by Bruno Miller
Ben suddenly felt self-conscience and realized how much stuff they were asking for. He felt guilty about what they were offering in return—not to mention he still wanted the dog food and the stove fuel. He also didn’t want to risk offending the major. He was a standup guy and a man of his word, both of which were a rare commodity these days. But that was why Ben had brought a little something extra with him from the truck.
He reached into both pockets of his pants and pulled out two handfuls of silver coins. He spread out 16 shiny one-ounce silver coins in a row across the towel. A pound of silver coins ought to sweeten the pot.
“For all this, the dog food, and the fuel,” Ben offered.
Vince picked one of the coins up. Holding it up to his face, he inspected it closely.
“Very nice.” He nodded. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”
He reached behind him and pulled the fuel canisters down from the shelf. He then moved the two camp stoves and all but one of the knives to the shelf where the fuel had been. Keeping one of the knives for himself, he tucked it in his back pocket before scooping up the coins, loading them into a small box, and placing them out of sight behind the counter.
Allie took advantage of the empty towel and gathered the produce in the center of it. She grabbed it by the corners and hoisted the heavy load into her arms.
“I’ll take these out to the truck,” she said.
Joel grabbed the case of canned dog food and threw the rice on top. “I got this. Right behind you.” He followed Allie toward the truck, leaving Ben and the major alone once more.
“Let me give you a hand with these.” Vince grabbed two of the small fuel tanks off the counter as he came around the side.
Ben took the other two and started for the truck.
“Don’t wait too long to tell her,” Vince warned. “I know you’re not looking forward to it, but she’s got to know. I could have one of the girls here talk to her, if you’d rather.”
Ben stopped as he was about to open the door. “No, I’ll do it. It needs to come from me.”
Vince nodded and the two continued out to the truck.
The kids had already loaded their things and were closing the tailgate when Ben and Vince got there. Gunner was worked up and pacing the rear bench seat in anticipation of the trip. He had now fogged up a good portion of the side window.
Ben placed his two tanks into the back of the Blazer and then took the other two from Vince and did the same. He’d reorganized the back of the truck later and square away the new supplies. Right now, he wanted to get on the road. This little town had been a godsend, but it was time to move on.
Vince followed him around to the driver’s door as the kids loaded up from the other side. Allie got in the back with Gunner, who was very excited to see her and acted as though they had been gone for hours. Joel slid into the passenger’s seat and slammed the door shut. Ben got in and rolled his window down before pulling the door closed.
“Thanks again! For everything.” Ben extended his hand.
Vince took his hand and hung on to it for a second. “If you don’t find what you’re looking for out there, you’re always welcome here. All of you.” He leaned into the truck a little and made eye contact with Allie and then Joel.
“Thanks,” Allie said.
“Yeah, thanks,” said Joel.
Ben started the truck and Vince took a few steps back.
“Good luck, guys! Be safe.” Vince waved as they crept out from under the shade of the covered gas pumps and into the morning sun. Ben nodded at the major as they pulled away.
There was a small gathering of people in the motel parking lot across the street. Mary, Cy, and Reese were among the group and waved at them as they drove away. Ben and the kids waved back and headed for the gate.
Ben slowed as he rolled through the already-open gate. The guy manning the entrance waved from the dump truck. Ben smiled as they passed. He was glad to see they were now using the dump truck to block the gate. After they had gone through, Ben watched in the rearview mirror as the big red truck backed up and closed off the opening.
Then Ben focused his attention on the road ahead, only glancing at the rearview mirror a few more times before Cloverdale and the wall of cars faded from view.
The realization that they were on their own again sunk in and was their reality once more. The feeling was bittersweet for Ben, who should have been in good spirits after everything the kind people of Cloverdale had done for them. They had gotten some rest, fixed the truck, eaten well, and resupplied their food, fuel, and water.
But his heart was heavy with the thought of confronting Allie with the bad news. He glanced at her in the mirror. She was petting Gunner and looking through one of her books. She looked about as happy and content as he’d seen her yet, and he really hated the fact that he was going to ruin that.
For several miles, Ben wrestled with the idea of when and how to tell her, and he almost convinced himself to wait and see what they found when they got closer to Pittsburgh. But he wanted this off his chest, and he wanted to be fair to Allie. He knew what he had to do.
It was time to tell Allie what he’d learned.
Chapter Thirteen
Ben slowed the Blazer down and pulled over to the side of the road.
“What’s going on?” Joel asked.
Gunner lifted his head from Allie’s lap as the truck came to a stop.
“Is there something wrong with the truck?” Allie leaned forward.
“No. I need to talk to you guys about something.” Ben shifted in his seat and twisted around to face Allie.
“What is it?” Allie swallowed.
“When I was talking to Vince last night, he told me that Pittsburgh was destroyed in the attacks.” Ben looked at Joel, then back at Allie, who was already shaking her head.
“Wh… What do you mean? How does he know? I don’t understand… Destroyed?”
“He has a ham radio that he’s been able to contact other areas with. Communication has been limited, though, and he doesn’t know details. But the word is that Pittsburgh was hit by a lower-altitude detonation. A few other cities have been hit pretty hard as well. Washington D.C. is one of them.”
