“Penny!” Dukes said, his tone only slightly harsh.
“Dukes. Is that true?” June held her hand over her mouth.
Dukes nodded. “It’s everything we’ve planned for, June.”
June was visibly upset. Mary put her arm around the other lady’s shoulder and ushered her to a seat at their dinner table.
“I mean we always prepared for this, but really?” June looked up at Dukes, “I never thought it would really happen.”
“You’re not the only one,” Ian said, moving towards the warm fire. He was still damp from the lake and the fire was what he needed.
“Do we have any clothes we can give them?” Dukes offered, giving June a task to take her mind off the events.
Mary watched the other lady move off to find clothes and made her way next to Ian.
“You knew there was someone else here. How?”
Ian figured that a little information about his observation would never harm him so he answered.
“The fire. The fire was really going and there was a new log on it. No one leaves a fire going, or lights on in their cabin while they go hunting.”
Mary nodded. She had a few more questions, but that would do for now.
Both Dukes and Mary came back into the room carrying clothes and shoes.
“I’ve got some old BDUs that would fit you,” he said, giving the camouflaged fatigues and a set of work boots to Ian.
“Thanks. Marines, right?” Ian took a calculated guess.
“Recon for 20 years,” Dukes said, he stood just a bit taller. “How’d you know?”
“Just a lucky guess,” Ian said.
Mary looked at him and narrowed her eyes. She was about to say something before June offered some clothes to her and took her by the arm.
“You can use my bathroom if you like?”
“There’s another bathroom down the hall, with a shower,” Dukes directed Ian. “It might be better if you take one before standing next to the fire again. I can still smell the jet fuel on you.”
Ian smiled and nodded.
“Just put your clothes in this bag, we’ll get rid of them.”
Twenty minutes later both Ian and Mary had showered and changed. When they walked back out into the main room, Dukes had a shortwave radio out of the table and was listening to a broadcast.
“Nice boots,” Ian said to Mary as she took a seat at the table.
“Yeah,” she said quietly. “Probably better than heels.” Her eyes were red and swollen. She had cried through her entire shower, and was still dabbing at the tears.
Ian took a seat next to her, listening to a man’s voice crackle through the speaker of the shortwave radio.
“…No, we think there were two.”
“What’s he talking about? Two what?” Mary asked, sniffing.
“Nukes,” Penny said, sitting across from her father at the table.
June set out some trail mix and tea for everyone and then sat down as well.
“They think Atlanta and Chicago both got nuked and there was an EMP used somewhere over the northeast. No one has heard from the west coast,” Dukes described the situation.
Mary felt another tear roll off her cheek and wiped her eyes with the palm of her hands. June offered a tissue and put her arm around the other woman.
“Have you heard anything about Birmingham?” Ian asked.
“Not yet, but I have a good friend that I know who lives just outside the city. I will try and get on the radio.”
“Would you mind?” Ian asked. “My family’s there.”
“Anything for another prepper,” Dukes responded.
Mary smeared another tear across her face and looked at Ian. “So, you’re one of those end of the world freaks?”
Ian didn’t answer. He wanted Dukes to use the radio and find more information about Birmingham. He wanted information about his family.
“That’s how you knew all that stuff?” she pressed on evenly. “How you knew how to survive the plane crash. Why it would be safe to go to the hospital right now. How you knew that June was here when we walked up.”
Dukes and June exchanged looks at that comment.
“Ah,” Ian opened his mouth. “Yeah. That’s about right. Dukes hit the nail on the head. It takes a prepper to know another prepper,” he looked at Dukes with a nod. “That’s why I wanted to go with him.”
“I kind of thought as much,” Dukes said. “What branch were you?”
Ian knew that question would eventually come around. “Army. ROTC, and then six years active.”
“I pegged you for an officer. Didn’t I June?” he looked at his wife. “Were you in Storm?” Dukes asked, with reference to Desert Storm.
“Yeah, I did the sandbox. Desert Shield, Storm and Afghanistan a few times.”
“Ground pounder, huh?”
“Nah, Military Intelligence,” Ian lied.
CHAPTER 12
“Good girl, Daisy,” Leah said as she put her leg between the barking dog and the door. She recognized the people and didn’t want to cast off any impressions that they were prepared for what was happening. She opened the door with a worried smile on her face.
“Have you heard anything?” Leah’s neighbor from across the street asked as she stepped into the foyer. She was holding a sleeping baby girl, and Toby, her four-year-old boy, was clutching to her knees. “Toby wouldn’t sleep without knowing his daddy was home so I looked out the window and saw your candle light.
Leah made a mental note. Stupid! “Heard about what?” She asked innocently as she shut the door behind the other woman. She also tried pulling the back of her shirt down further. She felt a little weird talking to her neighbor while packing heat.
“I don’t know, Leah. I mean, what’s going on? What’s happening out there? I haven’t seen a power company truck, or any cars all day. My cell phone’s dead and Rob should have been home from work hours ago. I’m like, really scared.”
“Was he working downtown today?” Leah asked.
