The Journal: Crimson Skies: (The Journal Book 3) (33 page)

In the harbor itself, skeletons of burned out
watercraft bobbed aimlessly in the shallows, while other, bigger
boats, untouched by the flames, were smashed against the ancient
pylons of the long ago closed ore docks that were part of
Marquette’s boom and history. The water itself had a surprising
clarity to it.

“I’ve seen enough,” Jim stated, disturbing
the absolute quiet of the car as we all took in the horrendous
residue.

“Me, too. Let’s go back west and see if there
is anything beyond Walstroms,” I suggested. “I’m not interested in
seeing downtown. From what you saw before the evacuation, there
isn’t anything left anyway.”

Passing back through the carnage was no
better than the first time and in some ways even worse. With the
wind now blowing at us we were enveloped in the smells.

“Ew, what is that?” Eric asked, wrinkling his
nose as he rolled up his window.

Jim took a whiff, then rolled his window up
too and turned on the air conditioner, even though the outside
temperature hovered around forty-five degrees.

“Wood, plastics, fuels and … meat, that’s
what you smell,” he stated simply. That he can say that so easily
makes me wonder what he’s seen during his long career.

“Meat?” Eric questioned. When he realized it
was human flesh he smelled all he could say was, “Oh.”

My stomach lurched at the cloying stench and
I closed my eyes to battle the urge to vomit. I took a sip of water
from my bottle to settle my stomach, but it didn’t help much, only
distance would do that.

It felt odd to stop in the middle of the
road, even though it was completely vacant and had been for over a
month. I must still be so conditioned by laws no longer enforceable
that it made me edgy to sit here.

“There’s another store about a half mile west
of here: Shopmore. It’s like a smaller version of Walstroms without
the fresh food,” I informed Jim when he started the Hummer moving
again. He made a right turn where I indicated and we were headed
north again. It was a surprise to see trees still standing, though
they were leafless, and the road was smooth. Around the bend, the
store came into view. It was unscathed by the fires!

“Before we start exploring, I think we should
have some water, maybe one of these sandwiches,” I suggested.
“Believe it or not, we’ve been driving around for almost five
hours.”

We sat on the parched grassy island in the
center of the Shopmore parking lot and opened the cooler, like a
family having a picnic.

“What do you think we’re going to find,
Colonel?” Eric asked, taking a bite of a peanut butter and jelly
sandwich, casually offering the other half to Rayn.

“Hopefully it’s what and not who,” he
answered, chomping into tuna fish. “If it’s occupied by scavengers,
it could get dicey. I want us to stay close and keep weapons drawn
when we go in.”

I had difficulty swallowing the bit of muffin
I had in my mouth when he issued those orders. So much for staying
out of trouble.

Rayn moved the Hummer up close to the front
doors while Jim and Eric circled the building, checking for forced
entry. The main doors were closed and locked with no visible signs
of damage.

“This could be our lucky day,” Jim smiled,
hefting one of the crowbars ready to smash the glass.

“Wait!” Rayn cried, and Jim stopped in
mid-swing. The center doors were meant to slide open when activated
by motion, reliant on electricity that was no longer available. The
two doors on either side were designed to open with a push. She
went to the nearest one and placed her hand on the glass, giving it
a nudge. It swung open soundlessly. She turned around and
grinned.

Rayn frowned. “Looks dark in here.”

I pulled a mini mag-light from my pocket and
looped the lanyard around my wrist. I noticed everyone did the same
with various sizes of flashlights. The bright LED lights cast
shadows over the displays.

“Recon only, everyone,” the Colonel ordered,
pulling his Beretta from its holster. We all did likewise and
headed up the center aisle. The lights barely cut through the gloom
that permeated the building. It was enough, though, to see depleted
racks of clothing still hanging silently waiting for a customer.
Another aisle produced boxes of dry cereal and crackers that had
been ravaged by rodents. What few cans of food were left had labels
partially chewed off, but were otherwise untouched.

I headed up one more aisle toward the health
care area, Eric on my heels.

“Looking for anything in particular,
Mom?”

