by Jeff Seats
“Hey! I could learn to like that.”
Paul smacked Kelvin a bit harder,
“Ouch! I’ve changed my mind.” Kelvin said with a smile and proceeded into the building.
Inside the group had stopped in front of a tall desk. The rest of the station was visible beyond, separated by a low wooden railing with a gate built into it like you might find in a courtroom. The interior of the police station had a feel like it was right out of a Perry Mason episode; one of those where Perry goes to the small town to save a friend from a murder conviction.
Dick stood at the desk and rang the bell. “Where the hell are the cops?” He pounded on the bell a bit harder.
Ellie took a seat next to Jenna on a bench along a window wall. “This is a bit spooky, isn’t it? I mean, where is everyone?”
“Yeah, I’m starting to get a little wigged out.” Jenna looked out of the window behind them. “It's just so strange not seeing anyone. You know?”
“Yeah, like some kind of end of the world story,” Kelvin said. “Bus breaks down in the middle of nowhere and while the passengers wait for help a plague sweeps across the land leaving this rag-tag group as the last survivors of civilization left to repopulate the earth...” He looked at Dick, “Ewww!”
“Just shut the fuck up,” Dick said to Kelvin. He was obviously a bit freaked out by all this as well. “There must be a festival or town meeting is all. We’ll find someone.”
Kelvin added just one more example. “Or Wicker Man ceremony...”
“Enough of this.” Paul pushed his way through the gate. “I'm going to see if I can find anything that can help.”
Since Paul gave them permission, the others crowded through the gate behind him and entered the office area of the station.
Paul went from one desk to the next. Mostly all he saw were office items scattered about; papers, pens, staplers; the usual types of things but nothing like personal effects. There were no family photos, no greeting cards, no post-it-notes and no computers, but plenty of manual typewriters. He spotted a desk calendar, blew off a thick layer of dust and held it up. “Hey look at this. 1961... Strange.”
Steph pointed to a framed picture of JFK behind Paul hanging next to a flag. “Isn't that Kennedy? Like Bobby, I think?”
“Close,” Wilson said in a dry tone.
Jenna looked through some notepads blowing the dust off as she paged through them. “And all the paperwork is blank. No printing or anything.”
Marion closed the door of a file cabinet. “Same with all the files. The folders have no labels on them and the papers inside have no writing. They're all blank like they’re just space-fillers, and there’s no trash in the garbage cans either.”
Paul picked up a handset from a rotary desk phone. He dialed, heard nothing and tapped on the button in the cradle several times.
“What are you doing?”, asked Ellie.
“Saw this on a movie. It’s a switch of some kind, and it’s supposed to re-connect to the phone line or wake someone up or something, but it doesn't matter, seems to be dead.” Paul held the receiver out for others to hear. “No dial tone.”
Frustrated, Dick slammed back through the gate and headed to the front door of the police station. “Come on let's get outa here. We gotta look around some more. Someone in this town has to have a phone that works.”
“Um, anyone check their cell phone yet?” Jenna asked as she pulled hers out and turned it on. The others did so as well, but they all returned them to their pockets with the same No Service message. “Just thought it was worth a try.”
Cindra pulled on Marion's wrist. “I'm hungry mommy.”
“We all are sweetheart.” Marion looked to the others. “Let’s find a place to eat. They’ll have a phone too.”
Wilson stepped to his family. “That sounds like a good idea.”
“Are we just going to bump around the rest of this town until we stumble on something or does anyone have any idea of how we’re going to find this food joint?” Jenna asked.
Paul grabbed a yellow pad and pencil off of a desk. He blew away the dust and set it down in front of the group and drew a square then divided it into four squares. “This is the town. It’s laid out as a big square with A and B Streets bisecting it into four quarters or blocks and four avenues forming the parameter and then drew an arrow. “This is north. These bottom two blocks...” Paul circled them. “...we walked by the park, here, in the southwest and this residential area in the southeast. The top two blocks appear to be stores and businesses in the northwest...” Paul pointed the pencil at the top left square. “...and governmental and official type buildings in the northeast block which is where we are standing now, here, on Second Avenue.” He marked an X on the map to represent the police station.
