by K. S. Black
“Too many Americans are willfully ignorant of what’s going on right in front of them. Our government officials may as well be sitting in the board rooms of the Fortune 100 corporations.”
“Don’t they have to work together to get things accomplished?” Shannon started fidgeting. She was the first to admit that the government wasn’t perfect, but she hadn’t seen what Cooper was seeing.
“There are unscrupulous politicians with agendas, large corporations with very deep pockets that have agendas, world religions with agendas, criminal and terrorist organizations with agendas, and they’re all changing America and the world. And don’t even get me started on the biased media.”
“Believe me, I won’t.”
“I’m just saying that if we don’t start doing something about this, given the right circumstances, the government is going to declare martial law with total disregard for the Constitution."
“What do you want me to say Cooper? I don’t think it’s going to happen."
"We’re going to be forced into making a choice. Do we want to be culpable victims of a bad political agenda or are we willing to fight to preserve our constitutional rights?”
"We’ve gone round and round on this so many times. Let’s talk about something else.”
Cooper drained his glass of tea and set it on the table.
She stirred the ice in her glass with her finger as she counted to ten inside her head even though arguing would have given her more satisfaction.
* * *
Shannon went to the guest room closet, grabbed the bag with a bio-hazard patch, and dragged it into the living room. She tried unsuccessfully to call Cooper again. She wanted to tell him what she had heard at the hospital. She tried her parents, who were visiting family in Mexico, but had no luck reaching them again either.
“Hey Mom! What happened to the TV? All the channels have static.”
“I don’t know. It looks like the internet is down too.” She un-plugged the router and the modem Then she plugged them back in. Nothing changed.
Great. She went back into the guest room to a small roll top desk and unlocked it. Inside was an emergency ham radio set. She looked at it and frowned; she had forgotten almost everything he told her about getting the damn thing to work. She pushed the power button, and the radio crackled to life.
She rummaged around the top drawer and found a small stack of cards held together with a split ring. Cooper had put together a laminated set of instructions for her to use in case of an emergency. She flipped to the first card and read out loud. “Before turning on the transceiver, make sure the antenna has been erected.” Crap!
She came back into the living room. Hayley had the remote pointed at the television, each channel a blank screen. Put on your shoes. I’m going to need your help.”
CHAPTER 5
May 5 – On the road to Rohnert Park
The trip to Rohnert Park took much longer than Cooper anticipated; he avoided the major highways as much as he could, especially around the Los Angeles area to keep his visibility minimal. He had driven through the night but pulled over in a wooded area before dawn to try and get some rest and managed a few hours of restless sleep, his dreams fueled by anxiety.
The drive north was uneventful with very few cars on the road. He made only a few stops for the pup. The road had lulled him to sleep for most of the trip.
At 6 p.m., he had about a hundred and fifty miles to go. Cell phone reception became nonexistent sometime during the afternoon.
He turned on the AM/FM radio to see if he could get any news from the local stations but couldn’t tune anything in, but there was chatter on the CB.
The ham radio was preset to the same frequency as the one he had given Shannon, but he couldn’t hear anything except static. He had military and police scanners set up but kept those off because they drowned out everything else.
He turned up the volume on the CB and listened in on conversations to pick up any useful information:
“…I'm just outside of Walnut Creek and I think it's going to be next to impossible to get onto the San Mateo Bridge. Anybody know if traffic is blocked?"
"Looks like everything is coming to a stop. I'm having a hard time trying to bypass Oakland and looks like nobody's getting in or out of the city now. Traffic is stopped and cops and soldiers everywhere. Heard there was a riot at one of the road blocks."
"That's a 10-4. I heard that the Marines were helping the highway patrol run road blocks on the 101 north and south of LA."
The chatter continued, but Cooper didn’t hear anything that he hadn’t already figured out for himself.
