The Last Days

by Gary Chesla

  Mike looked at all the options on the big menu. It was so hard to narrow it down. Everything looked so good.

  “I want a hotdog.” Kimmy said as she looked at the pictures on the menu.

  “But you just had hot dogs last night.” Kelly said, trying to guide her to something she could only get while she was here at the park. “You can have hotdogs anytime.”

  “Look at this.” Kelly said pointing at the big picture of crispy southern fried chicken. ”Doesn’t this look good?”

  “Yea, but not as good as this hot dog.” Kimmy replied pointing at the picture of a hotdog smothered with mustard and onions.

  Mike smiled at Kelly as she shrugged her shoulders in defeat. “If that’s what she really wants. I’m having the fried chicken. They make great fried chicken down here.”

  “Then I’ll have the fried chicken too.” Kimmy said looking up at her dad with a big grin on her face.

  Kelly looked at Mike and smirked. “Like father like daughter.”

  Mike gave her a little grin. Not too big of a grin, because he knew if he did, he would pay for it later.

  The waitress walked over to the table. Mike noticed that she seemed to be nervous. “I’m sorry I haven’t taken your order yet. We are shorthanded tonight. None of the other waitresses showed up and the cook only has one helper. I’m the only one here tonight. I guess I can’t blame the others for not showing up with everything that has happened. My husband wanted me to stay home too, but I said I didn’t want to just not show up. I like working here and honestly, we need the money.”

  Mike looked up surprised by what she had said. “What did you mean about everything that has been happening this week?”

  “You didn’t see the TV reports?” The waitress asked.

  “No. We’ve been staying up at the campground all week. No phones or TV. Just peace and quiet.” Mike smiled. “What did we miss?”

  “I think a war started with China and then all the riots started around the country. It looked like things were getting pretty bad.” The waitress started.

  “A war started?” Kelly said looking shocked.

  “Is there still a TV up in the lobby?” Mike asked sounding concerned. “Maybe I should go up and take a look?”

  “The TV is still there, but it won’t do any good. All the networks went off the air three or four days ago.” The waitress said. “The last thing was that emergency broadcast message. But even it has stopped now.”

  “Shit!” Mike said.

  “Daddy said that shit word again.” Kimmy said looking at her mom.

  “Ssssh!” Kelly said, trying to listen to Mike and the waitress.

  “Are we at war with China?” Mike asked unable to believe the words as he heard himself say them.

  “I’m not sure if it’s us or someone else at war with China.” The waitress answered. “The networks started to tell about fighting in China and something about a nuclear bomb, but they went off the air before we knew for sure what was really going on. But it all sounded pretty serious.”

  “What about the emergency alert broadcasts?” Mike asked. “Did they say anything about us being at war?”

  “No, nothing about war. It just had a message running across the bottom of the screen about emergencies in a bunch of cities and for everyone to stay home and off the highways.” She replied.

  “Which cities?” Mike asked as his head was spinning with all the worst case scenarios running through his mind.

  “Washington DC, New York and a lot of others. I don’t remember them all there were so many.” The waitress said.

  “Did it say what the emergency was?” Kelly asked.

  “No. It didn’t give any details. I tried calling my sister, she lives out near Chicago. That’s it, Chicago was one of the cities on the list too.” The waitress started to say.

  “Did she know anything?” Mike interrupted anxiously wanting to know more.

  “I couldn’t get through to her. I just kept getting a message that my call couldn’t go through to try again later.” She answered.

  “Maybe you should see if you can use one of the phones up at the front desk and call back home and see if you can find out anything?” Kelly said looking worriedly at Mike.

  “The phone lines don’t work anymore either. You’re lucky we still have electricity here at the park. It’s been on and off all day.” The waitress added.

  “Do you live around here?” Mike asked.

  “I live about fifteen miles down near Route 64. Why?” The waitress asked.

  “What’s it like outside the park?” Mike asked. “Are there many people out on the highways?”

  “No, not really. I guess everyone is staying home like the emergency broadcasts said before they went off the air.” The waitress replied. “I guess that’s why things have been so slow here. I’ll probably stay home myself tomorrow until things get back to normal. I can’t make any money around here like this.”

  Kelly reached out and squeezed Mike’s hand and gave him a worried look.

  “Would you still like to order dinner?” The waitress asked. “Consider it on the house. If you don’t order anything, since there is no one else here tonight, we’ll just have to throw it out.”

  “I’m worried Mike.” Kelly said nervously.

  “I am too.” Mike replied looking at Kelly. “But we have to eat and we’re not going anywhere tonight.”

  “I’m not sure I’m hungry anymore.” Kelly said.

  “Why don’t I bring you out a little of everything we have back in the kitchen. Maybe you will see something that will make you hungry.” The waitress smiled. “Just eat what you want and remember me when you leave the tip.”

  “Thanks.” Mike said trying to read the name on her name tag. “Milly, that will be fine and I’ll certainly remember to leave you a nice tip for all your help.”

  Milly smiled and walked back to the kitchen.

