Fallen

by J. Dursky

  Chapter 16

   

  We all get out of the car.  I tuck the gun into the back of my athletic shorts and grab the other radio off of the backpack.  I am not afraid of guns. I am actually quite comfortable with them. Growing up in Iowa I have had plenty of opportunity to hunt animals and familiarize myself with many different weapons. I have never had the type of gun the soldier was carrying but I am sure I could still take it apart, clean it, and put it back together without a manual.

  I see the Doctor looking at the radios.  I don't think he wants me to have them.  We start walking to the house.  The driveway by the house looks like a cross from above.  The left side of the shape is the sidewalk, the right side is where I parked the car and the top section is where my truck is parked.  The house is positioned in the lower left corner and the garage is in the upper right corner of the cross.  Lila rushes to me and latches onto my arm.  She walks as close to me as humanly possible. She puts her head on my shoulder, but only for a second. 

  All four of us meet at the porch as we enter the house.  With Lila on my right and the other two trailing behind, Lila turns and look over her shoulder to Jensen. 

  "What's your name?"  Lila asks him.

  This makes me realize we have not all been formally introduced. I let them continue.

  "Jensen."  He replies.

  "I'm Lila."  She tells him.  "How old are you?"

  "Twelve, how old are you?"

  "I’m sorry babe, I totally forgot with everything that’s happening, happy Birthday!” She says to me and then answers Jensen. “I’m eighteen. He’s nineteen." She tilts her head towards me.

  “Well not yet.” I say. “Today is my Birthday. Hers isn’t until Tuesday.”

  “Close enough.” Lila says. “I wish my dad was here.”

  “Me too. I wonder where mine are too. I bet they are still at work.”

  We all walk into the house.

  “So, Dr. Hunter, what do we have to defend ourselves? Sunglasses?”

  “Actually, the frequency of the waves being transmitted from eye to eye cannot be filtered by standard polarized sunglasses.”

  “There goes that idea. Looks like I won’t be the hero after all.”

  I walk to my room to get something for Lila. It is a picture she gave to me. I have a feeling she will want it more. It is a picture of her and her mom. She forces a smile when I hand it to her. 

  I speak to the Doctor "We will stay here for the night and make a plan in the morning."

  "Great, I don't want to be out in the dark.  Especially with Fallen being so close. Besides my base is under quarantine and they may shoot us if we approach without proper identification." 

  We get into the basement of the house.  I tell them about our immediate plan. The basement is concrete walls on three sides and a row of eight feet high by four feet wide windows on the other. It’s a walk out basement that is buried in a hill.  That gives us security on three sides and an ability to see threats coming from the fourth.  The windows are triple paned, nearly unbreakable, and has very secure locks.  I should know, I work at the factory that produces them, and my job is to test their strength from impact. 

  In the basement there are several shelves of food, water, batteries, hand tools, weapons and ammunition.  My dad is extra cautious about things like this. It started with Y2K then all the predictions about the winter solstice of 2012.  The basement contains everything we would need to survive for a good length of time, if we ever choose to wait something like this out.  I instruct Lila, Dr. Hunter, and Jensen to prepare certain things such as sleeping arrangements, putting new batteries into the radios and lamps, loading weapons, and making dinner. 

  "They have not come this far west yet, but having the extra security is a great feature here. I never would have expected this sort of resourcefulness from a family that would probably never need it in an area like this."  Dr. Hunter tells me.

  "We will all sleep better knowing we’re fairly secure in here. And it looks like we do need it. Don’t we?"

  "I'm pretty sure we have something more effective at keeping us alive than our newly found fort and these weapons."  He says with a confident tone as I walk up the stairs.

  Walking to my truck I think of everything that has happened today, the things I’ve seen, and the new people I’ve met. For some reason I feel like I’m in the center of this. I wonder where else this is happening. I’m not sure of what I’ll have to do to keep Lila and myself alive but I’ll do anything. Right now I’ll do what I can to make sure we survive until morning. 

  I park my truck in the garage and start to prepare it for an emergency getaway.  I walk back and forth from the house to the garage with things we will need if we have to leave the area.  Halfway down the sidewalk on my fifth or sixth trip I hear a voice behind me.  It is Jensen, asking me if he can help with whatever I’m doing.  I waive my hand, beckoning him to catch up.  I am loading the truck with everything we will need if we have to get out of here in a hurry. 

