Deep Freeze: Protocol One, Book 2 (Protocol One Saga) (5 page)

The last radio transmission to Protocol One was short but informative. I knew the radio wouldn’t remain powered for long. The indicator light blinked, so before anything was said by them in our dawn conversation, I spewed out what I had to.

“When this radio dies, if you need to give me info, keep announcing it. The Sub shelter has one that receives. I haven’t found Tony. Please don’t tell Joie. I am fine. I start my search today.”

It was a mental list I rattled and then after, I said, ‘over’, Gil replied, “There’s a storm. A big one. We’re watching it. Tom is preparing now. If it doesn’t hit, he’ll be there by noon. If it does … it may be another day or two because this is supposed to dump a ton. Over.”

“Gil, do not let him come here if the weather is bad. We don’t need more of us stranded.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“I’m fine. I really am fine. I’d rather have him and Duke work on a plowing mechanism instead of daring the roads.”

“Roger, than, I’ll convey and make...”

That was it. Communication lost.

I didn’t fret over that much; at least the sub would be able to pick up their transmissions. A storm was coming, I did need to know about that. Another storm would surely cover any clues that Tony left behind.

Maybe we’d be lucky and find him beforehand.

Larry arrived just after eight. I expected him earlier, but the sun was out, and that was a good sign. It beat hard through the windows of the casino. He wasn’t dressed for a long scouting mission in the snow. He wore blue jeans, a knit cap and his coat was one of those tan canvass jackets, not very warm.

“Horace went to Mike’s,” he said. “No one was there. Very little was gone. No sign that they lit their heater last night. I’m gonna say they saw that Humvee and took it on a whim.”

“So you do think it was them?”

“I’m gonna say yes, since they aren’t around. We’ll know more when we go searching. Hit the other camps and shelters.”

“Are they dangerous?”

“Anyone can be dangerous if put in that position,” Larry said. “But I don’t know them to be dangerous. The folks that remained, like I said, either had enough to wait it out or not enough to make the pilgrimage. In both cases, the ones that stayed, we all need each other. Our problems left when the pilgrimage did.”

“Well, somebody is dangerous.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Tony’s gone,” I said.

“We’ll find him.”

“There’s a possibility of a storm coming, a big one.”

“Yeah, I saw the clouds to the north. So we better get a move on. Horace is out. Figured we’d cover more ground that way.”

“Thank you.”

Larry nodded and began to walk.

“Wait, before we go. We’ll be out there a while. I don’t want you quitting because of the weather.”

“Not gonna happen.”

“Just in case.” After signaling to him to give me a moment, I walked over to the pile of bags, reached into the one, pulled out Tony’s Arctic Armor and handed it to him.,

“What’s this for?”

“You said you weren’t gonna quit,” I told him. “Just say this is my insurance.”

One would think that I handed Larry and steak and lobster dinner. That was how excited he was about wearing the Arctic Armor. He gloated about the suit immediately. As soon as we stepped outside, he commented that he didn’t feel a shift in temperature and wished he had the suit when things were really cold.

We took a different route than I had taken the previous day. This time we walked away from the river.

After telling him where I last left the car, Larry estimated that Mike, if he were indeed the one who took it, had to turn around, back track and take a two block detour around the overpass that fell during the earthquake.

“There is no way, Hummer or not, he was getting through that. Even River Road is blocked. Nope, he had to go around. Get to Ridge Avenue which is pretty clear, then back down after the stadium to where Reedsdale is clear again.”

“Reedsdale is?”

“The road that runs perpendicular on the other side of the casino. It’s blocked by that overpass.”

“What about the woman?”

“We know this area, Anna,” he said. “My guess is they were meeting up on Ridge or close to it. She ran through the casino, out the front door. She had to go around the garage, which meant running down Casino Drive towards River Road or taking Reedsdale, on foot that’s possible. But by what you told me, Tony went that way, so she took the long way.”

“Which is why the footprints went off.”

“So more than likely …” He pulled out a map, showing me.  “She ran around the stadium, taking the long route to get to Mike. Knowing Mike, he came looking for her if she was taking too long. He may have parked and left the vehicle, and ran on foot. Who knows? There are a lot of different scenarios.”

“If he shut it off he won’t get it started, key or not.”

“Why’s that?”

“It’s a coded ignition.”

Larry whistled. “Man, you government people.”

“I’m not government.”

“Just the ex-husband?” Larry chuckled.

Larry and Gail knew all about Gil and the bunker, it was part of the conversation we had at that first meeting in the sub.