“Vitamins, supplements, that sort of thing,”
I replied as I spotted what I wanted.

“This was to be recon only, Allexa,” the
Colonel said from behind me.

“For you maybe, but I may not have another
chance.” I started filling my pockets with bottles of garlic
capsules, oil of oregano, and D-3.

“Why those?” he asked.

“The garlic and oregano are natural
antibiotics and antivirals. The D-3 helps with the lack of sun
depression that will eventually hit,” I said. “With the flu on a
rampage right now, this could be important.”

“Here,” the Colonel said after having left
for a few moments. He shook open a large plastic garbage bag, one
for each of us. We all scooped bottles of everything into the
sacks. I’d sort them out later.

“Back to the front,” Jim barked once we had
cleared out those shelves. We all stepped outside into the now
fading light. “I think we’ve scored a jackpot!” he grinned.

Just then I felt a rumble under my feet, and
saw the others sway. The rumble grew to a shaking and it was hard
to stand upright. I grabbed onto the handle of the Hummer to keep
from stumbling and saw the others do the same. Then it was
over.

“What the hell was that?” Jim cried out.

“It felt like an earthquake,” Rayn said. “I
was born and raised in California, sir, and was stationed there for
two years. Earthquakes were quite common. This one felt really
strong, or really close, or both.”

Feeling nervous, I said, “I think we should
head back, at least get on the other side of the Basin Bridge.” We
tossed our booty into the back of the Hummer and climbed in. We
were heading out the service road when the next tremor hit. The
Humvee skittered sideways and Jim fought to keep control.

Once the shaking stopped, Jim floored it and
we were soon speeding down Highway 41 and then Fleet Street, our
discovery now secondary. He did a good job of dodging the biggest
potholes, though still managed to hit a few that bounced us around
and rattled our fillings.

“Jim, we’ll be in world of hurt if you blow a
tire on this thing!” I yelled at him over the whine of the engine.
He immediately slowed, though not by much. Our turn was coming up
quickly and I could see the pavement buckling. Fortunately, he saw
it too and jumped the curb, cutting across the burnt lawn of
whatever business had been there.

He swerved to miss a wall that tumbled across
the road, and kept going. On 695 again with the bridge in sight, we
all let out a collective sigh… then the next jolt hit. I could see
the sides of the bridge start to crumble and gasped. I know Jim saw
it too, but he didn’t stop, didn’t slow down.

We made it across with the bridge collapsing
behind us.

“My God that was close!” I gasped as we
cleared the last of the bridge. “You two okay back there?”

Eric let out a long breath. “We’re okay, Mom,
but I sure don’t want to try that again!”

Jim sped up and put a couple of miles between
us and the bridge before anyone said anything else. As we
approached Ravens Perch, he slowed the vehicle and stopped. He
wiped his hands over his face and got out.

The three of us looked at each other and got
out too.

“I’m getting too old for this shit,” Jim
said. He put his hands on his knees and took a couple of deep
breaths.

“For being ‘too old’, sir, you drive like an
ace! That was some pretty fancy maneuvering!” Eric said, laughing
to ease the tension we were all feeling.