“To save time I suggest we split into two groups. One group will continue up Second Avenue to the north with Dick and check out the back side of the town along Third and then down Fourth.”
Dick puffed out his chest for seemingly being validated as a leader, even though he was chosen by the one person he really wanted to punch out.
Paul continued, “I'll take the second group back the way we came and check out the stores up this portion of A Street we haven’t seen yet. Then continue along B and then up north on Fourth. Both groups should converge somewhere along Fourth. If what I’m thinking is right there should be at least one cafe and a grocery store in this town somewhere and this commercial block in the northwest quarter is the most likely location.”
Paul put the pencil down and surveyed the passenger’s faces for questions. “Okay, we good with this?”
“Who goes with who?” Kelvin asked.
“Oh, um Steph...” Paul began.
“She comes with me.” Dick asserted.
“Okay, and Ellie...”
“She's with me too.”
Kelvin whispered to Jenna, “The cock of the walk.” Dick heard the comment and gave Kelvin a menacing look. And much to his own surprise, Kelvin returned a look telling Dick that he wasn't afraid of him. Even though Kelvin had gotten used to bullies a long time ago and knew how to deal with them, it didn't mean that he liked confrontations.
Ellie nodded to Paul that she would be alright as she moved to join Dick’s “team”.
“Alright then. Jenna and Kelvin come with me. Wilson, why don't you go with Dick. Marion and Cindra can be with me.” Paul winked and smiled at Cindra. She bashfully stepped behind her mom. “This town isn't very big, so we should be able to see everything that there is left to see in fairly short order. Good luck.”
With that, they left the police station heading out to find some evidence of life and, perhaps, along with it a place to make a phone call and maybe grab a bite to eat.
Once outside Dick led his "team" up Second Avenue. He stopped and turned and, not seeing his group directly behind him, gave a whistle and a wave for them to catch on up, like a general ordering his troops forward into battle. Then to put an exclamation point on it, Dick clapped his hands yelling, “Come on people. Snap it up!”
Under his breath, Kelvin said to Jenna, “What a d.i.c.k.”
“What gave you that impression?”, she fired back.
“Hey you guys," Paul chided them as he nodded his head back towards Cindra.
“Ooo. Sorry captain!” Kelvin saluted.
Paul smiled. “Stow it, soldier.”
“Yes sir, Mr. Man!”
Paul smiled and shook his head and limped around the corner. At the post office, he looked up the portion of A Street that they had not yet explored. The standard architectural types from his train set analogy laid out in front of him. The next building was a fire station and then a school and then possibly a courthouse. Across A Street was the commercial block where he believed they might find a living, breathing human being along with food and a phone.
“Let's go this way.” He suggested as he hobbled across the street from the post office. On this corner, they found themselves in front of a shoe
store.
Kelvin chimed in. “Unless we do some serious boiling I don't think there's any food in here.” He tried the doorknob and found it locked. “Besides it looks like they're closed for business. I guess our money is no good to them.” Jenna gave him an appreciative nod.
Up the street, they saw Dick and his group cross the north end of A Street as they worked their way along Third Avenue. Paul waved and yelled, “See anything?”
“Not a fucking thing,” Dick yelled back.
Marion sent Dick an angry look as though he cared what she thought.
“Kelvin, you and Jenna finish going up A Street and check out all these store fronts...” Paul directed them. “And if you find a drug store I could use some more ibuprofen.” He winced as he rubbed at his bum knee. “Marion, Cindra and I will continue along B Street. Find us when you’re done.”
Jenna and Kelvin took off and stopped at the first store front. They peered in through the dirty glass and tried the door. It was locked and wouldn’t budge. They looked back at Paul signaling that the store was locked. Paul waved them to continue, turned to go and saw that Cindra was crying, refusing to move. Marion was doing her best to calm her to no effect.
