by Mike Kraus
Hurry up and get back, you guys. Dianne sighed as she helped Mark throw the last bag of fertilizer into the truck. And you too, Rick. Wherever you are.
Chapter 13
Las Vegas, NV
When the light of dawn replaced the flicker of fires in the city, Rick started awake, realizing that he had—contrary to his best efforts—fallen asleep. His head was resting against a cushion on the floor and he lifted it slowly, feeling a twinge in his neck from being in an odd position for so long. After sitting up he looked over at Jane and saw her still sleeping. He put his hand on her head and neck again and was relieved to find that she still felt cool to the touch.
Rick checked his watch, stood up and stretched, walking around the room as he thought about his next move. Seven in the morning. We need to get moving soon. Got to try and get to Nellis today and see about getting some real medical attention for her and transportation home for me.
Movement from the other side of the room caught Rick’s ear and he turned to see Jane stirring. He walked over and crouched down next to her, opening a bottle of water as her eyes fluttered open.
“Rick?” Jane looked around at the room. “Where are we?” Her voice was hoarse and cracked and Rick handed her the bottle of water.
“Here, drink this. You’ve been out for a while. We’re inside a lumberyard not far from where you collapsed yesterday.”
“I… think I remember.” Jane took several small sips from the bottle before taking a large gulp.
“Yeah you were awake a time or two but otherwise you’ve been sleeping. I think the heat got to you.”
“Heatstroke in autumn?” Jane smiled weakly and shook her head and Rick laughed.
“I know, it’s crazy, isn’t it?”
“I think I’m feeling better now. We should start moving again, shouldn’t we?”
Rick sighed and nodded. “I don’t want to push you with how you’re feeling, but we really should.”
“How far do we have to go?”
“Fifteen miles.”
“Oh.” Jane nodded slowly. “Right. I remember that. Okay, let’s go.” She started to stand up and Rick took her arm, helping her to her feet. She wobbled slightly as she stood but after a few steps her paces became steadier and more sure. “I think I can do this.” Jane smiled at Rick as he gathered up his supplies and bags and got everything ready to go.
“We have the whole day ahead of us so I think we should take it slow for the first couple of hours and see how you’re feeling and decide from there.”
Jane stooped down to pick up a bottle of water and looked at it. “We should try to find an extra bag so I can carry some more water. It’ll be invaluable in this heat.”
“Good idea.” Rick nodded and began searching through the cupboards in the break room until he came upon a simple canvas bag with a wide zipper and single handle. “How’s this?” He held it out and Jane took it.
“Perfect.” She started filling the bag with bottles of water that were scattered around the room while Rick pushed on the vending machine in front of the door until it was far enough out of the way for both of them to slip through.
“Why’d you put that in front of the door?” Jane looked at the vending machine as she followed Rick out of the break room and he snorted in amusement.
“Oh I had some fun times while you were sleeping.” Rick gave Jane the summary of what had happened while she was resting. When he finished with the story she shook her head in amazement.
“Wow. That was quick thinking on your part. What are you, ex-army or something?” Rick noticed Jane looking at his gun bag and the bulging pistol on his hip as she asked the question.
“Hardly. No, I’m a—well, I was an engineer.”
“Do most engineers carry guns around with them?”
Rick laughed. “Only the ones who nearly get caught by some kind of Mad Max style gang on the outskirts of Los Angeles.”
“Oh, that makes—wait, what?”
“It’s a long story.” Rick chuckled. “Tell me about yourself, though. I live in Virginia, have a wife and three kids and live on a small farm outside Blacksburg.”
“A farm? Wow. I’m—well, like you said, I was a paralegal. I live in downtown Denver though who knows if it’s even there anymore.”
“Why were you visiting L.A.?”
Jane smiled wistfully. “Visiting an old friend. We had talked about seeing each other more and one thing led to another. Next thing you know the sky is falling and cars are exploding and I’m stuck trying to get out of the city.”
“What made you decide to drive?”
“There was a family who picked me up as I was walking to get out of the city. They were on one of the other buses.” Jane’s face fell. “I hope their kids are okay. They had four of them.”
Rick ground his teeth together as he thought about his own children. “I hope so, too.”
The pair were quiet for a few minutes before Jane spoke again. “So you’re an engineer?”
“Yeah, of sorts.”
“Any idea what’s going on?”
“I’ve heard bits and pieces on the radio. It sounds like an advanced computer virus.”
“A virus?” Jane sounded incredulous. “How would a virus make cars blow up?”
“It’s a lot easier than you might think. Everything in cars is computerized today to help improve safety and increase efficiency and all that jazz. If someone came up with a virus that could infect the systems on a vehicle they could easily override the safety systems and cause something like that to happen.”
“That doesn’t seem like an increase in safety at all.”
“Nope.” Rick shook his head. “Not at all. But that’s what we get when a bunch of manufacturers are rushing to be the first to market with the latest and greatest bells and whistles. Nobody thinks about security until it’s too late.”
“That’s terrible!”
“No kidding.”
