“Besides, Little Carla had to eat. You think my foster parents would remember to feed their children, when they were home at all? I was the one who had to get them some cheeseburgers so they wouldn’t complain to Mom and Dad.” Carla twitched again. “Yeah, they didn’t like us bugging them at all.”
After moving one of his checkers, Conrad took a moment to watch Liam’s reaction. His mouth was slightly open. Apparently, some of this information must be new to him.
“So, that’s how it was, until the day the police showed up.” Carla thought out her next move.
“I thought they had found out about me. I thought they had come for me. But no, they led my foster parents out in handcuffs. That was the last time I saw them outside of a courtroom.” She pushed her checker forward. Now she was close to Conrad’s end of the board. She was in prime range to get one of her pieces crowned.
“And then that’s when you met Riley?” Liam said.
“Yep. A couple of cousins removed, but he was the only family they could track down. No big deal. Riley was a peach of a man, closest thing I ever had to a father.” Carla studied her checker piece. “And the rest, Liam, you know.”
Carla’s story still left the uncomfortable question in Conrad’s mind of whether she had left behind her more ignoble uses of her lock picking skills. On the other hand, she was very young and it sounded as though she had picked locks more to survive than for greed. Could he dare ask her about it right now? Or should he gently hint at it?
“Sounds like Riley gave you the good family life you never had,” he finally said.
“Yeah.” Carla bit her lip. “Might have been nice if he was about twenty years younger. Then I wouldn’t have had to bury him last year. He was eighty-two.”
“Sorry to hear that,” Conrad said.
Carla shook her head. “Forget it. I never took any day with him for granted, not after what I went through.” Then she jumped over Conrad’s piece and set her checker down in a space on the far opposite end of the board. “King me.”
Crouched down with his lantern shining close by, Conrad was pulling the cover off his sleeping bag when Liam approached. “Hey,” the young man said, “Can we talk?”
The older man looked up. “Sure.” He sat on the padded surface of his sleeping bag. “Doesn’t take a genius to know what’s on your mind.” He nodded past the air compressor, where Carla was lying down.
Liam sat down. “Carla?”
Conrad nodded. “She’s weighing heavy, isn’t she? What’s bothering you?”
Liam’s head bowed. “Actually, I was kinda worried what you thought of her. I mean right now.”
Conrad rubbed his right hand. The pain of “working man’s hand” had flared up again. “Well, I don’t think my mind’s changed very much at all.”
“Then you don’t have any problems with her?” Liam asked.
“I’m curious what you think. You’ve looked shocked at all those times she picked locks. How much did you know?”
Liam raised his head. “I had suspicions. She’d always make weird little jokes about breaking and entering, but I never knew she could pick locks. I guess she never wanted to come out and say it.”
Conrad nodded. “It sounded like she got dealt a rough hand early in life. I can see where she’s coming from. She didn’t sound like she enjoyed what she had to do.” He flexed the fingers on his right hand. “Look, I won’t cast any aspersions on her. If she was a bad egg, I think I’d have had that feeling by now.”
“She isn’t. God, she’s a great force of life. I’ve known her for years.” Liam sank his head in his hands. “She could never hurt anybody.”
I thought that about Sarah, Conrad thought, but he dared not voice it. He refused to consider that the horrible breakup between him and Sarah could strike Carla and Liam as well.
“It’s getting late,” Conrad said, “You better go back to her. You don’t want her to think that you’ve been too rattled by her story. Besides, she might need a little comforting. She might feel she exposed herself. She wants to know you’re still all right with her.”
“I will.” Liam stood up. “Thanks, Dad.”
Conrad lay back. “Good night, Liam.”
As the young man departed, Conrad stared up at the dark ceiling high above, wondering about many things. Was it possible to believe in true love and happiness, or did everybody have a part of them they kept in the shadows, waiting to burst into the light and knock over the game pieces on the board?
I hope to God I don’t carry some kind of jinx I’d pass on to Liam, Conrad thought. He wanted his boy to have a companion who would stick with him until the grave.
