Mike had wheeled the truck up next to the closed doors and they had all climbed out of the truck. The doors were closed and reinforced from the inside. Twice they had seen movement behind the stacks and pallets that had been used to barricade the wide and tall front windows, but no one had opened the doors or answered their calls. They had finally decided that even if they did open the doors they didn't want to be there. There were plenty of other places in the city that could offer as much, maybe even more.
“We need better weapons,” Candace said as Mike drove. She had changed from the back to the front as they were leaving the market. She sat in the center, Bob on the other side of her.
“Why?” Bob asked.
“Because that place creeped me out. Who doesn't open up to let someone in? Why did they close it all off? What if they have weapons and decided that not answering us wasn't good enough? What if they had opened up on us? We wouldn't be discussing this now, that's for sure.”
“Jesus,” Bob said.
“Yeah,” Candace said.
“Creeped me out too,” Bob agreed. “Guess we can't pretend the whole thing's going to be fine any longer.”
“Guess not,” Mike agreed.
“Candace is right then... Better get ourselves to a place where we can stock up... Get some trucks, guns and get out of here.”
“What about that wholesale place out across from the mall,” Mike asked.
“Might be the same, but we can try it. Probably have what we need,” Candace agreed.
“Better let the others know,” Bob told her. Candace turned, slide the rear window of Mike's truck open and Patty leaned near. A second later she closed the slider and watched as Mike slowly picked his way through the downtown streets and headed for the outskirts of the city.
The Outskirts of the city: The Mall
Against all odds the outskirts of the city seemed completely deserted. At least at first glance. The wholesale place was deserted, the doors barred, chained and locked. A little work with the tire iron from Mike's truck freed up the chains and a nudge from the nose of his truck shattered the heavy glass doors. Mike and Ed pulled the doors aside and Mike drove the truck in, crunching over the safety glass.
“Might be safer inside,” Bob said as Mike turned the truck around, narrowly missing one check out aisle and faced back toward the doors.
“I think we're stuck here for the night, “ Mike said. Stock up, get whatever else we need in the morning and head out. Little gun shop across the street... Truck dealership over at the mall across the street... Should be easy to get what we need.” He levered the door handle and stepped down to the ground.
“Company,” Dave said as Mike turned toward the opening.
“Seven or eight... Came out of that strip mall entranceway across the street,” Terry added.
Mike turned to Candace. “Shotguns... Rifles in the sporting goods area.” She nodded as she and Patty sprinted toward the middle of the store.
Company:
The small crowd of people was armed, Mike saw, long before they actually reached the wide street and crossed over into their parking lot. Behind him, in the store, he had heard the sound of breaking glass several times. Presumably Candace and Patty breaking open display cases.
“Think they can see us in here?” he asked.
“Probably too dark,” Bob answered as Candace and Patty came back with their arms loaded down with high powered rifles and shotguns.
“Careful,” Candace said, her breath coming fast. “These are loaded.” A small line of blood ran away from one knuckle as she passed Mike a rifle that looked like it would be more at home in a war.
“You're hurt,” Mike said.
Candace laughed. “Just glass from a case... It's nothing.”
“Not a girl,” Mike said
“Or even close,” Candace agreed with a smile. She stepped close to the front of the entranceway, still deep in shadow, but just behind the shattered doors.
There were a dozen of them when they came to a stop just thirty feet away from the doors. Women and kids, the old man and a younger guy hanging toward the back. The two men and three of the women were armed.
“We know you're in there,” The lead man shouted out. He was an older man, short silver hair, thin, the ragged remains of a suit hanging from his shoulders. “We don't want trouble... Just company... Safety... The nights are pretty bad now. I guess you know.” He made to step forward again.
“No... Right there is fine,” Candace said.
The man stopped. “I told you, we come in peace.” The man said as she stepped from the shadows. Ronnie moved out with her and a second later Patty and Mike joined her. Mike motioned to the rest to stay inside.
“Every bad alien movie I ever saw started just exactly that way,” Candace said.
“Is that what you think?” The man asked. “Aliens? Well, I'm no alien... I don't know what happened but I don't think it was alien, or aliens, unless you count the meteor that might or might not have hit us. And I'm obviously not one of the gangs or I wouldn't be out here in the daylight talking to you.”
The silence held a long time.
“You hear me?” The older man said.
“I heard you,” Candace agreed. “What do you mean one of the gangs? Not one of the gangs?”
The man laughed. A short hard laugh that had nothing to do with amusement at all. “Are you serious?”
“If I wasn't serious I wouldn't have asked,” Candace told him.
“But... Okay... Why can't we do this in there? Look at what I have here... A handful of scared mothers with a few children. The young guy at the back is okay. Why don't we do this in there. I don't like being out in the open. It's just the gangs we have to worry about.” He looked off in all directions as he talked.
Candace looked over the group and then over at Mike. “Nothing we can't deal with,” Mike agreed. Her eye's met Patty's and then Ronnie's. They both nodded. “So you know, there are more of us inside. Don't be stupid.”
