She wondered what Alex must have been feeling while driving back to the prison. He could have easily been killed there during the breakout, but he had been spared and somehow survived the entire ordeal. Gwen was sure he didn’t love the idea of going back there and seeing the carnage left behind. Of course, none of them wanted to go there. It was a prison after a massive breakout. That meant there had been deaths. There was no telling what they would encounter once they reached the gates.
“Alex,” Gwen said, leaning forward. “Are we about to run into things we will wish we hadn’t seen?” It felt like a dumb question because she knew what the answer would be.
Alex was quiet for what felt like a full minute. Then he sighed. “Yeah, it’s going to be pretty bad. I guess I should’ve said something.”
“About what?” Bryson asked.
“About the fact that we are about to see quite a few dead bodies lying all over the place,” Trent said. “They’re a couple of days old now, too, which means they’re gonna stink. Did a lot of people die, Alex?”
“Yes,” he answered. “A lot of people died.”
Gwen’s stomach turned at the thought. For some reason, she had only wanted to imagine structural damage in an empty prison. Some smashed windows, broken doors. She hadn’t allowed herself to think of the fact that there had been no one to take care of the bodies. The guards would have resisted. Many of the prisoners would have been eager to fight their way out. No doubt, they escaped violently.
She wondered if the rest of them thought about it as Alex drove them forward. The rest of the trip, though short, was silent. As they approached the prison, Alex slowed the truck to a crawl. The place looked like something out of a horror movie with razor wire fences surrounding buildings that were bleak and empty. The front gates were open, and in some spots there were holes through the fences where prisoners had broken through them before the gates had opened.
As they approached, the stench that Trent had mentioned wafted into the truck through his open window. She tried to cover her nose with her sleeve but to no avail.
No doubt, all of them were questioning why they were there at all. There were bodies scattered on the ground, but Gwen tried not to look at them. She didn’t want to see the gruesome details of how they died. She didn’t want to play an image of a battle in her mind or feel the terror that each of those people must have felt.
Though she could only see the side of his face, Alex’s expression was somber. He was brave for coming out here again. He had lived through it, but she could tell the terror of it all was coming back to him. Gwen felt it even though she had never been to the prison before. Just knowing that the monsters who had taken over Hope had come from here was almost overwhelming to her. But surely no one had stayed behind. Who would want to stay in this awful place? Who could stand the smell?
She wondered how much worse it would be inside because that was where all this started. The prisoners would have had to fight to get out here. And once they were out in the yard, they had seen the finish line. This was where they saw the hope of being free. Inside, they would have been more desperate.
Gwen wasn’t sure she could go in.
She thought about the prisoner whose throat she had cut. She thought about shooting Savage in the stomach. In her mind, those had been justified. Their images were burned into her mind forever. She wasn’t ready to add images to the fire.
Yet the four of them continued to crawl forward.
The day was overcast and the clouds seemed to trap the stench of the prison yard around them. The truck came to a stop near the entrance of one of the buildings. Alex took a deep breath and opened the driver’s side door. The rest of them followed his lead. Gwen tried to keep her eyes off the ground, but it was impossible not to look. Impossible to ignore the hunched bodies on the ground—some of them wearing prison uniforms, some of them wearing guard uniforms. Gwen wondered how many of them Alex recognized.
The four of them met at the front of the truck. Alex looked at Gwen and shook his head. “Your dad would kill me if he knew I brought you here.”
“He doesn’t have to know,” she said, though she suspected he would find out one way or another.
“You okay, son?” Trent asked Bryson.
Everyone looked at Bryson and saw him bending over, his hands on his knees as though he were about to throw up.
“Can’t take the smell,” he said, then spat to the side.
“Might be worse inside,” Trent said. He turned to Alex. “You think you can lead us?”
Alex looked toward the entrance, then nodded. “Knowing where to go won’t be the problem,” he said. “Getting there might be. Some doors might be locked, but we won’t know until we get there.”
“And do you think there is anyone inside?” Gwen asked. She hoped her nervousness wasn’t obvious.
“Hard to tell,” Alex said. He reached down and patted Bryson on the back. “If you want to stay with the truck, you can. I wouldn’t mind having someone out here to let us know if anyone is coming.” He looked up at Gwen after he said this as though the offer was extended to her as well.
She steeled herself and straightened her back. No, this was her mission. This was her chance to prove that she didn’t need rescuing. If she could come to the prison and get supplies, then she knew she wasn’t useless. She wanted to be so resourceful that when her dad came back, he would regret not taking her to Chicago.
Bryson looked up, his eyes darting from place to place on the ground. Then he stood straight and shook his head. “I would rather go inside with you all.”
Alex nodded, then breathed deeply through his nose. “All right then. Let’s go.” With that, he stepped forward and opened the door to the prison.
Gwen had never seen a place so dark.
Chapter Twenty
Cora held Michelle’s hand as they ascended the steps to the El train. The train was dead and hadn’t moved for two days, but thankfully they found an empty car and sat in one of the corners so they could lean against the wall.
