left under the table, so Fish darted over to his truck and crouched down next to Pharaoh. He fearfully glanced skyward to see if anything was about to drop down on him or his precious vehicle.

  Seconds that felt like minutes had passed before the ground beneath them stopped moving. Thankfully, nothing but twigs and a rainshower of pine needles had fallen from the sky onto site 199. It had been a weak quake. Just a quick “roller” – if you’re familiar with earthquake slang.

  “I think it’s over,” Tarra stated.

  Fish confidently stood up from his crouched position as if he hadn’t been afraid the whole time, then asked, “Yo, what about the title wave that comes after an earthquake?”

  “Tidal wave, you mean?” Stephen asked while crawling back out from under the table.

  “Yeah, that’s what I said,” Fish affirmed.

  Stephen laughed and said, “Tidal waves are caused by tides. I think you’re referring to a Tsunami.”

  Tarra’s eyes popped wide open and she gasped at Stephen’s comment.

  “Stephen,” she began, “we’re super close to the damn ocean! What are we going to do?”

  Stephen raised his hands and said, “Calm down, everyone calm down. There might not even be a Tsunami, and even if there is one, it could be small. It all depends on where the epicenter of the quake was. If it was directly underneath us, then we should be alright. If it was way off shore somewhere in the Puget Sound or off the main coast, well…then we might be screwed. But, that quake wasn’t very strong, so I doubt there will be a Tsunami here at all.”

  Fish asked, “But, how are we going to know?”

  Stephen shook his head and solemnly declared, “We won’t. The last time I checked, KIRO, KOMO, KING 5, and KCPQ Channel 13 are all off the air.”

  Tarra, who was becoming frustrated with her husband’s lack of concern, asked again, “Like I said, Stephen, what are we going to do?”

  Stephen picked up the bowl he had dropped and went back to his bike. He answered Tarra only after mounting the bicycle and putting one foot on the pedals, “Well, you can run around and panic if you want…but I’m going to get us some fish.”

  *****

  Before the quake, over at the new jail, Alexis watched Hal as he hacksawed a window into the PODS container. The prisoner, James “Jimmy” Banks, was inside the box with nothing more than the small amount of light that shown through the corners of the steel frame. Jimmy continued to proclaim his innocence as he howled and cried over the rasping sound of Hal’s cut job.

  Alexis pounded the side of the box with the butt of her fist, shouting, “Shut the fuck up in there, Jimmy. Nobody is listening, nobody cares. You’re a piece of shit, and you know it.”

  Hal paused for moment to give his arm a break. He said to Alexis, “You don’t know how bad I want you to lock me up in there with him for about five minutes.”

  Alexis tossed Hal a mischievous grin and said, “I could turn my back for five minutes, and whatever happens…happens.”

  Hal did a double take on her. Was she joking, or was she serious? He couldn’t read her well enough to judge, so he just smiled back and went back to sawing.

  Alexis changed the subject, saying, “So what do you think we should do about a toilet?”

  “Ha! Do you want to know my real opinion?” Hal laughed.

  “I think I know what you’re going to say, but Claudie and Bill aren’t going to go for that.”

  “That’s too bad,” Hal shook his head and refocused on cutting. After a few more saw strokes, he stopped again and said, “How about a five gallon bucket? If you could scavenge up a pool noodle from one of the kids around here, all you would need to do is cut a slit down the middle of it and wrap it around the edge for a seat.”

  Alexis smiled as she replied, “That’s a great idea! I’ll get some garbage bags from the Martinez’ later today. I’m pretty sure I could scrounge up a pool noodle from somewhere. Shouldn’t be that hard. Until then, ol’ Jimmy can hold it, for all I care.”

  Both of them laughed. Suddenly, Hal stopped sawing, and he looked confused.

  “What’s wrong?” Alexis asked, noticing the concern on his face.

  “That’s weird, the saw is stuck,” Hal declared. At first, he thought it might have been Jimmy messing with him from inside the box, so he pushed harder and the saw easily went forward, but a second later the saw was solidly stuck again. Jimmy couldn’t possibly be that strong.

  Both of them suddenly realized why the saw was actually getting stuck. The ground was moving! The PODS container made odd groaning and squeaking sounds as the steel bent and moved against itself.

  Jimmy shouted from inside the box, “What’s going on out there? Something’s happening! Help! Let me outta here!”

  Alexis and Hal looked at each other, then simultaneously looked up at the swaying treetops. Together, they scrambled over to the picnic table and hid underneath for cover.

  *****

  Over the next two days, the quake had been the newest rage within The Park. Everyone was talking about it. Maybe it brought everyone together, to have something so significantly important in common. It also just happened to be the perfect smokescreen for the Probsts to execute the next portion of their plan. While everyone wondered or worried about additional seismic activity in the near future, they had summoned all the residents that refused to attend the meeting. One by one, families were quietly evicted from The Park. Fish and Trent Teegarden (the large man that Stephen had identified walking with the Probsts during the bullhorn parade) had the arduous duty of ensuring that the people left as quickly and quietly as possible. The Probsts even acquired an AR-15 for Trent to carry while they supervised the evictions. The AR wasn’t fully automatic like Fish’s M-4, but it was intimidating enough, and that’s what really mattered. Regular folks couldn’t tell the difference between an AR and an M-4 or M-16 anyway.

