by Billy Dering
“For now,” Kid interjected. “All we did was buy ourselves some time. It’s just a matter of how much.”
With the big wood stove all fired up, the main room of the cabin was already warm. For the moment, and for a change, Kid didn’t feel uncomfortable. That fact alone made him unsettled. He turned to the girls. “Did they tell you what country was responsible for the destruction?”
“It wasn’t one country. Elder-1 said it was individuals in power from several countries, including America,” Heidi said as she finished the last of her soup.
“I figured that. How else could they get access to the satellite system? Too many security levels needed to be breached for America not to be involved.” Although Kid already suspected this, hearing it sent a wave of anger through him.
“When Sara’s up to it she can probably give you more details,” Maria offered. “Always the inquisitive one, that girl,” she continued as she put her coffee tin down on the table.
“Who is this Elder-1?” Kid asked.
“He’s their leader,” Maria clarified. “Anyway, in the end, that satellite system wasn’t as perfect as they thought. He told us 99.9 % of the world’s population was wiped out in the blink of an eye. The reason we’re still alive is that the stupid thing malfunctioned and left our beach area untouched.”
“But it operated fine for the other 99.9% of the world?” Kid sounded skeptical.
“That’s what he told us,” Maria answered. She turned to Heidi.
Heidi nodded her head in affirmation.
Jess sounded somber. “99.9% of the world. I still can’t comprehend this all. Think of the big cities with melted bodies, like the one we saw the first time in Quick-Fix, but millions of them. Places like New York City, Los Angeles, or London, all with blood and guts running everywhere, in the streets, and out of buildings.”
“And remember, it hit us late at night,” Kid reminded. “Most of the east coast may have been sleeping, but other areas of the United States, and other areas of the world, were wide awake.”
Maria had one hand on her stomach and one hand over her mouth, and she was grimacing. “Do we have to be so… graphic right after we just ate?” Getting up, she started gathering the dirty bowls and cups from the old wood table.
“Let me help you,” Heidi offered.
“It’s all beyond comprehension, even in thinking about our own lives. I keep catching myself in moments of panic thinking I need to check in at home,” Kid said. His emotions swelled instantly. Everyone froze for a moment. It was a harsh reminder of their new realty.
“Your cup?” Choked up, Maria’s words came out as a whisper as she held her hand out toward the table. Kid heard her, but was so caught up in his thoughts that he did not respond right away. “Are you going to hand me that or what?” she repeated as she reached for his cup, but then froze and shuddered.
Kid knew why and rubbed her arm. He had asked her once about the small scar over her eye. Maria had explained that one time, when she was a little girl, she had tried to take her drunk father’s cup to the sink and he reacted by grabbing the glass from her and breaking it against her face.
“Are you alright?” He held the cup in his hand but did not move.
“Yeah, fine,” she said as she reached out and grabbed it. As she turned she lifted her hand and touched the small scar over her left eye.
“Should I go down to the stream to wash the dishes?” Heidi asked Kid.
“No, use the water on the stove. I scooped snow from outside so it could melt in that pot.” He pointed to the stove top. “We need to be careful with the stream, it may be contaminated.”
“How can we tell if it is?”
“We can’t. That’s why we have to boil the water,” he responded.
Heidi took the dishes, percolator, and dirty pots and went out the back door of the cabin. She cleaned them with soap and the melted snow from the pot on the stove.
“See anything outside?” Kid asked her as she walked back inside.
“All clear.”
“Good.” Kid sat back. Now warm and fed, he wasn’t ready to get up from the old wood table in the main room. At that point, he was so exhausted that he couldn’t have moved even if soldiers were at the door.
Chapter 26
December 30, 2044
Friday, Evening
The Pine Barrens of New Jersey
Four days after the event
After a few hours had passed, Kid peeked in the middle room and saw that Sara was still sleeping. He closed the curtain and sat down at the table in the main room. The smell of the table’s old hardwood entered his nostrils, and he breathed it in. He had always loved the rustic feel of their hidden cabin. It was deep in the woods and many miles away from the nearest inhabited community, which in densely populated New Jersey made the isolation even more of a novelty.