Silence fell once again as the pair continued their slow, trudging walk through the Vegas streets. As they wound their way to the northeast, Rick saw signs that they were getting closer to both Nellis and to a place that stirred feelings of fear inside of him: the Strip. One of the dying words of the solder who was driving the bus was to stay away from the Strip, though he had no idea why.
As Rick and Jane drew closer to the Strip the concentration of smoke and dust in the air started to rise to the point where they were both holding their shirts over their mouths and noses to try and keep it out. Every time the wind changed direction they either lowered their shirts and breathed a sigh of relief or raised them back up and began coughing as waves of smoke were blown towards them.
Nearly three hours after leaving the lumberyard as the sun was getting close to its highest point in the sky, Rick and Jane were walking down a narrow one-way street in between two tall casinos. Shielded from much of the smoke and sun, their shirts were off of their faces and they were chatting quietly as they walked. They were distracted enough that they didn’t realize when the one-way street came to an end and they emerged from between the buildings out into the open.
Smoke filled their lungs and they both coughed heavily as they tried to cover their faces against the strong wind. Rick blinked against the dust and smoke several times before managing to clear his eyes enough to see what was before him. He stopped walking and held out a hand to keep Jane from going any farther and she too tried to clear her eyes to see what he was pointing out.
Out in front of them lay the southern end of the famous Las Vegas Strip. The road was several lanes wide on both sides with a wide median in the center and tall, imposing buildings stretching up to the sky on both sides of the road. Off to the left, just a short walk away were the famous Fountains of Bellagio while the Planet Hollywood resort and casino towered directly across the street.
While the scene might have been pleasant at any other point, the condition of the Strip made Rick realize why the soldier had warned them to stay away. The smo
ke and dust that had been choking Rick and Jane was coming primarily from the buildings on the Strip, many of which were still burning. The shops in front of Planet Hollywood were a pile of twisted metal, plastic and bricks on the ground. The fountains to their left had lost power days prior and while the water was gone there were wrecks of several trucks and cars inside the fountain area from vehicles that had rammed into the bollards and flipped over into where the water had previously been flowing.
Down the street to the left and right Rick could see that every major and minor building in the area had suffered heavy damages. Much of it was related to fires that were still burning inside the wreckage and shells of the buildings but some of it looked like it had been caused from vehicles and an airplane or two that had crashed into them and then exploded. Two days hadn’t been nearly enough time for the fuel feeding the fires to be exhausted and the flames licked at the air, sending black smoke billowing into great clouds that drifted on the wind.
Jane leaned in close to Rick and whispered as she stared wide-eyed at the destruction, blinking every few seconds to clear the smoke and dust from her eyes. “What now?”
Chapter 14
Ellisville, VA
After leaving the Carson’s house, Dianne drove to the Statler’s, where everything was as they had left it a week ago. The chickens were nearly out of feed, though, and Dianne mused about whether they should take them back home or not.
“You think we can get that cage strapped onto the back of the truck, Mark?” Dianne scratched her chin as she watched the chickens moving about in the cage attached to the outside of the barn.
“I think so, if we strap it down.” Mark pulled on the cage, lifting it a couple inches off the ground before releasing it. “Don’t we have enough chickens already, though?”
“Yeah, but I don’t want to have to keep using gas to come out here and take care of them. We can keep them at our place until the Statlers get back.”
Mark groaned. “I guess this means we’ll be eating even more eggs.”
Dianne laughed. The last week had featured more than a few egg-based meals thanks to the chickens they already had at the house. “You’ll learn to love them soon enough! Now come on and help me get this lifted onto the back. Jacob, you too! Let’s go, boys!”
After closing the small wire mesh door around the narrow portion of the cage that attached to the barn, Dianne unlatched the cage from the barn and picked up one side. Mark and Jacob took the other side and together the three of them walked the cage full of extremely unhappy chickens over to the truck. After making sure everything in the back of the truck was secure, Dianne unfolded a tarp from the storage box in the back of the truck and spread it out over the supplies beneath the cage. She and her sons then lifted the cage onto the back and positioned it as best as they could. With no solid ground under their feet the birds’ legs were falling through the narrow holes in the wire, though they eventually settled down into seated positions to try and get comfortable.
With the cage on the back of the truck, Dianne gave Mark and Jacob the job of doing the initial tie-downs while she went with Josie to leave a note for the Statlers.
Sarah – Picked up your chickens to watch out for them. Let us know when you’re back. –D
Dianne stuffed the note through the crack between the back door and the doorframe before heading back out to the truck. After getting Josie situated in her seat, Dianne finished helping Mark and Jacob get the cage tied down. “Try not to crap on everything, all right?” Dianne poked at one of the chickens through the wire cage before jumping back into the truck.
“You guys ready to go?” A chorus of affirmatives followed and Dianne put the truck into gear. “Let’s go see what’s happening in town before we go back home, okay?”
It took Dianne around ten minutes of careful driving to reach the edge of town. As they drove through she saw no signs of anyone like she had a week ago. There were no people walking around, many of the homes appeared deserted and there were no other working vehicles on the road.
