Gordon decided to come somewhat clean. “I got lost.”
“Lost from your group?”
“Something like that.”
The men took a long, hard look at Gordon and began to laugh. Their laughter grew louder and louder as Gordon prepared himself to run. He felt like a joke to them and didn't want to stick around any longer to be a source of their amusement. Suddenly Bobby slapped him on the shoulder, noticing his despondent expression.
“Nothing personal, buddy, you're just the last thing we expected to find out here. What's your name?”
“Gordon.” He considered giving them a fake name, but he couldn't help but use his own.
“Well, Gordon,” Bobby said, turning to his group, “this here's Ernie, Dayton, Cyrus, and Rob.” The other men nodded or tipped their hats in succession. They each had beer guts that protruded from underneath their shirts and rough stubble on their cheeks. As rugged as they looked, Gordon assumed that he probably looked worse, or at the very least, woefully out of place. He took notice that Ernie and Cyrus were both wearing orange reflector vests and assumed that they were hunters.
“Nice to meet you, gentlemen.” Gordon noticed an aluminum canteen sticking out of the pocket of Bobby's overalls. He figured it was safe to ask them for a swig. After all, he had no clue how close he was to town. “Can I have some water?” he asked.
“Sure thing,” Bobby said, handing it to him. Feeling euphoric, Gordon carefully unscrewed the cap, trying not to look too desperate. He took a brief swig, but then held it longer as each glorious refreshing gulp brought his senses back and put him at ease.
“All right, that's enough,” Bobby said, watching him with concern. “Save some for me. I'm going to need it to get home.”
Gordon lowered the canteen and handed it back to Bobby. He wiped his mouth while catching his breath. “Thank you.”
“Don't mention it.”
Gordon examined the men again. It was obvious that he was still a source of amusement to them, and he wanted to see if he could use that perception to his advantage. “Look, I'm just trying to get back to town.”
“How'd you get way out here?” Bobby asked, prying again.
“It's a long story,” Gordon said. He got right to the point and pulled out his wallet, digging for cash. He had two twenties, which he held out to Bobby. “Here. It's all I got. Help me get into town and it's all yours.”
Bobby eyed Gordon curiously and then laughed. “That money's not gonna do us much good right now. Power's been out for a week. What do you think we're doing out here?”
“I don't know,” Gordon responded, realizing Bobby wanted an answer.
“We're trying to catch some dinner, that's what we're doing.”
Gordon was perplexed. He slowly put the money back in his wallet and decided to press further. “What's going on? I mean, what's really happening? Our—my van broke down the other day. Cell phone's dead. Local shop was cleaned out. Are you telling me that it's the same thing in downtown Milledgeville?”
“Buddy, it's the same thing everywhere,” Bobby said. He looked back at Ernie. “What'd you call it again?”
“An electromagnetic pulse,” Ernie answered slowly. “An EMP.”
“Yeah, that's right, an EMP. Took out everything in one burst. Crazy,” Bobby said, pausing. “We'll take ya' back to town with us, but you’re not gonna find much there.”
“I don't understand,” Gordon said.
“None of us do,” Bobby said. “We're just doing what we can to deal with it.”
Bobby and his crew were right. Downtown Milledgeville was a powerless wonder of a town. There were vehicles everywhere on the road, but none of them worked. Gordon was devastated. There was no way to book a flight, no way to call a cab, and no way to get a rental car. He was stuck. The town seemed to be in a state of limbo, with some people holding out while others had left for places unknown. Bobby told him of the army trucks that passed through the town and picked people up. Gordon asked why his group didn't get on the trucks, at which Bobby just gave him a wry expression.
“What am I going to do?” Gordon asked as they convened in an empty diner in the darkness of town.
