The End Boxset: Postapocalyptic Visions of an Unstoppable Collapse (11 page)

She called from the porch, “What's going on out here?”

“Nothing, baby. Everything's fine,” Kirby answered.

“Who's out there with you?” she asked.

“Just some people passing by. Just go back in the house,” Kirby said.

Jeremy had the gun lowered to his side now. He didn't trust Kirby, so he kept the pistol out. “It's me, Linda,” he said. “It's Jeremy.”

Silence followed, and then Linda spoke. “Jeremy?” She walked down the steps of her front porch and into the yard towards him. “
Jeremy
? What—what are you doing here? Why are you—?”

The shine of the pistol gleamed in her eye. The scene came into focus. On the ground was a man. Over him stood Jeremy with the pistol. Across from Jeremy was her husband with a worried look plastered on his face. “Oh my God,” Linda said covering her mouth. “What have you done?”

Jeremy followed her eyes to his pistol. He had to admit that the situation didn't look good.

“I'm not here to hurt you or anyone.  This whole thing has been one big misunderstanding,” Jeremy said.

“Then let us go, man. Just let us go,” Kirby said.

“I'm going to, okay? Let me explain. Phillip here lives with my parents.”

Linda looked down at the unconscious man. “Phillip? Is that Phillip Greene? Oh no.......what happened to him?”

“You know this guy?” Kirby asked, pointing to the slumbering, injured man.

“He's an old friend from high school, I ran into him the other day, I don't—“Linda glared at Jeremy. “Tell me what the hell is going on...now!” she demanded.

“I'm trying to!” Jeremy shouted. “I didn't come over here to cause any trouble. And I know you're going to think I'm crazy, but I came over to warn you. You and your family. To warn you about a terrorist attack that's supposed to happen tomorrow. The city isn't safe. I'm not staying here, and you shouldn't stay here either.”

Linda and Kirby said nothing. They looked at each other, as if speaking telepathically.  

Jeremy continued, “I went to my parents’ house to warn them of the same thing. The very same thing. When I got there Phillip told me about you. I just felt—I felt that with all we'd been through—”

After a long pause, Linda spoke, “Well, thank you, Jeremy. Thank you. We appreciate you coming over here to warn us. Now I think we she call an ambulance for your friend.”

“He's not my friend,” Jeremy said. He detected a certain patronization in Linda's voice that he didn't appreciate. “And don't talk to me like I'm crazy, Linda.  If anyone would just listen to me for two seconds they'd be thanking me tomorrow, you can believe that.”

“Hey man, we believe you. We really do,” Kirby said.

Jeremy studied them both carefully. He began to realize that they were going to agree with everything he said anyway. They feared him. This was a thought that made him feel both powerful and sick. Sick mainly because in Linda's eyes, he was now a crazy man.

“Let us call an ambulance, please,” Linda said.

“Enough!” Jeremy shouted. The couple froze.

Jeremy dug into his jacket pocket and pulled out the letter to Linda. “This is not a joke. You need to listen to me. There is not much time, just here,” Jeremy walked to Linda holding the letter, “Take this letter, it explains everything. Once I leave, call an ambulance.”

“You're not leaving him
here
are you?” Kirby asked.

“Kirby, stop it,” Linda said.

Linda took the letter from Jeremy. She barely held it in her hands. To Jeremy, this was an indication that everything she did was forced.

“I'm going now,” Jeremy said. “I—I hope everything works out and that you guys stay safe. I really do.” He walked away, and then turned one last time to Linda, “You look great, by the way.”

“Thanks,” Linda said. No other words followed.

“Take care,” Jeremy said once he got to his truck.

“You too,” she said.

Jeremy got into the driver's seat and started the truck. He looked over to the couple. They were clearly waiting for him to leave to make a move. His truck roared down the street. He would have to turn around at some point to get back to his parents’ place, but was currently in a daze. The entire experience had left him feeling empty and shaken up. Almost like it should have never happened. His decision to go to Linda's could easily be defined as foolish.