“Yeah. He was taking depositions all day. He could have walked home, or something. I have seen a few people walking home.”
“Amy, his office is almost 20 miles from here and if all the cars aren’t working…”
“Why aren’t the cars working? I haven’t even tried mine! I didn’t know that! I…”
“Amy!” Leah stopped her ramp up of worried panic before it got out of control. “Look,” Leah directed her towards her living room and to the couch. “I don’t know what’s really going on,” she swallowed the lie as naturally as she could. “But, I’m sure Rob will be back home as soon as he can. It’s a long walk. Give him some time. He might have slept at a friend or colleagues house, and will make his way home in the morning.”
She checked her watch and glanced over at the radio sitting next to the candle in the kitchen. A wave of panic shot through her skin, igniting her sweat glands. The green LED on the radio, was on.
“Mama, I want to go home,” Toby demanded, pulling at his mother’s pants.
Leah looked down at the child. He was tired and innocent. Her heart ached for the children and how naïve her neighbor was to events happening around her.
“Do you have a cooler and some ice packs?” Leah asked, her protective motherly instincts kicking in.
“Yes, why?”
“Put the kids milk and formula and the stuff you absolutely need in there with as much ice as you have left.
“Okay,” Amy said, gingerly standing up with the baby. “Don’t you think they’ll turn the power on soon?”
“No, I don’t think they will.” She didn’t give the young mother time to answer. “Also, go into the basement and cut off your water.”
“My water! Why?”
“Amy,” Leah was holding her by both shoulders and looking her right in the eyes.
“The water that’s in your house is safe to drink. You can drink all of the water from the hot water heater. It’s okay too.”
“Why would
I want to do that?”
“Honey,” Amy was about 15 years younger than Leah. “I’m just giving you some advice in case this power outage keeps going.”
“Do you think it’s going to last long?” Worry was fully in Amy’s voice.
Leah paused at just how childlike her neighbor was to the situation. Leah feared that she was a synonym for most of society. “Yeah, honey, I think it’s going to get worse. I am still waiting on Ian and Grace to get home too, so I’ll be up all night, but,” she looked over at the radio again, thankful that Amy had not seen that it was working. “I will check on you tomorrow. I bet Rob will be home by then,” she said, hoping that it would be true. “Okay?”
Amy nodded, a tear streaked down her cheek. Leah opened the door, every piece of motherly instinct in her body telling her that she was the devil for doing so, and she patted little Toby on the head and smiled at Amy.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” she lied.
CHAPTER 13
Grace looked under the seat for the third time and then in her backpack one more time as she drove. The two-way radio was no longer in the Jeep.
“I think it probably flew out when that guy attacked us,” Anna said. She was still shaking from the attack. Her nose was bleeding lightly and at least one of her eyes was swelling shut and turning black.
“What was that, anyway?” Anna asked, while touching her nose repeatedly.
Grace would never really know for sure what it was, but she had an idea.
“It was some guys taking advantage of everything. I think it was a roadblock, or something. They were just looking for easy prey.”
“Why would there be a roadblock? Why would cops shoot at us?”
“I don’t think it was like the cops or anything. I think it was a gang of freakers. You know, like a bunch of Mr. Miller whack job that look for an opportunity for anarchy and a reason to raise hell.” She looked at Anna, hoping that she wouldn’t turn into one. “If we had gone all the way down that street, Anna, they might have, like, killed us.” Grace didn’t think that reasoning helped Anna feel any better. “It’ll be okay,” she said to her friend, hoping it was true.
Anna didn’t say anything, she just kept pinching her nose; it was most likely broken. Grace left her alone and concentrated on driving around deserted cars. She really wasn’t sure where they were, but acted like everything was okay. She quietly thanked her parents for instilling in her a sense of calm while everyone else panics.
Grace checked her watch, eager to be done with the day. “Man, it’s like 2:40 AM, we need to stop and get some sleep.”
The girls had been driving in a random direction for just over an hour. Neither one knew where they were and Grace had a sinking feeling that the map had flown off the dash and out of the window with the two-way radio. The map was marked where her house was and the routes around Birmingham that would be the easiest to get there. She hoped it wouldn’t be found by anyone.
“Let’s go down there,” Grace said, pointing at a dirt road on the right. She reached under the dash and flipped the yellow parking lights on so she could see on the dirt road better. She had been driving by the light of the moon and had nearly hit at least one dear and a random car or two.
“What ever,” Anna responded. She was about to collapse for the night.
They drove about five minutes on the dirt road and found a field with an open gate to the pasture. She turned into the pasture and headed to a grove of oak trees at the end of the field. She pulled under the largest tree and parked the Jeep there for the night.
“I have some blankets, some hot hands and a pup tent that should keep us warm,” Grace offered, after pulling a hidden backpack from under the back seat. “I’ve also got a first aid kit for your nose.” She handed the kit to Anna. “Here,” Grace cracked a rose-colored glow stick and handed it to her to see by.
“Where did all this stuff come from?” Anna asked. Taking the first aid kit and glow stick.
