“Yes,” Ulrich said. “We’re tapped into a natural gas line and we have our own well, so there will always be plenty of hot water.”
“Excellent,” she said getting up. “This feels a little like being away at camp.”
When she was gone, the trio went back to playing Halo and Forrest turned to Michael, asking, “Does she fully understand what’s going to happen? It’s the ‘camp’ remark that makes me ask.”
“She understands as well as I do,” Michael said. “But then I’m no less a stranger to death and destruction than she is. Regardless of how much we prepare ourselves, it’s still going to be an incredible shock if and when it finally happens.”
“I understand you’ve got a big family.”
“I do.”
“It won’t be easy to leave them,” Ulrich said. “How does Veronica feel about leaving hers?”
“She’s not really close with her sister,” Michael said. “She’s all for this, so if we choose to pass on your offer, it will be because of me.”
“I feel I should apologize for the way this has played out,” Forrest said. “It was purely on a lark that I said anything to her that day.”
“And I appreciate that. But it is what it is. Had you not found her attractive, and vice versa, I wouldn’t be sitting here trying to decide whether I want to take advantage of such an opportunity. And maybe that would be a good thing . . . I don’t know. But I guess the truth is that hundreds of thousands of people might soon find themselves wishing they’d had such a decision to wrestle with.”
Ulrich leaned over to put a hand on Michael’s shoulder. “There is no ‘might’ in this equation, Doc. The four horsemen are right over the hill . . . and they’re riding hard.”
Eleven
Michael stood in his parents’ backyard looking north into the night sky, a glass of wine in his hand, listening to his brothers and sisters and their families visiting inside the house. He’d been drinking a lot of wine lately. Many of them had. There were dozens of bottles in his father’s cellar, and there was no point in letting so much expensive wine go to waste. No one knew exactly where the asteroid was going to strike, but Phoenix was almost certainly within the danger zone.
He felt his father’s reassuring hand on his shoulder and turned to give him a smile. “Hey, Dad.”
“Can you see it?” his father asked, looking up with him.
“No, but it’s hard not to look.”
“And even harder to believe,” his father said. “It looks so peaceful up there. But it’s actually a very violent place.” Robert Porter was a retired vascular surgeon in good health, with a head of thick white hair and discerning eyes. He had always been well respected by his friends and neighbors.
“Did you hear about the food riots in L.A.?” Michael asked.
“Yes, I did.”
“And they’re hijacking trucks along the interstate now.”
“It’s only going to get worse,” his father said. “Wait until the food actually runs low. The riots will be ten times as big, and the Army will be shooting people in the streets.”
“There are police in every supermarket now,” Michael said. “To keep people from hoarding. Nobody’s allowed to buy more than fifty dollars worth of groceries at a time.”
“Your mother tried to withdraw a thousand dollars from the bank this morning. There’s a two-hundred-dollar-a-day limit on withdrawals now. People have stopped paying their bills. By this time next month, the banks will probably be busted. First the economy collapses, then society itself. Rome fell in the same order.”
“Yeah, but the Romans only had to deal with the Huns.” Michael took a sip of his wine and looked back up at the sky.
“I understand that you and Ronny have received a rather interesting offer.”
Michael was startled. “She wasn’t supposed to tell you about that.”
“She didn’t say anything to me. She told your mother. And you know how good your mother is at keeping secrets.”
“I didn’t want her upsetting you guys,” Michael said, glancing back at the house for a glimpse at Veronica. He could see the rest of the family talking. His mother was going on about the importance of the prayer vigil again, insisting that God couldn’t possibly refuse to save them if the entire world was joined in prayer.
“We’re not upset,” his father said easily. “How do these people seem to you? Do you think they know what they’re doing?”
Michael shrugged. “I’m not a survivalist, Dad. I don’t know.”
“I’m not asking what you know. I’m asking what you think.”
Michael took another drink and mulled it over a moment. “Yeah,” he said finally. “I’d have to say they do.”
“It’s a pretty generous offer.”
“Hell, the guy made the offer to Veronica, not me. If he’d known I was in the picture he’d never have said anything.”
“She’s a beautiful woman.”
“Well, there you go.”
A few of the youngest grandchildren came scampering out the door, chasing after a golden retriever with a tennis ball in its mouth. The dog was up in his years, but his spirit was willing and he did a good job of keeping the ball for himself. There was a lot of squealing and laughter, and Michael observed his father closely as he watched his grandchildren. From the smile on the man’s face, one would never have guessed the world as they knew it was coming to an end.
“Pa Pa!” said one of the little girls, running over to him. “Chance can catch the ball from way up high even!”
“Yes, he can!” the older man replied. “He’s an excellent ballplayer, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, and do you know what?”
“What, baby doll?”
“My mom said we can get a dog too when I get older.”
“Just a couple more years, honey.”