Paul took a knee in front of Cindra grimacing from the pain. “Listen honey. If we are going to find any help, we all need to act as a team. You are as important as I am or your mother. Maybe you’re more important because you are a bright kid, perhaps one of the most observant girls I have ever met.” Cindra sniffed. “I mean it. And you've also been acting very bravely in a rough situation.” Not having been around children very much, at least those who spoke English, he had a hard time judging, but at this very moment she was wiping away her tears and started to walk towards the next store front. Marion smiled and wiped the moisture from her eyes as well.
At the door, Cindra tried the handle and found it locked. She shook her head indicating a “no go” and moved on to the next. Three doors away hung a sign stating that it was a grocery store. Cindra ran to it excitedly and gave the door a try. Marion joined her daughter as she entered. Paul caught up with them as they walked out with their heads hanging a bit low. Through the open door, Paul saw a store full of nothing. Another empty model kit building.
They continued with a few more storefronts and found the same thing; either locked doors or empty rooms filled with dust and unused furnishings. Jenna and Kelvin came back from their survey and rejoined Paul, Cindra, and Marion. “No luck Cap'n,” Kelvin reported with a salute.
“You know.” Paul said, “You can be a tad annoying.”
“A tad?” Jenna chimed in.
“Sorry. Just giving the man here the respect he deserves.”
««« ‡ »»»
THEY FINISHED CHECKING the remaining stores and stopped at the end of the block. Looking up Fourth Avenue, they saw the other group at the north end of the block and waved. Then Wilson became agitated. He waved and shouted almost jumping up and down. He was pointing at something that was between the two groups and ran towards it.
All the passengers hurried to join Wilson where he was standing.
“What is it, Wilson?” Dick asked a bit out of breath.
The store front that he had brought everyone to had its windows painted black and looked as dead as all the other buildings; perhaps more so.
“Don't you see?” Wilson asked?
“No,” Paul responded.
Wilson pointed up to the sign over the door which read: Bucket of Blood, Bar & Grill. The neon sign in the window was glowing OPEN.
How did he see that when no one else did? Frustration, fatigue? Whatever. The neon light screamed electricity, which was the first they had seen in use all day, which implied that someone might be home.
Wilson hugged his wife and daughter and looked up at the sign. “It's just like in that ghost town, Virginia City, in Nevada! Remember last year?”
Marion nodded and hugged her husband back.
Dick went up to the door and gave the knob a turn. It moved A bell tinkled a welcome as the door swung open. Music from a jukebox flowed out to greet them. They could see lights on inside. It looked like their problems were on the way to being fixed.
Dick led the way in with the others behind him.
Paul paused. Before entering he turned back and looked across Fourth Avenue and out at the empty expanse of the high desert stretching west, away from the town. The sky was transitioning from a warm red/orange of the sunset into a deep purple as evening was slowly pushing the light of day out of its way to make room for the darkness of night.
This is one damned strange place. Paul thought then walked through the door.
—— DUTY CALLS ——
THE SUN WAS just rising as Liz completed her run. She stopped to catch her breath and take in the magnificent countryside. Southern Arizona had its attractions but to appreciate the Southwest you had to kind of really like the heat. Not here in Idaho. From where she was standing Liz could see the Snake River Valley cradled by the Sawtooth and Bitterroot Mountains to the north and the Owyhee Mountains to the south. Not visible to her, but to the east, sat Pocatello and Idaho Falls at the foothills of the Grand Tetons. The morning sun was starting to spread its warmth over Mountain Home. This country was beautiful, and she was excited to discover everything about it.