When they stayed at Ironside, he always felt like they were living in Colonial times. The furniture consisted of old wood-framed beds, antique chairs, and an old, bulky wood table. There was no electricity, natural gas, or running water. The bathroom was anywhere one could find in the forest. The only heat was from the wood stoves and the only light was from candles. His group of friends had spent many nights sitting on chairs and beds in the main room where they would talk, laugh, and ponder what the future held for each of them. Every so often, it felt great to warm up by standing right in front of the wood stove. The guys would take turns tending to the fire, saving the biggest logs to throw in the stove right as everyone went to bed. These logs, often rounds that had not been split, were the designated ‘all-nighters’ since they had the best chance of burning until morning. It struck Kid that the ambiance of those memories is only felt when re-living the moment. When you’re in the moment, you don’t notice any particular atmosphere.
“Are we ready to turn in?” Maria asked as she laid on a bed.
“Should someone be keeping watch?” Jess responded. They both turned to Kid.
He pondered for a second and then looked out the window. He realized the moon stage was irrelevant. “It’s overcast and pitch black out there. Even if someone was to stay up and watch, by the time they spotted them it would be too late anyway.”
“I agree.” Jess blew out one of the two candles and laid next to Maria.
Heidi jumped into the other double-bed in the main room by herself. “Not to mention, who could actually stay awake at this point.”
Picking up the remaining lit candle, Kid noted, “No lookout tonight, but we should have someone doing that during daylight hours.”
“They aren’t finding this place anyway,” Jess muttered, sounding like he was already dozing off.
Kid went into the middle room to sleep with Sara. She stirred and awoke as he climbed in next to her, so he gently massaged her shoulders and neck. His worry for her was growing. He could tell that her breaths were more and more labored. She was very weak and lethargic, and spaced out like someone on heavy drugs. She just wasn’t herself at all. What the hell was in the weapon shot that grazed her? he wondered.
He blew out the candle, kissed her on the cheek, and wrapped his arm around her midsection. Although weakly, she embraced his arm and pulled it tighter against her body. While she dozed off, he lay there thinking of everything that happened that day. After a moment his mind couldn’t deal with the stress of reliving it again, and in self-defense, he too fell asleep.
In the middle of the night, Kid’s eyes opened. What was that noise? He jumped out of bed, startled. The wood stove door was open and the embers cast the room in a faint, orange-tinted glow. Stepping over to the window, at first he couldn’t look. He expected to see the whole pack of soldiers standing there. Summoning his courage, he lifted his head up. A chill shot through his body as he saw a pair of eyes staring in the window. The dark eyes were fixed on his. He froze. A moment later he uttered, “No.” The enemy also moved his mouth. As he backed away from the window, so did the enemy. He stared and tilted his head sideways. S
mirking, Kid saluted, and his reflection saluted back.
Pressing his face against the glass he searched for soldiers. Seeing no eyes in the darkness, he spun around at the crack of wood popping. There’s the noise, he realized. He fed the wood stove two more logs and climbed back into bed
The next day Kid was the first to wake. He sat in bed staring at the ceiling for a couple of minutes. Did yesterday really happen? Turning his head, he saw Sara next to him, answering his question. The wood burning in the stove was all but extinguished, and there was a chill in the air. His face could feel the cold, but the rest of him was warm and comfortable under the heavy blanket. There was a faint smell of burning wood, but it was a nice smell. He really didn’t want to get out of bed, so he let himself just lay there for a couple more minutes.
Being careful not to wake Sara, he finally sat up and lit a candle on the small table next to him. As he stood up he rubbed his legs and winced when he hit the large bruise on his shin. He put a few logs on the fire, and stood close rubbing his hands together. Laying his warm hands on his scruffy cheeks, he wondered how long it had been since he shaved. As soon as the thought entered his mind, his face started to itch and he felt like he had a hundred ingrown hairs. Putting on his shoes, he grabbed the percolator coffeepot and went outside.
