Authors: J. Richardson
“
Me
too, the cell is dead, the car won't start and the power is out at
the house,” she said with frustration.
“
That's
weird. Come on, lets get back to the house and eat these doughnuts,”
he said
to
the girls.
That
was five days ago. Trish and Eric still did not know what had
happened but they knew something was way wrong. They waved down a
small boat or two and asked if they knew anything. No one did, one
man said there were cars stopped everywhere, nobody had power. Sure
enough, Eric looked through the binoculars and cars were not moving,
vehicles scattered along the distant bridge that spanned the lake.
They had their little paddle boat, even if they could get somewhere
in it...
where
and what would they do from wherever. They had
stocked the lake house with pretty good supplies, food and bottled
water. At first, they didn't really get overly concerned. As the days
passed, he and Trish agreed, they were going to have to figure out
how long they could just stay put. They couldn't communicate with
anyone, they had no idea about Trish's work, about family or the
situation beyond the gates of the addition. Eric knew that his
brother and family were supposed to be visiting his mother about 90
miles away. She had always been a bit of a hoarder, they were
probably surviving well. Their own supplies were getting a bit
sparse, though. They had no way of knowing that Trish's father was
winding his way down little used country roads, trying to reach his
daughter.
Jack
took
the
soft bag that was made for the top of Beth's SUV and plenty of tie
downs, threw
them
in the back of the wagon. Beth had
packed
up a little food, including a jar of vanilla wafers that she had
“
dry
canned” for the babies...
forever
the optimist.
He
included
a
couple of big soda bottles of water. It is just getting daylight and
Lee joined
him
in the front seat, his .45 at his waist. He set the AR on the seat
beside Jack's .45. “Before dark,” he said
as
he kissed
Beth
goodbye. He knows exactly which way he was going. He and Beth had
never
liked taking the major highways or Interstate and they had
over
the years, explored nearly every country lane around this part of
Texas. He backed
out
of the drive, as he pulled
forward
he looked
across
the street.
“
Damn,
Lee, I haven't checked on the elderly couple there. I know it is
early but I need to do that. Will you stay with the car a few
minutes?” Jack got out and walked
up
the walk, he knocked
on
the neighbor's door. “Mr. Carpenter, it's Jack, from across the
street. Are you in there? Are you okay,
Mr.
Carpenter?” Finally, the door was cracked and the elderly man
peered
through
the narrow opening.
“
Hello,
Mr. Carpenter. Are you and the wife making it? Beth told me you have
a generator for her oxygen,” said
Jack.
Mr.
Carpenter's voice was not very strong, “The generator is
propane, Jack. I still have fuel for it”.
“
Do
you need anything else? We can share a little supplies,” said
Jack.
“
That's
generous of you, I can see that you have your family there to take
care of. Listen, we appreciate your concern. Truth is, the wife is
not doing so great. She is really weary. We are old and we didn't
plan on being around a whole lot longer, anyway.” He gave
Jack
a weak smile, “Don't you worry, we are together and we will be
fine.”
Jack
felt a deep sadness sink in. They were probably in their late 80's,
he had often seen one or both of them puttering around in their well
landscaped yard or leaving in their nice luxury car. Often there were
visitors parked in front of the house. He knew he had to get moving.
“I will check on you again, Mr. Carpenter. I am going to try
and get my youngest daughter and her family. She lives up north, on
the lake. You take care, be careful who you open the door to.”
The old man quietly closed the door and Jack could hear the locks
clicking.
Jack
joined Lee and the wagon rumbled forward. Just a couple of blocks, at
the highway, they met their first obstacles. They had to steer the
hulking car between the still vehicles. How had Jason maneuvered
through this mess? They even had to stop and push one or two out of
way, practically every car was vandalized. Jack declared that as soon
as he could reach a street that was not so highly used, he would get
off the once busy highway. He could weave his way north, a block or
so at a time. Since he had been a fireman, he was very familiar with
the streets of the city. They made their way to the north of the city
in less than thirty minutes. Before they left the city, Lee said,
“Jack, there is a drugstore. It is off by itself, the front
windows don't look broken out. Think we might get in there and find
some of Lynn's meds?”
Jack
eased the wagon around behind the drugstore. He could see that the
lock on the metal door was broken off.
Probably won't be a thing
left in the whole place...but, I need to check it out.
He was
having a hard time dealing with the fact that he was sitting here
with an accomplice, wondering how he could break in a store and
steal. It went against everything he had ever stood for. Lee said,
“Somebody has been here.”
They
looked around the area and didn't see anyone moving about. They took
the guns, locked the car up and pulled open the heavy metal door to
the store. The door slammed behind them with a clanging sound and it
was really dark inside. Jack pulled out a flashlight and they saw
boxes busted open and various things scattered everywhere. They
spotted the doorway to the main part of the store, it was a little
lighter in the store area. Shelves were not completely empty, in many
aisles things had just been raked off, busted on the floor or looted.
Jack saw the pharmacy sign on the east wall. They moved behind the
counter and to the shelves, Jack got the list out. He has no idea how
the drugs were arranged,
maybe alphabetically.