When he got closer to Walnut Creek, the traffic was heavy going south. Some of the cars flashed him with their headlights and honked, but most just drove past. He heard what he thought was Hayley’s voice coming from the ham radio and reached up to turn the volume higher. He grabbed the mic, but she didn’t respond. He tried again. “Hayley, can you hear me? Over.”
Shannon’s voice came over the speaker but sounded garbled. She kept talking, and he caught bits and pieces about a run on the stores, the hospital, gunshots, and people in the streets. After that, nothing except a few hisses and pops and more static.
He got on the mic again. “Make sure the house is locked up tight and turn off all the lights. Go open up the survival pod so you have quick access. I should be there in about three hours. Over.” He didn’t get a response but kept talking. “Get the shotgun from the bar. The 9mm is under the false bottom of the top drawer of roll top. Over” Still no response. He slammed his hand against the dash.
* * *
He crossed over into Vallejo. The traffic lights and street lamps downtown were working. Nothing looked out of the ordinary at first glance. When he headed out of town on Broadway Street, he noticed the neighborhoods were dark.
With the headlights on, the Humvee stood out on the empty roads. He pulled over and went to the back of the vehicle to find his night vision goggles. The pup whined as he flicked his tongue between the thin metal bars. Cooper took him out of the crate and set him on the ground.
With the goggles on, he needed to let his eyes adjust to the green glow and lack of depth perception. He watched the pup relieve himself and try unsuccessfully to eat a dandelion growing out of a crack in the pavement.
After a few minutes, they settled back inside the Humvee. He kept the ham radio on, tried to reach Shannon several more times, but she never responded.
He drove with the lights off. Not able to judge his speed without looking at the speedometer was awkward at first, but he learned he could tilt his head up and peek through the bottom of the goggles to read the gauge. When he drove through Penngrove, he turned the headlights on and took off the goggles. The oncoming headlights from the small trickle of traffic made it impossible for him to see with them on.
He had turned off the headlights and put the night vision goggles back on when he reached Shannon and Hayley’s neighborhood. He set the mufflers to their quietest setting and drove twenty mph, scanning every sidewalk and driveway.
Some front doors were wide open. Cars were parked at odd angles in the street as if people left their cars to flee on foot. Cooper spotted Shannon’s house, the front door bashed open. The unwelcomed pounding in his chest returned as his thoughts raced to dark places. He backed into the driveway and stepped out of the Humvee out with the Tavor ready to shoot.
Using the Tavor, he pushed the door open. The urge to rush in was almost overwhelming. He pointed the rifle everywhere he looked. Sweat dripped down his back even though he felt chilled. He slowed his breathing. In. Out. In. Out.
He cleared the foyer and the west side of the house before moving through the great room and heading into the kitchen. Broken dishes crunched underneath his feet.
He moved the Tavor toward the utility room entrance. Shannon was face down and not moving on the kitchen floor. Blood pounded in his ears, blocking out all sounds for what seemed like an eternity. His mouth went
dry but he could taste acid on the back of his tongue. He forced himself to breathe. In. Out. In. Out.
He fought the need to check on her and moved past her into the utility room which led to the garage. In. Out. In. Out.
Prepared to shoot anything that moved, he was acutely aware that Hayley could still be in the house somewhere. His gut told him she would have headed straight for the survival pod, to safety.
He cleared the utility room and the garage before he went back to Shannon and felt for a pulse. Her hand still gripped the 9mm Ruger, brass scattered around her. His heart sank although he had known the instant he saw her that she was dead. He turned her over. Three shots to the chest. He couldn’t get enough air into his lungs.
Pulling off the night vison goggles, he turned on the flashlight mounted on the Tavor and illuminated the blood splatter on the wall and the small pool of blood on the floor. Bullet holes splintered the cabinets. Shannon had hit at least one intruder, maybe two. She had fought a good fight. He had expected nothing less of her.
