“Umm, sure,” she told him, “just let me put some clothes on. I’ll meet you over there.”
Bryce left the crew quarters in a hurry and went over to the office building and flicked the lights on. He booted up one of the computers and left it at the screen that required a password.
Jessica walked in a few minutes later and punched in her password. Within a minute, Bryce was on Wikipedia and looked up everything he could find about low-yield tactical nukes.
While he searched, he said to Jessica, “Sorry for walking in on you like that, I didn’t mean to.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it, Bryce, it’s not like you haven’t seen a woman naked before,” she replied.
“Well, yes, I have, but it’s a surprise seeing a girl like you naked after only knowing you a couple days,” he told her.
“What do you mean a girl like me?” she asked.
“Well, you’re a pretty attractive girl, and well, you know, I guess it’s a shocker,” he said.
Bryce was very uncomfortable as he talked to her about seeing her naked. He wasn’t exactly in tune with women. He had a hard enough time keeping his wife happy on the romance and emotional side of their relationship, and he had never had much success dating before they were married. Talking to Jessica about seeing her naked was the last thing he wanted.
“Your wife is a beautiful woman, too, you know, and thank you for that compliment, by the way,” she said with a grin.
“Yes, she is, I’m lucky to have her,” he replied, happy to change the subject.
Jessica, uninterested in what Bryce looked at, decided to go back to her bedroom. She left him by himself and shut the door. Bryce let out a sigh of relief, and continued to click around through numerous articles that concerned the use of tactical nuclear devices and found that, in the end, since they were more than a hundred miles from the blast zones and six thousand feet in elevation, they should be fine. Also, since they were in the canyon, they should see no effect. They did have to worry about forceful wind carrying the fallout north however.
Satisfied that they would be fine, Bryce shut down the computer and retired to his tent with his wife and son.
In the morning, the group huddled around the kitchen table in silence while they ate breakfast. Cindy and Greg had the hardest time out of everyone. They both realized their son had been headed toward Tucson the last time they spoke to him, and Tucson was marked to be destroyed, as well as the entire Phoenix-Metropolitan area. It seemed no matter what direction their son went, he was doomed. While the countdown ticked down and only three hours remained, the clock almost confirmed their son’s demise.
Added to her pain, Cindy’s mother was in Chicago, which was another city slated for a nuclear strike. She would more than likely lose a mother and a son in one day.
While only a few hours remained, Bryce thought it would be smart for them to make one last supply run to Payson. He knew that Payson was on the road for some of the northern escape cities, so it would most likely become inundated with fleeing civilians, who would surely destroy the city in their wake.
Bryce told everyone his plan, and they mostly agreed with him. Victoria protested, worried that it might be too dangerous with so many people travelling through the city. He told her that they would not get another chance to easily gather supplies once the dust settled, both metaphorically and actually. He told her that the nukes would probably knock out the power grid, and send the rest of the world into a dark and deadly chaos.
Bryce decided that Benjamin and Greg would come with him this time, because Victoria was right, it was way too dangerous for both of them to go. He had to think about Trystan and what would happen to him if both of his parents were killed. After Victoria acquiesced, Jessica threw herself into the fray and volunteered to go along on the trip. They talked it through for a minute, and when nobody could come up with any valid objections, they decided that Jessica would accompany them on their last trip into Payson.
Since it was still early in the morning, they should have a few hours head start on the swarm of people who would make the journey from the valley. Bryce assumed that most people would have spent the night either sleeping or packing in preparation to leave in the morning.
Jessica, and the three men gathered their firearms first: Bryce took an AR-15 and both Taurus handguns, Benjamin took his Kel-tec and an AR-15, and Jessica took her Colt and an AR-15, which stuck Greg with Bryce’s AK74 and his Springfield handgun.
Next, they grabbed some backpacks, which carried additional ammunition, water, some basic food rations, and other gear. Bryce wanted to make sure that they had the essentials, even for what was planned to be a short trip into town. Things were going to get very dangerous soon, and he needed to be prepared for all scenarios.
Lastly, they grabbed some of the extra fuel cans from the building where the vehicles were kept in case they didn’t get the chance to visit a gas station. The rest of the space in the Outlander they left empty and prepared to leave.
Bryce said goodbye to his family, and told Victoria three times that nothing would happen and that he would be fine, but she gave him a look like she didn’t believe him.
Before they left, Bryce spoke to Jessica about the large generator on site that was used to keep the life support to the fish tanks active. Luckily, the generator was large enough to run the entire compound on limited power as well. She told him that it would automatically turn on if the power grid collapsed before they could return. Bryce didn’t want anything to happen to the food they had in the freezers.
After he discussed the generator, Bryce knew it was time to leave. They didn’t have much time to drive into Payson and return before the bombs fell, so without any additional conversation Bryce told everyone to get into the vehicle.
They took off down the windy road toward the highway, and started the journey once again.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Payson, Arizona
Bryce turned on the radio while they drove and a voice told the four of them that the nukes would fall in two hours and thirty-eight minutes.
“For anyone unable to make it out of the cities, God rest their souls,” the unknown radio news anchorman said.