  Fish and Trent were given specific orders to make certain that the residents did not speak with the other residents while they packed up their things. If neighbors or bystanders questioned the evictions, Fish was told to respond with, “These people disobeyed a lawful order, and are being evicted from The Park. Any inquiries regarding this matter can be directed to Claudine and William Probst via the new sheriff, Alexis Tillman.”

  Fish became pretty good at using that line. He also got pretty good at using another line, “Not my problem, keep moving.”

  Evicted residents had begged and pleaded with Fish and Trent to let them stay, but they were under orders not to entertain any of those requests. Residents would try to use excuses, such as; “We don’t have enough gas” or “There’s not enough room for everything in our car” or “We don’t have anywhere to go.”

  “
Not my problem, keep moving.”

  At first, Fish felt sorry for the castaways. He really did. But then, the residents’ bitterness, whining, complaining and excuses began to wear him down and he went cold. Real cold. Besides, why didn’t they just go to the meeting in the first place? Was it really that difficult?

  No, it wasn’t. The outcasts had belligerently disobeyed a simple request, and now they were paying for it. Boo hoo…shoulda, woulda, coulda. Too late now. Bye…

  Working directly for the Probsts certainly had its perks. Unlimited commissary privileges at the Martinez’ supply sites, for one. Another was the flexible hours. As long as Fish and Trent weren’t escorting castaways out of the park, they could do whatever they wanted. William was also great at coming up with beer somehow, which he would feed to Fish and Trent in between evictions. But the best perk of the job, however, was the power. Fish had power over everyone else in The Park with the exception of Alexis Tillman. He even could tell Jason Oxnard what to do, if he wanted. But he really liked Ox, so that would never happen.

  Wolf was permitted to tag along with Fish and Trent if he wanted to. He and Fish had become rather close friends in the last few days. Trent liked the kid, too. He was amazed (or acted amazed) every time Wolf would show off his accuracy with the slingshot.

  If the residents that were being evicted had firearms, then Fish and Trent would ask Wolf to come back after the eviction was finished. It was better to play it safe than sorry.

  After all of the evictions had been completed, Fish thought that he would be reassigned back to the beachers, but he was wrong. The Probsts wanted both him and Trent to stick around with them. They justified their reasoning by saying that they might be needed as backup for Alexis, if a hairy situation ever arose that she wouldn’t be able to quell on her own. But Fish and Trent were both in agreement with each other that the Probsts just wanted to keep them around for their own protection. Which was a good call, since word had gotten around that the Probsts had become cold-hearted towards the residents, and that shenanigans of any sort would result in immediate detention or eviction. There were even rumors that the Probsts were kicking people out of The Park for “no reason”. Fish knew better, of course, since everyone on the eviction list had been disobedient in some form. Or at least…that’s what he was told.

  *****

  Just as Fish and Wolf had become close, so did Tarra and Carrie. They were two peas in a pod, just one of them was a lot bigger than the other. Tarra had even grown comfortable enough to pop the burning question in her (and Stephen’s) head regarding Carrie’s sexual orientation.

  Carrie had laughed, “Are you asking me if I’m a lesbian or not? I was wondering when you were finally going to ask.”

  Tarra realized Carrie wasn’t upset about the question, so she continued to pry, “Well, you don’t have to answer it directly, if you don’t want to. But, if you had your choice of sleeping with me or my husband, which one would it be?”

  Carrie laughed again and said, “No offense, sister, but neither.”

  Tarra looked confused. It had to be one or the other…or both, right?

  Carrie continued, “Don’t get me wrong, Stephen’s not a bad looking guy, he’s just not my type. Now Fish, on the other hand, mm, mmmm”

  “Oh, gawd no…really? Tell me it isn’t so!” Tarra laughed.

  Carrie sinisterly grinned and said, “He’s the only reason I look forward to those stupid three o’clock meetings. I know he’s not the smartest person on the planet, but he’s tall, confident and rough around the edges, and that’s what I like! Not only that, but I can tell by the way he defends your family that his heart is always in the right place.”

  Tarra shrugged and said, “I guess. I just never look at him like that. He’s more like a big brother to me.”

  Carrie’s face flushed red as she said, “I totally get that. It’s no big deal, though. He’d never be interested in a woman like me, anyway. I’m not exactly model material. Guys want pretty girls with nice, normal-sized bodies like Alexis.”

  Tarra felt bad for Carrie. She knew that Fish was, in fact, ga-ga over Alexis Tillman, but the new sheriff had already made it very clear to him (repeatedly) that she wasn’t interested. Not only did she feel that he was too old for her, she didn’t dig his free-wheeling attitude and cockiness.

