BEYOND THE GRID BOX SET: The Complete Beyond The Grid series (book 1-4)

by Connor Mccoy

  Jacob’s apprehension turned to joy. He and Domino knew this woman. “Hey,” he cried. “Hey!”

  The rider put on her brakes. At this distance, her graying chestnut hair and light blue eyes were evident for Jacob to see. And sure enough, she carried a small sack on her back that likely was filled with water and food. Jacob could not recall Mrs. Keenan traveling without those supplies. He had been relieved every time he had seen her since the EMP aftermath, mostly because he wondered how the lady was able to survive all alone and on her long journeys up and down the state.

  “I guess I’m just a tough Irish lady,” she would answer him jokingly.

  Domino approached the center of the road just as Mrs. Kennan came to a complete halt. “Talk about a small world,” Domino said. “How are you doing?”

  Mrs. Kennan kicked open her kickstand. “About twenty miles per hour.” She climbed off the seat and let out a groan. “With all that riding, you think it would turn my ass to lead. Oh, I’m sorry, you don’t have your kids with you, do you? I better watch my tongue.” She giggled in her usual high-pitched tone.

  “Thanks for being careful.” Domino chuckled. “Don’t worry, Jubilee and Brandon are at home. Oh, and so is Courtney. I don’t think you’ve had a chance to meet her yet, have you?”

  “Nope, can’t say I have. Speaking of kids, are you planning to pop one out of the oven? You’re going to need some more farmhands.”

  “No, I think I’m done!” Domino shook her head.

  “I don’t know.” Jacob strolled quietly up to Domino. “Doesn’t sound like quite a bad idea. In fact, I think we gave it a try last night.” With that statement, he grabbed his wife full on her rear.

  Domino squealed. “Jay!” She returned his gesture with a slap on his posterior.

  Jacob laughed along with her. Of course, he had taken care of any further baby-making with a vasectomy just one year before the EMP made such an operation unlikely. He and Domino had kept open the idea of enlarging their family for years after Brandon was born, but as they began to feel a little age dig into their bodies, they figured they didn’t have the energy to rear another child.

  If we only knew, Jacob thought. Although, fortunately, Courtney came to them as a twelve-year-old, and Arnie, well, he was a very different kind of child.

  “So, anything new with you?” Jacob asked. “You look like you’ve put a lot more miles on that bike since we last saw each other.”

  “A lot of miles for sure.” Mrs. Keenan said, wiping some perspiration from her brow. “I don’t suppose you’re walking to Skylar?”

  “We are.” Jacob did not like the sudden darkening of the woman’s tone. “Why? What’s happened?”

  Mrs. Keenan threw her head back and sighed. “Mary, mother of Jesus. It’s…it’s bad. It sounds like you haven’t heard.”

  “Lack of TV, phones, and texting leaves us with travelers on foot and carrier pigeons,” Domino said. “What happened to Skylar?”

  The cheeks on Mrs. Keenan’s face hardened. “The place was sacked like Rome. Stores burned, people shot, blood on the concrete. My God, the place is in ruins.”

  Chapter Three

  Jacob, his load now beside him on the asphalt, listened with horrified attention at Mrs. Keenan’s story. Domino, her arms folded, took in her words stoically. But Jacob, spotting the tics in his wife’s face, knew Domino hardly was less terrified. Mrs. Keenan was not one to miss a detail, and despite her occasional dips into hyperbole, she actually was very accurate with her stories.

  “Skylar was just the latest,” Mrs. Keenan said. “These raiders are on the march. They’ve been operating in the middle of the state, closer to Richmond, for a good while. Then they headed into Charlottesville. Took days, but they burned it to the ground and made off with what they could carry. A bunch of Attila the Huns right there. Then they headed north.” She jabbed her thumb to the road behind her. “Skylar was next on their list.”

  “What happened to the people?” Domino’s voice rose in volume and anger. “Did they fight back? Terry, I know he gathered a lot of ammo—”

  “They weren’t taken by surprise.” Mrs. Keenan cut in. “It was a fight and the anarchists didn’t get off without a lot of dead, but the town caught on fire. It just wasn’t safe to stay. So, the defenders bought time for the civilians to evacuate. I ran into a few hiding in the woods. There’s a lot more of them, I know that much, but they’re not willing to show themselves. The anarchists were a vicious bunch.”