“Wouldn't think of it,” The old man agreed. “John,” he said.
Candace just nodded and motioned him forward.
Early evening
They were all gathered around a small fire that Bob had started for heat and light. The nights were still cold. Bob had built the fire in an empty fifty five gallon drum they had rolled out from the back. It the smoke detectors had still been working they would have had trouble, but as it was the smoke just gathered high up in the steel rafters and found it's way to the outside from there.
“What do you know,” John asked. “That might be a better place to start.”
“Practically nothing,” Bob answered. “We all met downtown a few days back... Earth quake... Meteor. Everything wrecked and no answers.”
John nodded. “Okay,” He rested his head in his hands for a moment, and then looked up. His eyes were red; the bags under his eyes bruised and heavy. “The second. It happened overnight, the first, the end of the first. I don't know what it was, anymore than you do, but I suspect the meteor they said would miss us didn't. Maybe that started a whole chain of events. So, aliens? No. I think our own government did us in though. I can see your view too, because there is something alien about it. About the way we would view it, the way you would view it. Yesterday the planes came over. Big Cargo planes. Sprayed blue stuff over the entire city. We thought for sure we were done right then, but whatever that was it didn't kill us, didn't seem to do anything to us... But I wonder, I really do...” He seemed to zone out for a second.
“John?” Bob asked quietly.
He laughed. “Sorry. I need sleep. Sleep is what I need. Gangs,” he took a deep breath. “This city, most of the cities I've been hearing about on the CB are controlled by Gangs now. They're out all night rounding us up. The other survivors...” He frowned heavily. “I'll be straight, not much use for other men... 'Less they think like them. Not much use for the children either. Women, gas, cash,” he laughed again. “They seem to think a day will
come when it will all be worth something again.”
“You don't?” Candace asked.
“I don't,” John agreed. “I think somebody mucked up badly... I can't believe it was all an accident. Washington? Dead. L.A.? Dead. New York? Dead as well. There have been reports of the President being killed. In the end the Secret Service deserted him. The few that remained fled. The whole thing fell apart. And it's no better in other countries from what I have heard on the CB. Some of it could be exaggerated... Could be fear talking... But I don't think so. I think most of it is absolute truth. I think it all failed and we're on our own. That's what I think.”
Candace looked over as Patty sprang to her feet and walked away into the darkness of the store. “I'll be back,” Candace said. She got up and followed.
“I appreciate the truth, John,” Mike said.
John nodded. “Upset us too. Nothing for it that I can see.”
“Where are you from,” Mike asked.
“Rochester... Haven't heard much from it except there is a glow to the west... Could be they still have power there.”
“Hey inside!” This from the parking lot that was now edging quickly toward twilight.
“Shit,” Ronnie said. “Forgot all about that.” He jumped to his feet and headed to the opening, Mike right behind him.
“Guess we'll have to post a guard or something,” Mike agreed. He stared out at two small groups that stood in the darkness looking around at the deepening shadows. Ronnie spoke.
“What is it you want?” Ronnie asked.
“What is it we want? Are you kidding me? We want in there, out of the cold, the night.” The guy was tall and dirty looking in the darkening light, but Ronnie supposed they all probably looked a little rough. “Talking like that ain't gonna get you in here,” Ronnie told him. “In fact it will get you an invitation to hit the road.”
A woman who was leading the second group, off to the right of the first group spoke up. “Look, man. We're all on edge right now. We just want to share your shelter. Manny is not so good with diplomacy.”
“Manny?” Ronnie asked.
She nodded to the other group, “Manuel... Manny.”
“These groups ain't bad,” John said from beyond the doorway, hidden in the shadows.
“You vouch for them?' Mike asked.
“No... I won't go that far. I will say I have seen them around... They are not part of the gangs that are all over the place at night in the city. Not these two.”
“Good enough for me... Ed? Ronnie? Anyone else have an objection?”
“We'll just watch them kind of close,” Dave said.”
“Okay... Well, somebody better go get Patty and Candace... Just to be safe.” He turned back to the parking lot and the two waiting groups. “Slow,” he called out. “Slow and keep those rifles pointed down.”
Harlem: Tosh
(Day into Night)
Electronics stopped working, wristwatches, battery powered clocks. Adam tried to start a truck. Nothing... Dead. Three more quakes, aftershocks. Planes sprayed blue stuff on us too.
SEVEN
Harlem: Tosh
March 5th (Day)
Tremors. Time seems off; days are longer, I feel it. No way to measure it though. No rain or snow. We will have to do something. We can't just wait and hope someone will show up, obviously no one is going to. I need my meds too, but I hate to bring it up with things like this. Worried about the baby... Worried about life...