Thanks to the heat of this place, it still was hard to sleep. He sat up and listened hard for any talk between Liam and Carla, though part of him felt he shouldn’t eavesdrop. He picked up some slight chatter, and then quiet.
He laid back down and wondered if he’d ever get to sleep at all.
Chapter Thirteen
Conrad’s eyes fluttered. He roused from sleep and tossed aside the covers—from his own bed. He was back in his homestead.
Startled, Conrad rose from his bed and looked through his open bedroom doorway. He heard voices. At first his heart quickened, thinking intruders had broken in. But as he hurried down the hall toward the opening to the living room he recognized how young the voices were. They were just children!
“Grandpa’s awake!” shouted a young girl, maybe five, wearing a yellow dress. She was running across the living room, her pigtails flapping as she dashed.
An older boy, about seven, was seated by the living room table, playing with colored building blocks. Conrad was stunned. Where did these kids come from?
“Dad!”
Conrad turned his head. Liam poked his head out of the open side door. “Hey, I put out the chicken feed for you and checked the sheep. Thought you could use a little more sleep this morning.”
A pair of feminine arms wrapped around Liam’s neck. Carla then craned her neck so she could see Conrad from behind Liam. “You’d be proud of him. He’s finally a real rancher!”
Conrad couldn’t understand any of this. Was he dreaming? Surely, he had to be. He still was on Sarah’s trail, out in Redmond. That’s right. He just had fallen asleep inside that monument building.
Or maybe—Conrad hoped—that was the dream. The journey to find Sarah never had happened, and this was the reality he had awakened to. Perhaps it all had been resolved years ago, and the happy home life that had been denied to him for decades finally had happened for him.
But if that was the case, what had happened to Sarah? Was she alive, or dead, or had their journey come to nothing?
Footsteps creaked through the hallway. Conrad hurried to the opening. A woman was emerging, but her face was completely covered by the darkness of the hall. No windows were open. Her frame was slender, but that told him little about who was coming. Was it Sarah? Or maybe it was—
Suddenly, a loud jiggling of keys cut through the air. Conrad turned his head. Someone was unlocking the front door. But who could it be? Who had the keys to his homestead?
Conrad hurried toward the front door. “Who’s there?” he cried out. He reached for his pistol, but found it wasn’t on his waist. He still was in his nightclothes.
The door shook. It began to open…
And then Conrad awakened from his dream.
The sound of keys still rang in his ears. No, that wasn’t just a dream. Somebody really was at the front door, and someone who could unlock it to boot. But who the hell would have the keys to this place? No construction worker still would be working on it, that’s for damn sure.
He seized his flashlight and his gun from the small bag next to him. He had placed these important tools here so he could grab them, while at the same time making sure he didn’t accidentally brush against them while he slept. “Liam! Carla! We got company!” He charged past the air compressor, his light aimed at the front door. “Get your butts up, now!”
He moved the flashlight’s beam onto Liam’s face. The young man’s face twitched. Conrad followed up by giving his boy a good shove.
“Ah! Dad?” Liam cried out.
“Get Carla and take her back there, behind the compressor!” Conrad then raced to the front door, which was now beginning to rattle. Someone had fit a key in the lock and was beginning to turn it.
Carla pushed aside her covers. “What?”
Liam took her by the arms and helped her up. “We got a visitor. C’mon.” He quickly led her back behind the air compressor.
Conrad stood with his gun pointed at the door as Liam and Carla fled. The door then swung open, revealing a lone man. In darkness it was hard to see him, but he seemed young, and very tired. He walked with a shuffle, almost leaning on the door as he pushed on it.
When he saw Conrad, he jumped back, nearly falling over. “Holy shit!” he said. Then he reached behind his back.
“Hold it, son. You keep that hand out where I can see it!” Conrad barked.
The man stopped. “Okay, okay! Don’t shoot me. I don’t have anything you want. I mean it!”
“We’re not looking to make trouble. Just keep your hands out where I can see them,” Conrad said.