After passing through the residential neighborhood on the outskirts of town, Dianne headed for the grocery store and town square. A chill ran down her spine as she pulled into view of the grocery store and saw what it looked like. All of the glass on the front windows had been broken out, shopping carts were overturned and scattered across the parking lot and—from what she could see—there wasn’t a single scrap of food left on the shelves inside.
“Wow.” Mark whistled softly as he looked at the store. “What happened, mom?”
Dianne was busy scanning the area around him as she replied quietly. “I’m not sure, son. But look at all the other buildings.” Every other business that Dianne could see in the small square looked virtually identical in condition to that of the grocery store. Windows were shattered, doors were hanging on half-broken hinges and there were clear signs of looting and intentional damage that had been perpetrated.
Burned out vehicles still littered the area, and though Dianne couldn’t remember the exact details of which vehicles had been in which places, the general layout of everything still looked the same. In the distance, even though it was no longer smoking, Dianne could still see the remains of the airplane that had crashed just outside town. Two firetrucks were still parked next to the aircraft, though one of them had rolled over on its side while the other was partially inside the wreckage of the aircraft itself, having clearly been crashed there by someone who attempted to drive it away. Overall the condition of Ellisville was even worse than it had been a week prior, and there were no signs that anyone was around or trying to clean things up.
“I don’t understand.” Dianne whispered to herself as she drove the truck slowly through town. “Did everyone leave?”
“Shouldn’t we get home, mom?” Jacob and Josie were turned around in their seats watching the chickens in the back.
“Soon, kiddos. I want to see if we can find anyone around here who might be able to tell us what’s going on.” Dianne wound her way through the wreckage of the buildings and vehicles of the town until she got onto the small two-lane highway that led to the main highway that would lead to Blacksburg. As she approached the main highway, though, she eventually had to slow to a stop.
“Well now what?” Dianne opened the door of the truck and stood on the sideboard, peering out at the road ahead. She could see the next few hundred feet of road, the onramp to the highway and a good portion of the highway itself, but there was no possible way for them to drive any farther in the truck.
The wreckage of burned out vehicles sat bumper to bumper, blocking the road and onramp and making it impossible to go anywhere. Dianne had initially considered going off-road in the truck, but looking at the highway from an elevated position made it obvious that the driving conditions there were even worse than on the road leading to it.
As Dianne stood and contemplated her next move, the sound of an engine behind her made her turn and shield her eyes from the sun to figure out the source of the noise. “Mark, rifle!” Dianne ducked down into the truck and grabbed her own rifle before standing back up and holding it to her shoulder. In the distance, back towards town, came the sound of a small engine roaring towards them. As it got closer Dianne could see a man wearing an enormous backpack and sitting on the seat of a motorcycle that was loaded down with all sorts of bags that had been strapped to every square inch of free space on its frame.
The driver of the motorcycle wove the vehicle in between the wrecked vehicles with expert precision, and Dianne realized that he would be able to make it out to the highway without issue. As the motorcycle drew close enough for the details of the driver’s clothes to become visible, Josie began shouting from the back of the truck. “Mom! Mom! It’s Mr. Sandberg!”
“Who?” Dianne glanced through the back window at her daughter.
“Mr. Sandberg, mom!” Mark opened his door and jumped out of the truck before Dianne could tell him to stop. “He’s the biology teacher at the after-s
chool program!”
Dianne hesitated for a split second before jumping down from the truck. “Josie and Jacob, stay there! Mark, stay with me!”
Dianne ran out into the road and held her hands high above her head, waving for the motorcycle driver to slow down. The driver complied, but as he did so the motorcycle started to wobble and Dianne ran forward to catch it before it could fall over.
“Hey there!” Dianne shouted over the sound of the engine as she grabbed the front of the vehicle. The driver held up both thumbs before switching off the engine, laboriously pulling off one of his thick gloves and lifting the visor to his helmet. The man underneath had a soft, kind face with a meticulously groomed mustache and goatee that was salt and pepper in color, and underneath his puffy outer jacket Dianne could see the collar of a checkered dress shirt peeking through.
“Hello!” The rider struggled with his helmet before pulling it off, revealing a short-cropped hairdo and a pair of spectacles atop his nose. “I’m Jim Sandberg! Who are—wait a second, you’re Dianne Waters, right?” The rider looked at Mark and grinned broadly. “Mark!”
“Mr. Sandberg!” Mark ran up and gave Jim a high five as Dianne heard the back door to the truck open. Jacob and Josie ran up to the motorcycle and exchanged greetings with their after-school teacher as well before he turned back to address Dianne.
“Mrs. Waters! It’s a surprise and a pleasure to see you out here on the road? What are you doing out here, though?”
Dianne hadn’t seen Jim Sandberg in the last few weeks due to her schedule, but she had heard all about him from her children who spoke of his kind nature, expert teaching and novel experiments at length every time they came home. “Jim, it’s great to see you again.” Dianne turned and looked at the highway beyond. “We were going to try to get to Blacksburg to see if we could find out more about what’s going on, but it looks like the road’s blocked.”