Liz looked at her watch and hustled back to her new apartment; military living at its finest. As she jogged to her quarters, she passed some of the others that she recognized from the lecture hall. They acknowledged one another but did not stop to talk. They had been forbidden to discuss their work outside the CSC facility which was a tightly controlled thirty-acre compound carved out of the 122,000-acre base. The regular military and civilian contractors called it the Asylum, because of all the crazy shit that had to be going on in a fenced and restricted area within a fenced and restricted area.
Weird stuff going down within the CSC compound or not, to everyone who lived and worked at Mountain Home those that entered and left the Asylum were all just assumed to be civilian contractors working on top secret technology projects. No one questioned further, at least not in public. It wasn’t the military way, but that didn't keep rumors from proliferating. The word was that the CSC compound housed all sorts of alien remains. Others said it was a high-tech tracking station for satellite surveillance, or a secondary command center for NORAD when the shit really hit the fan. And still, some believed that they knew a guy who knew a guy who was inside and saw that they were flying illegal secret hunt and kill drone missions over friendly countries.
After a quick shower, Liz headed to the commissary for breakfast. She bypassed the serving line and went instead for a bowl of granola, some fresh fruit, and coffee. Balancing her tray of food with her full bag of paperwork, she found an out-of-the-way spot in the dining area where she could sit, read, eat and observe; getting a feel for the place she now called home. Setting her tray down Liz opened her bag and pulled out the red folder and a stack of other material she had dug up in the CSC library then she set her phone on top and opened the folder to a marked page.
She absentmindedly took a scoop of granola into her mouth as she read and dribbled milk onto some of her paperwork. Shit! She paused to wipe it up and then took a look around the room. From this vantage point, Liz saw one of the other new field agents sitting with his new partner. She wondered how he was faring so far. Probably a bit disoriented just like her. Their body language suggested that they were talking shop; leaning in close to one another so no one could hear. At least that was how it appeared to Liz especially when the veteran agent stopped talking and looked up as a random airman walked by. He gave her the evil eye until she was safely beyond earshot then the agents resumed their huddle and, presumably, their secret discussion.
Just as Liz was going to continue her studies the front door opened and she saw Agent Wright enter. He was half reading a newspaper while walking; still seemingly aware of obstacles in his path as he swerved around one contractor, veered to the l
eft of a chair, then through the turnstile and straight to the coffee urn without looking up. She stood and waved to him, but he was too focused on the paper and getting to the coffee. She watched him fold the paper under his arm before he poured coffee into a cup, emptied three sugars into it and then gave it a good stir. Coffee and paper in hand, Agent Wright looked up and around probably looking for a place to sit.
Liz decided that this was as good a time as any to get started with her new partner, so she stood and waved; trying to get his attention.
««« ‡ »»»
WHEN HE GOT his mug filled, Craig surveyed the room looking for a quiet spot to enjoy the drink and read the paper before going to work.
In the corner of his vision, Craig caught the motion of a waving arm. It was Adams, and she was waving at him. Talking with her wasn’t the way he wanted to kick off the day, so he pretended not to see her. She continued signaling, not getting his subtle message. Leave me alone. And now all eyes in the hall were drawn to the animated redhead.
“Over here Agent Wright!” Liz was almost shouting which pretty much made it impossible for him to do anything but join her. Craig walked over to Liz and sat at down.
Leaning in close to her and in a hushed voice, Craig spoke. “When we’re out and in the general mix of the population I am just Craig. We're civilians here. Right?”
“Sorry, sir...Craig. This covert stuff is new to me. Won't happen again.”
“You'll get the hang of it.” Craig surveyed the dining hall and saw the other agent with his new partner; sitting discretely away from the general population. They seemed to be chatting up a storm. Well, he was a newbie to some old fart of an agent at one time too. So this was what he was supposed to be doing. He might as well start now.
Still standing Liz asked awkwardly, “Join me?”
Craig smiled and nodded as he took a chair then looked for a spot to set his coffee down on the crowded table top.
“Oh! Just a minute.” Liz said as she took one pile of paper and stacked it on top of another making some room for his cup. “There.”