  Jacob, though he worried for their friends in Skylar, also feared for his farm. His land was not very far away. These anarchists might, just might, happen upon it if they traveled south.

  “I don’t suppose you know how many of these anarchists are still out there?” Jacob said, “A lot, a few…”

  “Wish I could say, but they got stung pretty good in Skylar. Of course, they’ve had their share of bad fights. I heard from a little birdie that they tried to make a run on Fall Crossing and, hell yes, they lived to regret it.”

  “Fall Crossing?” Domino asked, softly.

  “Yep. Heard of it?” Mrs. Keenan asked.

  “You could say that,” Domino replied. The town was the place where their old nemesis, Alex Cowell, had fled. It was hard not to think of him whenever the name of that community sprung up.

  “Well, Fall Crossing is filled with tough people. That was the only place these anarchists lost a fight. They fled toward Charlottesville after that,” Mrs. Keenan said.

  Jacob glanced at his pack. This news changed everything. There would be no trading run now. Even so, he wanted to see Skylar for himself. He was too close to turn back. He also couldn’t shake his worries about the survivors. Perhaps he might run into some of them if he kept going.

  But he still had to secure his wife’s agreement. Would Domino want to keep going or head home? He turned toward her.

  “Doms, what do you think? It sounds like big trouble is up ahead, but still…”

  Domino picked up her own load. “I want to see it too,” she said as if reading his mind.

  “You two going to scout ahead? Could be risky, but I get the feeling that’s not going to stop you,” Mrs. Keenan said.

  Jacob hoisted his pack onto his shoulders. “Risk is something we’ve gotten to know a little too well. We just have to see if we can find any of our friends. Now, you don’t have to come along…”

  “Hell, I got nothing better to do.” Mrs. Keenan gripped her bicycle’s handlebars. “Might as well hang around with you two for a bit!”

  Jacob strapped on his cloth mask. Domino already had donned hers, and Mrs. Keenan had taken the one Jacob had offered. It helped shield them from the searing smoke in the air but, unfortunately, the three of them possessed no similar screen from the horrors around them.

  They had crossed over the town line into Skylar about an hour ago. The first round of buildings had been smashed, but that was nothing compared to the carnage in the town’s main business district, where many of the stores were reduced to charred shells. It also was hard to walk through the streets without stepping on a human body. Mrs. Keenan had stopped riding her bike and now was walking it around the corpses they encountered.

  “I don’t believe this.” Jacob’s heart sank as he recognized a small hardware store, now half burned to the ground, with the rest hanging from a barely stable structure.

  “They are like Mongols,” Mrs. Keenan said, with undisguised contempt. “Savages, all of them. Wish my ancestor Darius O’Hara was here in this time. He’d chop off all their heads with his longsword and mount the lot of them on pikes.”

  Jacob studied the bodies as they walked. Oddly, it was more comforting than observing the carnage wreaked upon buildings, because many of the bodies looked unfamiliar to him. Also, the corpses wore dirtier, tattered clothing, and the men wore long, unkempt beards. These must be the anarchists and, judging from their numbers, more of them fell in battle than the defenders of Skylar.

  That wasn’t to say Ja
cob and his party didn’t encounter any familiar faces. Domino gasped under her mask when they discovered Marley Anderson, a fifty-four-year-old store manager, lying dead with a rifle in his arms. His white buttoned shirt was riddled with bullet holes, yet his face remained unmarred by gunfire, the only consolation to what had been a violent death.

  Finally, Domino said, “Jay, there’s nothing here. There’s not a chance in hell anyone can live in this horrible atmosphere.” She fanned away a wafting of smoke.

  “I agree.” Turning to Mrs. Keenan, Jacob asked, “Do you have an idea where the survivors would have gone? I didn’t see any signs of travelers from where we entered Skylar.”

  “If my guess is right, I believe a lot of them poured out southeast,” she replied.