He started
looking for Lynn's most needed medication. There was a crash of
something falling, back in the store. Lee spun around and spotted a
rat skulking across the aisle. He lowered the gun, “Crap! Nasty
ass rodents.”
They
had a couple of trash bags from a box they found. Jack said, “Al-l-
right”, he had found the medication and he dropped all that was
on the shelf into the bag, about ten bottles. He managed to find a
couple of more meds that Beth had listed. Then, another of Lynn's and
blood pressure pills that he and Beth both take. He chuckled, he had
probably lost nearly ten pounds in the last few days, working and
worrying and not much appetite. Soon, he might not need the pills.
Lots of drugs were still on the shelves. Looked like the looters were
picky, most likely looking for uppers, downers, whatever got them
high. Since they were here, Jack was going to get whatever they might
use. He looked for anything that ended in -cillin or moxin,
antibiotics and maybe some pain pills. He asked Lee, “You know
any names of pain meds?”
“U
m-m,
codeine...think about what the dentist uses,
”
he
said.
They
dropped a few more bottles in the bag. There was not really much
edible stuff on the shelves, some nuts, some packages of dried fruit,
a few things here and there. They put those in the other bag. Also,
some big packages of toilet tissue and all the wet wipe type things
that they can get, those will help save water and be antiseptic. They
pulled several bags of disposable diapers off and tossed them in the
bag. In the back, they saw some cases of water, stacked in the
corner, Jack took the bags and Lee started loading up some of the
cases. They stacked about ten cases of water in the back of wagon and
threw the bags in. Still, no one around, before their luck ran out,
they pulled away with their loot. Jack soon hit the first of many
rural roads that they would travel and moved north. It was still
early morning and they were making good time on the mostly clear side
roads. Out here in the country, you could nearly believe nothing had
changed.
As
they had moved through town, it had been a very different picture.
Not just the cars looked pillaged but more and more of the stores and
anywhere that food might be, had broken windows and doors, things
strewn out all around. And they were seeing more fires, some
intentional in yards and open areas. Some structures had actually
burned out or were still on fire, fires on the horizon in dozens of
places. The most shocking scene was the crash of a medical transport
helicopter. It still smoldered, the blades of the chopper rose up
from a house roof, some charred looking limbs sticking out from under
a stretcher cot that was thrown out of the transport. For some
reason, Jack had not previously thought of the planes in the sky.
Looking at this crash and then at the many fires in the distance, he
said to Lee, “Of course, the planes would have just fell out of
the sky.”
Lee
looked over at him, “S--t, thousands would have died just from
that.” Jack caught just a brief scent of the awful smell, that
he recognized, of charred flesh. They caught glimpses of people
moving around, some openly gawked at the moving vehicle, most were
intent on what they were up to.
In
the few small towns that Jack's meandering route was took them, it
was not quiet so bad. They had made it to the bridge that spanned the
lake, only about an hour longer than a pleasure trip to visit the
kids would have taken. Jack slowed, looked up ahead and he could see
dead vehicles dotting the bridge. There was very little shoulder on
the bridge, just guard rails. Some sections looked like it would be a
tight squeeze to get through. Like right in front of them, where a
big bread truck sat, the front end crossing the center line a bit.
Jack inched the wagon through, not without “grandma's”
pristine old car getting it's first battle scars. As they moved past
the truck, they could see the back doors had been beat to hell,
finally pried open. Not much left in there, a few snack cakes and
loaves of bread mashed into the hot pavement. They had to get out and
move two more vehicles but made it across to the big metal locked
gates that were the entrance to Trish's lake addition. Jack pulled
off the road and up to the gates. “What now?” said Lee.
“
I
have an opener, of course it's useless. Eric, my son-in-law, did tell
me about a manual release...if I can just remember where it is.”
Jack bailed
out,
he climbed
over
the barb wire fence, that led
off
from rock pillars beside the gate, to get to the back side. He looked
around
the lock mechanism and the box that housed
the
swing out controls. Lee stood
in
the door of the wagon. He said, “Jack, this could get us shot.”
“
Yeah,
well keep a look out, will ya?”
Jack
finally found a switch up underneath the lock and he heard a click.
The gates were loose, he swung them back towards him. “Drive
through, Lee”. They closed the gates behind them. The narrow
road twisted and turned, following the shore of the lake. Weekend
houses, some looking too grand for weekenders dotted the shoreline,
woods were thick on the opposite road side. It was about a mile to
where Trish and Eric's modest lake cabin sat. This was a popular
retreat for wealthy Dallas-ites. However, Eric was really smart about
real estate. He found an older house on a nice part of the lake and
bought it for a steal. He and Trish had worked hard, remodeling and
were so proud of their house on the lake. Along the way, Jack saw
Eric's truck, he eased around it, feeling the tires spin a bit on the
soft road side. “He didn't quite make it to the cabin,”
said Jack. They turned off on a small circle and pulled up to the
lake cottage. Jack saw Eric coming up from the lake, carrying a
bucket. Trish, came out the back door, two little giggling girls
running right past her, grabbed on to Jack's legs, squealing
“Poppa!”. Jack, reached for Trish. Her eyes were moist,
“Daddy”. He grasped Eric's hand to shake. “Are you
guys okay?”