by Bruno Miller
Gunner had given up his search for the elusive raccoon and joined Allie near the woman and child. He sniffed at the two of them sitting on the pew as the little boy tried his best to stay out of reach.
“It’s okay. He won’t hurt you.” Allie rubbed Gunner’s head and told him to sit down. Gunner planted himself with a grunt and focused his attention on the man leaning over in the chair.
Ben had seen enough and heard enough to know that these people weren’t going to last long. If they had been drinking this water without boiling it first, there was no telling how long they would survive without medical help. He also knew there was nothing he could do for them. As cruel and uncaring as it seemed, he had to leave them to their fate. The young boy reminded him of Bradley, though, and he couldn’t walk away without giving them something.
The MREs wouldn’t change anything, but he hoped it would ease their suffering for at least a little while. He also hoped it would diminish the guilt building up inside of him over their situation and help clear his conscience.
Joel hurried back in from the parking lot, carrying a couple green bags tucked under his left arm. “Here you go.” He handed the MREs to Ben.
“I’m sorry. This is all we can spare.” Ben apologized and set the meals on the pew next to the woman. “If you have the means to boil your water, you really should do that before you use it for anything,” he warned again.
“Thank you,” the woman said softly as she pulled the pouches close to her.
“Thank you for the information,” Allie replied.
“Good luck.” Ben felt awkward and a little foolish as he began to back away. No amount of luck was going to save them. Thanks to the water they had been drinking, their fates were sealed. He gave them a few days at best.
Gunner and the kids followed him after saying goodbye to the people and they all made their way out into the bright afternoon sun.
“Still want me to drive?” Joel asked.
“Sure, it’s all yours,” Ben said.
As they loaded into the truck and pulled out, Ben noticed Allie’s silence and knew her mind was working over the possibilities of what she had just been told. He knew her well enough by now to expect at least a small argument about doing more for the people in the church—or at the very least a plea to leave them with more food. But she was preoccupied with the new information, and he could tell.
He was glad to see a change in her demeanor, but he was afraid it would only lead to more disappointment down the road. The roller-coaster of emotions was taking its toll, and he didn’t want to see her spirit crushed yet again when things didn’t pan out.
Chapter Eighteen
As they pulled out of the church parking lot, the image of the family burned into Ben’s mind. He couldn’t help but wonder how much longer they would last. They watched him and the kids leave like their last chance for salvation was walking out the door.
But what choice did Ben have? He and the kids couldn’t afford to part with any more food. He probably shouldn’t have given them the MREs as it was, but he didn’t regret doing it.
Ben wasn’t used to being selfish when it came to looking out for people’s welfare, and it was something he was going to have to learn to get over if he and the kids were to survive. This was the way things were now, and they couldn’t help everyone they met.
“They looked pretty rough, huh?” Joel asked.
“Yeah, I feel bad for them, but what could we do? We’re barely getting by ourselves,” Allie answered.
“They’ve been drinking the water out of that old baptismal tank in the church without boiling it! Nothing we can really do for them. The MREs might buy them a little time, but that’s about it,” Ben added.
He was surprised to hear Allie’s response, but she was mostly right, although he liked to think they were doing a little better than getting by. At least they were better off than most of the people they had run into, with the exception of the folks in Cloverdale.
“What do you think about what they said? I mean, it could be my mom. She flies through Indianapolis all the time. I’ve heard her mention it. She told me she had a super-early flight that morning for some type of training. Maybe they made it before the bombs.” Allie unloaded with a slew of thoughts.
Ben knew it was coming and was prepared.
“It’s probably a long shot, but anything’s possible. If they’re headed east on I-70, we should run into them sooner or later. It shouldn’t be too hard to spot a group on foot.” Ben was trying to be optimistic with a heavy dose of reality mixed in.
He knew the chances of finding her mother out here were slim to none. She worked for one of the major airlines with thousands of other employees. The chance it was Allie’s mother who gave the boy the wings was even slimmer.
But at least it was something else for her to focus on other than the grim likelihood that Pittsburgh had been destroyed and her father was dead.
“We’ll keep a look out, that’s for sure. It could be her. You never know.” Joel glanced back at Allie, who was already looking out the window and intently focused on their surroundings and maybe the possibility of seeing her mother again.
“Look! Ohio.” Joel pointed.
Ben glanced up from the map. “Excellent. We’re making good time. We should make the Pennsylvania border without any trouble before we stop for the night. Maybe even farther.”
Now that they had crossed into Ohio, Ben knew they’d be approaching Columbus within the hour, if all went well. Then, just a few hours more and they’d have their answer about Pittsburgh firsthand.
But right now, they needed to focus on finding a suitable route around Columbus. Although I-70 pretty much ran straight through the city and it was tempting to press on and use the relatively easy-to-travel interstate, he knew it wasn’t a good idea.
“We’re looking for 270. It makes a tight loop around the outskirts of Columbus. I think that’s the way we want to go unless things change as we get closer.” Ben scanned the road ahead before turning to look at Allie.