  Jacob studied the nearby street signs. At least many of them remained standing, which provided Jacob with some references to determine where they should go. “Southeast, southeast. We’re on Apple Street. I think if we hang a right on Chowder Boulevard, that might take us to the southeast corner of town. If a lot of people did get out that way, we should pick up their trail.”

  Jacob peeled off his mask. At last, they had made it away from the primary smoking ruins. It also helped that the wind was blowing past them, which would fan the remaining fumes and smoke in the opposite direction.

  The three of them had made it to a gulf between two old houses at the edge of town. The ground was not paved. The fence that marked the edges of the backyards of the two homes was cut down at the end of the gulf. Jacob studied the ground. It was marred with many shoe prints.

  “The survivors filed through here,” Jacob said, “No doubt about it.”

  “Good thing they avoided the main roads.” Domino pulled off her mask. “I don’t see any bullet holes or bodies.”

  That was true. Jacob had yet to find a poor soul lying on the ground. The fighting must have taken place back in town. It was a testament to the bravery of Skylar’s people that the invaders never got close to this route of escape.

  A grove of trees was a short walk ahead. Turning to Mrs. Keenan, Jacob asked of her, “It’s going to be a little rough dragging a bicycle in there. What do you think?”

  The older woman reached for a compartment attached to her seat. Flipping it open, she revealed a coiled-up patch of chains. “Not to worry. I’ll just chain her to one of those trees. We’ll come back for her later.”

  Jacob had to admire Mrs. Keenan’s bravery. The three of them had been tromping through this forest for a while and she seemed as unflappable as ever. These woods didn’t seem dangerous, but then Jacob spotted a fresh patch of feces. Something was lurking out here, yet Jacob had trouble spotting any tracks.

  That animal excrement smelled very fresh. Whatever is out here could be a few paces ahead of us. Jacob dangled his hand close to his gun. He feared for Mrs. Keenan, but he also wondered about the people from Skylar. Hopefully, they were well-armed and ready for any surprises nature or man was ready to spring on them.

  Glancing at his wife, he asked, “So, what do you think?”

  Once again, she seemed to read his mind. “Could be a deer. Or maybe just a raccoon. Does anything around here look like it’s been disturbed?”

  Slowing his pace, Jacob took greater notice of the twigs, branches and tree roots strewn across the landscape. A bigger animal would crack a weak twig or leave deep prints, or possibly bat aside and break a low hanging branch.

  “I don’t know,” he finally said. “All sorts of animals could be hanging around here. They can go off in any direction. Let’s just worry about finding the survivors, if we can. We can’t stick around for too much longer or we won’t have time to get home before night hits.”

  “Hey, now.” Mrs. Keenan tapped Jacob on the shoulder. “Don’t look now, but I think we found Yogi Bear.”

  Jacob allowed Mrs. Keenan to pull him in an easterly direction. And while the animal didn’t sport the tie and hat of the famous Hanna Barbara cartoon character, there was no doubt that Jacob was laying eyes on a bear off in the distance. The creature, on all fours, was advancing toward a large rock. The animal’s eyes were fixed on it. Evidently the bear had found something of interest there.

  “Jacob, what do you say?” Mrs. Keenan asked. For the first time, the lady sounded a little nervous.

  “Keep it together. Bears actually aren’t as aggressive as people think, just as long as you don’t do anything stupid,” Jacob said. “A lot of bears actually don’t want anything to do with people.”

  “Really?” Mrs. Keenan kept her eyes fixed on the bear. “That’s mighty good to know. So, what? Do we turn around now?”

  “I wonder what our friend over there is so curious about,” Jacob said.

  He couldn’t stifle his general curiosity about this animal. He had grown up in the northern Virginia suburbs, where the idea of encountering wildlife like a bear was unthinkable. The animal didn’t look aggressive at all. The bear seemed intrigued more than anything. “Let’s just round these trees. I want to see what’s on that rock.”

  “You sure about this?” Mrs. Keenan gripped him a little tighter. “Uh, Domino?”

  “I think we’ll be okay.” Domino did flash a wry look at Jacob, which told him that he did not have a lot of time to satisfy his curiosity.

