14
“Wake up, Nick, wake up,” Kate said, holding Nick in her arms and lightly slapping his cheek while Susan looked on anxiously.
Nick’s eyes fluttered and then opened, and he looked around him in sheer confusion for a few seconds before he remembered where he was, how he’d gotten here, and who these two relative strangers standing over him were. As soon as it all came back to him, he reached for his injured ear. Kate, however, caught his wrist and prevented him from touching it.
“Don’t worry about your ear right now,” she said. “Yes, it’s bad, but we’ll do what we can to clean it up with Susan’s first aid kit as soon as we’re somewhere safe. But this place isn’t safe, not with these terrorists and murderers like that maniac back there running around shooting up the place. You have to get up, Nick, and we have to get out of here right now.”
Nick nodded and got up. Now that the adrenalin of the fight was wearing off, he was starting to feel the pain of his wound a lot more intensely, and his ear was throbbing with a burning agony that seemed to be growing worse with every passing second.
“Which way?” he asked, gritting his teeth against the pain.
“We have to get across the river, and then it’s a couple of miles from there,” Kate answered.
“Getting across the river won’t be a problem, even if there’s trouble on the bridge,” Nick said. “There are more kayaks moored by mine, so we can paddle across if it comes to that.”
“Good,” Kate said. “Lead the way.”
They headed out of the gym, wary and on the lookout for danger. The sight that greeted them in the street outside was a horrifying one; dead soldiers, police officers, and civilians lay all over the street and sidewalk. Two of the bodybuilders had been shot and killed, but there was no sign of the gym owner, the huge man who’d given Kate some whiskey to warm her up. They hoped he had been able to escape with his life.
Whoever had committed the massacre had moved on, but from the shouts, scream, and scattered bursts of gunfire that echoed through the streets from only a few blocks away, it sounded as if they were still very much a present danger.
Kate felt marginally safer now that she had a rifle in her hands but not much. She was still weak from her experience in the river earlier and had not recovered fully, but there was little she could do now but go on.
As they were running down the street toward the river, she noticed that snow was starting to fall and that the sky was growing ever darker with thick, ominous-looking clouds, and a fierce, biting cold wind was starting to blow. It wouldn’t be long before the blizzard hit, and Kate suspected with no small measure of consternation, it may well hit during the night instead of the next day, as the weather service had predicted.
“Looks like it’s starting, Mom,” Susan said, appearing worried.
“I heard it’s gonna be unlike any storm we’ve ever seen,” Nick said. “The article I read said scientists hadn’t seen a blizzard forming so fast and with such intensity in history.”
“I know,” Kate said. She was getting more worried by the minute. Her family had bicycles. There was a spare one that Nick could use but going out into the worst blizzard of a generation on bicycles seemed suicidal, as did walking, which was the only other alternative. The other option, though, was staying put in their apartment until the blizzard was over, by which time they might be trapped, and the chaos, violence, and anarchy in the city would no doubt be a hundred times worse than they were now. She could only hope that Jack had a plan to get them out of what was becoming an increasingly dire and desperate situation.
As soon as they got within sight of the bridge, they saw that there would be no getting across it by walking; the army—or the terrorist rebels within the army—had set up blockades on and around the bridge.
“Looks like we’re paddling across,” Nick said.
“What if they shoot at us while we’re paddling?” Susan asked.
“We won’t cross right here near the bridge,” Nick answered. “There’s another place half a mile upstream where a couple kayaks and boats stay docked. There aren’t any bridges nearby, so we should be safe to paddle across there.”
They kept close to the buildings rather than the street that ran alongside the water; they felt too exposed out in the open like that. Sounds of gunfire and fighting continued to ring out from nearby blocks, but they didn’t come across any immediate danger. Soon enough, they arrived at the small quay where several small boats and kayaks were anchored.
“These belong to the university,” Nick said, pointing at a handful of kayaks. “Under the circumstances, I’m sure it’s okay to take them.”
