by Harley Tate
“Good luck to you, too. When all of this blows over, come look me up in Sacramento, will you?” Heather stepped back and headed to the nightstand. She scribbled something on a scrap of paper and handed it to Colt.
Her phone number. Colt swallowed. No point in telling her it would probably never work again.
“Thanks, Heather.” After one more kiss, Colt turned and headed toward the door. He’d spent the last two weeks in denial about the future, wrapped up in the arms of a woman who would never come to terms with this new reality. Vacation was over. Colt needed to get to work.
Chapter Two
DANI
Sunnyvale Convalescent Hospital
Eugene, Oregon
9:00 a.m.
“Danielle, stop staring out that window and come over here.”
Dani sighed and turned away from the glass to smile at her grandmother. No matter how many times she asked the seventy-nine-year-old to call her Dani, it didn’t stick. “What is it, Gran?”
“You should eat. Come and have my applesauce.”
“I’m not going to eat all of your food.”
“Please, Danielle. I don’t want it to go to waste.”
Her grandmother pushed the little cup of applesauce across the tray table and Dani reluctantly picked it up. She peeled back the aluminum lid and stuck the plastic spork into the cup before shoving it into her mouth. The nursing home where her grandmother lived was low on everything.
Water. Food. Bathrooms.
Dani had been camping out there for the past week, hiding from the handful of employees who still made the rounds of the recovery wing and sharing her grandmother’s dwindling meals. Dani didn’t know if it was their proximity to the college campus, or the quick thinking of the staff, but this place had done all right for itself for the past two weeks.
But even her grandmother knew their time at Sunnyvale Convalescent Hospital was running short. As Dani finished the last of the applesauce, she turned her attention back to the window. From her grandmother’s room on the third floor, she could see a few blocks across town to the stadium for the University of Oregon. National Guardsmen stood outside, rifles in their hands as they stood watch.
She had read enough books growing up that she knew those guys were the only reason the hospital hadn’t been looted. Other parts of Eugene still smoldered. Thanks to her history class, Dani knew that at a hundred and fifty thousand people, Eugene was the second largest city in Oregon.
That meant Eugene had its fair share of thugs and the drugs to go along with them. She snorted as images of her mother came to mind. The world ended and her mother didn’t even bother to come home.
She shouldn’t care, but she couldn’t help it. Dani turned around. “Do you think Mom will come home one of these days?”
Her grandmother clucked. “Don’t you fret about your mother. That woman doesn’t deserve your attention.”
Dani chewed on her lip. How she wished Gran had never gotten sick. If only cancer hadn’t reared its ugly head, they would still be living in that apartment uptown with working heat and food in the fridge and a good high school just down the street.
Life didn’t ever seem to work out the way Dani wanted it.
Her grandmother interrupted her thoughts. “Your mother probably found somewhere else to stay.”
Dani nodded. It wasn’t the first time her mother had disappeared for days at a time. But with the power still out and no help other than the army, Dani wondered. Where is she?
The sound of footsteps down the hall caught her off guard and Dani rushed to the little closet. She slipped inside just as a familiar voice called out.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Weber. I see you liked your lunch today. Good for you.”
Gran cleared her throat. “Do you by any chance have any extra? I noticed the portions were a bit smaller today.”
Dani strained to hear through the wood of the closet door.
“I’m afraid not. Our kitchen is still waiting on our delivery for this week. But don’t you worry, I’m sure we’ll be back up to full meals soon.”
Sounds of the orderly flitting about the room, fluffing pillows and taking the tray table away, made Dani’s heart beat double-time in her chest. She didn’t know what would happen to her if she got caught. Did foster care still exist? Juvenile detention? Worse?
All she knew was that a fifteen-year-old didn’t get to make her own choices, even if she did a better job of it than her mother ever did.
At last, her grandmother gave the all clear and Dani stepped out of the closet. “That was close. I need to pay more attention.”
“I still think we should tell them that you’re here, my dear. I’m sure they would let you stay under the circumstances.”
“No. We can’t risk it. What if they call the police? I’ll get taken to the station and when they can’t find Mom, I’ll get sent away. Maybe even detention.” Dani tucked her hair behind her ear. “I’m still on probation, Gran. I can’t risk it.”
Her grandmother’s wrinkled lips thinned to a line. “I still can’t believe you stole those groceries. If you were hungry, you should have come to me. I would have helped you.”
Dani stayed silent. She wasn’t about to tell her grandmother about that day. “It doesn’t matter. I just need to avoid the police, that’s all.”
“You sound like your mother.”
Dani recoiled from the sting of her grandmother’s words. “I’m nothing like her.”
Gran exhaled and patted the edge of the bed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it. It’s just… I have a bad feeling about all of this.”
“So do I.” Dani walked over to her grandmother’s bed and let Gran wrap her up in a hug. Gran’s hair smelled like lavender and Dani wanted to curl on her lap and pretend she was five years old. “I don’t think we can stay here much longer. The food is running out. I heard an orderly say the backup generators are running on fumes and they haven’t been paid in over a week.”