  Jacob led them around the trees. “Now, what we’re looking for is bear cubs or a dead body. If that’s a female bear, she won’t like us poking around when she’s got little cubs to defend, or a nice meal. I think we’re at a safe enough distance. Just keep an eye out.”

  Once they rounded the trees, Jacob stopped before he fully exposed himself. “There!” They had no problem seeing the rock from where they were. The surface was coated with lichen and a few fallen branches, some of which still retained leaves.

  Jacob blinked his eyes. Something was moving on top of the rock. It looked like a rat from this distance, but Jacob knew whatever it was had to be much bigger, perhaps the size of a dog.

  “Jay,” Domino said, “I see something.”

  “Me too.” Jacob fished out his small telescope and fitted it to his right eye. When he saw what was up there, he nearly fell back. “Damn! Doms, it’s a little girl!”

  Domino just had finished pulling out her own scope. “Damn! Are you sure?” A look through her own eyepiece confirmed Jacob’s report. “Oh God, no! The bear’s cornered her up there!”

  “A little girl? Oh, Lord,” Mrs. Keenan said.

  Jacob focused his lens. “No, hold the phone. That’s a little boy.” Not that it mattered whether it was a boy or a girl cornered up there. The boy was wearing brown, soiled clothing, and with his hunched over stance and bony limbs, Jacob could understand why he had mistaken him for a rat without the benefit of the telescope. His long hair also made him look like a girl from certain angles, but the shift of his face toward Jacob confirmed he was a boy.

  Whoever he was, he was trapped against a thick tree branch. The bear was still on the ground and made no moves to climb up the rock just yet.

  “Well, this changes everything. That’s no picnic basket Yogi’s after.” Lowering his scope, Jacob glanced at Domino and Mrs. Keenan. “We’ve got to get the bear away from him.”

  “Get the bear away from him?” Mrs. Keenan laughed. “How are you going to do that, child? I mean, I guess you’re not talking about shooting the beast, are you?”

  “Not unless we have to, and that’s actually not a good idea. Unless you put it down for real on the first shot, wounding a bear only is going to put us in a ton of trouble if he’s still able to fight. Like I said, many bears aren’t looking to throw down with people.” Jacob also didn’t like the idea of gunning the bear down unless the animal absolutely was prepared to kill. The animal should have a chance to walk away.

  “Do you think the bear looks at that boy as food?” Domino asked.

  “Probably not,” Jacob said. “I’d like to think the bear can’t climb up on the rock and will get bored and leave, but there are a lot of
bears that are good climbers. If the boy got up there, the bear probably can, too.”

  Domino dug in her pack. “Do you have any bear spray?”

  “I packed some.” Jacob dug into his own pack.

  “You’re going to spray him? Isn’t that going to piss him off?” Mrs. Keenan asked.

  Jacob pulled his spray free. “Actually, bears are far more likely to make a run for it. Remember, this stuff isn’t very pleasant on humans or animals. But hopefully, I don’t have to go this far. That bear looks like a black bear. You can try discouraging black bears.”

  Mrs. Keenan chuckled. “Some bears you can’t fool around with, huh?”

  Domino shook her head. “If that was a grizzly bear, we probably would have to use the guns.”

  “You may have to anyway. I’m going in. You keep your guns on our friend here. If he decides I would make good lunch meat, drop him,” Jacob said.

  “I probably should go with you. Bears are going to be more intimidated by numbers. You might look like a walking drumstick if you go out there by yourself,” Domino said.

  “You got a point. Bears generally are put off if confronted by multiple attackers. Mrs. Keenan, stay here and keep out of sight. If this works, the bear will run off.”

  “There but the grace of God go you two,” Mrs. Keenan said, “Just the same, I’ll be ready with my gun if you two need me.”

  Chapter Four

  Jacob and Domino crept toward the animal. Sudden movement would be a mistake. They would let the bear know they were coming, but they would not make it look like they were moving in for an attack.

  At the moment, the bear showed no sign that it noticed them. It remained fixated on the boy on top of the rock. The boy seemed almost as still as a statue, reacting neither to Jacob nor Domino.

  Jacob hoped the bear would turn and see him and his wife. He didn’t want to get too close and take the animal by surprise. However, the bear instead turned and put its paws on the rock.