He retraced his steps to the garage. A walkie-talkie hung on the wall next to the door. He grabbed it and turned it on. Fear caused him to hesitate. “Hayley?”
“Daddy come get me!”
Her voice filled his ears. He found the lever that opened the hidden entrance to the pod and climbed down to her. She grabbed him tightly around the neck, her entire body shaking against him. When he bent down to pick her up, she cried out as if she were in physical pain.
* * *
With Hayley holding onto the back of his shirt, Cooper picked Shannon up off the floor and carried her to her bedroom. He placed her on the bed. Hayley let go and moved a few feet away from her mother’s body. Tears ran down her cheeks as she struggled to catch her breath between sobs.
After he covered Shannon’s body with the comforter, he went in the bathroom and came back with a wet wash cloth he used to wipe the blood from her face. He was disturbing evidence, but there was no way he could leave her on the floor and in that condition.
“Do you want to say goodbye to your mom?”
Hayley continued to sob and shook her head. She made no attempt to move any closer.
“It’s okay.” Cooper wiped a stray tear away from his face.
He took her hand, led her out of the bedroom, and closed the door. He dialed 9-1-1 but couldn’t get through on the land line or on any of the cell phones. Hayley was shaking so he ducked into her bedroom and grabbed the blanket off her bed. He wrapped her in it and carried her to the Humvee.
Before he started the engine, he typed in Rohnert Park Police Department into the GPS and helped Hayley strap into the safety harness. He held onto the belief that there was still some semblance of law left. He had to until he had absolute proof of the contrary.
* * *
In the dark, parts of Rohnert Park looked like any other small city with a mostly middle class population. But other parts looked like a war zone in another country, not America. Not his home. Broken glass crunched under his tires, and he smelled smoke from nearby fires. Hayley sat in the passenger seat and stared out the window. Tears dripped on her lap.
Cooper parked in front the Department of Public Safety building. A police cruiser pulled out of the parking lot, its tires squealing and siren on. He helped Hayley out of the Humvee, and they walked to the entrance. When he pulled on the door handle, he expected it to open. He pulled on it again, but it remained closed. The three uniformed officers inside held phones to their ears.
Cooper knocked, but they continued talking on their phones. He pounded his fists on the glass until one of them came to the door with his gun drawn.
“Why are you here?” the officer asked through the door.
“I’m here to get help and to report a murder. Someone killed my ex-wife during a home invasion. She shot at least one of the intruders, but they escaped. My daughter witnessed part of what happened, but I think she’s in shock. Someone needs to come out to the house.”
“Look, I’m really sorry and all about your wife,” The officer holstered his gun when he noticed Haley. “There’s nothing we can do right now. There are only three of us here. Everyone else is out sick or out on calls. Stay right there.” He walked to his desk.
When he returned, he opened the door a few inches and handed Cooper a form. “Fill out this incident report. When you’re done, slip it under the door. We’ll send someone out as soon as we can. Go home and lock your doors. It’s not safe to be driving around. I’m sorry there’s nothing else we can do for you right now.” The officer closed the door.
* * *
Cooper leaned his head back in his seat and closed his eyes. The world had turned upside down. He felt the shift occur beneath his feet. He had his absolute proof now.
Inside the Humvee, Cooper turned on his laptop and typed. In his notes, he described what he saw and heard on his drive from Tucson and what he encountered in Rohnert Park. He added the notes to the file that contained information about the Rapture virus. When he finished, he plugged in his smartphone and uploaded files onto it.
He closed his laptop and drove to the two dead drops on the opposite ends of Rohnert Park and uploaded the file. When he finished, he drove toward the house with the Tavor in his lap for security. He wanted to listen to the chatter on the radios but shut them off. Hayley was listening and started crying again.
A few cars were on the road, but he guessed that the majority of the residents of Rohnert Park had barricaded themselves inside their homes or had already left town. He spotted looters coming out of a drugstore. Mandatory evacuations hadn’t started here yet, as far as he could tell.