The man stepped into the building, where the light of Liam’s lantern shone over him. The visitor’s shoes made soft squishing sounds as he walked. His button-up shirt clung to his chest, as did his dirty pants around his shins. He also wore a small backpack that was dripping wet. Clearly, he had been out in the rain.
“You got a gun?” Conrad asked.
The man nodded.
“I’ll take it here, just for the moment,” Conrad said, keeping firm while trying not to sound overly threatening.
The visitor allowed Conrad to take the gun off the back of the man’s belt. It was a piece similar to Conrad’s. “Nice piece of work,” Conrad said, “Yours?”
“A friend’s,” the man said.
Conrad nodded. “Alright, take your hands down. We’re not looking to horn in on your digs, but we didn’t have any choice. Is this where you’ve been staying?”
The man shook his head. “I-I just found these keys in a backhoe. I got caught in the rain and had to duck in the cab. I found some paper instructions and these keys.” Conrad’s guest held up the keys.
“I figured this would be a better place to stay. You don’t want to be out there at night. Thank God for the rain. It’s kept everyone off the streets.” He wiped some stray drops of water off his face. “I just now was able to get out of there and come here. I didn’t want to stay in the open any longer than I had to.”
“I feel your pain, sir. My name’s Conrad Drake.”
Conrad advanced to the man, about to shake his hand, when suddenly Liam re-emerged from behind the compressor, exclaiming, “Holy shit! Tom?”
The visitor quickly turned to look past Conrad. “Liam?”
“It really is you.” Liam ran the last few steps. “This is incredible! Where did you come from?” His mouth dropped open. “Wait, if you’re here, then Mom must be here, too!” He quickly looked behind Tom as if he was expecting somebody.
“Wait, hold up here!” Conrad cut in, “You know this man? And why would Sarah be with him?”
Liam rushed to Conrad, nearly bumping heads with him. “This is Tom Richards!” Liam pointed to Tom. “This is Mom’s boyfriend!”
Conrad’s eyes shot wide open. “Son of a bitch!” Conrad couldn’t believe it. “That’s him? How in God’s name did we run into him?” Indeed, what were the odds that they would run into Sarah’s boyfriend completely at random? It was so out of the blue Conrad had to stifle the urge to laugh.
Tom looked at Conrad, suddenly wary. “Wait, this is Sarah’s ex?”
“Yeah, he’s my dad.” Liam approached. “I brought him here to find Mom. But, where is she? She’s not with you. Is she outside?”
Tom shook his head. “No, no, she’s not with me.”
“Then, where is she?” Liam’s voice grew more intense. “Is she alive?”
“I think so. I mean, yes.” Tom held up his hand. “Look, let me gather myself, I’ve had one hell of a night. I’ll tell you everything, I swear.”
From in the front of the air compressor, Conrad frowned as he took another glance at Tom near the back wall. The man had stripped to his boxers and was wringing out his clothes. Liam made sure Tom had a lantern to help warm him up, and also offered him use of their clothesline, which Tom quickly cleared off enough for Tom to stick his clothes on.
“So, this is the fella Sarah hooked up with,” Conrad said under his breath, enough for Liam beside him to hear.
“That’s him,” Liam said, “Good old Tom.”
Conrad glanced at his son. “Sounds like he’s a real character.”
“He’s always been friendly with me. I’ve seen him at parties. He’s a great talker. Gets along with most people.” But Liam didn’t say it with much enthusiasm.
“His clothes look pretty fancy, and you said he lives in the big money end of Redmond. So, what’s he do?” Conrad asked.
“He’s an important tech consultant,” Conrad replied, “Both the government and big business hire him to help set up their computer systems, so he’s flush with cash.”
Conrad folded his arms. “I bet Sarah appreciated that.” He couldn’t help but think of Sarah’s distaste of Conrad’s outdoor activities while they were married. At one time in his life, Conrad dressed up pretty nice like Tom, but deep down, the city life never fit him.
“She sure did when he took her to Paris for a week,” Liam replied.
Conrad chortled. “Damn. And I thought taking her to Florida was the biggest deal of her life.”