He crossed his arms against the bite of the crisp morning air. The stars were fading in deference to the impending dawn, casting the scene in a soft gray. Kid squinted as he cased out the area. There was no sign of the soldiers, so he walked down to the stream, crouched down, and dunked the coffeepot. The sound of the stream’s trickling water was mesmerizing. He put the filled percolator to the side, and using his index finger, he scooped snow from the ground. Although it was an exercise in futility, he brushed his teeth with his finger. Taking the coffeepot, he made his way back up the hill to the cabin.
Putting coffee grounds in the pot, he placed it on the wood stove in the main room and stoked the fire. While waiting, he sat on the edge of Heidi’s bed, close enough to the stove to keep warm. As soon as the coffee was done, he poured himself a cup and sat at the table. Outside the window, a dream-like scene was emerging. The deep snow was bright white and glowing in the dawn. Sipping his steaming hot coffee, he noticed that the snow was still clinging to the tree branches. The white powder on the ground and the pine trees, coupled with the stream flowing under the small wooden bridge, created a scene as beautiful as a postcard. It’s just like a coffee commercial, he thought as his took another sip of his piping hot drink. It was a simple, pleasant thought, and one he knew couldn’t last. Not with the heavier and more disturbing ones that were lurking. Where are the soldiers and Elder-1 now? he wondered as he shivered, and not from the chill in the air. He was sure the soldiers were still in the woods searching for them. He just hoped they were many miles away, and that they would freeze to death before finding the cabin.
Sara moaned in pain, so Kid ran into the middle room. She was trying to raise herself, but couldn’t. He propped her up and brought her in a cup of coffee. With his assistance, she slowly and painfully lifted the cup to her mouth.
“How do you feel today,” he asked.
“Bad,” she said as she looked around the room.
“At least it’s warm in here.”
“Yes,” she replied and continued to drink her coffee. Once finished, she handed the empty cup back to him. “That was strong, but good.” She still appeared to be in a daze.
“Glad you liked it.” Kid tried to hide his surprise. He had made the coffee intentionally weak to conserve grinds. She hates weak coffee. She really must not feel well.
He heard Maria yawn and her bed creaked as she stirred. Checking his watch, it was only 6:15 a.m. Why is everyone up so early, especially after the long day they all had yesterday? he wondered. He then realized he should be asking himself the same question.
Soon everyone was awake and drinking coffee. Jess made a large batch of cream of wheat for breakfast. “How was your food?” he asked Maria.
“Good, but it would sit better if I wasn’t worried sick that Elder-1 and his troops might find us at any minute,” she responded.
Sara was still not feeling well. She wasn’t able to get out of bed, and went back to sleep right after she ate, so Kid climbed up on the roof. From the deck, he looked out at the ocean. He squinted as he noticed the three dots out at sea. He peered through the binoculars he had grabbed from the storage area under the trapdoor, and could see the ships more clearly as they floated side by side. He then scanned the woods in all directions. No soldiers in sight. Jess climbed up the ladder and joined him. “I guess we can take turns keeping watch. I’ll take the first shift, if you want to stay with Sara,” he offered.
Kid went down to be with his injured girlfriend. He laid beside Sara, who was napping. Concluding that she needed the rest, he didn’t talk, but just kept his arm around her.
Throughout the morning and early afternoon, Kid, Jess, Maria, and Heidi took turns serving as lookout. Nobody spotted anything unusual in the woods. When Jess wasn’t on lookout duty, he made an alarm system out of ropes and a bell. As always, Kid was impressed by his friend’s ingenuity. Jess used the ropes as trip wires, hidden under the snow in the trail leading up to the cabin and the trail going away from the cabin. He laid them over small trenches he dug around the first bend of each trail, and covered them with snow. The ropes were tied to a bell inside the front door of the cabin. Kid helped him finish the alarm, and they successfully tested it a few times.
