Family Reunion "J" (10 page)

Two minutes later, she pulled up to Mark’s townhouse. Patty’s car was in the driveway. Mark’s Taurus was not. She parked the bike and went to the front door. She saw the curtain of the home next door flutter; she put her hand on the Glock. The neighbor cracked the door.

“You Mark’s mom?” the lady asked. Jay could see a little girl hiding behind her mom’s legs.

“Yes I am.”

“They said they’d leave a note at your house for you, but that if you came by, to tell you they went to Wirt County. Said you’d know what that meant.”

“Thank you,” Jay said. She turned to go back to the bike, but the lady stopped her.

“You got any food?”

It wasn’t what she asked, but the way she asked it, that raised the hair on the back of Jay’s neck. It sounded as if the woman was demanding an answer. Jay turned to see the gun in her hands, pointing at her.

“No, I don’t have any food.”

“What about at your house? Patty told me you and your husband are some kind of preppers.”

“I may have, but the fact that you are pointing a gun at me while asking doesn’t make me feel like sharing.”

The woman immediately began crying. “I’m sorry, but my little girl hasn’t eaten since yesterday.” The gun waivered somewhat, but remained pointed in Jay’s general direction.

“Put down the gun and we can talk,” Jay said, in what she hoped sounded like a reasonable tone.

“Nope, can’t do that.” With that, she pushed the child behind her back into the house and closed the door. Holding the gun on Jay with one hand, she threw a set of keys to Jay with the other. Jay didn’t make any attempt to catch them; instead, she let them fall to the gravel in front of her.

“Look, I like Patty and Mark, but I have no choice here. I have to get some food for my daughter.”

“This only started yesterday; you have no food in your house?” Jay said, somewhat amazed at this.

Like most people these days, the woman and her family lived day to day. Eating at the nearby fast food joints, or buying only the food they needed for that day and maybe the next.

“Pick up the keys.” The woman waived the gun at Jay, gesturing toward the keys. “You’re going to drive me to your house and we’ll see.”

Jay bent down, scooped up the keys and a handful of gravel at the same time, and threw both underhand as she came up. It caught the woman completely off guard and she flinched, the gun pointing skyward. Jay turned and dove behind Patty’s car, scrambled to her hands and knees, and frantically grabbed at the Glock, freeing it just as a window in Patty’s car exploded above her head.
What is with people! Why is she trying to frickin’
shoot
me?
She went to her belly and fired several rounds under the car toward where the lady had been standing. She heard a yelp and then heard the door slam.

She risked a quick peek around the rear end of the car. The woman was gone. She looked again, this time taking the time to examine the area. There was some blood on the concrete slab in front of the door. Not much, but the red stood out against the light gray, making it plain that she had gotten lucky and at least winged the woman.

She watched the window, looking for any movement of the curtain. Slowly, Jay rose to her feet, remaining crouched behind the car. In three long strides she was on the Harley. She almost lost the Glock but regained control of it and shoved it into her holster. Her hand free, she hit the starter and the bike roared. The woman opened the door and came out firing. Jay leaned forward with her left foot still on the ground and opened the throttle wide. The rear tire sprayed gravel in an arc, pelting the woman with the small stones. As the bike swung around, Jay backed off and stood the Harley upright. It shot forward, almost leaving her behind. She had to maneuver wildly to avoid running off the paved road once she cleared the driveway. No more shots followed her as she sped off back toward the interstate.

Once away from the melee, Jay continued to marvel at what had happened. How in the world had things gotten so bad, so quickly? Back at the store, Ted had barked out a loud laugh when she suggested they contact the police about the shooting. He told her that it was pointless. That he’d called them several times asking that they send a car over when he’d had a run-in with those boys’ father the day before. Then he called them again that night when the crazies attacked. He said he gave up on them after his calls went unanswered. Then the phones stopped working altogether that morning.

She arrived at her house a few minutes later. The porch was only eight inches high and she pulled the Harley right onto it, placing the front tire against the edge of the deck and goosing the throttle. The tire and the bike had no problem making the transition.

There was Mark’s car parked next to the garage where Ryan’s truck normally sat. Just as the woman had said, there was a note under the windshield wiper. She opened the envelope and read it.

Mom, I really hope that you are reading this. We came over as soon as things started getting crazy. Dad pounded the warnings into our heads about bugging out, but I honestly thought he was a bit paranoid, turns out not so much huh? Patty’s mom is sick, they don’t know where her dad is but her sister called. We are going there. I will try to convince them to go to the Philippi property with us. I am scared; I haven’t been able to get in touch with Auddy since this all started. Please stay safe mom, please… I love you, Mark

P.S. We took the dogs

Jay couldn’t help herself. She cried. She cried because she was scared; she cried because she loved her kids and was worried; she cried because Ryan wasn’t here; she cried because she hadn’t even thought about their pups until that moment; she just cried.