When they reached the house, he drove onto the lawn and parked near the front door. Gunshots and the squeal of tires reverberated in the night air. He had never been this scared, but he’d do anything to protect Hayley. What was wrong with these people?
“You need to stay in the Humvee while I go back in the house to get supplies. You’ll be safer in here with the doors locked.”
“Please, Daddy, please don’t make me stay by myself.” Tears started again as she took in jagged breaths of air.
He thought about bringing the puppy to her, but his gut told him she was beyond distraction. Their introduction could wait. “I’ll be back in ten minutes to check on you. Don’t turn any lights on. If you see anything out of the ordinary, honk the horn until I get outside.” He showed her where the horn was and wiped her face with his sleeve.
She grabbed his shirt. He gently pried her fingers off and kissed the palm of her hand before he got out. The pup whined from the back, but Cooper ignored him. He put on his night vision goggles and grabbed his Tavor before locking the doors.
He cleared the house again and headed to the survival pod. Inside the garage, he found a heavy duty garbage bag and filled it with two weeks’ worth of rations for two that he retrieved from the pod. He found the bug out bag he had set up for Shannon and Hayley and set both bags by the front door.
Next, he went to Hayley’s room to pack up some of her things. Jeans, shirts, underwear, hiking boots, sneakers and anything he could find that he thought she would need. He stuffed everything into a duffle bag he had pulled from her closet. He picked up a recent photo of Shannon with her arms around Hayley and put that in the bag, too.
He made two trips from the house to the Humvee before he checked on her.
“Hurry Daddy.” She tried to sniff back a sob but was unsuccessful.
“I’m going to make one more pass through the house.”
He headed to Shannon’s bedroom. Tears welled in his eyes as he wrapped her in the comforter. He covered everything except for her face and carried her into the pod and laid her gently on the floor. Then he went back into the bedroom and found the stuffed bear that she had kept from childhood. When they were married, the raggedy bear had sat on her nightstand in their bedroom.
He kneeled beside her and nestled the bear in the comforter along with his favorite photo of the three of t
hem that he had pulled from his wallet. He thought about her parents. They started referring to them as Noni and Tito after Hayley was born. Shannon had mentioned they were visiting relatives in Mexico City. He couldn’t help them either.
He set the incident report on the floor next to her body and read her name out loud as if doing so would somehow let her know he was there.
He touched her hair and her face. Her hand was still warm when he laced his fingers through her slender ones. The survival pod was supposed to protect her but had become her tomb instead. He didn’t want to leave her there all alone.
Guilt had been a relentless pursuer for much of his adult life. It had away chased sleep for months after Shannon filed for divorce and after his parents died. At times it threatened to swallow him whole. And now, it pressed against him inside the pod, along with weight of his anger. But keeping Hayley safe outweighed them both.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen to you. I’m sorry for so many things. I’ll never forget what you did.” He swallowed hard, the next words barely a whisper. “I love you.” He leaned over and kissed her on the lips before he got up and sealed her inside.
* * *
For the third time, Cooper went to Shannon’s bedroom. He picked up a Chinese puzzle box from off her dresser. He had gotten it for her in Chinatown for their fifth anniversary. She had kept her most prized jewelry in it, the pieces she wanted to pass onto Hayley. The jewelry moved around inside the box as he headed out to the great room.
Although Shannon wasn’t much of a drinker, she kept several bottles of fairly good quality liquor in the wet bar in the back corner of the room. Unopened bottles of vodka, gin, and rum lined the cabinet above the small sink. He placed them on the bar. The prepper in him knew these would be useful.
He also found the half full bottle of fifty-year-old Single Malt Scotch he was looking for. He had sent it as a house warming gift. Shannon wasn’t big on Scotch, but he sent it anyway because it was more of a gift for him. He imagined her smirking and shaking her head when she opened the package. He had left the price tag on—$2999.99.