Michelle’s eyes were puffy and her cheeks were red, but at least she had stopped crying. Cora checked her leg, but there wasn’t much she could do until she got to the hospital. Though they had only been together for a few minutes, Michelle seemed at ease with Cora. This was good. Now that she had her trust, Cora suspected she would be able to get the girl to talk to her and give her more information.
Cora needed to know who Michelle’s mother was or at least figure out where they had last seen each other. They were pretty far from where Cora had picked her up, but if the girl could find her way back to her apartment, that might be a good starting point.
“You feel okay?” Cora asked.
Michelle nodded and wiped her nose. “I want to go home.”
“Do you know where home is? Can you take me there?”
Michelle nodded, then stood to look out one of the windows. She pointed. “It’s that way.”
That didn’t tell Cora much. “Do you know your address?”
Michelle looked back at her and sniffed again, then she sat back next to Cora and leaned her head against the train wall. “Yeah, but it doesn’t matter. Nobody is there.”
“What do you mean?”
“What I said. There’s no one there. Our building burned down.”
“Do you know where your mom is?”
Michelle’s breathing got heavier, and she seemed like she was about to start crying again.
Cora set a hand on her knees and patted it. “We just need to sit here for a few minutes, then we can go look for her. What were you doing when you lost her? What happened?”
“I don’t know,” Michelle said. “We were running. There were loud noises. Really loud noises.”
“Gunshots?” Cora asked. She hated asking that, but she thought it might be relevant.
“I think so,” Michelle said.
“Near you?”
“Yes.”
“Then what happened?”
“Mama started screa
ming,” Michelle said. “She pushed me down and ran away.”
Cora swore in her mind. Had the girl’s mother been shot? “I’m sure she was just protecting you.”
“Yeah,” Michelle said. “I guess you don’t know where she is?”
“No, but we’re going to look for her. We just need to rest first. Then I need to get you to the hospital. Your leg doesn’t look very good.”
“Are we hiding from that man?”
“Not hiding,” Cora said. “He’s gone. But we’re going to let him get farther away before we leave the train.”
“Oh.”
“You’re very brave, you know that?” Cora said. “I’m glad you’re with me.”
“Yeah,” Michelle said. She leaned down and rested her head on Cora’s shoulder. When Cora eventually looked down at her, she saw that Michelle’s eyes were closed and that she had fallen asleep. Poor thing was exhausted. So much fear. So much anxiety. No kid should be lost in the middle of a city like Chicago. Cora feared the worst about the girl’s mother, but there was no way to know. She hoped Michelle would be able to point her in the direction of her apartment. If the mother was looking for Michelle, then they might find each other there even if it was burned to the ground. If Michelle knew how to get home, then the mother might think Michelle would try to get there.
Cora couldn’t imagine the mother’s fear. If she was looking for her daughter, then she was desperate.
More than likely, though, she was dead.
As the two of them sat on the El train, Cora wondered what her family was doing. She wondered if her father was at home telling everyone else what to do. He had probably designated committees and put other people in charge of certain aspects of survival. He would’ve already rallied the town with an inspirational speech about what it meant to be a survivor. Gwen probably would’ve been initially annoyed by the whole situation. But by now she was probably over it and was doing what she could to help. She didn’t always have the best attitude, but if motivated, she was a very compassionate person.
But Cora didn’t even know if the electricity failure was outside of the city. If it wasn’t, they would all get help soon. If it was…
Cora sometimes wondered why she was even in Chicago. It hadn’t been that long since she graduated from college and her work prospects hadn’t gone as planned. She liked working in the ER, but she wanted out of the city. It was too violent. Too many gunshot victims.
But she had come here to get away from her family. The deaths of her mother and brother had really taken a toll on them all. Her dad’s depression was almost unbearable. Her sister’s depression could often be vicious. Plus, there was nothing for Cora in Hope. The place had been a dream for her mom and dad, but when her mom died, the dream died along with her. Of course, Travis’s death before that had put a dark spot on their family. No one had recovered from that. Each of them thought they could’ve done something to prevent it. Suicide was the kind of thing that made one reflect. What could she have done to change his mind? Cora would find herself often thinking back through conversations, searching for the signs of Travis’s journey to the end of his life. The truth was each of them could’ve done better about communicating with each other. And the ones that were left, herself, her father, her sister, should’ve been doing a better job communicating with each other now but they weren’t. It was almost as if they were incapable of learning from their mistakes.
Each of them knew that if they had done more to connect with Travis and show him love, that perhaps something could’ve been done. After it happened, they withdrew into themselves, almost inviting the same situation from other family members. It was horrible to think about. In her heart, Cora knew that it wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t Gwen’s fault. It wasn’t her dad’s fault. In the end, no one should blame themselves for another person’s suicide. But that didn’t make the pain any less real, any less sharp.
