by Kip Nelson
“That was another stupid thing you did,” Kathryn said. “I tried to be kind and give you another chance, and this is what you do. I tried to see the best in you Mack, I really did, but you disappointed me, just as you disappoint the Lord. Tom, do what you have to.”
Mack steeled his jaw and was about to make his move, which most likely would have resulted in Kathryn stabbing him while he attacked Tom anyway, when he saw a movement behind Kathryn. Grace had sneaked down the stairs and into the dining room when nobody was looking, and came out holding up one of the heavy, ornate chairs. With a loud cry she brought it crashing down on Kathryn, who fell in a crumpled heap of broken bones and wood. In the confusion, Mack punched Tom in the throat and wrestled the gun from his grasp. Then he dodged a weary punch from the wounded Harry, and hit him with the butt of the gun, sending him to the floor next to his mother.
“I guess maybe I'm not so bad in the apocalypse after all, and does that make us even?” Grace quipped as she picked up the packs and handed one to Mack.
“I had the situation under control, I was just about to make my move,” he said with a smirk. Still holding the gun, he took his pack from Grace and the two of them made their way outside.
“Over here!” they heard in a low whisper, and found the man they had rescued waiting for them.
“You think they'll come after us?” Grace asked.
“Probably not,” Mack said as he checked over the weapon. It was a small pistol with about ten rounds in it.
“But we'd better get moving anyway. I don't really like the thought of sticking around here.
“I did try telling you that I had a bad feeling,” Grace said.
“I know, I know, I'll listen to you next time,” Mack said, and then turned to the man. “I'm Mack, and this is Grace.”
“I'm Luis. Thank you so much for rescuing me. I thought I was a goner there. I didn't know if anyone could hear me, I just had to shout to try. Oh, and I'm Cuban by the way, not Mexican.”
“You're welcome, and you can join us if you like. We're heading to a military bunker nearby. Are you feeling okay now?”
“Yes, yes, that would be great. I've had enough of being on my own. I'm feeling okay, thank you. I think the feeling is coming back to my arms and legs. I'm just a bit shaken. I was down there for days. I have to admit, though, I was a little afraid that you were going to take that deal and leave me there.”
Mack had a stony look on his face. “I never even considered it. That woman had certain ideas about the country that I don't share. The place she described isn't the America I know, and it's not the one I still believe in. I am going to spread the word, but not the one she wanted. We'll all be better off if they stay in their house and leave the rest of us alone. As long as you believe in freedom and equality you'll always have a place with us. Now let's move. I know it's dark but I think we should keep moving for as long as we can, just in case they do decide to follow us.”
Chapter Eight
The three of them walked for just over an hour before they finally decided to rest. They ended up in a small copse of trees. Grace and Mack undid their packs. Mack offered Luis some of his water, and told him to use it to wash his face.
“Are you sure? I don't want to use all of your supplies.”
“They're our supplies now,” Mack said, smiling, and pushed the bottle of water into Luis' hands.
The young man was grateful and carefully poured out some water into the cupped palm of his hand, and then scrubbed away the dirt and soot that covered one side of his face. It wasn't the most efficient way of cleaning and not everything was cleared up, but the end result was certainly a lot better than when he started. Grace, however, eyed him suspiciously. While the three of them sat there and reflected on the people they just had encountered they remained silent for a while, until Grace finally spoke.
“How did you know things were going to do down like that?”
“I didn't,” Mack replied, “but I knew if I kept her talking for long enough an opportunity would present itself. I pegged her early on as someone who liked the sound of her own voice, and wanted to share her philosophy, especially since she had been stuck with her husband and son for so long. All she wanted was someone to understand her, so I let her believe that I did until it got to the point where I had an opening. Luckily, things worked out for us. There were other factors as well, of course, like how they all were crowded together in the doorway and that the only light was from candles. And, of course, the quick thinking of my companion,” he said, and even in the ethereal light of the moon Grace could see the gleam in his eye. They had not opted for a fire at this point as they did not want to draw any unwanted attention to themselves. But the air was still warm and they were fortunate that it was summer and the region in which they had found themselves had a temperate climate.
“But I'm more curious about our new friend here. Luis, why don't you tell us your story?” Mack said.
“My story?” Luis said, a little startled that he was being spoken to.
“Yeah, everyone has one, especially now. What were you doing out here all by yourself?”
“Well, I was backpacking across the country. I guess my story began the same as most people my age. After I finished high school I didn't really know what I wanted to do or who I wanted to be. I bounced around jobs for a few years, but I never really made anything of myself. I got so frustrated that there was a whole world out there waiting for me and I was just staying in my house watching life pass me by. I love movies, but I got tired of watching other people live life. I wanted to experience it for myself. So I decided to journey across the country. I don't know, I guess I hoped I'd find myself or the person I was going to fall in love with,” he said, while looking at Grace. But she was looking at the ground, using a stick to draw a pattern in the dirt.