“How are you holding up back there?” he asked.
“Okay,” she answered without looking away from the window.
He could tell she was fully invested in the possibility that her mother was out there. They hadn’t seen anyone on the road since they left the church, and Ben wasn’t optimistic about their chances of finding the small group that the woman mentioned. And with each passing mile, the chances dwindled.
The woman at the church said they left a few days ago. Ben figured they might be able to walk 15 miles a day, and that was probably a generous estimate. In this heat and with limited supplies and water, the travelers wouldn’t have gotten very far.
Ben thought back to the short distance they had traveled on foot when the Blazer broke down and how difficult that was. They had most likely passed the distance the group could have traveled a while ago. But he wasn’t about to tell Allie that.
The only way they could have gotten any farther than this would be if they had hitched a ride with someone or found a running vehicle and commandeered it—both of which he thought were unlikely, although the more he thought about it, the less he discounted that possibility. After all, he and Joel had hitched a ride with Dale in Durango and then they had all gotten a ride from the major, so maybe it was possible.
He had to constantly remind himself that there were decent people out there and not everyone had nefarious intentions.
The other thought that crossed his mind was the possibility that they might not travel during the heat of the day. If he and the kids were on foot, they would certainly avoid traveling at this time of day. The group could have very easily taken shelter somewhere and waited for cooler temperatures.
He wanted to remain hopeful for Allie’s sake, but with each passing mile, it seemed more and more unlikely that they would find the group from the church. Even though Allie hadn’t given up watching for them, he wondered if she had come to the same conclusion he had. She was a sm
art girl, after all, and had to know the odds of finding them weren’t good.
“There it is: 270. Twelve miles ahead.” Joel read the sign as they passed, leaving out the rest of the information listed below, which read COLUMBUS 20 MILES and, below that, PITTSBURGH 197 MILES.
They continued on in silence as they drove along the interstate. The only activity in the truck was Gunner. He was restless and continually shifted positions from lying down to wedging himself between the driver’s seat and the truck to take advantage of the air flowing in the open window.
Joel scratched Gunner’s head every time he pushed his head up alongside his seat toward the window until eventually he settled in and stayed put for a bit. It didn’t last for long, though, and he sat up again when Joel slowed down and prepared to take the exit.
Halfway through the exit ramp, Joel was forced to slow down even more in order to avoid an 18-wheeler that had taken out a few cars along with an overhead highway sign.
The sign, now toppled from its base, lay across the road, blocking the ramp entirely. Joel cautiously drove around the accident, through the overgrown grass and weeds in the median. The vegetation smacked against the undercarriage of the truck. With no mower crews to keep the grass in check, nature was reclaiming the roadways at a steady rate.
Ben wondered how long it would be before the roads themselves started to give way and fall apart. As it was, some of the weeds had grown to within inches of the road signs they passed. In another couple of weeks, most of them would be unreadable due to the overgrowth.
That would add a whole new challenge to the trip and make it extremely difficult to navigate. And give them even more reason to get to Maryland and get back home as soon as they could.
Chapter Nineteen
As Ben expected, the expressway around Columbus was littered with cars and trucks. They were frozen in the moment of the attack, on their way to work or making early-morning deliveries. The number of wrecks on the highway made him wonder if all the bombs had hit at the same time or if there had been a delay between locations. Passage here was slow-going and reminded him of some earlier sections of road they had traveled.
The difference now was that the wrecks weren’t smoking anymore and the bodies were heavily decayed.
They were forced to pass by some of the gruesome scenes at a painfully slow pace, thanks to the congested road. That crawl allowed the smell of death and decay to occasionally creep into the truck as they drove through the chaos.
Joel eventually gave up on trying to use the road altogether and resorted to driving along the shoulder and through the tall grass.
“Try to use the road when you can. There might be parts or debris in the grass we can’t see,” Ben warned.
“Okay, but it’s really bad through here,” Joel answered.
“I know. Just take your time. Nice and easy.” Ben could tell Joel was nervous and a little stressed out. He didn’t blame him; this was the worst they’d seen it in a while.
It took them almost an hour to get around the city using 270, but eventually they saw a sign to rejoin I-70 a few miles ahead.
“I’m ready to get off this road,” Joel said.
“Hang in there. Not much farther. I can drive for a while after this if you want,” Ben offered.
“I’ll be fine once we get back on the interstate. Hopefully it goes back to the way it was.”
As soon as they took the exit to I-70, the abandoned vehicles and wrecks started to thin out. Leaving the congested expressway behind them, Joel was able to slowly resume traveling at a speed they were more accustomed to. Air began to flow through the open windows once again, providing much-needed relief from the heat.
Allie poured some of her water into a bowl and set it on the console. Gunner stopped his heavy panting just long enough to take a drink and resumed as soon as he was done.
“We’re going to need to get water soon. We’re really low,” Allie said as she held up a nearly empty Nalgene bottle.