She pulled back and met her grandmother’s patient gaze. “We’re going to have to find somewhere else to go.”
Gran reached for her hand. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, Dani…” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I think you should go without me.”
“No, Gran!” Dani tried to pull her hand away, but her grandmother gripped it tight.
“I’m an old woman in a hospital bed, Danielle. I’ll only slow you down.”
“That’s no reason to give up. I can’t just leave you here.”
“Yes, you can. Besides, I need medicine. If I don’t take my prescriptions, I’ll die. It’s as simple as that.”
Dani yanked hard enough to free her hand as she stood up. “There have to be thousands of extra pills here. I can find them and convince the staff to give them to us.” She paused. Her grandmother had to understand. “What if the staff leave and don’t come back? Without someone bringing you food, you’ll starve to death.”
Her grandmother’s eyes shimmered behind her glasses. “You’re young. You have your whole life ahead of you. I’m an old woman, Danielle. Maybe this is my time to go.”
“No.” Dani refused to listen to another word. Her grandmother was the only good person in her life. She wasn’t going to lose her. “If you won’t leave, then I won’t either. We’ll both stay.”
“You need more food. Water. I know how hungry you are. I can see it in your eyes.”
Dani turned away. “Then I’ll go out and look for some.” She reached down for her backpack hidden beneath the bed. “I’ll leave right now.” She slung the bag over her shoulder and wiped at her face. Her grandmother didn’t need to see her tears.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” Dani turned around and forced a smile. “If you won’t leave, then I won’t either. Not until I have to. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have something better to eat. I’ll be back before dark.” She leaned forward and gave her grandmother a quick kiss on the forehead.
“Be careful, Dan
ielle. We don’t know how dangerous the world is now.”
Gran might not, but Dani sure did. Spending three years living with a drug addict mother taught a girl a thing or two about surviving on the streets. Dani could keep them both alive; she didn’t have another choice.
Without another word, Dani slipped out the door to her grandmother’s room and made her way to the stairs. By her count, only three orderlies still worked this wing of the building. If she could time it right, she could get in and out without a single one seeing her.
After running down two flights of stairs, Dani eased the ground floor door open and listened. Silence. She pushed it open and slipped through, holding it until it closed. Maybe her grandmother was right and a simple conversation with the staff would mean she could come and go whenever she liked. But the longer the blackout went on, the meaner everyone would get.
It wasn’t that different from a junkie coming down from a high without any money for another hit. Dani had seen it so many times, she knew all the signs. First the shakes. Then vomiting and diarrhea. Then the pleading and begging.
The sweetest words came out of her mom’s mouth when she was fishing for a few extra dollars. She would screw up her face into what passed for a smile and reach out with shaky fingers.
“Your hair is so pretty today, Danielle… Did you do the laundry? Everything smells so nice… Any chance you have a few extra dollars from Grandma I can borrow?”
If the answer was no…
Punches always landed twice as hard after a compliment.
Dani shook off the memories. It didn’t matter whether the staff of the nursing home would welcome her or call the cops, she didn’t need them either way. She had Gran and that was enough.
Peering in the nearest room, Dani found what she was looking for: a ground-floor window. She eased inside the empty room and hurried to the glass. Facing the rear of the property and a row of bushes, no one would notice if it stayed unlocked and had a hole in the screen. She pushed it open, took the pocket knife from her backpack, and cut across the bottom of the screen.
In another minute, she was out the window and on the ground. She pushed the window back down and rushed to the edge of the building.
Food and water. Those were the necessities. If she could find a good stash, maybe they could stay in the nursing home until the power came back on or the place shut down. Either way, it would keep her grandmother alive.
That was what mattered.
Chapter Three
COLT
University of Oregon Campus
Eugene, Oregon
9:30 a.m.
Colt strode with purpose through the halls of the University of Oregon. Thanks to spring break and the National Guard unit that set up shop on campus, Colt had managed to place all the passengers in temporary dorms.
After promising the pilot that he would take care of the passengers, it was the least he could do. When he’d secured the deal, Colt assumed they would all be there a weekend, tops. The power would come back on and the whole thing would be a giant misunderstanding. He’d seen crazy things like rolling blackouts and only one hour of electricity overseas, but in the United States? Never thought it would happen.
Sixteen days later, he embraced reality with both arms. This was still the early time. Millions of people around the country still lived in denial. Neighbors and friends banded together and shared resources. Churches opened their doors and took strangers in.
But soon, things would begin to change. He’d seen it in war-torn cities and refugee camps. Soon the strong would take advantage of the weak. Soon the people unprepared for the stark brutality of life without plenty would suffer.
Colt didn’t want to be there when it happened. He had to get out.
His explanation to Heather had only been half of the truth. Leaving wasn’t just about hitting the road as a single guy without anyone bogging him down. It was about survival.