Luis cleared his throat and continued. “It wasn't like I thought it was going to be, though. Most of the time I've been alone. I've met a few people here and there, but we all ended up going our separate ways. Anyway, I was walking through the forest when I saw a plane fly overhead descending just above the trees. It seemed way too low. I tried following its trajectory to see if everyone was going to be okay. At first, I didn't even realize that anything was wrong. I tried calling the police but my phone was dead and I figured it just had ran out of battery, not that there would have been any signal out here anyway. So I walked at my best speed, knowing there could be wounded people, and that's when I came across the house. I stopped by to see if I could get some water and a little rest and, well, you know what happened then.”
“It's funny you should mention the plane crash,” Mack said. It even got Grace's attention. “We were on that plane; we were the only survivors.”
“Oh, well, you are fortunate then. And I am fortunate, too, because if you had not come to that house I would have been forced to stay there.”
“Were they weird with you when you first went up to them?” Grace asked. Luis seemed pleased that she had spoken to him.
“No, at first they seemed normal. Well, as normal as you can be for staying out in these forests. But I understood that because I had been alone for a long while. It can make you a little crazy, especially if you are from a big family like I am. Anyway, they took me in, and at first things seemed okay. They fed me and we talked about what happened. That's when I first learned that all the electronic equipment had been knocked out.
“The woman did all of the talking. They said how hard it was going to be for them to maintain the house. I said that I was going to try seeing if there were any survivors from the crash. They looked at each other in a strange way, and then they started talking about God and how this EMP was a holy punishment, that it was his way of cleansing the world again. Right then I thought that I'd better get out of there pretty quickly. So I made plans to leave, but they insisted I stay the night.
“The idea of a bed was tempting after sleeping on the ground for so long, so I said okay. I woke up in the middl
e of the night to find them gagging me and binding my hands. Then they carried me down to the coal cellar and said they were going to keep me there until I behaved myself. They brought me water and a little bit of food but they never really spoke to me. I managed to fall off the chair and pull the gag off my mouth and thankfully you were there, and here we are. I owe both of you my life,” he said, although he looked at Grace longer than he did Mack.
“There's a lot of that going around,” Grace said in a dull tone, bowing her head again, not liking the way Luis was looking at her.
“It sounds like you've been through a lot. What are your long term plans now? Are you going to try to get home to see your family?” Mack asked. Luis drew in his breath.
“I don't know about that. Back home there were a lot of gangs anyway. I can't imagine the place is safe. I hope my parents are. They've probably left already. I don't know. I left there to try seeing the world and I don't really want to go back now.”
“But it's your family, surely you have to try finding them,” Grace said. Both Luis and Mack were taken aback by the sharpness of her words.
“Me and my family were never that close. They never had much respect for me either. When I told them I was going to go across the country they all laughed in my face and told me I would be home within a few days. Well, I proved to them that I could survive, and I still can survive. I was always the black sheep, and maybe it's better for all of us if we just assume that we're all dead.”
“I think you're making a mistake,” Grace said.
“It's my mistake to make,” Luis replied. Mack sensed some tension rising and he wondered what it was that made Grace react in that manner.
“So you don't know that much about what's happened?” he asked. Luis tore his eyes away from Grace for a moment.
“No. I only know that all the electronics have been knocked out. Do you know any more?”
“The popular theory is that it's North Korea or some other military power who attacked, but since there is no way to communicate with anyone we don't know,” Grace said.
“You mean a war?” Luis asked, his eyes widening with fear at the prospect of having to fight.
“Could be, but I don't know if there would have been an invasion force or not. I suppose it's possible that the attack was followed up by an invasion and they've stormed the White House already. But I wouldn't be surprised if they just left us to our own devices. From what I can tell this EMP was designed to set our progress back, not to outright destroy us. And, to be honest, I'm not sure that the North Koreans or any of our other enemies have the resources to launch a full war, even if we are currently in a state of chaos,” Mack said.
“I hate this not knowing!” Grace yelled, angrily throwing her stick to the ground. Then she pinched the bridge of her nose and ran her hand through her dark, rainbow-streaked hair. When she looked up she saw Mack and Luis staring at her.
“I'm sorry,” she said, softening her tone, “it's just that when you were as connected as I was it's difficult to deal with all this...all this silence. I don't know anything. I don't know what's going on and it's killing me. I feel so isolated.”
“Well, it could be worse. At least there aren't zombies around,” Luis said, but neither of the other two cracked a smile at his joke.
“What is it you did before all this happened?” Luis asked. Grace and Mack glanced at each other.
“I... worked with computers,” she said, then turned her eyes away. Mack respected her wish not to tell the truth, so he didn't say anything to the contrary. Luis simply accepted her answer.
“There is another possibility, though,” Grace said, wishing to change the subject.