We walked down the street called Reedsdale and not only did cars block it, but the wreckage from the overpass extended all the way down. It was apparent that it buckled and fell. The concrete extended nearly to the stadium. The snow covered and camouflaged a lot of the debris, making my footing difficult. Numerous times I nearly tripped or bumped into something I didn’t see.

As soon as we arrived at the stadium, Larry moved in the direction of the sports complex.

“Is this a camp?” I asked.

“Yeah, it became one.”

“Only mentioned there was supposed to be an underground shelter.”

“Not on this side of the river. This area was kind of forgotten.” He dropped it at that, we had arrived at a set of double doors, a back entrance and Larry opened the one door.  He waited for me to enter first, then I allowed him to pass and I followed.

After removing our hoods, Larry lit a flashlight as we moved down the blackened hallway to another door. When he opened it, it took me back.

We emerged into the large belly hallway of the stadium. Tents were set up in an organized manner, fires burned in cans. The openness of the hallway provided enough ventilation.

I was the freak figure that stood out and people all paused in what they were doing to look at me. Some cooked, others just sat and talked. Some stood by the fire. There were so many people.

I realized how different I looked, how untouched by the events I appeared in comparison to those living in the stadium.

Larry led the way, saying hello to people as he passed them. “John Carver runs this camp,” he said, “He’s up there.”

He pointed to an older man who stood by his own fire can outside of a tent. He didn’t wear a coat, just a hat. He was thick, but that could have been the layers of clothes.

John Carver laughed and shook his head, extending his hand to Larry. “Look at you all fancy in blue.”

“It’s warm,” Larry said. “We sure could have used this two weeks ago when we were out.”

“Tell me about it.” Carver tipped his chin. “Who’s your friend?”

“Carver, this is Anna Jenner. She’s from The Protocol One camp.”

“You don’t say.” Carver extended his hand to me. “You part of a rescue movement.”

“More of a search right now,” I replied. “Once the weather breaks we...”

“And I keep telling her it’s not breaking soon,” Larry interrupted me.

I found his interruption odd and made a mental note to ask him about it.

Larry continued. “She’s searching for her friend. They pulled over to help someone and their vehicle was stolen. Her partner went after them and now he’s lost.”

“How long?” Carver asked.

I answered. “A day.”

“He could have gotten discombobulated,” Carver said. “If you don’t know the city, there really aren’t any solid landmarks. He may be lost.”

Larry said, “Or hurt.”

“Or both,” Carver said. “You running the camps on the North Shore?”

“That’s the plan,” Larry replied, “Horace has taken the ones up by Campus.”

“Well, we haven’t had any strangers here,” Carver said. “What brought you out of your cozy bunker anyhow?” he asked me.

Before I could answer Larry did, “Scouting mission. They wanted to see how far the ice was headed. Alright, we’re heading out. We appreciate your help. Her people say there’s a storm coming, big one, too. Buckle down.”

Carver nodded. “Good luck.”

Larry placed a hand on my back to turn and guide me.

“Larry,” Carver called out. “If you’re going down to the row, can you stop in the Mitchell place? Usually one of them kids pops by for something and I haven’t heard or seen them in days.”

“Sure thing.”

We said our goodbyes, I thanked Carver and walked away with Larry.

“Who are the Mitchells?” I asked.

“Family that has a shelter in an old concert place. We’ll pass it. I was gonna stop there anyhow.”
Once we were free from earshot of the camp and safely in the dark hallway again, I asked Larry. “Why did you cut me off and not let me speak back there.”

“It’s not a macho thing or man thing.” He lifted his hood and opened the door.

In the moments we were inside, the sky grew gloomy again.

Larry looked up. “I just don’t want you giving too much information. I trust Carver, it’s those around that can hear I don’t trust. Just keep your plans to yourself. Don’t think they’ll hurt you, but they sure as shit will want what you have if they think you got anything. Right now, they probably think whoever took off with your Humvee made off with all your stuff. Keep it that way.”

“I appreciate the heads up.”

“Sure thing. It’s a little walk to the next section.” Larry pointed. “It’s also the area where Gina would have ran to meet Mike.”

“If they took it.”

“They took it. Unless it’s the Mitchells.” Larry said. “Since they haven’t been seen either. Can’t see how they’d see you coming though. Unless one of their teenagers was out running about and they saw you.”

“Do you know everyone in this area?”

“This area yeah. Other side of Ridge Avenue are a few camps. Beyond that we don’t know. This whole area was the forgotten zone. No one really thought about it after the hit. I mean, I did. I thought of the sub right away.”

“Because you worked there?”

“Yep. I mean, when they announced the comet, things went crazy. Everything shut down. A huge exodus happened. I kept thinking where are they going. But it was south because of this.” He pointed around then looked up. “They said the next ice age. North especially. I think they were thinking ahead.”