“Let me out!” Allie blurted and covered her mouth with her hand as if she was going to get sick.
Joel scrambled to unbuckle himself and get out of her way.
She flew over the front seat and out onto the ground, where she landed on all fours and threw up. Joel kneeled down next to her and rubbed his hand on her back.
Gunner hopped down from the truck and ran over to where she was on the ground. He stood back a couple feet and watched her, confused about what was going on but aware that something was wrong. His tail hung limply, and his head tilted to the side as she continued to get sick.
Ben got out and walked around to their side of the truck and stood on the grassy shoulder for a moment before reaching into the truck and retrieving Allie’s water bottle and a towel. He handed the towel to Joel, who was still kneeling next to her.
Allie sat up and took the towel from Joel. She held it up to her face and remained that way for a minute. Gunner approached her now and pushed his snoot into the towel, trying repeatedly to engage Allie in some type of interaction.
“Gunner, easy,” Joel said.
“It’s okay,” she mumbled through the towel, reaching out blindly with one of her hands. She wrapped her arm around Gunner’s neck. Gunner sat down next to her, looking content now that she was touching him.
Ben felt like he should say something. “I still intend on going that way, Allie. We’ll find out for ourselves what’s going on in Pittsburgh. We’re not giving up.” Ben tried to sound hopeful but he didn’t want to come off as patronizing. He knew the odds that her dad was all right were slim to none, and so did she.
Allie slowly lowered the towel to reveal red puffy eyes and a pale white face. She continued to stare off into the distance for a while longer without saying anything to either
Joel or Ben.
She slowly stood and turned to face them. “We’re wasting time here then.” She almost choked on her own words and began to tear up again.
Joel quickly went to her side and put his arm around her. She leaned into him and sobbed loudly. Ben went over to where they were standing and hugged them both. She was trying to be tough and it was commendable, but even Ben found himself fighting off tears as his empathy for her overwhelmed him. He couldn’t imagine how she felt now. Losing both parents was enough to destroy someone emotionally under normal circumstances. But on top of the struggles this new world presented, he wouldn’t blame her or think any less of her if she had a full-blown meltdown right here and now.
After what must have been at least a minute of standing in their huddle of silence, except for the occasional sniffle or sigh, they all stepped back. Allie wiped at her eyes with the towel and looked at Joel, then Ben.
“I can’t believe it’s just me now. I’m all alone. There’s no one left but me,” Allie said with a blank look on her face.
Ben looked at her and put his hand on her shoulder until she made eye contact. “You’re far from alone. We’re here for you.”
“You’re part of this family now,” Joel said as he wiped a tear from his eye. He looked at his dad and then at Allie as he said it. Ben nodded in agreement and handed Allie the water bottle. She took a mouthful and swished it around before turning away and spitting it out. Then she took a big drink of the cool water and wiped the sweat from her brow.
“I guess we better get going, huh?” Allie said softly.
“Come on, boy,” Joel called Gunner to the edge of the truck, where he helped the big dog back into the vehicle.
Allie followed and began climbing into the back.
“Do you want to sit up front for a while?” Joel offered.
“No thanks. I’m good back here for now. Maybe later.” Allie continued to the back seat, where Gunner was waiting for her.
Ben got settled behind the wheel and didn’t waste any time. Before Joel had his door all the way closed, the Blazer started moving forward. Ben steered the truck back onto the interstate and accelerated quickly. He felt like the more distance they could put between them and where he had told Allie the news, the better they would feel.
But no amount of distance would lighten the mood or soften the blow she’d just been dealt. Ben knew there was nothing more to say right now and Allie would talk when she was ready.
They traveled on in near silence for the next couple hours. The only conversation concerned navigating the secondary roads around Indianapolis and getting back onto I-70 after they were safely past what remained of the large city. From what they could see, Indianapolis was a burned-out shell of its former self, not unlike most of the other places they’d passed. No one commented on anything as they drove.
They had all officially become numb and indifferent to the post-apocalyptic landscape that rolled by outside their windows. It was a sad truth to accept, but Ben knew it was inevitable.
Chapter Fourteen
Not long after getting back on I-70, they passed a road sign that read COLUMBUS OHIO 160 MILES. Allie tried to ignore the rest of the sign, but she couldn’t. The bright white letters that read PITTSBURGH 340 MILES seemed to jump out at her. It was stuck in her head now, and it hurt like a punch to the stomach.
She sipped on her water in an effort to calm down and fight off the nauseous feeling that welled up again in her throat. With a few deep breaths, she was able to keep the feeling at bay until it passed. She was going to have to come to terms with all of this and with whatever they found when they got close to Pittsburgh.
She kept trying to remind herself that she wasn’t alone and that she had Joel and his dad and Gunner, and that was a lot. In fact, it was the only reason she was still alive.
But she still couldn’t accept the fact that she was the last survivor in her family. She wasn’t under the illusion that life would ever really be the same again, but now there was a certainty to it. And it stung with a finality that she couldn’t shake from her thoughts.