Kate and Susan had both paddled in kayaks before, so they didn’t have much trouble getting moving. Of course, Nick was an expert, so he reached the other side of the river in record time and was waiting to help Kate and Susan out of their kayaks when they got across.
“Whew, that’s one hurdle out of the way,” Kate said. “It sounds as if the fighting is all on that side of the river, so maybe we’re a bit safer here … but don’t get complacent about it. Keep your eyes and ears wide open.”
The snowfall was starting to get heavier now, and a biting wind howled in from the east. Even though the three of them were dressed for chilly weather, they weren’t ready for the kind of cold that the wind blew in. It felt as if that single gust had caused the temperature to plummet by twenty degrees in the span of a few seconds. It rushed through the streets and then dissipated, but they knew that they were by no means safe. Whatever bearable weather now remained was the final calm before what was certain to be a horrendous blizzard.
“We’re gonna need ski outfits for when this storm hits,” Nick said. The icy blast of wind had caused his half-severed ear to throb with even worse pain.
“We’ve got plenty of extreme-winter clothing at our apartment,” Kate said. “My husband is about your size; you can take some of his stuff if you need it.”
“Thanks, Kate,” he said, “that’s really kind of you, but I don’t think I’ll need a whole set of clothes just to get a couple of miles home.”
Susan looked at both of them, wondering what was going on. It seemed almost as if her mother was suggesting that Nick accompany them into the mountains. She was excited at that prospect—given the fact that her attraction toward him was only growing—but wondered what her father would say about it or whether Nick would even want to come with them into the depths of the wilderness and Uncle Arthur’s cabin. She also wondered why her mother was dropping hints that Nick would be welcome to stay with the group. Of course, there was the fact that he had saved her life, but she wondered if there wasn’t also some strategizing going on. Her mother was a keen tactical thinker and great at strategizing. Whenever the family played board games like Catan or Risk, Kate would usually end up winning. She had been a chess champion back in her high school days. As a strong, athletic young man with plenty of energy, Nick could be a valuable asset to their group, especially considering that many of the challenges they would face in the days to come would certainly require a great deal of brute strength and extreme endurance to get through. Regardless of her mother’s motivation for subtly inviting Nick to stay with the group, Susan was glad of it, and when she glanced at him again, a glimmer of a smile broke across her face.
The journey from this side of the river to their apartment building was mostly uneventful. Just as many scared, confused, and panicking people here and abandoned cars choked up the streets. However, aside from a few scuffles and one or two instances of looting stores, there was nothing like the excessive violence and bloodshed they had witnessed on the other side of the river. Sounds of fighting and battles, along with the deep, earth-shaking booms of a massive explosion, continued to resound across the river, and it seemed that the violence there was only growing worse. Kate had no doubt it would arrive here soon enough, though. The homicidal maniacs—like the man they’d encountered in the gym—would not stop their violent takeover until
all of them were dead, or the entire city was in their hands. And once they had taken the core of the town, the residential outskirts would surely follow. She had to ensure that the family was out of the city before that happened.
She had been thinking about Jack ever since the EMP had hit, but for the most part, she’d been too busy trying to survive to really ruminate on his fate. Now that things were a little quieter, though, she started to worry about him. He worked right in the center of where all the madness was happening. She knew that he would have left work and headed straight home at the first whiff of trouble. But everything had happened so fast that she wondered if he’d even had the chance to get out of his office—let alone the enormous skyscraper he worked in—before the rockets came streaking in.
Worry began to throb in cold pulses in her veins, and as darker thoughts brewed in her mind, a gut-churning sensation of nausea started to bubble in her stomach. For a few seconds, she had to fight back a surge of vomit, and it took everything she had to prevent herself from dropping down onto her hands and knees and emptying her stomach all over the cold sidewalk.
