by Mark Clodi
“We are here! You aren't the bad guys are you?”
Stewart rolled her eyes, the voice was clearly that of a child. She mouthed the words, 'Just what we fucking need!' to Max who grinned and answered the voice, “We just killed the bad guys, who is down there?”
“Me, Kenny and Riley.”
“Yeah, are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Well come out of there. No. Wait, we will come down there to you. Do you have any guns or anything?”
“No.”
“My name is Max. What is your name?”
“Seth. And Ken and Riley.”
“Okay, I got that Seth, I am going to go into your house and find the stairs to come down to you. And I will make sure none of the bad guys are in there either. There is a police officer here too, her name is Stewart, she is going to stay by the window with you while I come down, okay?”
“Sure. A real police officer?”
“Yes. I am a real police officer.” Stewart called down, then to Max, “You are going in alone? Not a great idea, you got...”
“Kids to take care of. I know, I will be more careful, plus I don't think any more zeds are around. I could go through the window.”
“No don't come through the window!” came Seth's voice.
“Why not?”
“'Cause we are locked in the basement, you have to unlock the door in the kitchen to get us out.”
“What?”
“Yeah dad locked us in so we would be safe.”
Stewart mouthed the word 'weird' to Max and shook her head, “Okay then, so my buddy is going to come in, go to the kitchen and get you out of the basement, can you see anything down there with you?”
A flashlight beam turned on and played across the room before coming to rest on Stewart's face through the broken window, “You're very pretty. Are you the police officer?”
Grinding her teeth, Stewart said, “Hey there hon, don't shine the light in my face. Yes I am Officer Jane Stewart.”
“You don't look like a police. Don't Seth.” came another voice, this one lower and more like that of an adult, but still a little off. A black ball of fur jumped into the light, which was pointed below the broken window now. A medium sized dog stood under the window and was furiously opening and closing it's mouth while looking up at Stewart, Max had moved on towards the front of the house. The dog was not making any noise, aside from a low, raspy grunting sound when it tried to bark.
“Get Riley Seth!”
“No! You get Riley, you were supposed to hold her!”
“The leash came off. You know the leash comes off!”
“You get her Kenny! You have the leash!”
As this conversation played out Stewart yelled after the disappearing Max, “Hey Max! They have a dog! Be careful of the dog!”
Max went through the front door of the house and pulled out a small 'L.E.D.' flashlight from his pocket, the beam was not very powerful, but it was enough to illuminated the bodies on the floor and show him the room was empty. He caught Stewart's words of warning as he moved in and worked his way back to the kitchen. Shining his light around he found the door that he thought led to the basement. “What the fuck?” he said to himself softly as he examined the door. It was supposed to swing open into the kitchen and there was a large wooden board attached across it above the handle. The handle had a normal looking lock on it and up from that, above the wood was a dead bolt, which was set in the door so that it could be opened from this side. Looking at the wood Max saw it was a standard two inch by four inch wide piece of wood that could be bought in any lumber yard. It was sitting in two brackets attached to the door frame, with the wood in place the door could not be opened from the other side.
“What the fuck?” he said again, who locked their kids in the basement this way? He reached forward and pulled the wooden board out of the brackets, then unlocked the door handle and the dead bolt, wondering just what sort of kids Seth and Kenny were. Easing the door open just a crack he waited to see if the dog Stewart had mentioned would come up the stairs; it did. It slammed into the door with a meaty thunk, but it was fairly small as dogs go and Max was able to hold the door against its weight with ease. Crouching down he put his knee behind the door to hold it mostly closed while he put his hand at the gap to allow the dog to sniff him.
“Hey there fella! You're okay, I am just here to help out the kids down there. Don't worry, everything is fine.”
The dog did not seem to be calming down, instead the low rasping, grunts continued to pour out of its mouth as it tried to nip at Max's hand. Behind the dog a large form came lumbering up the stairs, yelling “Riley! Riii-leeey no! Bad doggie! Bad girl. He is a police. You don't eat police!” Then a good sized hand grabbed the dog by the scruff of the neck and forced a collar around it, followed by a leash.
Max stood and looked at the man on the other side. “Who are you?”
“I am Kenny Halcot. My brother is Seth Halcot. Our dog is Riley Halcot. You can open the door now I have Riley.”
“You got Riley, Kenny?” called a younger voice from down below.
“Yeah Seth. I have her good. I put the collar on another hole too, so it is tighter, but I hope not too tight, I don't want her to turn blue and die.”
“She won't Kenny. Did that guy get the door open?”
“No he is staring at me through a crack. Why is he staring at me?” turning back to Max he asked, “Why are you staring at me?”
“Sorry. Is, uh, Riley okay? Can I open the door now?”
“Sure!”
Max eased the door open slowly, the dog strained against the leash, not budging the man at all. “Okay come out.”
Kenny stepped into the kitchen, followed by a young boy half his size carrying a flashlight. The boy was wearing a backpack, khaki shorts and a black t-shirt. He was wearing knee high socks over his skinny white legs and had on some Converse tennis shoes. “Let's go!”
“What?”
“She said we were leaving and she is the police so we have to go.”