  “Mike. What do you think is going on?” Kelly asked when the waitress left.

  “I don’t know what to think.” Mike answered. “It sounds like we might be at war. With the TV and phones out and the emergency alert saying there were problems in a lot of the big cities, it sounds like we’ve been bombed.”

  “That’s scary.” Kelly said quietly.

  “But on the other hand, we haven’t seen anything that would indicate we are at war.” Mike continued.

  “But we are in the mountains away from everything. What would we see around here?” Kelly asked.

  “If we were at war we would maybe see jets or missiles flying overhead or hear loud explosions off in the distance or something.” Mike answered.

  “Maybe you’re right.” Kelly thought. “But what do you think we should do?”

  “It’s dark now. Maybe in the morning we can drive the RV down to the interstate and see if we can get cell reception somewhere. I can call my brother and see what he knows. If we can’t get through then maybe we should just pack up everything and head home. If we leave by noon, we should be able to get back home by tomorrow night sometime.” Mike said. “On the other hand we only have one more day left here. I’d hate to give up our last day for nothing. It has been a great vacation. Peaceful and quiet! You know there could be another reason for what the waitress told us.”

  “And what would that be?” Kelly asked.

  “She’s crazy.” Mike smiled. “You know these mountain folks aren’t the most stable people. Maybe she got into a bad batch of moonshine.”

  Kelly chuckled as she quickly looked over her shoulder towards the kitchen. “Mike shush. She might hear you!”

  Kimmy giggled.

  Kelly looked at Kimmy. “And don’t you repeat a word your dad said!”

  “So what do you say we wait until morning and see what we can find out before we panic?” Mike said. “Other than what this waitress said, I think it has been pretty damn nice around here.”

  Kimmy’s face lit up. “Mom, daddy said that damn word again!”

 
Kelly wanted to yell at Kimmy, but she was too busy trying to hide her face so Kimmy wouldn’t see her laughing.

  Kimmy started looking around. She was getting bored waiting for the waitress to bring their food. The restaurant was located in the lower level at the back of the lodge.

  A small clearing stood outside and below where they sat. It was about a one hundred foot clearing that angled sharply down hill between the lodge and woods. She had no interest in talk about war or riots.

  She didn’t really understand what that was or why it was important. All she understood was that she was getting hungry. Her thoughts drifted from the things she didn’t understand. She was suddenly distracted by movement at the end of the clearing and she watched the woods down at the bottom of the hill bathed in a dim light from the lodge.

  “Dad look!” Kimmy said studying the movement. “There are more people pretending to be zombies.”

  Mike and Kelly looked out the window and down over the hill where Kimmy was looking.”

  “Wow!” Mike smiled. “They have much better costumes than the last zombies I saw. They even walk like real zombies.”

  “There are no real zombies Dad!” Kimmy said.

  “I mean if there were real zombies, that is how they should walk.” Mike laughed.

  “Do you see our two zombie friends down there?” Kelly asked.

  “Definitely not!” Mike said as he studied the group staggering through the clearing.

  Kelly’s foot connected solidly with Mike’s shin.

  “Ouch!” Mike yelped.

  He was about to ask why she did that, but when he saw the ornery look on Kelly’s face, he decided to cut his losses and just be quiet.

  “Here we go!” Milly said as she wheeled a big cart of food over to their table. She started to set plates of food on their table in front of them.

  A large plate of fried chicken, six slices of meatloaf, a large bowel of mashed potatoes, a gravy boat, a bowel of corn and beans, two hotdogs and half an apple pie.

  Kimmy reached out and grabbed a hotdog.

  Kelly smiled. “I think I’m hungry after all. This all looks very good.”

  “I hope you enjoy it.” Milly said. “Can I get anyone something to drink?”

  “I want Mountain Dew!” Kimmy said, her mouth stuffed with hotdog.

  “This looks great Milly.” Mike said. “Just some water for me please.”

  Milly turned and walked back towards the kitchen.

  “She doesn’t look crazy to me!” Kimmy said loudly.

  Mike felt another sharp pain in his shin. “What did I do this time?”

  Chapter 7

  John had a lantern lit and sitting on the end of the picnic table that sat ten feet away from the porch steps in the back yard.

  Barb sat on one side of the table. John sat on the opposite side of the table. Cindy sat next to her dad.

  Boots, Cindy’s cat, sat on the ground next to Cindy, sniffing the air and watching Cindy with great interest.

  Cindy wasn’t allowed to feed the cat from the table, but food always seemed to find a way to fall off her plate and on to the floor. Boots was patient and waited. It was only a matter of time.

  Worst case, Boots would always get a big pan full of leftovers. From the look on Boot’s face and the mouthwatering smell of the sizzling fish on the grill, she knew either way she would have a good night.

  Barb took a spatula and dished out a large fluffy fish filet on to everyone’s plate. Next she put a scoop of macaroni and cheese next to the fish.

  I hope the macaroni is done, its hard boiling water on a charcoal grill.

  “It looks great.” John smiled.