What if Jack hadn’t made it out? What if he were trapped under a pile of rubble, or lying in an alley, bleeding out from a gunshot wound? How would she even know? These thoughts made her feel sick, dizzy, and disoriented. How could she do this without her husband by her side? She didn’t want to go on if he hadn’t made it.
But then, with those crippling thoughts bouncing around her head, she glanced over her shoulder at her daughter, and fresh strength and determination came flooding into her. Even if Jack hadn’t made it, Kate knew she had to go on for Susan’s sake. She couldn’t give up, not with her daughter in the picture.
Strangely enough, it seemed almost as if her child could read her thoughts. “What do we do if Dad’s not there?” Susan asked softly.
Kate inhaled a deep breath before answering and held it in her lungs for a while before she spoke. “We’ll wait,” she said. “I know we can’t afford to wait for too long, though. If we get trapped in here by the blizzard, it’ll be the end for all of us.”
“So if he doesn’t show up in a few hours, we have to leave without him?” Susan asked, looking worried.
“We may have no choice, angel,” Kate said, and a sudden, unexpected sob tightened her throat. “Every hour we waste waiting could cost us our lives.”
“But … we are going to wait at least a little while, right?”
Kate forced the sob down and nodded. “We’ll wait a little while. I don’t want to leave without him, either. Of course, I don’t.”
“I hope he’s at home when we get there,” Susan murmured.
“I hope so, too,” Kate said softly. “I hope so, too.”
They walked around one more corner and were greeted by the familiar sight of their apartment building. Just as it was everywhere else in the city, dead cars littered the street outside, and groups of frightened and worried people congregated here and there on the sidewalk. The front entrance of their building was locked up, but Susan had a key in her bag. They steered their way around the groups of people and then entered the building, with Susan hurriedly locking the door behind them as soon as they got inside.
Like everything else electrical, the elevator was dead, as were all the lights inside the entrance hallway. Neither Kate nor Susan had ever seen the building this dark and gloomy, and the shadows were dense and ominous wherever they looked. Their home had taken on an almost nightmarish atmosphere, and when they entered the stairwell, Susan had to get out her Zippo again because of how dark it was.
Their apartment was on the third floor, so they didn’t have a long way to go. Susan unlocked the door and opened it, and she, Kate, and Nick stepped inside filled with worry and trepidation, afraid of what they would find … or not find, inside.
15
Bernie was huffing and puffing, breathing hard as he tried to keep up with Jack. Although he and Jack were of a similar age, Jack was far healthier and fitter than Bernie. “Whoa, hold up there, pal … I just need a … two-minute breather,” he gasped.
Jack stopped and waited, but not for long. “We can’t keep stopping like this,” he said sternly. “I have to get to my family, and the longer we linger this side of the river, the more dangerous it gets for them and us.”
“I’m sorry, man … I just … I haven’t really worked out … since high school,” Bernie panted, his face red. “I could use a … drink, a Coke, or a Red Bull or something.”
Jack wanted to roll his eyes; he had barely broken a sweat at this pace. However, he, too, was feeling a pang of thirst and could use a little boost of sugar and caffeine. He also didn’t want to abandon Bernie. It would be a selfish and cold-hearted action—even if it were the most logical one. Jack knew he would lose a lot of things in the days to come, but he was determined to hold on to his humanity.
“Okay,” he said, his tone a lot more sympathetic. “Look, there’s a convenience store up ahead. Let’s go check it out and see if we can get anything there. I could use a drink, too, to be honest.”
The sounds of gunfire and fighting from the battle a few blocks back were still resounding through the streets here, and a few buildings were on fire. Jack was wary about deviating from his course—which consisted of zigzagging through a number of back alleys and staying off any streets, large or small, completely—but the convenience store was on a smaller road with only a few cars in it and no people that Jack could see. A few vehicles blocked his view, but it looked like the store may have been looted. Half of the storefront window was smashed and cracked, as if something heavy had been thrown against it, while the door was hanging wide open, swaying a bit ominously in the cold breeze.