  Tarra thought that maybe there was a way to get Carrie “cleaned up” and present her to Fish somehow. Surprise him with a new Carrie. What if Stephen got him drunk first by the fire one night? That might work! A funny thought crossed Tarra’s mind. She tried to envision the two giant humans trying to make love in Fish’s small tent. Awkward at best! Carrie did had a nice RV though…

  Tarra was explaining to Carrie that she still had some makeup left in her purse from before The Collapse, and was about to ask if Carrie wanted to borrow it when some visitors arrived at Carrie’s site.

  Speaking of the she-devil herself, it was Alexis Tillman. She had Fish’s new partner, Trent Teegarden with her as well. But where was Fish?

  Carrie and Tarra cheerfully greeted them, but Alexis and Trent didn’t respond in kind.

  Alexis stiffened up and announced, “Tarra Alexander, you are under arrest.”

  “What the hell for?” Tarra argued as Alexis quickly spun her around, pushed her up against Carrie’s trailer, and then handcuffed her wrists. Tarra had thought about resisting at first, but then she reminded herself about all of the evictions that Fish had spoken of in the last two days. She didn’t want to risk being evicted herself, so she complied with Alexis’ arrest.

  Alexis stated as she pulled Tarra away from Carrie’s RV, “To answer your question, you’re under arrest for assault with a deadly weapon.”

  Carrie and the Kays watched in shock as Alexis pushed Tarra toward the road. Kyla asked Carrie, “What’s happening to my mommy?”

  “Nothing, honey, it’s just a big mistake,” Carrie told Kyla, then shouted to Tarra, “I’ll keep the girls with me until this bullshit is cleared up!”

  Tarra hollered back as she was led away, “Find Stephen for me, please! He’ll fix this! I think this has to do with Larry Paulson!”

  *****

  Stephen was eating lunch with Fish at site 199 when Carrie and the Kays brought them the disturbing news. Carrie had asked if she could go with the two men to retrieve Tarra from the new jail, but Stephen declined, saying that he didn’t want the Kays to be a witness to whatever was about to go down at the Probsts’ campsite. He asked Carrie to take the Kays back to her site and wait for them there.

  As Stephen and Fish rushed to the Probsts’ site, Fish mentioned, “I thought it was kind of weird that Alexis had arrests planned for today, but she wouldn’t tell me who she was arresting. She also did not want me to come along. I thought she was just being a bitch, but now I think I know why.”

  Stephen panted back, “Of course! She isn’t stupid! She knows how tight you are with me and Tarra. I just can’t believe that the Probsts even entertained Larry’s bullshit.”

  “I know, me neither,” Fish concurred. He then added, “I thought I was in the ‘cool kids club’, but I guess not.”

  As the two men neared the Probsts’ RV, they were both out of breath. They slowed to a walk and assessed the scene. Claudine, William and Larry Paulson were standing outside the PODS container, and Tarra’s face peeked through the small window that Hal had cut. But Tarra wasn’t alone. There was another face pressed up against the steel bars that Hal had bolted into the container over the window. It was a small face, a child’s face. Fish instantly knew who it was…it was Wolf! Why was he in jail, too? What the hell was going on today?

  When Stephen noticed that Wolf was in the jail along with Tarra, his suspicions of Fish possibly knowing anything about the arrests went straight out the window. He knew that Fish was privy to the Probsts’ secret information, but this went way beyond anything that Fish would have been able to keep secret, or allow. Stephen could tell that Fish was just as furious as he was! />
  Alexis wasn’t anywhere to be seen, and neither was Trent. It was just the Probsts and Larry Paulson. Stephen’s mind went into overdrive, he had to figure out a way to get Tarra out of the jail without getting into bed with the devil in the process. He knew that Tarra had ran off Larry with her shotgun. Technically, that could be considered assault. But did the Probsts know the circumstances? He also knew that Wolf had blasted Larry’s hand with his slingshot, but that could be argued as self-defense, or maybe defense of property? Was that even a valid argument?

  Stephen was so upset about seeing his wife in that makeshift jail that he nearly threw up on himself. Larry was going to pay for this one. One way or another. Larry’s bullshit had reached its apex, and Stephen was through with it.

  Fish shouted at Larry and the Probsts before Stephen could, “What in God’s balls is going on here?”

  Claudine didn’t seem moved by Fish’s anger, and replied with, “Mr. Paulson has informed us that some serious crimes have been committed by your friends. Alexis conducted an investigation, and the residents at sites 203 and 204 substantiated the allegations by providing eye-witness accounts of both Tarra and Wolf’s assaults upon Mr. Paulson.”

  Stephen was too enraged to say anything at the moment, so Fish did it for him, “Boss, you know that Larry is a piece of shit, why did you even listen to him in the first place? He’s just trying to get revenge on Stephen for taking his job!”

  Larry confidently blurted at Fish, saying, “You watch your mouth, buddy…or I’ll have your ass thrown in there with your friends.” Larry pointed at Tarra and Wolf who were still watching the proceedings on the site’s gravel driveway from behind the jail window.

  “For what?” Fish screamed.

  “For harassment! And also, I’ve seen you around The Park drinking on the job. Hmm, does Claudine and William know about that?” Larry laughed hysterically, thinking that he had exposed Fish for his sins.