“Okay, good. Ah, I am Max.” He held out his hand to shake.
The younger boy shook it and said, “You have to shake too, it is what people do.”
“I am not a dummy. I got Riley.” then the man twisted and pulled the dog behind him with one hand and reached out with his left to grab Max's outstretched right hand and give it an awkward shake.
“No dummy you have to use your other hand!”
For a second Max thought the boy was talking to him, then realization came crashing down on him like a ton of bricks, Kenny was mentally challenged. “No it is okay, we have other things to do than shake hands in the kitchen all morning, I don't know what I was thinking anyway.”
Kenny, who was busy trying to transfer the leash to his other hand while keeping the dog away from Max looked up and said, “I am no dummy. I can shake too.”
Max waited patiently until the mute dog was held away from him and then shook Kenny's soft, sweaty hand and said, “Pleased to meet you. Do you need to get anything? Clothes or something?”
“Yeah, go get your camping bag Kenny, give me Riley, you can take the flashlight. Go fast.”
The older man grabbed the light and raced like lightning down the stairs, prompting Max to say, “Whoa!” in shock.
“He likes going down the stairs fast, he broke his leg when he was sixteen that way. Sometimes he falls, but he says he likes to go fast, because it feels like he is flying.”
“Are you brothers?”
“Yeah.”
“Seth, why are there all these locks on the door?”
The boy looked at him and didn't say anything.
“Ah, do you know where your parents went?”
Seth just shook his head from side to side.
“Did they lock you in the basement a lot?”
Again the boy just stared at him. Kenny came lumbering back up the stairs, not going up nearly as fast as he had gone down.
“Got
it! I got it! I can go now.”
The dog was sniffing at Max's pant leg and Seth slowly let out a little slack. Riley didn't bite him, but sniffed around at Max's feet and then jumped up on him with both paws at his waist. The look was not one of a friendly Labrador retriever making peace with a stranger, it was more of one of a lion sizing up the local gazelle. Riley showed her teeth in an emotion that was far colder than any grin could ever be.
“Riley likes you!” said Kenny, rubbing the dog on its head with vigorous affection and then saying, “Down Riley you know dad doesn't like you jumping on people!” The dog dropped to all fours once again, but the fur behind its head did not relax.
Chapter 8
“Higher, it has to go a little higher John!” Bill said with a strained voice.
“I know dad, I can't move it, it's caught on something.”
“Goddamned thing, this is supposed to be easy. I am letting it down, slow.” Bill lowered the solar array, John slowly copied his movements until it was resting on the ground.
“Can we set it all the way down? I need a drink.”
“Sure, let's just go slow.” Bill and his son slowly dropped the array onto it's back until it rested in the grass. As they did so a green army truck buzzed past on the paved road beside their house. They watched it go until it was out of sight. “I hope things are okay.” Bill commented as they went inside. The air conditioner was working overtime today and the kids were gathered around the game console in the living room.
“If they were a few years older...” Bill began.
“Then the array would already be up and you would inside with us?” asked Trisha, handing him a pint of canned beer. “You know that isn't true though, if they were a few years older they would have places of their own and we'd be lucky if they were close by at all.”
Bill nodded to acknowledge his wife's words of wisdom then took a long pull off of his beer. John came out of the kitchen with a tall iced tea in his hand he looked at his siblings and said, “No fair that they get to be in here on a day like today, while we are out working in the heat.”
“Hey, they did what I asked this morning, so you let them have their fun. As I recall you were sleeping while we were out getting the peas in.” Trisha said in defense of the younger kids.
“If I would have known how hot it would be I would have gotten up.”
“Not to cut you off, but any news Trisha?”
“No. The curfew is in effect until further notice, the governor is saying there might be military law he issued an order against hording and rioting. The internet is limited to local areas, we have old copies of some websites, but there is nothing new on Fox or CNN.”
“We still have phones then too?”
“Yeah, the government thinks we won't lose cell or land line services, once they figured out how to re-route the calls the phone service came back. We can't make out of state call, but from what I just saw on the news there isn't anyone to call out there anyway. It's lucky Iowa has some major players in the telecom industry based here or we'd be back to sending smoke signals. Oh, the other thing was they called in some technical people to work too. So doctors, fire and safety crews and their IT people have to report in, as well as government officials who coordinate the police and military. All military personal have been ordered to report to the nearest national guard facility, even if they were retired, I think the governor's exact words were, 'If you can remember being in the military at any point in your life, you need to report in immediately.'”
“Whoa, even the old codgers?”
“Yeah. The pundits on the local news radio are saying that all able bodied men should form up into militias for home defense from the coming hordes.” Trisha scoffed, “What hordes?”
John and Bill exchanged a brief look, then Bill said “Well, ah, it could get bad. No calls from anyone?”
“No calls from Max you mean? No, but my family is fine.”
“I said anyone, that is what I meant. Your family going to come up here?” Bill asked delicately.
“No, they are going to ride it out in Texas. Dad said if Texas doesn't hold out he doesn't have much hope that Iowa will.”
Bill shook his head, “I don't know, none of these things started in our cities. I heard Austin was in bad shape.”
