Earth's Survivors Apocalypse (26 page)

“We gotta figure this out too. I mean, we're going backwards, back to where we came from,” Beth said.

“I could loop out deep and then swing back,” Billy said.

“Yeah, except I'm thinking in this desert you can see dust for miles... The dust is the problem.” She leaned over and looked at the gas gauge. “Less than a half tank, so gas is a problem too.” She frowned.

“We've got gas in the back,” Billy threw in.

“I'm thinking this. We hit that river, or an out building, has to be something around here that will hide the truck. We crash, sleep the day away, and then tonight we run across the desert to the other side of Phoenix. What do you think?”

“Sounds like a plan... I'm shot,” Billy agreed.

“Okay, so take the next road that crosses, slow down to keep the dust down and let's start looking for a place to hide for the day... We've got enough gas in the back we can get a long way before we need to find a station if we don't burn it up running in circles and backtracking.”

Billy slowed the truck and began heading to the right, the east. “One of those towers will do... High voltage lines? Something like that. Just scrap metal now, but that will hide us if we drive right up to it...”

They drove to the tower on a dirt service road that circled it, and then continued to the north. Billy pulled the truck up close to the tower and shut it down. The silence held for a few moments, he fisted his hands into his eyes. “Jesus, I'm shot.”

“Come here,” Beth said. She pulled him down to the seat and laid his head in her lap. She began to rub lightly at his temples.

“God, don't do that It'll put me to sleep,” Billy told her half jokingly.

'Which is why I'm doing it.” She stretched her legs, angled them across to the drivers side floorboard, and leaned back into the door. The last thing she remembered was smoothing the hair out of his eyes and then she spiraled away into a series of dreams.

New York: Conner and Katie

Everyone was up early and ready to go before the sun was barely above the horizon.

“Yesterday,” Jake said to no one in particular. “Thirty two hours long.” Silence greeted his remark. Katie checked her own watch.

“So, like, that means things are slowing down?” Lydia asked.

“You think?” Jake asked unkindly.

“Well, something like that,” Lydia shot back defensively.

“Why would it go backwards,” James asked?

“Yeah. Wasn’t it supposed to stop, reverse and then start up again?” Lydia asked.

“Maybe,” Conner agreed. “But that was all based on theory. No facts involved at all... Let me correct that, I think they had some evidence that the poles had reversed at a few points in history before. Maybe because of asteroid impacts, but no real proof to join the event with the results they found in the layers of rock. And some Native American legends that spoke about the Earth standing still for a day, something like that, but even so, most of what they said would happen was all theory, not fact.”

“Yeah,” Jake chimed in. “It’s like an asshole. Everyone’s got one.”

“Don’t you mean opinion?” Lydia asked sweetly.

“Whatever. We ready to go, or what?” Jake asked. Everyone followed him outside in the uncomfortable silence that fell.

~

“What’s up with those two,” Katie whispered as she followed Conner outside.

“Who knows,” Conner whispered back. James met his eyes and raised his eyebrows. Conner shrugged his shoulders and shook his head as if to say
I don’t know
.

“We may as well take all three trucks,” James suggested. “That way if we find the stuff we want it’ll save us driving back to get them.”

“Easier if we get stuck also,” Katie suggested.

Jake shrugged his shoulders. “Fine by me,” he said. He headed for the Suburban with Lydia right behind him. Jan and Katie headed for the pickup truck. James broke into a laugh and grinned at Conner. “Guess that leaves me and you in the old dinosaur. Want to drive?”

“After you,” Conner said laughing. James started the truck and pulled out last in line, following the other two trucks as they picked their way along the edge of the ruined road.

~

“It was me that asked Jan to go with Katie,” James said as they followed slowly along behind the other trucks.

Conner nodded. His eyes following the sides of the road as James drove along. “I thought it was something like that,” he said. “What’s on your mind, James?”

“Well… A lot,” James said after a second or two. He hesitated a little longer. “I guess
mainly
to say Jan and I would like to go with you when you leave... And Katie, I assume.”

“Yeah,” Conner agreed. “I know that probably seemed kind of quick.”

“It’s a…”

“Quick world,” Conner finished. “Katie said the same thing. I don’t know how much better off we’ll be leaving as opposed to staying, but we’d be glad to have you two with us if you want to come.”

“We would. Jan and I talked it over. We talked all night long last night. I got nothing personal against Jake; he did alright by us, but he’s a little too…”

“Demanding? Aggressive?” Conner supplied.

James looked thoughtful. “I don’t know… Something like that. I just don’t see him being able to see this through. I feel like if we came back here in ten years we’d find him still holed up in that factory. He’s… I don’t know... too immature to talk to about it. He has only one way of looking at things. That can’t work.”

“You’re probably right. He’d still be here with Lydia, probably with a couple of babies running around, but maybe that’s not such a bad thing. Maybe that’s a good thing.” He shrugged. “The immaturity… I don’t know… It’s there though. Maybe he’ll move out of that. Maybe it’s just the situation.”

“Maybe,” James agreed. “But that’s exactly the time he should be mature, isn’t it?”

Conner nodded. James continued.

“So maybe it’s a good thing, maybe it’s not, but not for me. I don’t want to stay here. Nor Jan either. I wouldn’t want to quit this unless I knew this was all there was. I mean, this couldn’t be worldwide, could it?”

“I don’t know,” Conner said softly. “But I agree. I know what you mean. Katie and I talked about it last night too and came to the same opinion. It could be better elsewhere, and whatever is right for Jake or Lydia isn’t necessarily right for us. I was for going from the start. I have to know if this is really the end. If there’s anything else. If it is the end then I’ll deal with it; find a place to settle down. Thank God I have Katie, you and Jan. Maybe we’ll meet others on the way to... Well, wherever.”