“You got no other choice but to scrape by, just like us,” Bobby answered. Hunting had been unsuccessful that day, but Bobby offered to show Gordon their hideout, a house they had near the old water tower, where they had stockpiled supplies from the last of what they could find through town. Gordon asked about the police and emergency responders. Bobby explained that the police had lost control and that everything in town was up for grabs. Gordon couldn't believe it. It seemed impossible. How could a moderately metropolitan area like Milledgeville descend into anarchy in only a short week?
“This is just the beginning,” Bobby said with an ironic chuckle. “Army trucks will be back to take more of them away. That or the train.”
Gordon's eyes lit up. He hadn't even considered the train. “You mean to tell me that the train still runs?”
“Yeah, but not often. You might see one in the next week. You think they had Amtrak all messed up before, you ain't seen nothing yet.”
Their supposed hideout seemed sufficient for temporary survival. There were others in their group. Men, women, and children, and Bobby explained the overall reach of their survivalist network. He explained how they had to work together to fend off another group who lived deep in the woods. “No-good, dirty thieves,” Bobby called them.
A sliver of panic hit Gordon as he considered Scott and the others catching up with him. He felt no other choice but to tell Bobby and his crew the complete truth about who he was and the entirety of his situation. His elaborate tale was like nothing they had heard yet, and they had heard and seen a lot of things the past week.
“They're going to be coming for me,” Gordon said, referring to his coworkers. “They won't be happy until I'm dead.”
“Relax,” Bobby told him. “You're safe with us.”
As comforting as Gordon found the thought, he longed for home like nothing else. The train, however, gave him hope. “Whatever I have to do to earn my keep around here, I'll do,” Gordon said. “I’m in your debt and your service.”
Bobby and the others seemed to take to him. He would stick with them as long as he could. It was his best chance against his coworkers. He considered that he was being too overcautious, as they might never make it to Milledgeville. But the world had changed on Gordon's watch, and he felt like there was no leeway for taking chances any longer. Bobby explained the need to be alert at all times as unsavory characters lurked about the lawless town. “Tomorrow, we'll show you how to shoot, if you don't already know.”
“I don't,” Gordon said. “But I'd love to learn.”
***
After a heated argument with Scott and Bryce, Jamie stormed off and left them to their own devices. It was dark out and he wasn't exactly sure which direction to go to reach downtown Milledgeville, but anywhere away from them was fine. Jamie was irate with himself and his coworkers. He couldn't believe that he had gone along with their foolishness for so long. He wished he were back in New York making dinner for his wife on their Friday night together, not in some godforsaken forest in the middle of nowhere. The best bet for him was to find his way into town and get the next flight home.
He was in the process of telling himself that everything was going to be OK when suddenly it occurred to him that he was in a lot of trouble. Gordon was the key to everything. And if Gordon got back to New York before they did, their lives would be ruined. Jamie pictured Gordon at the local police station telling them everything. They might have put an APB out on them already. Jamie would have to be careful. Traveling alone helped him. It was about the only advantage he had.
After about a mile or two of walking, Jamie could see the highway through the tree line up ahead. The sight was exhilarating. Jamie’s steadied pace soon turned into a full-out run as he sprinted ahead, hoping to wave down a vehicle in time.
As he pushed f
orward, he could hear someone shouting from behind. He stopped and turned around, squinting into the distance. Someone was following him and he could recognize the voice. It was his friend, Aaron.
“Wait up, man!” he shouted.
Jamie sighed. He felt some relief knowing that he wasn't completely alone, but also some apprehension about the complication Aaron's presence would cause. They would stick out more. The police would have more to go on, since they probably had descriptions of both of them.
If caught, Jamie was ready to dump the entire thing on Scott. No one liked Scott anyway. They could easily unite against him. They were pawns in his evil plot to embezzle money and try to kill their coworker, Gordon. That was the ticket. Aaron finally caught up with Jamie as he stopped and leaned forward, placing his hands on his knees and breathing heavily.
“Thank God I found you,” he said.
“What happened?” Jamie asked. “You get sick of their shit too?”
Aaron glanced behind him and scoffed. “They're in over their heads. They don't know what the hell they're doing. Probably end up getting themselves killed.”