Jim looked up from his bent over position to
look at my son. “That’s the most fun I’ve had in ages, though I’m
not anxious to repeat it any time soon,” he grinned. “Let’s go
home.”

~~~

“I’ve been so worried about you, Allex!” Mark
said, crushing me to his chest. “You were gone so long I was sure
something had happened when the tremors hit. Did you feel
them?”

“Oh, yes.”

We were all gathered around the kitchen
table, enjoying the heat from the wood stove. Eric pulled a bottle
of rum from the cabinet and got down five glasses from the shelf.
He looked at the colonel and Mark, and retrieved the bottle of Gray
Goose and the Scotch.

“How bad were the quakes here?” I asked.

“Not super bad, though we did feel them.
Where do you think was the epicenter?” Mark took a sip of his
scotch.

“My guess is the main quake was to the east,
since what we felt while in Marquette was a lot stronger than what
you had,” Rayn replied without thinking.

Mark looked alarmed and downed his drink.
“Okay, so fess up. What happened?” he asked Jim, knowing I would
downplay it.

“We felt three distinct tremors. We headed
out of town right after the first one, Allexa insisted. Personally,
I’m glad she did, because the next two got stronger. The last one
hit as we were crossing the Basin Bridge,” Jim replied in that
deadpan, calm manner he had. “The bridge is now gone.”

Mark turned pale.

“It’s not as if we would have been stranded,
though,” I said quickly. “There
is
another way back – up
country road 150. It’s a gravel road and since we haven’t had any
snow, it’s still open.” I hoped I sounded more confident than I
felt.

“I didn’t know this, Allexa,” Jim said with a
scowl.

“It does mean, though, that we can go back!”
Rayn piped in enthusiastically.

November 27

With the probability of being able to get
back into Marquette and to the Shopmore store, Jim and Tom spent
the morning planning and organizing while I took notes for
them.

“Tell me what you know about this county road
150, Allexa,” Jim requested. “What are we likely to find, things to
watch out for, that kind of thing.”

“It’s eighty percent gravel with patches that
were paved to protect the substructure from erosion. I used to live
ten miles south and just off that road,” I replied, thinking of my
woods house, hidden away deep in the forest. “The county used to
keep it plowed in the winter but I don’t think it’s been maintained
at all for the past year. I would recommend taking at least two
chainsaws to clear any fallen trees. Even during good times trees
dropping were quite common.”

“That makes sense. Anything else to watch
for?”

“Some of the men that are going with you
might know the area better than I do. I rarely ventured south of my
own road. I do know that with it being plowed in the winter, the
road would narrow to one vehicle in certain places, especially by
the Hairpin.”

“The Hairpin is a very tight loop in the road
with rock shears on either side,” Tom explained. “Even the loggers
would use chains on their tires in that area. It could get real
treacherous, so it’s a good thing we haven’t had any snow yet.” Tom
paused while he thought. “Come to think of it, I don’t remember any
turnouts in that area, do you Allex?”

“No I don’t. What I do remember is backing up
a long way once, and it was the last time I traveled that road in
the winter. I backed into an old logging trail on the west side of
the road to turn around.” I looked at Jim before going on. “A
standard sized vehicle could make a five-point turn when the
roadsides weren’t reduced by snowbanks.”

“That’s good info,” Jim said. “I can see we
might need to recon the road before sending a caravan in.”

~~~

“Mark, don’t be such a worrywart. I already
told you I’m
not
going back into Marquette with the next
crew.” I stopped my pacing to face him.

“I’m glad to hear that. It’s too dangerous
for you,” Mark said, looking up briefly from the medical charts he
was working on at his desk.

“Have you taken any of the supplements I
brought back yesterday?” I asked him quietly.

“No, I don’t believe they will do any good.
Besides, as long as we’re careful, wear our masks and gloves, and
wash our hands frequently, we’ll be fine.”

“Well, I’m taking them and I’m pushing the
kids to take them too. Even if they don’t help they certainly won’t
hurt.” Upset with Mark’s attitude, I walked back across the street
to talk with Tom.

“Take these,” I stated, and set a bottle of
garlic capsules on his desk. “We can’t afford for you to come down
sick.” I slumped in the chair. “When did Jim leave?”

Tom glowered, though it wasn’t meant for
me.

“They left a half hour ago to scout the
road.” Tom tossed his pen aside. “Jim refused to let me go with
them! Said it was too dangerous for me. Can you believe that?”

“Yeah, Mark was adamant about me not going
either.” We looked at each other and started laughing. “Tom, when
did we get to be so important?”

~~~

The colonel returned two hours later, dusty
and disheveled.

“We had cut our way through two areas of
downed trees, only to be stopped. There’s a rockslide at a tight
curve that I’m assuming is what you were calling the Hairpin. We
tried moving some of it, but there are boulders that will require
earth-moving equipment that we don’t have,” Jim informed us,
clearly frustrated. “It’s obvious that’s a much higher elevation
than here since there’s snow on the ground. Not much, but enough. I
think we’re stuck until spring.”