Her family, the three of them, had never healed. And Cora wasn’t sure they ever would. She looked down at Michelle and felt a deep sadness in her chest. She hoped this girl wouldn’t find such deep tragedy this early in her life, but she was afraid she already had.
No, Cora didn’t understand suicide. And she didn’t understand why her mother had to leave this world so early because of an illness, but she did understand that sometimes terrible things like that happened. It wasn’t a good answer, nor was it a satisfying answer.
These thoughts gave Cora a new determination.
Those cries in the street had been for the girl’s mother, but Cora was the one who answered them. She wasn’t about to leave this girl behind. Choosing to help had brought on a responsibility that Cora would never give up. She didn’t know this girl, and she didn’t know her family. But if it came down to it, Cora would take care of Michelle for the rest of her life.
She didn’t know where this determination came from. She thought perhaps it was out of grief and a sense of empathy. Most of all, Cora just didn’t want someone to have to bear this kind of tragedy alone.
Chapter Twenty-One
The motorcycle growled and the wind whipped past them as they sped down the interstate. Leland and Henry both knew that the chances were slim that they would find the ones they were looking for.
Leland didn’t know how desperate Henry was to find his brother, but he guessed it was not with the same intensity of feeling as searching for one’s daughter.
The smoke in the distance was worrisome. He knew how quickly a place like Chicago could tear itself apart. He knew his daughter’s neighborhood, too. It wasn’t the worst, but it wasn’t the best. It wouldn’t take much for even the best parts of the city to descend into chaos. Leland had made sure that one child was going to be safe. Now he had to make sure his remaining child would survive. He could die knowing that Gwen was in Hope, so long as he was trying to save Cora. Gwen wasn’t one hundred percent safe in Hope, given the current situation, but none of them were one hundred percent safe. She was safer back in that small town than she would be in Chicago, that was for sure.
Cora, the resourceful yet timid one, might need help getting out of the city. He feared she was too compassionate. Too scared to do what it took to get out of there. She wasn’t like Gwen, who could turn and shoot a man through the stomach if she needed to. He wasn’t even sure Cora would defend herself if it came to that.
She was smart, and she was capable, but she was too fearful. That’s what terrified Leland the most. Likely, she had hunkered down inside her apartment, and hopefully, she had enough food and water to make it a while without having to go out. But he could see her staying in her apartment and depriving herself of food and water out of fear of going out. That was why he felt such a strong need to get to Chicago. He had to save her. She wasn’t strong enough to survive something like this on her own.
Leland didn’t care about anyone else. He cared about Gwen and Cora. Everyone else was secondary, including the people of Hope. Leland would be willing to help them survive and flourish during a crisis, but not before his two children were safe.
Leland hoped that the inmate takeover in Hope would be the worst of what he would encounter in the days to come. It had been a danger brought on by Leland’s past, but that danger had been extinguished and now they faced a dark world without electricity. It was also a critical situation, but a potentially manageable one. The more that people worked together, the easier it would be to survive. This might have been much less of a sinister act and some kind of a natural disaster. And perhaps it was even regional, so they were only days away from rescue.
But none of that mattered right now. Chicago was burning, he could see that from here. The daylight showed the smoke rising high over the city. And the place that was normally so bright at night would soon be pitch dark but for the fires that burned.
The hour was getting late, and the afternoon was upon them.
Leland knew there would be some moonlight, but only if the clouds broke up.
Leland saw a long stretch o
f road without any obstructions, so he revved the engine and sped toward the city.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The motorcycle ran out of gas about three miles away from the neighborhood where they needed to be. They were so close, but on foot through this treacherous terrain, it would take Henry and Leland several more hours.
They were still on Interstate 90, but they were deep into the city now. There had been fires, and at a distance, he could see rioters and looters. There were even gunshots popping up in various directions.
It was odd to see all of this happening without hearing any sirens or seeing any emergency vehicle lights flickering. With stuck trains and dead cars, the whole situation looked truly catastrophic.
Henry could see high-rises in the distance, iconic buildings of a city proud of its metropolitan area. He knew if they traveled northeast just a little they would be at Navy Pier. He reminisced about the fun he and his brother had had there when they were young children. But he couldn’t allow himself to revel in memories.
With their guns in hand, it did not escape people they encountered that Henry and Leland were on serious business. Leland wore his rifle slung over his back with a pistol attached to his belt. Henry carried a backpack with some supplies and a pistol tucked in his pants. Onlookers gave them a wide berth. As they crossed streets and walked alleys, people began to scatter like roaches avoiding the light.
“So, I’m guessing there isn’t much of a plan,” Henry said.
Leland looked back at Henry with a raised eyebrow. “I’m going to find my daughter, then I’m going to help you find your brother.”
Henry suspected this was the plan all along and wasn’t so sure Leland’s daughter should take precedence over Sam. Especially considering Henry had helped Leland get to Hope and his daughter in the first place.
“You know, I think you owe me one. If it weren’t for me, you might not have ever found Gwen. Things could’ve turned out a lot different.”
Fallen Earth | Book 2 | Aftermath Page 10