What bothered him the most was the way she spoke to him. Like he was a mental patient. The same way she would nod along when they were dating as he rambled on about their deteriorating rights as citizens under an oppressive government. Such topics never seemed to keep her interest. Then it ultimately hit him why she was being so agreeable and polite just a moment ago. It had everything to do with the child sleeping in the house. As if Jeremy would be even capable of doing such a thing. He hadn't seen her in two years, and he felt now that she would always think of him as a monster. It turned out that Linda didn't know him as well as he thought she did. And she never would. 

Jeremy didn't want to take Philip back to the house. What would he have possibly said to his parents? It would be best just to make up a story of his whereabouts. As long as he could get them on the road with him, they would soon forget about Phillip. Jeremy took corners quickly and ran every stop sign down his path. He was certain that after he left, Linda and Kirby would call the cops. He had to get home and get to his parents before it was too late. The authorities would be looking for his truck in no time.

He was too late. As Jeremy neared his parent's house he saw three police cars parked in the driveway.

“How the hell did they get here so quick?” he shouted. He slammed on his breaks, causing his truck to swerve. The tires screeched along the pavement. “Shit. Shit!” he said fumbling with the gears. He managed to do a rapid three-point turn in the other direction. He was hoping to remain unnoticed, but such hopes were futile. Jeremy steered his truck in the other direction. It was over. There was no way he could get his parents now. He would be arrested for assault and put in jail. And prison was the
last
place he wanted to be, come tomorrow. He shifted his truck frantically throughout the neighborhood streets, making his way to the highway. A few miles more and he would be on the main interstate out of the city, and if things went well, closer to a cabin in the mountains.

Chapter 4: Alice’s Adventure

Exhausted, Alice was finally near her son's high school. She had to stop and rest a few times along the way, as well as avoid groups of people walking or standing around their cars. She had underestimated how hard it would be to ride a teenager's bike for nearly ten miles. Then she would have to find a way to get Kiya. A hopeless quest if thought about for too long. She was running on maternal instinct which fueled her adrenaline. She was within a mile from the school, riding in the middle of the long road that led to Cyprus Creek High. What waited ahead didn't look very encouraging. It would seem other parents thought of the same thing that she had. In addition to the abandoned cars along the road, there was a mob of people—hundreds it seemed—funneling in and out of the school. The chances of finding Brian in this mess seemed slim to none. But she had to give it a shot.

It was normally the time for school to let out, and in such an instance, Brian would be taking the bus home. But there were no running buses just as there were no running cars or anything mobile whatsoever. Alice weaved repeatedly through the parked cars and people. At the front gate stood a small group of police officers and school administrators trying to maintain order among the chaos. Nothing they said or did seemed to be having much of an effect. People were entering the school as people were leaving. The gates did nothing at this point, the crowd has pushed them open, and there were too few officials to do anything about it.

Though a tad disorderly and overwhelming, the situation hadn't turned into outright panic yet. Everybody was reasonably calm. The only commotion came from parents shouting their kids' names. The police officers were on edge because people were asking them endless questions about why cars weren't working, what they should do, and how they were going to get home. “I don't know lady, our squad cars broke down about a mile away as well. Everyone just needs to get to their homes,” one officer told a particularly pushy mother in the crowd.

Alice braced herself for what was to come. She hopped off Brian's bike, and walked toward the formation of the crowd. She did her best to move through the crowd while pushing the bike, but it wasn't easy. Teenagers pushed past her. Parents—left and right—bumped into her. She nearly tripped over a small child. She had to stop and make sure the little girl was okay, but when she did, she realized that the force of the crowd was something to be reckoned with. Alice tried to look past the countless heads in front of her, and the faces passing in the opposite direction.

“Brian!” she called, “Brian! Where are you?” He voice soon joined the chorus of other parents calling for their children. Alice was tightly packed between a tall burly man who blocked her view, a woman carrying a small child, and some teenagers trying to squeeze through the opposite way. Her determination to find Brian led her into the crowd, but once in, she realized she was stuck. She hadn’t even made beyond the gates yet. There was no finding him in the mess, so she started to push her way out of the crowd. “Let me out!” she said.