“I don't doubt it,” Jamie said. “I got a family back home, you know? I can't be fucking around. Should have never gone on this trip in the first place.”
“What about Gordon?” Aaron asked.
“What about him?”
“What if he talks?”
Jamie sighed. “We have to assume that he already did. But it's OK, I got a plan. We keep our stories the same and put the entire thing on Scott. It's our only hope.”
“What about Bryce?”
“Bryce will go along with it. We just have to talk with him first. Scott's a loose cannon.”
Aaron looked around worriedly. “I tell you, Jamie, if we get out of this thing, I'll never do anything this stupid again.”
Jamie put his hand on Aaron's shoulder. “It'll work out somehow. Maybe we can find Gordon and clear up the entire matter. Pay back the government, find new jobs. I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but at least we won't go to prison.”
“You said it.”
Jamie started walking back to the highway as Aaron followed. Once they reached the long road, they were startled to see it so empty and quiet. Their eyes lit up when they saw a sign saying downtown as being only eight miles away. Aaron asked Jamie what he thought of everything that had happened with the van and their cell phones. They both assumed they had hit a dead zone. It certainly seemed in the realm of possibilities. Jamie told Aaron that he was never going to go anywhere in Georgia again. It just wasn't the place for him. In the end, Jamie was glad that Aaron found him. They could work together and get out of their troubling situation. Two heads were better than one, he thought.
They continued to walk despite their increasing exhaustion and dehydration. It would all be worth it once they got into town. They talked about what they were going to eat when they got there, the airlines they could take to get home, and their weekend plans. With the exception of the food James and his group served them, they had been living off handfuls of trail mix for the last two days. They didn't expect to see their backpacks again after losing them in the forest.
“Somebody's going to find them, someday,” Jamie said.
Aaron looked down at the ground in a panic. “My wallet was in my pack. I have to cancel all my credit cards now.”
“You're supposed to put your wallet in your pocket, dumbass,” Jamie said. “Simple as that.”
“Thanks for your brilliant observation.”
Their hearts raced with anticipation as they got closer to downtown. They hadn't seen a single working street light, lit home, or moving vehicle on their journey thus far. It raised plenty of questions, but their knowledge of the area was that it was a backwoods town, and the lack of modern amenities wasn’t surprising. They soon saw their first car yet; a blue Ford Taurus station wagon pulled to the side of the road. Jamie ran to it and knocked on the driver's side window. The car was covered in leaves and there was no one in it. Aaron ran to the other side and tried all the doors, but they were locked. “Damn it,” he muttered.
Aaron waved him forward and insisted that they keep walking. They soon passed other cars, some stopped directly in the middle of the road. It was the same picture each time. No passenger, and no apparent reason why the car was left there. Their elation upon finding one with several doors unlocked was cut short when they couldn't find any keys. Neither of them knew enough about cars to try to start one any other way.
Aaron grabbed a bottle of water and some leftover Skittles he found in an old abandoned Chevy Tahoe, and they proceeded toward downtown. They passed buildings, a closed gas station, and a storage facility before finally approaching a dirt road that led to a house under a water tower. The house appeared to have lights on, and they could hear people talking.
“Finally!” Jamie said with relief. Aaron looked at the night sky and took a deep breath. So far, the town hadn't been much to look at, but they were glad to see that their endless wandering was coming to an end. Jamie immediately turned down the road toward the house. They could smell smoke and fire. Something was cooking, and they could smell the enticing aroma of pork.
“I call dibs on the phone,” Aaron said, running past Jamie.
“The hell you do,” Jamie replied, picking up the pace.
They both stopped at the chain-link fence that surrounded the house and saw that there was indeed a fire in the backyard. The house didn't look very inviting as the windows were boarded up like something after Hurricane Katrina. Aaron looked at Jamie as Jamie carefully pushed the squeaky fence gate open. If they didn't know any better, they could hear music and laughter. There wasn't a single light around, aside from the glow of the backyard fire.