Midafternoon, Kid was sitting on the bed when suddenly the bell inside the cabin started to ring. Jess hurried down the ladder from the roof. Kid picked up Sara and ran for the truck. Once outside, he turned left, then right, trying to figure out where the soldiers were coming from. Jess was standing with the keys in his hand. Sounding frantic, he asked, “Where’s Maria?”
“She must be out back!” Heidi started to run around the side of the cabin.
“Stop! Don’t leave!” Maria was screaming as she ran back on the trail, zipping her uniform. “That was me!” she yelled as she approached the cabin.
Jess lifted his arms up in the air, “What the…” he started to say and dropped his hands against his side. The keys jingled as they bounced off of his thigh.
“That was me,” she repeated, out of breath from her short sprint to the cabin. “Why did you run the stupid rope for the alarm over there?” She pointed with the roll of toilet paper in her hand. “My bathroom is that way!”
“Ok, Ok. No harm done.” Kid carried Sara for a few steps, and headed toward the door.
“Can we sit out here?” she whispered to him.
“What? Outside?” he asked. “That’s probably not a good idea. You’re already sick.”
“Just for a minute?” Her eyes pleaded.
He was reluctant as he looked at Sara in his arms. He sighed and surrendered. “Jess, can you grab a chair from inside?”
“You want to sit out in the cold?” Jess sounded surprised.
She answered, “Yes. Right here.”
“Whatever floats your boat,” he said and shook his head. He walked in and grabbed a wood chair. He put it down in the path between the truck and the cabin, where the snow was already flattened from the previous foot traffic.
Kid carefully sat her down facing the stream, the little wooden bridge and the forest beyond. Kneeling down and keeping his hand on her to make sure she didn’t fall over, he scanned the area. He had to admit, the scene was very beautiful and peaceful. The stream flowed steadily, and the trees were wearing the snow upon their branches like a comfortable white shawl. The trail leading from the cabin seemed to disappear into a single point as the trail made a sharp left turn beyond the little bridge.
He had a recollection that Sara was captivated by this same view the first time she came to the cabin. The only difference was that this time, there was a snow cover. He inhaled and thought he smelled pine. Given that everything was frozen, he knew it had to be an
olfactory recollection from being there with her in the spring, when the smell of pine was ever-present. Sara just stared at the scene and smiled. Even in her condition, she seemed to be fully absorbing the moment.
After several long minutes, Kid said, “That’s enough, Missy. We’d better get you inside.” She had a slight look of curiosity as he picked her up.
In the middle room, he laid her down on the bed and pulled the blanket up over her. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“You’re welcome.” He kissed her on the forehead. “Now let’s get back to resting and recovering.”
Walking back through the main room, Kid was ready to go outside and climb up on the roof. He paused and headed back to the middle room. He peeked in to check on Sara one more time. She still seemed content, and absorbed in her moment. But it disturbed him that her smile was so pained.
Chapter 27
December 31, 2044
Saturday, Midday
The Pine Barrens of New Jersey
Five days after the event
“I couldn’t tell which trail Maria was coming from when the bell started ringing,” Kid noted as he sat with Jess on the roof. “We should only use the bell for one trail, and use something else for the one going in the other direction.”
After a moment, Jess said, “We could tie one of the ropes to a pan, and leave it on the edge of a shelf? The trail leading to the cabin would be the bell, but the trail leading away would be a pan.”
“At least we would know which direction someone was coming from.”
“Let me go set that up. It’s your turn up here anyway.” Jess climbed down the ladder.
Alone on the roof, Kid took the binoculars and scanned the area.
“Hey Kid, what can we do down here to help?” Heidi called up from the ground. He shrugged his shoulders. She put her hand on her hip and tapped her foot. Peering in the back door of the cabin, she yelled to Jess, “Hey, do we have anything to take a bath in?”
“Yeah, the stream,” he called out from inside the cabin. “You get used to the cold after you’re in it for a while.”