“Yeah that was the other reason, the direct route up here is blocked by the Austin horde. I can't...” Trisha was interrupted by the telephone ringing.
Bill was closest to the wall so he picked it up, “Hello? Who? This is Bill, no who are you? Oh. When? Okay I can be there then. What? Sure John can come. No I am not bringing Will. The hell you say, I am not having a little kid out there.... Whaddya mean I don't have any choice? Okay, okay you are just the messenger, but he isn't going to be there. Alright then I will see you tonight.” Bill hung up the phone then looked at Trisha, “Trish....ah we've just been drafted.”
“What?” she asked the color draining from her face.
“That was a guy, a Major Kimbly, he...and his secretary, are going through the phone book and school records and calling all the families, at the governor's order. We have to meet tonight at the high school gym. He said all men aged thirteen and over have to be there to talk with the military. I am not bringing Will.” Bill looked fondly over at his son, the boy was little more than that, he was late in developing as some boys were, so as an eighth grader he was about the shortest kid in his class. Shaking his head he said, “No, Will is not coming.”
“No women are going?” asked Claire, who had come in from the kitchen and was wiping her hands off with a dish rag.
“No, just men. The major didn't mention women being invited.”
“Are they...are they taking you away tonight?” asked Trisha.
“I don't know dear, he didn't say, just that it was an informational meeting. A mandatory information meeting.”
John had stopped drinking and was staring at his father, “What do we do?”
“Well, for starters we get that array set up and show your ma how to flip over to it, if the power goes out. The meeting isn't until seven and I doubt they are going to haul us off late at night, they will give us more information and once we have that we decide what to do.”
By the end of the day the solar array was up and plugged in, it was generating power, but not as much as it could because the motion control that automatically faced the array towards the sun was not hooked up yet. The motor was sized for a smaller pipe than the one Bill had cemented in, fixing that was going to be a problem for another day. For now the array would at least generate full power for a few hours during the day, more if they remembered to go out and manually face it towards the sun at times. Dinner was a somber affair, made worse by the call interrupting it from a military man who spoke with Bill.
“Mister Carson, my name is Vernon Stack. I am a sergeant in the United States Army. The civilian authority has said that all males thirteen and over need to be at the mandatory meeting in town tonight. Mayor Kimbly called me and said you were refusing to bring your son, William Junior, is that correct.”
“Will is too young, he hasn't even gone through puberty yet. Some thirteen year olds are big, he isn't”
“Okay, I understand your concern, but Will needs to be there, the governor was very clear on this. Look, if the boy is as underdeveloped as you say, he will not be going anywhere, we have standards and we are not interested in taking people who cannot do the job we need them to do.”
“What about mandatory military age? I mean even my John can't join without parental consent. What is to stop me from letting either of my sons go?”
There was silence on the other end of the line.
“Mister Carson, let me tell you something. There is no more minimum military age, the ink is still drying on that document, which the governor signed this morning before you were even out of bed. We have a better idea of what is going on than you do and until you know more, which you will tonight when you, John and William attend this meeting, you
do not have any idea what you are talking about. I am a patient man, I understand you are afraid for your family, but if it came down to your son getting killed with a gun in his hand or clinging like a baby to his mama's skirts, which would you choose?”
“Is it that bad?” Bill whispered into the phone ducking around the corner from where his family was intently watching him from the dinner table.
“Mister Carson, believe me when I say this; the situation is worse than that. So, I will see you three at seven sharp then?”
“We will be there.” Bill hung up the phone and went back to the dinner table with his family.
“Dad?” John asked, “What is going on.”
Bill didn't look at his older son, but at his younger one, “Will you have to come tonight too.”
“No Bill!” Trisha yelled.
Facing her sharply Bill said, “I don't have a choice and after that call I am convinced it is for the best. Hell I would bring little Max now, if I could.”
Putting her hand in front of her mouth Trisha said, “You don't mean that. I know you don't mean that.”
Bill's eyes never left his wife's as he said, “I do. He has to come.”
“What did he said? What did that man say to make you change your mind?”
“Things are really bad. I have the feeling if we don't show up with Will they will come out and get him anyway. He might not be going anywhere, he hasn't started growing much yet.”
Will squawked in protest at this bleak assessment of him, but his mother shushed him and asked, “But they might take him too?”
“Yes. He might go. If any of us go, we didn't talk about that. So far as I know tonight is just about getting information.”
“Do you have to bring anything? Clothing or guns?”
“No, he didn't say to bring anything.”
Dinner ended on a much more sober note than it began.
Bill and his sons decided to walk into town, it was about a mile and in the summer heat and humidity it didn't seem like a wise decision. However, Bill was concerned about having one of his vehicles impounded for military use. They made the walk in about half an hour and were drenched through with sweat by the time they arrived. The first thing they did was take long drinks from the water fountain just inside the front doors. At the doors to the school cafeteria was a group of nervous looking young soldiers, clutching their rifles and looking half scared. An older man was holding the door to the cafeteria open for them, “Come on in, you are early and that is good, go on up to the sergeant at the table there, he is expecting you.” There were only about twenty people there, but Bill and his sons had arrived ten minutes early.