They walked across the space leading to the front porch. There was no driveway or garage, just a crappy looking house with boarded up windows and markings all over it. Under normal circumstances, they wouldn't have gone anywhere near a stranger's house in such condition.
“Just let me do the talking,” Jamie said. “Our car broke down, and we need to use the phone.
Aaron nodded when suddenly they tripped over some fishing line and managed to set off a flare in a nearby tree. As they stumbled forward, they watched the flare expand and smoke. They didn’t know what to think. They both failed to understand a thing about what had just happened. The front door swung open and a spotlight was flashed in their faces, blinding them.
“What's your business here!” a man shouted in a gruff-sounding voice.
Aaron and Jamie put their hands in the air, immediately following the sound of several weapons clicking.
“N-nothing!” Jamie said. “Our car--”
“Speak up!” the man shouted.
“I said that our car broke down.”
“That so?” the man said.
The light remained in their faces as the men with rifles studied them from afar. Jamie and Aaron tried to stop shaking despite being terrified for their very lives.
“I'm sorry,” Jamie pleaded. “We'll just go right back the way we came.”
They could hear whispering among the men, aside from the heavy beating of their own hearts. Aaron thought of running, but he could barely get his legs to move as it was.
“You say that's the men?” the man asked someone. There was a slight pause. “Ya'll come here,” he ordered them while moving the light out of their faces. “Slowly,” he added.
Jamie and Aaron approached the men, taking notice that they all appeared to be trigger-happy rednecks. A familiar man stood with them. Someone they knew. Someone who looked distinctively out of place.
“Gordon?” Aaron asked. “Holy shit. Gordon, is that you?”
Whereas Jamie and Aaron felt relief, Gordon recoiled in fear once he recognized them. “That's them!” he shouted. “I told you they were coming to get me, and here they are!”
Jamie and Aaron stopped dead in their tracks, unsure of what was happening.
�
�There's more,” Gordon continued. “Two more of them. They must have split up to find me!”
“Now hold on a minute,” Jamie said, raising his hand in the air. Before he could say another word, Bobby took him down with a single blast from his rifle. Aaron jumped, but he remained unaware that Jamie was no longer standing.
“Where's the others?” Bobby demanded from Aaron.
“The others, what others?” Aaron asked in a strained voice. He then looked at the ground and saw Jamie lying there in a bloody heap. He turned to the rifle-wielding men on the front porch, and his face was stricken with terror and confusion. “You shot him! I can't believe you shot him. Are you out of your minds?”
“Don't make me ask you again,” Bobby said.
Aaron looked around for witnesses, bystanders, or anyone who could help. He was anguished to see no one around. “You mean Bryce and Scott?”
“Yeah, where are they?” Gordon asked, walking closer to Aaron.
Aaron looked at him in panic. “Gordon, please. This is all just one big misunderstanding.”
“Is it?” Gordon asked. “You guys aren't so tough now, are you?”
Aaron fell to his knees and pleaded with his hands interlaced. “You got it all wrong. We never meant you any harm.”
“Where are the other two?” Gordon asked without emotion.
“We left them,” Aaron cried. “’Bout ten miles back. They were going to rob some prepper house. Jamie and I didn't want to be a part of it. We were going to turn ourselves in.”
Gordon seemed amused as he stood over Aaron. “Turn yourselves in? Hmmm. Now why don't I believe that?” He then walked away, leaving Aaron wobbling on his knees.
“Gordon, please!”
Another shot rang out from Bobby's gun, throwing Aaron to the ground with a crater-size hole in his head. Flesh was scattered everywhere in the tall green grass. There was nothing but dead silence. Bobby chambered his rifle and slung it over his shoulder. “Well, ol’ Gordon. They were your friends, so looks like you dig the holes. Shovel's out back.”
Gordon nodded as all the men went back outside to continue their late-night barbecue.
End Days Super Boxset Page 208