Old Towne: Katie
March 5th
The whole city has fallen apart. I spent most of yesterday trying to see how bad this is. I finally realized that it's bad beyond my being able to fix it. It's bad as in there is no authority. It's bad as in there is nothing that is as it used to be. I hear gunshots at night, all night. And screams. There are still tremors. If I had to guess, I would say it's the end of the civilized world, unless things are better somewhere else. I have to believe that. Power, structure, it's all gone here. I mean it's really all gone. This city is torn up. There are huge areas that are ruined. Gullies, ravines, missing streets, damaged bridges. The damage costs have to be in the billions... And that's just here. There's me and my little notebook I'm writing in, and my nine millimeter.
I've got water, some peanuts and crackers. How long can this go on? What then?
I've decided to leave. I can't stay here. There was a tremor last night, and not one of the really bad ones, but even so I was sure the building would come down on me. It didn't. Maybe though, that is a sign. Scared or not I have to go. I have to. I can't stay here. Maybe tomorrow.
The streets are a mess. I've spent too much time hiding inside my apartment. I believed someone would show up and tell me what to do, but no one did. I saw a few people wander by yesterday, probably looking for other people, but I stayed inside. I don't know why, what all my reasons were. A lot of fear, I think.
There have been more earthquakes, two really bad ones. This building is damaged. I went outside today and really looked at it. It is off the foundation and leaning. I should have gotten out of it the other night when I knew it was bad. It's just dumb luck that it hasn't fallen in on me and killed me.
It doesn't matter now though. I met a few others today, and I'm leaving with them. I don't know if I'll stay with them. I really don't know what to expect from life anymore.
I'm taking this and my gun with me and my little notebook. Writing this made me feel alive. I don't know how better to say it.
I'll write more here I think. I just don't know when, or where I'll be.
March 6th
Watertown: The Mall
Mike and Candace
Morning
Patty had risen early to the smell of hot food. A few of the women had begun cooking sometime before dawn, and plates were filled with food. Eggs, sausages, toast made over the fire. Burgers, canned ham and more. The store was stocked with all sorts of food. Some of it was going bad, but much of it had stayed preserved in the freezers and coolers. No one had been inside so the cold air had lasted longer without doors opening and closing every two minutes. When would she have a chance to eat real eggs again, Patty asked herself as she devoured the food. She looked over at Candace who was eating as fast as she was.
“Pigs,” Candace agreed. She laughed. “I had no idea how hungry I was.”
“Man oh man. Me either,” Patty agreed.
“It is good,” Manny grinned from nearby. Patty gave him a smile and went back to eating. The conversation ebbed and swelled around them. What to do, where to go.
They had posted guards all night long, and although there were gunshots further away, and a few fires they could see burning back in the city, the night had passed uneventfully.
Their small group had finally decided to go towards Rochester, New York. Bob had said that he felt that it may be their best bet, due to the fact that there were no large military bases very close to it, and the lake levels would be low for a while, so there should be no flooding.
“It's probably dead center of the two major fault lines, and it's further away from the Saint Lawrence,” he had ventured.
They had discussed Syracuse, which was much closer, but rejected it when Terry had pointed out that the finger lakes could easily flood the whole area.
Bob had agreed, and recalled several articles that had been written about the supposed newly discovered fault lines that crisscrossed the finger lakes.
Candace had pointed out that Watertown had its own military base and reminded them of the new facility that had been under construction in the old caves under the city. More reason to wonder why the military wasn't here.
“That whole complex is probably under water by now,” Bob opinioned.
“I agree,” Ronnie had thrown in. “I worked there last year. It's nowhere completely sealed up, couldn't be. There are parts that might be okay, but if there was anyone other than a small staff down there I would be surprised. I don't see how they could get out of there if they are there. Fort Drum
would be a better bet for help.”
“And that didn't happen,” Mike reminded, bringing the conversation full circle.
Bob said that he felt the facility was probably destroyed, and had gone on to explain his own belief that anyone in there was either dead or trapped permanently.
“The Black River runs through that entire series of caves, even under most of the city itself. I can't say for a fact, but I think what most likely would happen is that at least part of the cave system would collapse. They're done for, if they're there at all,” he had said.
In the end they had finally decided on Rochester, and they were now discussing how to get there. They had decided, at Terry's suggestion, to use four wheel drive vehicles of some sort, and Candace had suggested that she and Mike check out the Jeep dealership across the street at the mall to see what they had on the lot.
She had also pointed out that there were several other car dealers in the same area, and if they couldn't find what they wanted there, they would only have a short walk to another lot to find something suitable.
“If any of it runs,” Ronnie had added.
“Running as of yesterday,” Manny threw in. “I drove one back into the city to get my family.”
“Didn't run for us the other day,” Mike added.
“Didn't for me either,” Manny agreed. “CB said they thought some sort of nuclear bomb, or the meteor.”
“The meteor could have done it?” Patty asked.
“I don't know, but they seem to think so... CB, they all think they are gods of knowledge.”
They were now discussing how many vehicles they would need, and how many people Mike and Candace would need to drive them back.
“I'm sure,” Terry continued, “that I can get a couple of the others guys to go with us.”
Earth's Survivors Box Set [Books 1-7] Page 10