Buck had to brush aside a wet mass of the dead locusts plastered to his hood so he could reach his windshield, which brought back some bad memories. “I spent some time burning shit with diesel back in the Sandbox. That was sick, but at least I didn’t have to put my hands in it.”
They’d pulled off the highway a hundred feet before the ramp to I-70.
Connie stood with Mac in front of the Peterbilt so the pup could do his business. She listened to him talk but stared vacantly to the west.
“You with me, lady?” he asked in a kind voice.
She turned and seemed to notice him. “Sorry. I was thinking about Phil. I swear he’s out there.” She pointed toward the sun, which was low in the sky.
After getting free of the locust storm, Buck had driven his truck as if it were a rental. They had made it out of Nebraska and halfway across Kansas in about two hours, and now the highway to Kansas City was within sight. Because they’d made such good time, he decided it was safe to get out and do a little KP.
He used his squeegee to scrub off the bugs caked on his windshield. The carcasses fell onto his hood, adding to the two inches of bodies already there. It turned his stomach because of the thick goo holding the bunch together like glue.
“I know he is. And my son is two hours that way.” He pointed the squeegee to the east. “We’ve got one more city to go, then we’ll head back west if that’s where you think we’ll find Phil.”
“He could be in New Mexico,” she suggested. It was also to the west.
Mac ran in circles, happy to be free. There was no time for the ball, and he was all out of meat-stick treats, so a run in the sun had to suffice.
After pushing another section of slop off his window, he turned to talk to her.
“We didn’t meet by random chance, then go through this nightmare, only to find out your son didn’t make it. Garth is going to survive all this, and so is your Phil. We only need the time to make it happen.”
He didn’t bring up the talk of nuclear war, time anomalies, or the insects stuck on crazy. Much like burning the latrine pits with diesel, it was best to hold your nose and power through it.
Buck looked back at Eve, Monsignor, and Sparky, who were working together to clean the rigs parked behind his. His team was prepared to go the distance, and he was happy that they only had two hours to go before he could prove to them it was all worth it. He embraced the role, too. Once he had his son, he was going to find them a place of safety. The radio continued to talk of cities designated as safe zones.
He wanted to go west to somewhere like Denver, his original destination, but it might be hard to pass up other cities if he could ensure his friends and his son would be safe there.
When the windshield was clear, he took a few minutes to run in circles with Big Mac. The exercise helped restore some of his energy. He wasn’t going to say it, but he was beat.
No mistakes, Buck.
Fifteen
Columbia, MO
“Garth, look! They’re pulling off the highway.”
He’d been driving at almost a hundred miles an hour for the past ninety minutes. It was early evening, and the sun was a baking-hot orb low in the west. He’d been driving all day, and he and the car were now on fumes.
“Thank God,” he replied, “I, uh, need to pee.”
“Me too,” she said with more excitement than him. The filthy travel restrooms they’d been using weren’t up to any standard of cleanliness he supported, but Lydia was ecstatic to use toilets more substantial than a piece of wood with a hole in it.
“Let’s do this. We only need a little more gas to get us to Kansas City. If we need more money after that, my dad will take care of it.” He looked forward to letting his dad take over for him.
He pulled into the same gas station as the police caravan, although he had some fear there wouldn’t be enough gas pumps. However, the modern travel station had more than enough for all of them.
As soon as he turned off the motor, he read the hand-printed signs taped nearby.
“Cash only. $20/gallon, all blends.”
He pulled his small wad of bills out of the tiny pocket in his jeans.
Oh, shit.
A crumpled twenty and some ones were all he had left.
What would his dad do? It had been the guiding question of the trip. He was certain it was at least another hour or two to Kansas City. There was a little gas left in the tank, but adding one gallon wasn’t going to help much.
Garth looked around and saw nothing but police cars. The uniformed men hustled to fill their tanks or run inside with the civilians riding with them. He figured they were the families of the officers.
“Hold on, Lydia. I’ve got to talk to them.”
She stood next to the car, intending to watch over Garth as he pumped. It was the security system they had worked out. “Really? Won’t they get you in trouble?”
It was risky, but without gas, his journey was going to end in a few more miles, no matter what.
“I don’t think so. Not this time.” He waved her along. “Come with me. You are less of a threat than me.”
“I’m a fighter!” She gave the least-threatening punch he’d ever seen.
“I have no doubt, but I need you to look helpless. Can you do that?”
She slumped her shoulders and put on a sad face.
“Don’t oversell it. Stand normally but don’t say anything, okay?”
They walked together to the nearest police car. A large African-American policeman held the nozzle while filling up his cruiser.
“Excuse me, sir. We’re going to Kansas City—”
“I saw you following us. You should slow down. We’re moving too fast for you to be safe.”
He laughed despite himself. “None of us are safe. I’ve been attacked by mobsters, and almost died in a New York Subway. I even attacked a dinosaur.”
The officer furrowed his brow. “You on drugs?”
Garth reeled and tried to think of a response. “No. Hey, what happened to the Arch?”
“It’s gone. Went away last night when the sky got all messed up.”