“You didn’t leave.”

“No. I followed the plan. That’s where I met Gail and the others.”

“You aren’t married?”

Larry shook his head. “And I am glad now I never did or didn’t have kids.”

“What was the plan?”

“The plan was for people to go to underground garages, the subway. I wasn’t really seeing the need for it until someone on the radio talked about the heat that would come. I had supplies at my house and I loaded two big duffle bags. My intention was to settle, then go out before the heat hit, if it did. The comet came, all lights went out. Then we had that earthquake, and the ashes came. It was when the heat arrived that people really started hitting the shelters. We were told there would not be supplies in any shelter that wasn’t a FEMA shelter.”

“You had your own.”

“I did. So I didn’t worry. I’d ration my water, I’d be good. I guess the government started stocking things before the announcement. I didn’t go to a FEMA shelter, I went to the tallest building in the city. It had five subbasement levels. Third sub basement had the water tanks. And we shut them down. There was about sixty of us there. A lot of folks brought their own supplies. We were good. A lot of people were not deep enough. Even though the city was pretty much spared from the fireballs.”

“So why did you leave there?”

“The cold was coming. Didn’t want to get stuck frozen underground. We worked out a plan, knew we had to get to an isolated spot with buildings we could heat and get in and out of. Carver actually brought up the stadium and I thought about the sub. Hoping, you know, it had the igloo effect once the cold came. We ventured out just as the sky started to darken. I couldn’t tell you how many bodies were cooked on the streets. It smelled bad, and it was horrible for the kids. When we got over this way, we realized it was barren. The buildings around here had a lot of supplies, we did it. We survived. Far too many didn’t survive the cold. We saw that when the temperatures rose a little and we ventured out. One large surviving community. I’ll tell ya, though …” he whistled. “That darkness, oh my God, it was scary. You couldn’t see debris or bodies. It was just scary.”

I wanted to respond, to comment, but the truth was, I just didn’t know what to say. Immediately I was wracked with guilt over how horrible they’d had it, how rough. I was fortunate and spared of so much.

“Ah,” Larry said. “Up ahead. See that overpass. That is the road Gina would have ran up to meet Mike.”

I started to look, but then he changed direction and pointed to the building directly ahead.

“That’s the Mitchell place.”

It was across a small lot surrounded by a wall and partial fence. A huge gray building that blended in with the snow and the cloudy weather. It had red posts to a huge awning and next to that the letters AE. It started snowing, not light flakes, but huge soft ones. It was steady. The storm wasn’t passing us.

Here we go again,
I thought. Then I noticed Larry had stopped walking. “What is it?”

“Something’s wrong.”

I noticed immediately, the building looked deserted. No tracks in the snow. But more than that. “No smoke.”

“Yep. No smoke. No fire. No fire … no heat.” He began walking again, only this time he picked up the pace.

I kept up, never once did he tell me to stay back. I pulled my gun, just in case of trouble and safety on, I placed it in my front coat pocket.

We made our way up the snow covered side staircase, another sign that something was off. The metal steps were slippery and I had to grasp the railing. Once on the landing, Larry knocked on the door.

After there was no answer, he pounded, calling out. “Greg? Vickie?”

A few more pounds and he reached for the door handle. I turned and Larry pushed forward. He coughed once when he stepped in sighed with a grunt of frustration.

“What? What is it?”

“Smell that?” Larry asked. “That’s chemical. Something was burned that shouldn’t be.”

“You think they ran out?”

“Let’s hope.”

There was enough daylight coming from the small frosted windows that we didn’t need a flashlight. It was quiet, eerily quiet and ice cold.

Blankets hung as a makeshift wall, and Larry parted them, stepping into the area and groaning out, “Oh my God.”

They had curtained off a home. A kitchen table, some chairs. By that a counter top propped on wood. There were cans of food, packages of dehydrated stuff as well. Toys scattered on the floor, by the two leather chairs and a homemade wood burning stove was center of it all. On the other side, two beds crammed together.

The Mitchell family hadn’t left.

They were all in bed, the older children on one bed, the youngest snuggled between the parents. They were covered with blankets but what skin was exposed was a pale crystallized blue.

It hit me. Struck me hard and it was a scene too hard for me to handle. It was all too reminiscent of the family we saw that had frozen to death in the back of the store in Elwood City.

Families.

Wanting desperately to be together, trying their hardest to stay alive and despite all their best efforts, they still died.

What was more horrible than their death is what they endured before they succumbed. It wasn’t lack of trying, they tired. The Mitchell’s, the family in the Elwood store.