She wanted to know more about what had happened in Pittsburgh, but she didn’t want to at the same time. Reluctant to start up a conversation about it, she kept silent.
Joel kept checking back on her occasionally, but she could barely manage a nod to let him know she was okay. There was nothing he could say to take away the things she was feeling right now. There was nothing anyone could say, really.
It was going to take time to heal from these wounds. She had allowed herself to have more hope in finding her dad than she should have. She kept telling herself that it might not work out and that there was a good chance they wouldn’t even be able to find her dad. But in her heart, she’d believed they would.
Joel’s dad would come through like he had with everything else and they would find him and everything would be okay. That was how it played out in her mind, anyway. It was the only thing that had kept her going at times during this journey. Now there was nothing—at least, that was how she felt. She knew it wasn’t true, but she didn’t care at the moment.
Everyone seemed content to ride in silence for now, and that was fine with her. Even Gunner was unusually calm and seemed uninterested in the passing landscape. It was plenty hot, but they were able to maintain enough speed to keep a steady flow of air moving through the truck. They only slowed down a handful of times to make their way around some obstacles on the road.
The news of Pittsburgh had somehow taken the shock value out of the burned-out buildings and wrecked cars. Allie found herself easily ignoring what had once drawn her attention. It wasn’t that she didn’t care about the lives that had been lost. It was more that she felt she didn’t have the energy to care about it anymore. Or maybe they just paled in comparison to the wreck her own life had become.
Ben broke the silence “We’ll be in Ohio in about half an hour or so. Making pretty good time today.”
“How are we on gas?” Joel asked.
“Just under half a tank. We’ll stop when we get off the interstate to go around Columbus, if we can hold out that long.” Ben glanced around the truck.
“I’m good to keep going for a while,” Allie answered.
“Good.” Ben nodded and pulled the atlas out from between the seats and tossed it into Joel’s lap. “Why don’t you find us a good route around Columbus?”
“Did the major say anything else about Pittsburgh?” Allie met Ben’s gaze in the rearview mirror.
“No, just that it had been hit pretty badly. Some of the detonations happened at lower altitudes in a few places across the country. Pittsburgh is believed to be one of those places,” Ben answered.
“But what would happen? I mean, what would that do to a place?” she asked.
Ben sighed as his face tightened. “If these places were ground zero for a nuke, there might not be much of anything left within a six- to ten-mile radius. Depending on the payload, the shockwave could reach out for miles. I suspect we’ll know the truth long before we get there.”
Allie nodded and sat back against the seat.
Still half asleep, Gunner stretched his limbs and pushed his head up against her leg before closing his eyes once more.
Allie knew what it meant if Pittsburgh had taken a direct hit, but hearing it from Ben made it real. She was at least thankful for his honesty, and it meant a lot to her that he wasn’t trying to downplay the reality of the situation.
She made up her mind. If they got close to Pittsburgh and saw that it was hopeless, she would insist on not wasting any more time there and that they continue on to Maryland. They had sacrificed so much for her already. It was time to face reality and stop penalizing Ben and his dad for her misfortune.
They had gone above and beyond to help her, and she would do everything in her power to help them get to Bradley and Emma before it was too late.
Chapter Fifteen
Ben now saw that his original plan, to get off the inter
state long before Indianapolis and head north, was a huge waste of time and unnecessary. If Pittsburgh really was as bad as Vince said, there was no need to waste valuable time on a northern route around Indianapolis and Columbus. The interstate would take them to within 30 or 40 miles of Pittsburgh. If it was in fact ground zero for a nuclear detonation, that would be plenty close to make an assessment of the chances for survivors.
Ben was relieved that they could stay on or near I-70. It meant getting to his kids at least a day sooner. He would have been downright happy about it if it hadn’t come at such a high cost to Allie. He wasn’t exactly thrilled at the thought of a late-night insertion into Pittsburgh to grab her dad, but he certainly hadn’t wanted it to go down like this.
He thought she’d handled it pretty well considering she’d lost both parents in little more than a week’s time. Ben glanced at her in the rearview mirror. She had fallen asleep with Gunner in her lap. The poor girl needed the rest. The emotional strain she was under would crush a lesser person. And they hadn’t really gotten the sleep he was hoping for last night, thanks to the late-night raid on Cloverdale.
It had been nice to sleep in a bed for a change, though, however brief, and his back was feeling better for it. There would be no such luxury tonight, however. It was back to tents and sleeping bags on the ground wherever they ended up today.
“Dad, do you think they’re okay?” Joel said quietly. “Mom and them, I mean. You said that D.C. was hit pretty bad.”
“They’re a good four hours from D.C. It shouldn’t have affected them there. I’m more concerned with getting around D.C. and Baltimore right now. If your mom got them to Grandpa Jack’s, they should be fine.”
Joel nodded and focused his attention back out the window, apparently satisfied with his answer.
Ben’s real concern was how close the kids were to Norfolk, Virginia. They were just across the Chesapeake Bay, really only a couple hours from the naval base there, as the crow flew. The major hadn’t mentioned Norfolk, but Ben found it hard to believe the North Koreans wouldn’t take a shot at the largest navy base in the U.S.