Jack’s sixth sense was sounding warning bells in his mind, but behind him, Bernie was gasping and wheezing. He knew his companion couldn’t go much farther without an injection of energy, and there was nowhere else around here to obtain it.
“Come on,” he said, heading reluctantly out of the alley. “We’re just gonna go straight in, get a quick drink, and then move on. Can you do that?”
Bernie straightened up, took a deep breath, and then nodded. “Thanks, pal. Yeah, I can manage that.”
“Keep your eyes and ears open,” Jack cautioned. “I don’t like being out on the street like this.” He felt as if unfriendly eyes, hidden behind the drapes of nearby windows, were following his every move, experiencing an unsettling sensation of being watched by predatory eyes, almost as if he were a deer being stalked by an unseen mountain lion.
“If anyone tries anything, I’ll take ‘em down,” Bernie said.
Jack smirked, doubting that Bernie could hit a barn door from a dozen yards, but he knew that his companion could at least provide cover fire if it came to it, and in addition, two men with guns were a lot less of an inviting target than a single man.
The snowfall was getting heavier, and a thin layer of white snow now dusted the street and sidewalk. The temperature had dropped noticeably, and since Jack had to abandon his jacket and give his sweater to Carrie, he was feeling the cold and shivering. He wondered if there was any hot coffee left in the convenience store’s coffee pot.
The closer Jack got to the store, the more urgently his sixth-sense warning bells began to ring inside his head. There was something he didn’t like at all about the convenience store. Everything around it was locked up tight, and the street was dead quiet, without any sign of another living soul nearby. The convenience store was the only one that looked like it had been looted, despite there being an electronics goods store right next to it and a brand-name clothing boutique on the other side of it.
“Why haven’t those stores been looted?” he murmured, mostly to himself. “Why just this one?”
Bernie hadn’t heard this question. Given a fresh boost of vigor simply by the anticipation of getting some sugar and caffeine into his system, he was steaming on ahead, outstripping Jack with his eager pace, and making a beeline for the store. Jack had
his pistol at the ready, and he scanned his surroundings with eagle eyes, looking for any signs of danger or treachery. His keen analytical observation of his surroundings meant that he slowed down the pace of his movement further, while Bernie, conversely, sped up. By the time Jack noticed a number of spent M-16 cartridges littering the street and fresh bloodstains on the sidewalk—yet no bodies—it was too late. Bernie was already entering the darkened store. Jack cursed under his breath and jogged after the security guard. He had been about to yell out to him not to go inside, but now it was too late.
“Maybe I’m being too cautious,” Jack muttered to himself as he jogged over to the entrance to the store. “Maybe all the stress and craziness have gotten to my head, and maybe I’m just seeing things that aren’t there.”
Nonetheless, he raised his pistol as he entered the store, sweeping his view of the shelves and aisles through his sights. Again, alarm bells rang loud and clear in his mind. There were products strewn across the sidewalk and the store entrance, but inside, there seemed to be little evidence that the place had been looted. Most of the products on the shelves were undisturbed, and aside from the fact that the store was a lot darker than it usually would have been, and seemed to have no people inside anywhere, it looked like it was almost as if someone inside was trying to make it look like it had looted.
Also, while half of the storefront window was caved in and shattered, nothing was lying on the sidewalk that could have done that sort of damage to it. This was too much; Jack decided that this wasn’t worth the risk. “Bernie!” he called out into the store, staying in the doorway, reluctant to take a step inside. “I don’t like this, let’s get out of here! Come on, get out, let’s go!”
There was no reply from inside, though. It was as if Bernie had simply walked into the store and then promptly disappeared off the face of the earth. Jack’s sense of disquiet was growing more and more intense with every passing second. He took half a step into the store, his finger on the trigger of his pistol.
Survive the Day Boxset: EMP Survival in a Powerless World Page 60