“I came from the East Coast. It’s as bad there. Please, my dad is in Kansas City. I just need a couple of gallons of gas to make it there.”
“Looks like you stole a taxi. Is that what I’m seeing?” The officer didn’t miss a thing.
“It’s my dad’s,” he said lamely.
“And he’s in Kansas City?”
Garth began to feel like he was in over his head, but the back door of the police cruiser opened. He noticed the woman for the first time.
“Jonesy, we can help these poor children, can’t we?”
The officer seemed to suck in his slightly oversized gut. “That’s my sister and her four kids.” He sighed as he glanced at his sister. “Fine, Trish, I’ll help them. Stay inside, okay?”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Lydia said with a curtsey.
“You’re just lovely, dear. I adore your dress and bonnet. You look like you belong in a one-room schoolhouse in the woods.”
“I was!” Lydia beamed.
Jones came over and held out his hands like he was going to shake with Garth. “Take this money, but don’t let anyone see it. There are thieves everywhere. Get back in your car, and stay on the highway. We’re heading west to Denver. If you get to your dad, you should go out there, because the police bands are filled with my law enforcement brothers and sisters doing everything they can to make it there before things get bad.”
“Before they do? Um, Officer, you do realize—”
“Just take it,” Jones insisted.
Garth clumsily shook hands and slid the money into his front pocket.
“Thank you, sir. You’re a lifesaver.”
The huge black man smiled. “It’s nice to help someone again. I was beginning to think it was futile to even try since there’s so much going wrong with the city of St. Louis. Remember, get to Denver.”
Lydia half-turne
d to go but he held his ground. “Sir, we’ve heard of lots of cities with safe zones. Why aren’t the police going somewhere closer? Denver is like five states away.”
Jones looked him in the eyes as if appraising his soul. When he seemed satisfied, he leaned in to speak quietly. “You needed to pay more attention in geography class, son.”
Garth did a double-take as the man continued, “I’m not sure anywhere is safe. We’re heading to Denver because of a captain in the Missouri Highway Patrol. That’s where he and his men are going, and they swear it’s the only safe place in America. I guess we all follow the herd in one way or another.”
“I’m following you guys,” Garth blurted.
“Better hurry, kid, although it might be crowded in the men’s room. Every car is filled to the brim with family and refugees we picked up on the trip here. Makes for some cramped quarters during the pit stops. We’re speeding out of here the second everyone is done, so don’t waste time.”
“I have to pee!” Lydia said a little too loud.
Garth was embarrassed by her statement, but she only seemed concerned with getting inside.
“Good luck out there,” the officer said as he walked back over to his pump.
“You too.”
Garth had stuffed the rifle in the back seat on the floor under a blanket. He remembered that he should have been worried, but after the fact. He smiled at the foresight that he had forgotten.
He stumbled along next to Lydia as they headed for the store. He pulled out the two bills the officer had given him and confirmed he now had sixty dollars. In the new economy, it would get him three gallons of gas.
Would that be enough?
I-70, Kansas City
Buck’s phone rang as he drove over the Kansas River at the western edge of Kansas City. The sun had gone down a half-hour prior, so there was only a bit of natural light left in the sky.
“Hot damn! It’s Sam’s parents.”
“Garth’s friend,” Connie replied, confirming she remembered who they were from Buck’s brief mention of them.
He picked up his phone. “Hello? Christian? Tell me you and Colleen are okay?”
“Buck! I can’t believe we got through. Your phone hasn’t rung in days.”
“I’ve been driving. Right now, I’m in Missouri.”
Christian spoke to someone on his end before returning to the call. “Colleen says hello. Sam does, too.”
Buck was good friends with the family who’d kept an eye on Garth for most of the two years he’d been on the road. He felt bad that he hadn’t made an effort to call them, but once Garth had said he wasn’t evacuating with them, he’d put all his worry into his son. He wasn’t going to second-guess that.
“I’m glad to hear from you. How are you guys making out with the radiation cloud and all that hubbub? Garth said it was mostly a bust.”
“Oh, Garth got out? Sam has been worried sick about him. Me and Colleen couldn’t believe he let Garth go out on his own, and I have to apologize that our son didn’t think to keep a better eye on his friend.”
He was glad Garth had split up with Sam, but he didn’t want to use those exact words with the boy’s parents.
“It’s all water under the bridge. Garth drove a stolen taxi most of the way out here. He’s with a young girl, apparently. We’re going to meet him in a few miles, in fact.”
Christian cleared his throat. “I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. I’ve been worried sick we’d set Garth loose on the world and you’d be angry we let him go.”
“Where are you?” he asked.
“Stamford, Connecticut. It’s a FEMA evacuation point for New York City. First, it was for the nuclear fallout, but now it is for something they call disaster security.”
“When can you go home?” Buck wanted to hear him say the trouble was ending.
“No word. New York is in the throes of a blackout, so it has been cordoned off. I mean, I’d understand if the radiation had come and made a mess of things, but that turned out to be fairly minor. A little escaped the Three Mile Island complex, and it made people sick in Philadelphia, but it didn’t make it as far as New York City.”
“You’re anxious to go back home?”