They had gone through a lot of water today. The long, hot drive around the expressway hadn’t helped their situation any. Ben looked at the map and saw that they were approaching Buckeye Lake State Park a few miles ahead.
“Looks like we cross over a small river or stream up ahead that feeds into this lake. Keep your eye out for a good spot to stop.” Ben held the map so Joel and Allie could see it.
The first water crossing they came to was nothing more than an irrigation ditch. There was no access to the water from the road where the interstate crossed the ditch, but Joel slowed the truck down anyway and pulled over to the shoulder. Ben leaned out of his window and looked over the concrete guardrail to the water below.
The water was dark brown and looked heavy with silt. But that wasn’t the worst part. A rainbow of colors gleamed on the surface as they reflected the bright sunlight. The oily sheen ran as far downstream as he could see. For a brief moment, he thought he could even smell it.
He couldn’t tell if it was oil or fuel, but it really didn’t matter. Their water filter was good, but it wouldn’t remove petroleum-based pollutants. It was only meant to remove dangerous bacteria and protozoa. This was much worse than what he’d seen at the plane wreck on their hike out of the mountains. That was only a small amount of hydraulic fluid. This was thick and covered the surface entirely.
“Not good. There’s something in the water.” Ben shook his head. “Oil or gas coming from upstream, maybe a car, maybe something larger. There’s a lot of it in the water.” Ben pulled his head back in the window and tried to look up the ditch past Joel.
“Maybe a car went off the bridge. Is there anything on your side?” Ben asked. If that was the case, then they could simply filter their water from above the accident.
“I can’t see anything.” Allie strained to see from the back window over the painted section of glass. Joel put the truck in park and got out. He jogged over to the other side of the bridge and looked over the edge.
“Nothing in the water over here, but I can see the oil slick. It must be coming from farther up,” he reported.
“Ew, I can smell it now.” Allie was leaning up over the driver’s seat to get a better view.
“I wonder if it’s coming from the city. There’s a lot of it! The water looks thick.” Joel hurried back to the truck and got in. “What a mess,” he muttered.
“Who knows what happened? Either way, we’re not getting any water from here,” Ben said.
Not wasting any time, Joel put the still-running Blazer in gear and pulled out onto the road.
Ben wasn’t surprised at the polluted water. He’d expected to run into this problem sooner or later. He just wished they were better prepared. Passing up the water at the church seemed like a missed opportunity now. It might have been dirty, but at least they could have filtered it.
“How much water do we have, Allie?” Ben asked.
She held up a Nalgene bottle and swirled the contents around inside. There was less than half the bottle. “That’s it.”
They were going to need more than that to carry them through the rest of the day, especially in this heat.
“Does that mean the whole lake is bad?” Allie asked.
“It depends on the size of the spill and how far upstream it happened. But I think we need to look elsewhere to be safe. It’s not worth the risk.” Ben checked the map for another water source that wasn’t linked to the lake or any of its tributaries.
According to the map, there were a couple more spots ahead where they would cross over water. With any luck, the oil or whatever it was would be isolated to that one ditch.
The next crossing was a little larger and looked more like a natural river than the man-made ditch they had crossed a few miles back. But it was just as disappointing. The water didn’t seem as polluted here, but that was probably due to the faster current. The oily sheen was still visible in the slack water and along the banks.
The sludge-laden river made the water in the baptismal tank look cl
ean by comparison, and once again, Ben regretted not taking advantage of the opportunity back at the church.
Whatever happened was far enough upstream to affect these two bodies of water that were miles apart. That also indicated that it was more than a leaky vehicle. This was a spill on a much larger scale. Maybe a derailed train carrying fuel or a refinery failure somewhere was responsible. It was hard to say what had caused this mess.
But one thing was certain: they were going to have to move well beyond this watershed to find a source of drinkable water.
“Just keep driving.” Ben sighed and pulled a pen out from the spiral of wire that made up the map’s binding.
NO WATER, he wrote boldly on the map, marking the area they were currently driving through. They would have to plan ahead on their return trip to Colorado and make sure they had plenty of water on-hand before they got here. Or maybe they would avoid this area altogether and take a different route. There would be more of them and it would be later in the summer, which meant it would be even hotter than it was now.
Without anyone to clean this up or at least contain the spill, this area would be a dead zone for years to come.
Chapter Twenty
The kids’ morale had already taken a blow today when Ben told Allie and Joel what he had learned from Vince about Pittsburgh.
But now the heat was starting to get to them, adding insult to injury. Without water to quench their thirst and cool them down, there was no relief. The air coming in the windows was hot and did little to help. According to the map, their next chance for water was well over an hour away. The streams and creeks they encountered in this area were all polluted.
Ben continued to search the map for a possible water source, but he was interrupted when Joel suddenly put the brakes on and brought the truck to a complete stop.
“What’s going on?” Allie questioned as she held Gunner from sliding off the seat.