She was pushed towards the school, and before she knew it, the bike was gone. She glanced into the distance over the heads of the mob and saw a teenager in a yellow hoodie peddling the bike away from the crowd. “Hey!” she shouted. Without the bike, however, she could move more fluidly and perhaps make her way out. Uproar started to move throughout the crowd like a contagion. Parents were growing restless, as the local police grew in number. There was commotion as the police attempted to shut the school the gates and hinder the flow of people. One officer ordered the crowd to disperse. “No admittance into the school!” he said, “The students are being released. Be patient and wait outside the school ground.” It seemed like a simple enough request, but the people just weren't listening. “I'm here to get my son!” one parent would yell as they pushed their way into the school. “I'm here to get my daughter!” another would say. “Caroline!” “Steven!” “Carlos!” “Jessica!” “Jimmy!” “Amanda!” The names went on and on.

The mysterious explosions seemed to have everyone is a heightened panic. It certainly wasn't helping them find their children. Alice was nearly out of the crowd when she tripped over a small child and fell to the asphalt ground. Shoes everywhere in all directions surrounded her. Anonymous legs of the crowd moved by without care. The little boy she tripped over couldn't have been more than five. He was sitting on the ground crying. The footsteps around him were quickly gathering. He would be trampled before long. Alice yelled for the people to stop, but her cries were drowned out by all the commotion. She felt the first footstep over her back. Then another. Then someone nearly stumbled over her. She screamed again, and then pushed herself up enough to where she could crawl over to the crying child. Legs hit her from all sides. A few people nearly fell over, but Alice persisted. She grabbed the child and hoisted herself up, pushing her way through.  The child cried and cried, as Alice held it tightly in her arms. She struggled through the last front of people and made her way out.

Escaping the crowd was like a breath of fresh air. It had grown in size even in the short time she had been a part of it. She leaned against a car and rocked the bawling toddler, trying to put him at ease. “Shhhhh. Everything is going to be alright.”

“My son! What are you doing with my son?” A twenty-something woman yelled from the crowd. She pushed her way out and was quickly to Alice. She couldn't have been more than five feet tall, but had enough rage to equal someone twice her size.  “Give him back to me!” she yelled.

Upon seeing his mother, the toddler then
really
started to
cry.

“Calm down,” Alice said, clutching the kid.

“Calm down?  Who in the hell do you think you're talking to, bitch?” the woman snapped.

The woman pulled on her child, trying to pry it from Alice's arms. Alice resisted, again through some type of maternal instinct. The only problem was that the child's mother was running on maternal rage.

“Your son has just been through a very traumatic experience and you're not making it any better for him,” Alice said.

“Let go of him. I'll have you arrested!” the woman said pulling.

“You're hurting him,” Alice said loudly over the cries of the toddler. The woman was not going to budge so Alice loosened her grip on the child. He slid into his mother's arm, still crying.

“You got a lot of nerve, lady. A lot of nerve,” she said to Alice while pulling the child into her chest. His cries grew faint and he soon calmed. Alice's heart was racing, as she couldn't recall a moment where someone had been so rude and confrontational with her. Then she thought of her children. This filled her with anger at her inability to take control of the situation and keep them safe. She stood in front of the woman, and got within inches of her face.

“You want to talk about nerve? What kind of mother takes a small child into a crowd like that? He could have been seriously injured. Do you understand that? I had to pull him out before he got trampled!” Alice shouted.

The woman was silent. Alice couldn't tell if she had put her in her place or just enraged her further. She had no idea what to expect.

“I can't find my oldest. He's a special needs child. This is his first year of high school. I need to get into that school and find him. I'm scared to death for him. I know I shouldn't have taken Conner in there with me, but what else could I have done?” the woman said with a noticeable change in tone and demeanor.