  “Cindy do you want to pour us all a glass of cool-aid?” Barb asked.

  Cindy jumped up and ran to the end of the table and picked up the big pitcher and poured a big glass of grape cool-aid. She sat the pitcher down and carried the glass over and gave it to her dad. The next glass she took over and put it by her plate. The last glass Cindy took over and set it by her mother and then ran back to sit down next to John.

  “I guess I know where you and I rank in this family.” Barb grinned at John.

  John smiled back as he reached over and put his arm around Cindy and gave her a little hug.

  “Enjoy it now.” Barb smiled. “It won’t last long.”

  They were all hungry and made fast work of their fish and macaroni. Everyone had seconds, but left just enough to reward Boots for her patience.

  Barb watched Cindy pet Boots. Boots purred loudly as she ate and enjoyed all the attention.

  “Do you think we have anything to worry about?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. I’m starting to think we do.” John said as he glanced out over the creek where Route 711 followed the other side of the creek and passed their place on its way to Ligonier. It was dark and he really couldn’t see the creek or the road from where he sat. The light from the lantern only lit up a radius of ten feet.

  “It’s strange not seeing any cars driving by. It’s been almost a week since the last car went by.” John said. “What worries me the most right now is food. When I went into town, all the grocery stores were closed.”

  “If nothing opens up for a while, you and Cindy can always fish.” Barb smiled as she continued to watch Cindy play with Boots by the picnic table.

  “That will help.” John said still sounding concerned. “But we won’t be the only people that will be running low on food. When I went into town, the people I managed to run into were scared. Some were afraid to talk to me. The one’s that did, I could tell were half afraid to talk to me, like I was going to rob them or something. What is going to happen when everyone is hungry and there is nowhere to get food?”

  “I’m sure people will share.” Barb replied.

  “Some will.” John said. “But you know people. There are a lot of people that will start going out to take what they need and the hell with everyone else. It can start to get dangerous when people get scared.”

  “But we know a lot of the people around here and they know us. Surely.” Barb said.

  “At work we have a lot of customers who love us, as long as everything goes their way.” John frowned. “The minute something doesn’t go their way, they change and we are the scum of the earth. They want to sue and threaten to put us out of business.”

  “People get funny when they are scared. If things are bad out there? If the country is at war. Hell as far as we know the war is over and we lost, things could get really bad. There may not be any help coming for who knows how long. We could be on our own. If the cities are gone, if the government is gone, it could be years before anyone comes around to fix things.” John shook his head. “I don’t want to let my imagination get out of hand. This could all be back to normal tomorrow. Maybe someone hit a pole down the road and it will be replaced in the morning.”

  “But there was all that stuff on the news. Then the emergency broadcasts about the cities?” Barb looked at John.

  “Yea, then there is all that.” John sighed. “There is something bad going on, I just don’t know what or how bad it might be. Sometimes a little information is worse than none at all.”

  “What do you think we should do?” Barb asked. She definitely looked worried.

  “I think we should probably just sit tight for another day or so and see what happens. Hopefully Mike will get back to me. Maybe he can tell us what is going on out there. Maybe it’s just Ligonier. Maybe things are normal down his way.” John said.

  “We could take the truck and go for a ride down to Greensburg and see for ourselves.” Barb suggested.

  “Maybe. But I think we should wait a few days. If Mike doesn’t call me back in another day or two, I think we need to do that so we have an idea at least about what is going on around here.” John replied.

  “What if he calls you back and says it’s really bad everywhere?” Barb asked.

  “If that’s the case, we should either go down to his place or have
him come up here. It might be easier if we work together. Besides, safety in numbers.” John said and tried to smile. His smile was more of a worried frown than the comforting smile he was trying for.

  Barb reached across the table and squeezed his hand. This time more to comfort herself than to comfort John.

  Not knowing was scary.

  Suddenly their quiet contemplation was interrupted by Boots.

  Boots suddenly stopped eating and got tense as she stared off into the darkness by the creek.

  She took two steps backward, arched her back and hissed.

  John and Barb’s mouths dropped open as they stared at Boots. An eerie feeling crept down John’s spine.

  Cindy ran over and scooped Boots up in her arms.

  John turned slowly and stared out into the darkness.

  They listened as they all stared out into nothingness.

  John stood as he looked out towards the creek. “Is there someone out there?” John called out.

  There was no response.

  They all stood quietly.

  Boots hissed again and jumped out of Cindy’s arms. She ran along the side of the picnic table, stopped and hissed again at the darkness.

  Cindy yelped as Boots jumped out of her arms. Blood ran down her arms where she had been scratched.

  Cindy made a painful looking face as she rubbed her arm where she had been scratched.

  John called out again. “Is there someone out there?”

  There was no response, but now he could hear a sloshing sound coming from down by the creek.

  “Maybe it’s a deer or something.” Barb said. “Or maybe it’s a dog. That big shepherd from the Miller Farm keeps coming around here terrorizing Boots.”

  “Maybe.” John said. “That would explain Boots being so worked up.