The DJ continued to talk about the events that unfolded and covered something the group had yet to pay attention to; the rest of the world. The radio voice informed the group that the United Kingdom had suspended all inbound flights as soon as the United States began to fall, and so far this action had allowed the U.K. to remain uninfected. The rest of Europe hadn’t fared as well as the United Kingdom, unfortunately. Some countries in the European Union had banned inbound flights much like the United Kingdom, but that hadn’t stopped the virus from spreading by land. The network of railways and highways had ultimately doomed them. China entirely closed off their borders after they found out about the virus, because the risk of another 1.3 billion infected was far too much for everyone else in the world to handle. Russia tried to enact the same border lockdown, but they were caught off guard, and the virus made it into their country despite their best efforts. Russia blamed the United States for the Outbreak, and talked about war, but it wouldn’t amount to much as the Russians were going to use their weapons in the same way as the United States; by nuking their own citizens. Some of the Middle Easterners were busy praising Allah that the infidels had been killed, and so far, across the board the region in its whole remained untouched, despite being a stone’s throw away from Europe. All the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq were pulled at the onset of the Outbreak to try and save the United States, which made the people of those countries both grateful and undefended. A new civil war had already broken out in both countries, due to the regimes trying to regain power while nobody was looking.
The DJ didn’t specifically say anything about Africa, but Bryce thought that since the Middle East remained largely unaffected thus far, Africa probably hung in there as well, unless people in the EU fled south to get away from the infected, then it might be
a whole different story.
Next the radio news anchor talked about Asia and the majority of the larger countries on that side of the planet. For the most part, they had all fallen apart to some degree or another. Worse off out of all of them had been India, with its massive population. The virus spread like wildfire and the last estimates approached five million infected virtually overnight. The government had been forced to go into hiding, and the citizens were left to fend for themselves. They hadn’t reverted to nuclear weapons simply because they wouldn’t do enough damage to be worth the collateral damage.
Lastly, the newsman talked about Australia. They had completely cut themselves off from the outside world; boats, planes and all other forms of transportation were banned to and from the country. They had effectively quarantined themselves from the rest of the world. It was probably smart on their part, Bryce figured.
After the group heard this sobering news, the three men decided that they had heard enough and shut the radio off. They traveled in silence for the rest of the journey into Payson.
As the three men rolled slowly into Payson, what they saw completely blew their minds. The city that was fairly quiet only a day ago now bustled with activity. There were military vehicles that drove north up the highway, which had undoubtedly come from the valley. There were thousands of civilian vehicles and the streets were jammed as parking lots overflowed. Everyone seemed to stop for supplies, much like Bryce and the others planned on doing.
Bryce pulled up to the local Walmart for the second time in two days and spent about fifteen minutes as he searched for a space before he decided to park in a dirt lot on the outskirts of the parking lot. They all left their rifles in the car, but all of them carried their handguns.
They entered the store and saw a scene straight out of a movie. The three men couldn’t believe their eyes, did a double take and watched as people shoved each other, ran around, and created total chaos. A younger group of people literally fought over a case of ramen noodles.
“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I am not going to kill someone over ramen. Let’s get the hell out of here and try another store,” Bryce said.
Benjamin nodded his head, and they all did an about face to nearly run out of the store. They loaded up in the Outlander and drove across town to a smaller local grocery store.
The scene here was chaotic, as well, but because it was a smaller store and more expensive, not as many people tried to ambush the store.
Bryce and the others entered the store and grabbed one of the last few carts. They cruised around the store and picked up whatever they could find. The dry goods and non-perishable food was all but gone in the disaster of a store. Mostly there were just canned goods and a random assortment of things left. Nobody was very picky and they all just grabbed everything they could get their hands on to throw into the cart. Soon the cart was full and Bryce grabbed another one. He went down the aisles and grabbed all kinds of toiletries, baby care items, and even feminine products.
Things like this, as he held up a box of tampons to inspect them, would be worth their weight in gold soon, he thought to himself.
After they raided the pharmacy aisles he grabbed pain relievers, bandages, cold and cough medicine and all sorts of medical supplies.
Next, the guys left Jessica to another part of the store as they ran into the booze section of the store. They told themselves that the alcohol was for many reasons other than drinking, but they knew that was all a lie. The guys grabbed about twenty bottles of whisky, vodka, rum, and all sorts of liquors. Sure, alcohol made a really great disinfectant and antiseptic, but the guys mostly just wanted something to drink.
Lastly, they picked up every perishable item they could get their hands on. They grabbed what was left of the milk, eggs, bread, and meats. The hatchery had a giant deep freeze in the crew quarters, and they intended to fill it up to the brim.
At the end of the stop, they had filled four carts full of supplies. Most of the items they would have to find a use for later, but with this likely to be their last trip, they left nothing to chance. Greg and Bryce stood around and looked at Benjamin at the checkout; and he of course got the hint and pulled out his Visa. There was no way Bryce or Greg had enough money left to pay the massive bill for the nervous cashier, and Jessica didn’t know what Bryce and Greg were up too.