“It’s my go-pack. Some people call it a bug-out-bag. My Dad insisted we all have one in our cars at all times. It has everything that we might need for the next three days,” she said, silently thanking the paranoia of her parents.
Anna hung the glow stick on the oversized side mirror of the Jeep to doctor her nose while Grace set up tent. The girls then ate some of the food that they brought from Anna’s house and tried to forget the day; but that was hard to do.
The Spring night was cool and they might have thought that it was even beautiful, except for the fact that half of the United States had been nuked, Anna’s parents were most likely dead, they were attacked twice, Grace had shot two men and now they were camping in a field, eating sliced turkey and soft drinks they had taken from a house where a dead man rotted in the kitchen.
With little energy left, they both fell asleep soon after climbing into the tent.
Several hours later, as the morning light spread across the field, both girls slept heavily. Neither one hearing the approaching noise before it was too late.
Anna was the first to open her eyes. Her face was sore, but it was the shadow of a person outside of the tent that made her forget about the pain in her nose.
The person seemed to be looking through the Jeep, and then the shadow turned towards the tent.
Anna nudged Grace and she didn’t move. She nudged her again. Grace opened her eyes and nearly screamed when she saw how close Anna was to her face. She looked terrible. Anna held a finger in front of her lips and then pointed at the shadow with the same finger.
Grace’s eyes followed the finger and she saw the shadow. It was the shadow of a man, and he looked very large. Grace put her hand on the pistol under her blanket and her thumb on the safety.
“Hey!” the shadow man called. “You in the tent. What are you doing here?”
Grace and Anna locked eyes and Grace tilted her head back and forth as if to signal that she was thinking this might be okay.
“Hey!” the man said again.
“We’re coming out. Don’t hurt us,” Grace surprised herself with her own voice.
The shadow man took a few steps back from the tent; his shadow shrinking from the side of the tent and into the ground.
“I don’t plan on hurting you unless you give me reason to,” the man responded.
Grace shrugged at her friend, tucked the pistol in the small of her back and unzipped the tent. She crawled out to the feel of wet grass on her palms. Anna was right behind her. They both looked at the man, who was anything but a shadow.
“Ah, wow, there’s two of ya,” the man said, suddenly looking a little nervous.
Anna and Grace sized up the man; he was really just a little older than they were. But he was holding a ranch rifle. He wasn’t pointing it at them, but still, he had it.
“What’re you doing here?” he asked.
Both girls looked at each other like this was some joke.
“Ah, camping,” Anna, offered.
“Well, I can see that. I mean, why here? Why are you camping in our field?”
Grace looked past the man and saw the horse for the first time. He had tied it up far enough away so that he could walk up on foot without being heard. Smart.
“We got lost,” Grace jumped in. “We got lost last night and instead of just driving around, we thought we would just get some sleep and try again in the morning.” When she heard herself say it, it sounded pretty stupid.
The man looked at her and smiled. It was a smile that was genuine and non-threatening. Grace smiled back.
“Yeah,” Anna added, seeing the smile-a-thon between the two.
“So, you have a Jeep that still works?” he asked, looking at Grace.
So, he knows something’s going on, or he wouldn’t have asked that question. She nodded, and waited to see if he would divulge any more information.
“My mom’s car is dead. Dad’s old El Camino still works and so does the older tractor, but the new one’s toast.”
“So this is
your farm?” Anna asked, and was greeted with a ‘really?’ look from Grace.
He whistled and the horse, that Grace thought was tied up, started trotting towards him. Both girls were impressed.
“It’s our families place. We train horses.”
Both girls watched in awe as the horse trotted up next to him and stopped. He put the rifle in a saddle holster and grabbed the reins.
“Your welcome to come up to our place, have some breakfast and then maybe we can figure out which way you need to go.”
Grace was about to decline, but he cut her off.
“Look, I know there’s been a lot of violence closer to town, so, well, just think about it. I would hate to see something bad happed to two pretty ladies.”
Anna looked at Grace. Done.
“What’s your name?” Grace asked.
“Joshua. Everyone calls me Josh.”
“I like Joshua,” Grace said, pulling the corner stake on her pup tent. “I’m Grace.”
Anna rolled her eyes. “And, I’m Anna.”
“Did you girls run into any trouble last night?” He asked, looking at Anna’s black and blue face.
“Nothing we couldn’t handle,” Grace didn’t want to lie.
CHAPTER 14
Ian ate a few handfuls of trail mix and willingly drank the iced tea that June served them as he watched Dukes dial in the frequency for his friend in the Birmingham area.
“He’s a prepper. I know that, but there’s no telling if he had his equipment in a Faraday cage or not,” Dukes said, as he manipulated the analog dials on the radio. “But he has an impressive shelter, so…”
Every few turns, Dukes would catch a voice of something and he would try to dial it in to a more precise reception, but there was too much electromagnetic interference in the air because of the EMP and the proximity to the nuclear explosion in Atlanta.
They heard words like, “bomb, gangs, water, riots and killings.”
“That doesn’t sound cheery!” Penny offered. “Do you think the same thing is happening in town?” she asked her father. Her tone was somewhere between anger and fear.
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