The children romped about for a while longer and eventually led the dog back into the house.
“That’s the best damn dog I ever had,” his father remarked.
“He’s good with the kids, that’s for sure.”
“So what about these guys?” his father said. “Do you think they’d kill you and take Ronny for themselves?”
Michael shook his head. “No, I don’t. I believe they’re good men trying to do a good thing. They were all in the military, and I got the distinct impression they’re no strangers to violence. They say they were Green Berets.”
“So they can handle themselves?”
“I’d say so, yeah.”
“Hmm. If you ask me, son, I think you and Ronny would make a unique and valuable addition to a group like that.”
Michael stopped short before taking a sip of wine. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I think things happen for a reason,” his father replied. “I always have, you know that. And this is one of those rare times in life when I think I can actually see the reasoning.”
“To what?”
“Well, there probably weren’t a handful of men in this entire country who knew about that . . . that ball of fire out there. And one of them just happened to bump into Ronny at a truck stop in the middle of nowhere? A woman who just happens to be a sociologist who just happens to be shacked up with a psychiatrist?”
Michael couldn’t help grinning. His father always referred to his and Veronica’s living together as being “shacked up.”
“But what about mom?” he asked.
“She would adjust. You’ve got five brothers and sisters in there who will be more than glad to gobble up your share of her attention. Not to mention nine nieces and nephews. You’ve always needed less than the others. You’re the loner. And you’re the only one who isn’t married with a family.”
“This is my family, Dad. I’m not going anywhere.”
“And I’m not telling you to,” his
father said equably. “I’m just saying you should consider it.”
Michael stood looking at him, the gears slow to mesh.
“Son, I’m sixty-five years old. And these past few days I find myself thinking in terms I never imagined possible. Do you realize that I may actually have to take your mother’s life at some point within the next year, depending on how things go?”
Michael whirled the wine around in his glass. “I try not to think about it, actually.”
“Now, as for my daughters and my daughters-in-law,” his father went on. “Those decisions will be up to my sons and my sons-in-law. Your mother is my only concern. She’s the one person I have to look after, my sole responsibility. The rest of you are adults and you’re responsible for your own families, though I expect us all to be together until the end. But who knows when that will be? Or how much of a living hell we’ll have to endure just to get to it? I won’t watch your mother starve to death or be violated. I won’t allow her dignity to be taken away from her. And to be perfectly honest with you, I’d much prefer it if at least one of my children was someplace safe when that ghastly type of decision is being made.”
The gravity of his father’s point was not lost on Michael, and he told him so. “But I’d feel like I was running out on you guys, Dad.”
“That’s because you’re still looking at the world as it is, son. Not as it’s going to be.” He pointed into the sky. “That thing is coming, and by this time next year, ninety percent of this country’s population will be dead of starvation. But! During the months leading up to that, do you think your brothers and sisters are going to be taking food from their kids’ mouths and giving it to their nieces and nephews?”
“Dad, come on. My God.”
His father looked at him with one of those fatherly expressions. “Now who’s in denial, Doctor?”
“I hope you don’t start talking like this to any of them,” Michael said. “Jesus Christ.”
“Frankly speaking, son, they’re not equipped to handle the truth. You are. And that’s why I don’t believe it was simply a matter of chance that Ronny ran into that guy. She’ll stay here and die with you, if that’s what you want, because she loves you, but I don’t think that’s a responsible thing for a man to ask of a woman, particularly of a woman so willing. It’s a betrayal of her faith.”
Michael again looked thoughtfully into the wineglass. “And she’d never say so, but I know she feels that way, at least on some level.”
“If you don’t take her, I’ll tell her to go without you. She won’t listen, but I will tell her.”
Michael was ashamed of himself for it, but he was grateful that his father had given him this reprieve. “Okay,” he said quietly.
“And you might want to talk to your brother Stephen about taking your niece along,” his father added.
“Which one?”
“Well, the twins are both a little young, wouldn’t you say?”
“Melissa?”
“She’s as bright as a light,” his father said. “And her future was equally bright until that rock up there happened along. And she’s the most like you of all the others; she lives in her own head. She’d have a lot to offer a new society. Provided that guy will let you bring her.”
“He probably would, but there’s no guarantee that—”
“There are never any guarantees, Michael. It’s a chance—that’s all—but it’s more of a chance than ninety-nine percent of the rest of the world has. And she’s worthy of it.”
“She’s your favorite,” Michael said, taking a sip.
“All the more reason,” his father admitted. “I make no apologies for how I feel about any of you. I’m the founder of the feast.”
It was one o’clock in morning before Michael and Veronica were able to discreetly lure Stephen into the garage, and by the time they finished telling him of their intentions, he was looking at them as if they’d lost their minds.
“What’s with you two?” he said, adding: “And what’s up with the old man?”