The poor young cashier must have been threatened by whatever moron of a boss she still had and told to work until the end. Bryce didn’t understand what would make a person want to work for minimum wage while there was a plague on the loose and nuclear weapons being used. Bryce chalked it up to inexperience or bad parenting, in the sense of why the hell were her parents letting her work right now, and left it at that. It wasn’t his concern who got left behind and who didn’t, Bryce had to think about his own family right now.
After they paid, it took them about thirty minutes to cleverly pack everything into the Outlander, and in the end, Greg and Jessica disappeared as various items covered their laps and legs.
Bryce started up the engine and took off to the gas station on the way out of town. They made it to the station and as they got out to get the gas cans, they all slapped themselves on the forehead. They had buried the gas cans under all of the groceries!
After they had dug and complained enough, they got the cans out of the vehicle. Bryce, followed by Jessica, went into the station to grab some water bottles, because they were all thirsty now, and Bryce ran his card for the gas.
While he paid, and Jessica looked around in the store, he heard shouts that came from outside. Through the front window, Bryce could see his father and father in law. In front of them were two gunmen, who had weapons trained on his father and Greg.
Bryce ran out the door before he could even think about it, and pulled out his Taurus as he ran.
The gunmen turned toward him, and pivoted their bodies, ready to fire on Bryce with their semi-automatic rifles.
Bryce did not hesitate or even flinch as he fired three rounds at the closest gunman. All three rounds caught the man in the chest and instantly sent him to the ground.
The second gunman got off three rounds as Bryce dove for cover behind a car parked in front of the store. He rolled out of cover on the other side of the car as he heard bullets slam into the vehicle.
Before the gunman could even see Bryce come out of cover, Bryce fired another three-round salvo. The first two were ineffective, but the third round caught the gunman in the neck. It was only a glancing wound, but the inexperienced gunman immediately reached up to his neck.
That was all it took for Bryce to take one more carefully aimed shot, which entered the gunman’s skull just above the peak of his nose. Brain matter and skull fragments splashed across the gas pump behind him.
Bryce came out of a crouch and ran over to check on Greg and Benjamin.
“Are you guys okay?” he asked hurriedly.
The two men looked at each other and replied in unison, “Yes.”
Both Benjamin and Greg were both in shock. They had never seen such violence up close and personal, much less from a family member.
Jessica came out of the store with her Colt in hand and as her eyes tracked to the gore on the ground her mouth opened wide. She gagged slightly, but kept her composure.
“We’ve got to get out of here now,” Bryce said to all three of them.
Jessica ran over to join them and the four of them grabbed the gas cans and stashed them in the Outlander the best that they could. Just as Bryce shut the hatch on the SUV, a Sheriff’s SUV pulled into the parking lot on the passenger side of the Outlander.
The deputy jumped out of the vehicle, pulled out his gun, and pointed it at the group.
“Stop! Drop your weapons and get on the ground!” yelled the police officer.
The sheriff had his gun out and pointed directly at Jessica and Benjamin. Benjamin, up front held his hands up, frozen in a willingness to comply, forgotten was the order to get on the ground. Jessica s
tarted to get down on the ground. Bryce however, pulled out his Taurus with lightning speed and fired the remaining rounds in his magazine straight at the police officer.
The officer, not quite ready for the confrontation, was struck twice times in the chest and once in the neck just above his shirt.
“Holy shit, Bryce, what did you just do?” yelled his father as he ran over to try and save the deputy.
Bryce walked over to the young deputy who was drowning in his own blood in front of him. Bryce swapped out his magazine and pushed his father away, then lined up the sights on the center of the officer’s head, and pulled the trigger just once more, which ended the poor man’s suffering.
This final act of violence completely set off his father and Greg, but Jessica had a calm look on her face. Greg and Benjamin however, looked at Bryce like he was a monster and a murderer. Clearly, they were fine with him protecting them from gunmen, but killing a cop was way beyond their comfort zone.
Finally, Bryce broke the silence.
“He was going to stop us, question us, and probably arrest us until we could convince them that we were acting in self-defense,” Bryce began. “We don’t have time for that kind of fucking bullshit right now. In less than an hour, there are going to be nuclear warheads dropped on the valley and when that happens, I’m not going to be anywhere near here.”
He was not wrong at all. The people who streamed through the town were becoming more aggressive and had started looting shops. There were so many people on the road north that the highway was jam-packed with cars.
Bryce holstered his weapon and started to walk to the car.
He asked, “You guys coming?”
After a moment of indecision, both Benjamin and Greg walked over to the Outlander and got in the vehicle, followed by Jessica.
Bryce put the car in gear and drove slowly out of the parking lot. He got back on the highway and started to head east back to the hatchery. They rode in complete silence the entire way, because both Greg and Benjamin were too scared to say anything. They both wondered how Bryce could be so cold and heartless. They both understood he was acting out of self-preservation, but to kill a man in cold blood was just madness. Neither man said a word though, and Bryce drove toward the Hatchery, engulfed by his own thoughts.
The Extinction Pandemic: A Post Apocalyptic Novel (The Hatchery Compound Book 1) Page 11