The two men looked at her with interest. “It's not only nuclear bombs that can cause electromagnetic pulses, but solar winds as well. There hasn't been one on record strong enough to cause this much disruption, but theoretically it's possible that a strong solar wind blew past us, and that's what's responsible. If so, then it's likely the whole world is affected and everybody is cut off from one another.”
“Hopefully the bunker will be aware of something, and they can enlighten us when we get there,” Mack said.
“Then again, there is a third possibility,” Grace added, and again the two men waited for her to continue. “Kathryn could have been right...”
“What?” the men said in unison.
“This could be a way for God to punish us. Let's face it, the world isn't exactly a good place.”
“I thought you weren't religious?” Mack said.
“I'm not, and I don't believe that there is a God, but that doesn't mean I'm right. I'm big enough to admit that I could be mistaken. It may not even be a punishment. Have the two of you heard of the story of The Tower of Babel?”
“The name sounds familiar but I can't recall the details,” Mack said. Luis shook his head. Grace shuffled over so she was closer to them.
“It's actually my favorite story in the Bible.”
“For someone who isn't religious you sure know a lot about this stuff,” Luis said, trying to tease her a little bit, but Grace was defensive against him and sneered.
“I think it's good to be aware of things if you want to debate them. Besides, this book is basically what our entire culture is based upon and I think more people should try reading it all the way through so they're actually aware of everything. Anyway, The Tower of Babel was a story... I think it was in Genesis and it took place well after Adam and Eve.
“Human civilization had developed and they shared one language. They decided they wanted to build a tower that led up to Heaven. They actually did it, and when it got close God and the angels panicked and decided to destroy the tower because I guess having humans coming into Heaven was just the worst thing ever. Anyway, the tower was destroyed and all the humans were sent crashing down to Earth. But, of course, they'd just build it again, right? To prevent that, God scattered humans all across the world with different languages so they wouldn't be able to communicate with each other again, preventing them from uniting and rebuilding the tower.”
“That isn't really a flattering portrayal of God,” Luis said.
“I know, right?” Grace replied.
“But I don't really see what relevance that has here,” Luis continued, “It's not like we were united in building a tower to Heaven.”
“Not literally, no,” Grace said, “but if you think about it the internet was a way for us all to communicate. We could share information with people all over the world and language was a barrier that we easily could overcome with the help of translation programs. With the internet we had access to every part of human history, and now we've been deprived of that. We've been cut off from each other, so it's like we've been scattered across the world again.”
“You really believe this?” Luis said.
Grace shrugged. “I just mentioned that it was a possibility.”
“I think I'll stick with the North Korean theory,” Mack said. “I'm just going to check the perimeter and make sure there's nobody hiding out there.”
“I'll come with you,” Grace said, and immediately leaped up, leaving Luis disappointed as he was looking forward to spending some time alone with her.
“I guess I'll hold the fort here then,” Luis said, and lay back on the ground, looking up at the stars above him as he placed his hands under his head for support.
Mack and Grace stepped away from the small camp they had made and walked away quietly. When they thought they were out of earshot of Luis, Mack spoke. They were standing in a small clearing and the leaves on the trees rustled a little as the night breeze passed through. Grace pushed some hair away from her face while Mack stood in the middle of the clearing, standing with his hands behind his back.
“What was that about?” he said.
“I just didn't want to be left alone with him, okay? Can you blame me after what we just went through?”
“Look, I know that I should have listened to you before when you wer
e worried about them, but we can't be scared of everyone.”
“I'm not scared of him. I just wanted to talk with you first, to make sure that we're on the same page. I mean, can we really be sure that we can trust him?”
“The guy has been through a lot. And you heard him, he sounds harmless enough.”
“Yeah, I agree, but how can we be sure?”
“How can we be sure of anything? Do you doubt me after what happened?”
“No, I just...I want to make sure we're going to be safe.”
Mack reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. “We're going to be fine. I have a good sense about people. I should have listened to it more back at the house. I should have known that something was up, but I was just so glad to have a hot bath and get a new supply of water that I tried to hope for the best. I won't do that again; I'll be more careful. I promise. But I really get a good vibe from Luis. You should give him a chance, and the more people we have the better chance we have of surviving.”
“I guess...you really think there will be people at the bunker?”
“I don't know anything for sure, but I hope so. Truth is I hate the not knowing part as much as you do. There's a whole country out there and we just have no idea what's happening, and it really kills me. I think about all the people who are in the same situation as us and how they must be handling it.”
“I'm sure your wife is doing fine,” Grace said, offering Mack a warm smile, which he returned. They stood in the clearing a little longer and looked around at the all-encompassing darkness.
“It's kinda funny. If things had gone the way they were supposed to, you would be in some cell right now, and I would be with Anna planning the rest of our lives,” Mack said, somewhat wistfully.