“I think so,” James said. “I mean I think there are people,
other
people around. We've just got to find them. Or them us.”

“Yeah, we've got to remember rifles and pistols too. I hate to say it, James, but we may need them.”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Yeah.”

They continued on in silence as the small caravan made its way past a collapsed building partially blocking what was left of the road.

“I think… It’s not my business,” James said, “But I think you made an enemy of Lydia. She was thinking you would be with her.”

“Yeah, I could see that, James. I don’t think Jake was any too pleased either.”

James nodded. “Nope, none too. Him I wouldn’t worry about though. Her, she’s pretty spiteful. I’ve only known her for a week, but it’s enough. That child did pretty much what she wanted to, I’ll bet. Used to having her own way, getting what she wants when she wants it.”

“Yeah, I can see that, but last night we talked about the journals; I’m keeping one. Katie is too. Lydia said she would. Something to leave when we leave.”

“It’s not a bad idea,” James agreed. “I’m not much for writing myself, but Jan might like it.”

Conner nodded. “Well, Lydia liked the idea. She didn’t say she’d go, but she might. So hate me or not, she might be with us.”

“Oh,” James said. “I see that. Maybe she’ll be okay. She’s a kid; maybe she’ll change.”

“Guess we’ll have to see,” Conner agreed. “Guess we’ll have to see.”

James worked the truck up and over a huge slab of up-tilted asphalt and followed along behind the other two trucks as they made their way down Arsenal Street.

“What did you think of the idea that Jake had of fixing up one of the new trucks?” Conner ventured after a few minutes.

“Won’t work. Or at least it won’t work without a lot of trouble. The new engines are computer dependent. We could probably find ourselves another motor, maybe even a new crate motor at a parts store somewhere around here,” James said.

“What’s a crate motor?” Conner asked.

“It just means a new motor, all crated up when it was sent from the factory. They sell them. Race cars, old rebuilds, like that, but even if we couldn’t find a crate motor, we could find enough parts to rebuild anything we would need to rebuild on nearly any vehicle. So really, when we’re done, we’d have what amounted to a new vehicle. Jake wants to oversimplify that. He thinks we can just find the parts and swap them out on the motor that’s in the truck. Maybe we can. I’m not that good though, and I don’t think he is. I think we should stick to what we can do for sure, utilize what we have - the new parts.”

“That what you think we should do? Build a vehicle?”

“Yeah. Maybe two. Four wheel drive, of course. Go right through them top to bottom, everything new. It would take a few weeks, but we’ve got that and more. Meantime, you could work on your CB radio idea, “James finished.

“Can you get electric? Those home base CB radio outfits need regular power, don't they?”

“Not so much, they can run from a vehicle battery, but maybe we’ll just find us a generator. That will give us all the power we need. We could even hook up a power inverter to give us one twenty in the vehicles,” James added.

Conner nodded. “So we’re going to jump right into this thing? Get ready to go?”

James nodded. “I’m with you. I’m not spending next winter in a factory unless I have to. There's a place in Tennessee, maybe Kentucky...” He closed his eyes for a split second as if seeing something only he could see. He shook his head, frowned and then continued. “If not, I’m thinking the coast. Southern or western, either will do, whichever one looks to be the better bet. And who knows how hard it’ll be to get there, so the sooner we’re ready to go the better.”

“I agree,” Conner said. “I’ll talk to Katie.

“And I’ll talk to Jan, but we already talked.”

“So did we,” Conner agreed. They both laughed.

James angled the big truck around a final piece of asphalt and into a cracked and buckled parking lot. The two other vehicles sat silent, waiting for them.

As they left the truck Conner noticed that the store hadn’t seemed to incur any more damage since the last time that he had been there. The roof was bowed inward; it had been before, but there were plenty of upright pillars that still supported the roof and they all appeared intact. At least the ones he could easily see. The supports were spaced about every sixteen or so feet.

“Safe?” Jake asked.

“Looks the same as it did the last time,” Conner allowed. Katie and James looked at him, and he shrugged. “I’d say so. It looks the same as it did the last time I was here. It doesn’t even look as though anyone has been here.”

The scattered, powdered snow seemed undisturbed around the shattered doorway that lead into the building. Conner snapped his flashlight on and led the way inside.

The inside of the store told a different story. Someone
had
been there during the time Conner had last been there. Several of the glass display cases that held the weapons had been damaged. They were locked, whoever had made the attempt had made it halfheartedly. The glass was safety glass of some sort. It had cracked and spider webbed, but it had not broken and caved in.

“Guess someone tried to get in,” James offered.

Jake held up a discarded crow bar. Even in the weak light they could see the streaks of scarlet on one end. Jake let it fall to the floor. The clatter was loud enough to make Lydia draw in a quick breath in the broken silence that followed.

“Jesus, Jake,” She sputtered. Jake only grinned.

“Why does someone go through all of that when they could’ve taken a simple screw driver and just popped the locks?” Katie asked.

“Well,” Jake started.

Katie had walked behind the counter, taken a screw driver from her pocket and began to jimmy the lock mechanism. It was a cheap sliding set and easily bent to one side far enough to slide the glass door open. Katie smiled.

“Learn that up in the big city, Miss?” Conner asked with a smile.

Katie smiled back, reached inside the case, careful of the glass that had sprayed in small slivers from the spider webs in the top, and withdrew pistol after pistol, setting them on a wooden topped case next to the cash register.

“Forty five caliber, Nine millimeter, a cheap one though. Three eighty, kind of nice, though small. Here’s a much nicer Nine Millimeter.” She set several more guns on the wooden top, looked up with a crooked grin and asked, “Well, gentlemen, lady, what’ll it be?”