Tom rubbed his hands in front of the lantern as Conrad kept looking at him. He was definitely younger than Conrad, with a full head of dark hair, but not so young that he could be Conrad’s adult son. Conrad guessed Tom was in his forties. Tom definitely wasn’t a strongly built man. His frame was thin, though Conrad wondered if suddenly being cut off from the world’s grocery stores and restaurants had caused him to skip some meals.
As Conrad tilted his head in Liam’s direction, he noticed his boy wasn’t exactly comfortable around Tom, either. “You got some thoughts on your mind about our new guest?”
Liam shook his head. “No.”
“C’mon, I don’t know this fella from Adam, but you do. If you got doubts, I want to hear them.”
Liam folded his arms. “Tom is a little too wormy for my tastes. And then he shows up without Mom. I don’t know what happened. Did Mom show up at his house? Did he try and look for her? I just don’t know if he really looked out for her.”
Conrad turned around fully, blocking out his view of Tom. “Just curious. Has he been around for much of your life? I mean, since we parted?”
Liam chuckled. “What, do you mean was he like a dad to me or something? No way. Never him.”
Conrad smiled. Liam seemed pleased to say that. At least Conrad knew that Tom hadn’t fully replaced him in the life of his family.
Tom sat cross-legged on the floor, his pants back on, but with a towel over his bare chest. Liam was seated close by, facing him, with Carla right next to Liam. Meanwhile, Conrad was seated on a folding chair, staring down at him. It was hard for Conrad to quell his annoyance, if not rising anger, at the fact that Sarah wasn’t with Tom. On the other hand, he hadn’t heard the man’s story yet. Perhaps Conrad simply couldn’t understand how Sarah had stuck with this man for so long. What had Tom offered her that Conrad could not? Money? A high roller lifestyle?
Tom began his story. “Sarah was me the morning the power went out. At first, we didn’t think anything of it. Power goes out sometimes. It happens. But then when our phones didn’t work, or anything with batteries, we got worried. It was the same story with the neighbors. One of them said something about an EMP pulse that blew up in the atmosphere. He said we probably had a nuclear war or something. We never could figure out
what had happened. We tried getting word from the government, but it was the same story all around. The whole city was just shut down.”
Tom scratched his left arm. “We hunkered down. We thought the power would come back. But after a day had gone by, we heard through the neighbors that riots were starting. The police were beginning to buckle. Gunfights were happening in the worst parts of town. Rumors flew everywhere. We heard the mayor had fled the city. Grocery stores were looted.” He drew his legs closer to his body. “Then we knew that no help was coming. Nothing was going back to normal.”
“I remember when Carla and I realized that, too,” Liam said. “We were on the road, vacationing in Ever Pines, south of the city.”
“You two got damn lucky.” Tom chuckled. “I’d much rather have been in Ever Pines than Redmond. I’d have stayed there, that’s for sure.”
“I’m sure you’d have preferred Sarah with you, of course,” Conrad added.
Tom seemed confused for a moment, then nodded. “Right. Yeah, of course.” He sighed. “Anyway, Sarah’s an active woman, always has been, so we had a lot of bottled water in the pantry. We just had to watch how much we drank. We limited ourselves to a bottle a day, but we knew we couldn’t stay in town with everything going to Hell. We figured we’d make a break for one of the farms outside the city. Maybe we could get some work in exchange for whatever they’d feed us.”
A tremor ran through Tom’s body. “But we didn’t get more than a few blocks from the house. Some big guys showed up. They were armed. They wouldn’t let us go. I tried to talk us past, but they didn’t care. I ended up with a pistol smack to the head.” He bowed his head. “After I came to, Sarah was gone.”
Liam winced. Carla curled her arm around his arm and pulled him close. Conrad’s arm muscles tightened. A story like that very seldom had a happy ending. At best, the poor woman would be found alive. At worst, the woman would have been violated by her kidnappers. And worst of all, she’d have been murdered. Conrad realized it now might be hoping against hope that Sarah still was alive.
The Off Grid Survivor: An EMP Survival Story Page 10