“It’s just something to think about, Stephen,” Veronica said. “If nothing bad happens, we’ll come back. But if it does—”
“Ronny, no,” Stephen said. “My daughter’s staying here with us. I can’t believe Dad would even suggest something like that. It had to be the wine.”
“He wasn’t drinking tonight,” Michael said.
“Well, then he shoulda been!”
Veronica gave Michael a look, signaling she thought the time had come for them to play dirty.
“Well, that’s not the worst of what Dad’s got on his mind,” Michael said.
“I can imagine.”
“I doubt it,” Michael said. “Have you thought about what will happen after the food runs out? You do realize people are going to start killing one another.”
“And eventually,” Veronica tossed in, “they’ll be eating one another.”
“Stop it!” Stephen insisted. “You two are insane!”
“Then what do you think is going to happen?” Michael asked again.
“I don’t know, but not that! Christ Almighty. This isn’t Thunder Dome.”
“So where is the food going to come from?” Veronica wanted to know.
“The government. Where else?”
“Stephen, there isn’t going to be any goddamn government,” Michael argued. “That rock is going to obliterate this country. Millions are going to die. Millions.”
“Okay, fine,” Stephen said. “Then we die together. Just like we were all talking about earlier.”
“Suppose we survive the blast?” Michael ventured. “Then what?”
Stephen’s mind was searching, trying to form a counterargument, but he couldn’t come up with anything. “We do what we have to do,” he said. “How’s that?”
“Just like everyone else,” Michael said. “And what happens to Melissa if you get killed by some psychopath over a can of dog food? We’re not talking about a temporary downturn in the economy. We’re talking about the end of society—and it’s going to happen.”
Stephen stood leaning against the fender of their father’s car and didn’t respond.
“You don’t have to decide tonight,” Michael said. “There’s time. But consider this . . . If the time comes and you find yourself watching your children starve to death—or worse—don’t you think you might end up wishing you’d let Melissa come with us? Just maybe?”
For the first time, it seemed that Stephen had heard him. He came off the fender and went to the garage door, looking out through a window. “Do you really think it’s going to be like that?”
“How else could it be?” Michael said. “This is precisely the same kind of event that wiped out the dinosaurs. I know it’s hard to accept but you need to try.”
Stephen turned around. “This is why you’re the doctor and I’m the pipe fitter. I’m too . . . I don’t know. Simple-minded.”
“You are not,” Michael said. “And this was Dad’s argument, not mine. I’m only just now coming to grips with it myself.”
“And you’ll bring her back if things aren’t too bad?”
“Of course.”
“I don’t know if we’ll be able to get Cindy to go along with this,” Stephen said. “You’re going to have to really scare the shit out of her—I can’t be the one to do it.”
“Melissa will probably decide to stay anyhow,” Michael said. “But it makes—”
“No,” Stephen said. “She’ll go. She’s smarter than Cindy and I put together. She’s always talking to me about things I don’t even understand.” He stood chewing his knuckle, a nervous habit he’d had all his life. “She’s Dad’s favorite, you know.”
Michael grinned. “Everybody knows. Hell, she’s mine too.”
“That’s because she’s exactly like you two,” Stephen said. “
I just wish I understood her better.” And without warning, he broke down and began to cry. “Now it looks like I never will, goddamnit.”
Veronica went to Stephen and put her arms around him. She knew that scenes all too similar to this one were playing out all across the planet, and she couldn’t help feeling slightly detached from it all. Perhaps it was because she had never been close with her own family, but she found the idea of having a front-row seat to the end of civilization morbidly fascinating. And now that Michael had decided they would join Jack and the others after all, she found herself feeling almost excited. This was going to be the ultimate sociological paradigm.
“It’s not fair!” Stephen was moaning. “I have to give my baby away. I can’t fucking believe this is happening . . .”
Twelve
The asteroid wasn’t due to strike for fourteen more days, but Forrest had asked Veronica if she and Michael would be willing to come early in order help them with the final preparations. There were still certain items that needed to be purchased, like batteries, deodorant, toilet paper—which was bound to run out no matter how much they stocked—and other miscellanea. There was also still a lot of organizing to be done belowground.
Forrest arranged to meet them at the same truck stop where he had met Veronica. Right on time, a black Volvo station wagon pulled into the lot and drove straight over to the Humvee, where he sat behind the wheel smoking a cigarette. The unexpected sight of the pretty teen with curly brown hair in the backseat should have annoyed him, but it didn’t.
“Hang tight, champ,” he said to Laddie and got out, crushing the cigarette on the fender.
“Now before you go off the deep end,” Veronica said, getting out on the driver’s side, “give me a second to explain.”
“Off the deep end?” he said with a grin. “Do I strike you as an off-the-deep-end kind of guy? If I don’t like her, she’s not coming. It’s that simple.”
He smiled at Melissa as she was getting out.
“How ya doin’, Doc?” he said to Michael.
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