Christian laughed. “Definitely. Don’t let anyone tell you these FEMA beds are survivable, because they aren’t. It’s like sleeping on plywood sheets.”
Kansas City was nearly devoid of vehicle headlights as they drove through downtown on the interstate. A few sharp turns and lane merges required some of his attention, but he’d been through there enough times to do it almost without thinking.
“Listen, Christian. Thank you for all you’ve done over the years, taking care of my boy. It really made a difference in our lives. I even socked away enough to send Garth to a state college. That’s huge.”
He had gone right into the Marines after high school, and right into a driver’s seat after going back to permanent civilian status. College had never been on his radar, so helping his son do better than him had been a huge factor in the long days and weeks away from him.
“Oh, don’t worry about it.” His laughter seemed fatalistic. “You don’t sound like you plan on coming home, Buck. Everything all right?”
“I’m fine. I can make plans all day long, like getting back to Staten Island, but that might not be possible.” He looked at Connie. Someone back in her time was undoubtedly wondering when she would come back home. A lot of people were destined to be disappointed. “I might end up somewhere out here for a while, at least until life gets back to normal.”
“FEMA is saying it won’t be longer than a few more days. Then we can go back.”
Buck didn’t believe it, but it was little more than a feeling.
“Well, let’s agree to get back to the island as soon as we can. Please give Colleen my best, and I can’t wait to tell Garth that Sam is safe with you.”
They’d crossed all of downtown Kansas City while he was on the phone. Now they were driving through old residential neighborhoods at the edge of the urban core.
“I’ll tell Sam the good news, too. Glad to hear everyone is safe.”
Once again, Buck didn’t correct Christian’s interpretation of their current dilemma. He wasn’t in a FEMA camp enjoying “disaster security” like Sam’s family, nor did he want to worry those guys about what it was like on the outside.
He smiled. “We’ll talk soon. Good luck, Christian.”
“Bye, Buck.”
When he hung up, a convoy of police cars came around a corner on the westbound lanes of the interstate. They ran with their lights on and wove around slower vehicles like they were leading the Cannonball Run. The sirens wailed for only a few seconds before they sped out of earshot.
“Where’s the fire?” Connie joked.
“No kidding. What do you think they’re running from?”
She sat up. “Shit. I didn’t think of that.”
Connie took the phone from his hand. “Mind if I try Phil again?”
“Please do. I’ll keep watch.”
Buck was pleased that his front windshield was almost clear of the bug juice. He watched far up the road ahead, constantly expecting trouble to reveal itself.
“We both will.” She held the phone to her ear but peered out front, same as him.
“We’re almost at Blue Springs,” he said dryly. “Just a few more miles.”
Sixteen
Search for Nuclear, Astrophysical, and Kronometric Extremes (SNAKE). Red Mesa, Colorado
“Dr. Johnson, would it be all right if I went down to the auditorium with Missy so I could see for myself that everyone is in good health?”
He appeared shocked. “What do you think we would do to them? We’re here to protect you.”
Faith pointed to Bob. “You did notice one of your people ‘protected’ Dr. Stafford?”
“Serves him right,” someone in the back of the room mumbled.
Dr. Johnson didn’t seem interested in a debate. “Sure
, go down there. Take him with you.”
She thought it made logical sense, but Bob raised his hands. “Pass. I’m too dizzy to move, even if I do have to stay in this hostile work environment.” He laughed and spat blood on the carpet in protest.
“That’s sick,” a nearby woman complained.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” she told Bob and the others.
She and Missy walked in silence until they got into the auditorium. At that point, the guard stood at the door with a couple of other soldiers, leaving the pair of them free from observation.
Faith spoke quietly. “You were right, Missy, I do want to warn the people at CERN. I need you to get the phone number of someone there. I don’t care what kind of danger it puts us in, but we can’t allow Dr. Johnson and his allies to nuke them off the map without having a chance to evacuate. That is barbaric.”
The other woman thought about it. “Say I get a number; what are you going to use to call? We got our phones back after the NORAD troops came here, but this new group made us turn in every item they didn’t like, including tablets, laptops, and phones. They were very thorough.”
She looked around the giant underground auditorium. It was well-lit, so it was easy to see soldiers with guns up on the stage, in addition to those standing at each of the main exits.
Faith reassured her, “You do the best you can. Leave the hard part to me.”
“That’s why you get paid the big bucks, I guess.”
She laughed a little. “Whatever we get paid, it isn’t enough for what we’ve gone through.” Faith suddenly turned miserable. “Missy, I was almost killed in one of those bomb blasts in the tunnel. I saw General Smith get blown to bits.”
In her mind’s eye, she saw the explosion again. It hadn’t stopped playing in the background of her thoughts since it happened. Though she didn’t exactly see the moment the general died, she had seen his remains after the fact. It had been more than enough.
Missy offered comfort by holding her hands. “I’m so sorry.”
“I’ll get over it. In fact, if I can pull this off, it will almost make up for his death. General Smith didn’t give his life to help us survive while innocent people in Switzerland get killed. He wasn’t that kind of man.”
End Days Series Box Set [Books 1-4] Page 80