She made her way to the house and, once inside, went immediately to the TV. They had cable; Ryan threatened to switch to satellite at least once a day, but hadn’t ever pulled the trigger. As soon as the blue screen came up, she knew it was out.
Crap!
She went into the kitchen and dug out the emergency radio. It was fully charged, and when she turned it on, the static crackled at her from the speaker. She ran the tuner up and down the bands, both AM and FM, without finding a signal. She flipped the switch to the emergency channel and the voice she heard was in the middle of an announcement.

She recognized the voice of the president. She disliked the man but listened intently to what he was saying.
“…curfew, anyone found looting or loitering after the curfew will be considered hostile and will be dealt with as such. During this time of extreme crisis, I have enacted martial law. Habeas corpus is hereby suspended and I will use all the tools at my disposal to ensure the continuation of our government. Because so many members of Congress are missing, there are no longer a sufficient number to reach a quorum. I will see this country survive this crisis. I have recalled all military to their posts. All troops deployed outside our borders have been recalled to the contiguous United States of America. As a warning to anyone—person or country—that would use this crisis to undermine American sovereignty or attempt to overthrow our government, be forewarned: you will be defeated with extreme prejudice…”
He continued to use political legal language to threaten and cajole anyone who dared to defy his ultimate power.
He sounds almost excited,
she thought. She turned the radio off and wandered the house, wondering if this time the pendulum had swung so far that life would never return to normal.

She stopped wandering and went to the safe where they kept the few important or valuable things they owned. She retrieved the silver coins Ryan purchased last year and grabbed the plastic sleeve that contained all of their birth certificates. Ryan always stressed the need to have identifying documentation with you during a crisis. Then she went to the closet, took the bug-out bag, and stuffed the coins and paperwork into it.

The power was still on and the thing she wanted more than anything was a hot shower. She stripped off her clothes and started the water in the shower. She peeled the dried-out contacts from her eyes, thinking to herself
I’ll be wearing my glasses a lot more from here on out.
She brushed her teeth and then stepped into the shower. The hot water cascaded over her head. She stood there with her hands against the wall, thinking.
I should rest up and leave in the morning, but I hate the thought of just sitting here.
She luxuriated under the stream of steaming water, letting it soothe her aching muscles. After a while, she washed her hair and shaved her legs, wondering how long it would be before she would have the chance to do so again. She hated being grungy.

Out of the shower, she wrapped her hair in a towel and decided to fix something to eat. She was starving.
I want some pasta, to hell with the diet for now. Spaghetti and meatballs, with a lot of pasta, oh man, that sounds good.
Normally she eschewed pasta because of the carbs, but what the hell.

She went into the bedroom and put on some comfy shorts and a tee shirt. As she walked by the clothes hamper, she caught a whiff of Ryan’s scent. The smell of the body spray he used caught her off guard and threatened to depress her further. Where was he, was he okay? She knew exactly what he would say if she could talk to him right now.
“Don’t worry about me, take care of the kids, get to Auddy.”
She sighed and stifled an urge to succumb to the tears welling in her eyes.

The normalcy of cooking settled her nerves some, but without the dogs underfoot, she was still disturbed by the absolute quiet. The meatballs finished, she threw the spaghetti into the boiling pot of water, adding a couple shots of olive oil.

Once it was done, she ate two helpings of the spaghetti and realized she’d cooked enough for the entire family.
Clean up this mess, then get some sleep.

Normally she would sleep in just a tee shirt and panties, but tonight she decided to get back into the leathers she’d liberated from the pawn shop. She packed two handfuls of clean panties and a bunch of socks into the already bulging bug-out bag and set it by the front door. She rummaged around in the closet and found her old biker boots, deciding to use them instead of the pair from the pawn shop, which were a size too big. She unlaced them enough to where she could slip into them easily, then set them by the bed. She also found her old motorcycle gloves, stuck them in her jacket pocket, and put that by the door as well. All the doors and windows were locked. The house, like most in West Virginia, was built on the side of a hill, and all the windows were too high for anyone to access unless they brought a ladder, but she still checked to make sure they were secured.

With the last of twilight disappearing from the sky, and feeling as prepared for anything as she could be, she lay down on the bed.

It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep; she’d been exhausted both mentally and physically. She panicked briefly—had she turned off all the lights? Did she lock the back door? Her mind reworked her preparation and strayed to thoughts of how scared Auddy must be.

They finished eating the fruit salad and tuna sandwiches Auddy made and set about cleaning up. With that done, Winnie said goodnight, went into the other room, and closed the door.

Auddy curled up close to Danny on the couch and kissed his neck. As tired as he was, he felt himself stir. He traced the outline of her face and bent to kiss her slightly parted lips. His hand found her breast and she moaned quietly. A chorus of shrieks outside broke the spell and Danny sat up.

They both heard the loud bang and felt the vibration. Danny went to the back porch and looked out. “Shit.”

There was a moon out and he could see the expanse of the driving range. There were hundreds of the creatures, wraithlike in the darkness, sniffing the air like wolves, shrieking and circling in smaller packs. Every so often one would break from a pack and run at the condo, banging into the side of the building. The effect was unnerving.

Auddy came up beside him and looked down on the scene. Their intent was obvious; they wanted the food they sensed. Auddy felt a shiver pass through her. “What in the hell are those things?”