Some of the things he’d seen and done in the navy…
He shook his head to clear it of the horrors of the past. His job brought baggage but knowledge, too. He could assess threats as they came and act accordingly. He could act and react without pausing to think.
A girlfriend would only complicate that. They always did.
He waved at the handful of people in the hall: a woman with her young daughter from row 14; a man with his teenage son from row 28, another crew member who decided to stay and not find a way home to Sacramento first thing.
All told, forty-seven other people stayed behind in Eugene after the plane made the emergency landing post-EMP. Forty-seven people sitting in their temporary rooms day after day waiting for someone to save them and make everything okay.
Nothing would ever be okay again.
Colt adjusted the duffel on his shoulder before pushing the door open to the outside. It felt good to breathe the cool Oregon air.
“Hey, Colt.”
He turned and smiled at the man who called his name. “Hi Roger, how are you?”
Roger shrugged his oversized frame and squinted up at the sky. “It’s not raining, so I guess it’s a good day.” Just promoted to sergeant a week before the blackout, Roger Gunther was a good kid who spent most of his time under the hood of a 1966 Mustang convertible. From the pictures he’d shown Colt, the car was a beauty. Too bad the kid wouldn’t be using it any time soon.
“Out for some fresh air?”
The sergeant’s face fell. “Have you heard anything about the restrictions we rolled out this morning?”
Colt paused. Restrictions meant trouble. “No.”
Roger glanced at the space between the two buildings up ahead and Colt followed suit. A fellow National Guardsman paced back and forth in and out of Colt’s field of view.
“Orders came down from Colonel Jarvis this morning. No one in, no one out. Authorized personnel only.”
Colt frowned. “Were you trying to leave?”
Roger nodded. “I wanted to take a walk. Get out and see some of Eugene, meet some of the neighbors. They told me only soldiers assigned to patrol could leave. Claimed we’re on lockdown for security reasons.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Colt squinted into the distance. “Isn’t there already a mandatory curfew?”
Roger nodded. “Sundown to sunup. And the patrol units go out every night, driving up and down the streets, keeping everyone in check.”
“Are there riots somewhere? A part of the city they don’t have under control?”
Roger hesitated. “I’m not really supposed to say.”
Colt nodded. The kid probably told him too much already. But the lockdown gave Colt pause. The military didn’t enforce restrictions like that unless they expected to lose control of an area. Was Eugene about to fall like Sacramento?
He thought about the stories other guardsmen like Roger told him of Sacramento. One shaken-up private told him the whole city was on fire and they had been ordered to seal everyone inside. The good and the bad, it didn’t matter. If a person was inside the riot area when the barricades went up, they didn’t get to leave. No matter what.
If that was happening in a relatively calm place like Eugene, then it was happening all over. The only question in Colt’s mind was whether the lockdown was intended to protect the people inside, or just keep them contained.
He glanced at Roger. “If you want to leave, you should do it now. Otherwise, just stay put and follow orders.”
Roger nodded. “Thanks, Colt.”
Colt said his goodbyes and watched Roger walk away. If what the sergeant said was true, Colt needed to get out before he had to fight his way out. No one was trapping Colt Potter behind a fence.
He strode toward the road, head up, eyes searching for potential conflicts. It had been a long time since he’d operated in the field, but his job as an air marshal forced Colt into a state of hyper-vigilance often enough that the skills came back in an instant.
Eugene wasn’t a third-world village halfway across the country
, but the threats would be the same before too long. When food and water ran out, ordinary people would turn desperate. Some probably already were. That a National Guard presence had mobilized so quickly in the area meant parts of the town had to be secure. A much better outcome than other cities.
Portland was chaos. Sacramento, San Francisco, Seattle. All worse than any town in the Middle East. Fires. Looting. Robbery. Murder. Crimes without punishment. People without any means to protect themselves.
Too many bad people in too small a space. Take away the law and order and chaos erupted in their place. From what Colt had seen inside the college campus, the National Guard had done a damn fine job in Eugene.
Rumors among the passengers claimed the army found a means to tap in to wind turbines on the coast and power the campus. That in a matter of days they would be turning the whole town back on. From what Colt had been able to discover, most of the power was being used by the army, but he hoped once they secured the campus, they would do their best to restore the power to the whole town.
Power made order possible. The mandatory curfew and supposed patrols full of armed men didn’t hurt, either. Colt wondered how long the quasi-military state would last when the guardsmen didn’t get paid and were told they couldn’t go home. The more the area turned into an open-air prison, the more the local townspeople would rebel.
Some would start in secret, but some would be bold and out in the open. The first public skirmish would undermine the tenuous peace. A few poor decisions and it would disintegrate into something akin to a war zone. Battles for territory and control. Fights over limited resources and access to food and water.
Medicine and drugs would be worth more than life itself. What role would the diminishing military play in all of it? Colt hoped he didn’t have to find out.
“Sir! Excuse me, sir!”
Colt slowed and turned his head. A National Guardsman approached, rifle held in a relaxed grip across his chest.