  My truck has an extra fuel tank in the back that holds 150 gallons.  My dad helped me hook it up to where I can flip a switch on my console and it will pump fuel from the extra tank into the stock gas tank to keep it full.  I think there is about a half a tank so we could probably drive 1,000 miles without stopping.  If we drive that far, we will need enough food, water, and protection to get us there. 

   

  I keep thinking about what the Doctor said to me as I walked up the stairs.  “Something more effective?”  Was that some snide remark about the weapons in the basement? Regardless, I wonder what the hell he meant by it. 

  I enter the garage for what I hope will be the final trip with Jensen right behind me. 

  "I heard them talking."  He tells me.

  "Who?"

  "The last trip in the house I heard them from the top of the stairs.  The Doctor said one of us had to go with him, that he thinks testing may give the answer to stop all of this."

  "He didn't say which one?"

  "I missed the beginning of the conversation.  He said some General will be looking for him if he doesn’t come back. He said it’s safer if he leaves, but he wants to take the one he needs to study."

  "Great, so the military will be looking for him!  He must be pretty important for them to look for him specifically.  I’ll talk to him when the house is secure."

  "I think it’s you."  Jensen tells me sternly.

  "Why do you think that?"

  "I saw what you did.  Are you an alien?"  He asks with curious eyes.

  I wonder if he is serious for a moment, then I laugh.  He is just a kid after all.  "No, I am not an alien, I am not a mutant, and I am not a super hero like the guy on your shirt."  I tap him on his chest with the back of my fingers.  "I had an adrenaline rush. That is how I kicked him so hard."  I explain.

  "Do you think I can do that?"  He asks me.

  "I think anyone can, when they are afraid of losing someone they love."

  "Do you think I might be able to do that to get my sister back?"  He asks with sad eyes.

  "I don't know, but I will do whatever it takes to help you."  I tell him. 

  He smiles at me with a look of appreciation and amazement.  He sees me as some sort of hero, and for a second, I feel like one. It makes me feel a sense of loyalty to this kid, knowing he looks up to me like this. 

  When I get into the house I immediately start working on boarding up a few of the doors and windows.  It’s almost dark anyway, I work at it until it is too dark to see the nails go in.  We still have electricity, but I don’t feel safe turning the lights on and attracting attention to the house from anyone who may see it. 

  Lila comes up stairs with a flashlight and a bowl of soup with a spoon in it.  She sits on the nearest piece of furniture while I work on securing the window.  It’s the couch I took a nap on before yesterday's game.  Seeing her on it reminds me of
the last time I was in this room. I have all but forgotten about the dream I had among everything else that has happened. 

  "What do you think about Jensen?"  She asks me as I sit down and take the bowl from her hand. The spoon clanks against the rim of the glass bowl during our exchange.

  "Cool kid."  I tell her.  "He thinks I am some kind of hero."

  "He may not be that far off.” She says. “Dr. Hunter thinks along those lines as well." 

  She is in different clothes than earlier.  She showered when it was still light in the house.  She has clothes in the bottom drawer of my dresser.  It’s not a full wardrobe. It’s bits and pieces from each time she left something.  It gives me a good feeling inside when I remind her of the things she leaves here and refuses to take home.  They are like little souvenirs of our relationship.  She has a drawer for me at her house as well.  

  "What's the plan?"  She asks me.

  "You know the plan, I already told you."

  "I mean long term.  The food and water are only going to last for so long.  Then what?"

  "Well I was hoping to get more information out of the Doctor."

  "I think you should go with him tomorrow.  To the base I mean."

  "Okay, we can leave in the morning, but I want to talk to him about it first."  I say with concern.

  "I have already talked to him.  The base is under quarantine.  He thinks he can talk them into letting one additional person on the base.  Not two."  Her eyes drop to the floor. 

  "I know what you’re going to say to me."  She says. "You’re going to tell me there has to be another way, or you can talk him into taking me, or some other reason not to leave me here.  But the fact is, one person can stay here far longer the two, three, or four." 

  I shake my head no.  I don't like the idea of leaving her.  I need to protect her. 

  She finishes her thought.  "I will stay here, this is the safest place. The Doctor thinks you may be the key to finding a cure and I agree with him." 

  I hate how logical this sounds.  I try to find a flaw in her proposal.  I know it’s a good idea, but my judgment is clouded.  All I want is to be with her.  I weigh my options.  I can stay with her. We could survive for quite some time together and see what happens.  On the other hand, I can go, possibly find a cure, fix all of this, and spend a lifetime together.  I still hate the idea of leaving her for even a minute, not to mention that it could be considerably longer. 

  I look her in the eyes.  Her face is lit by the glow of the flashlight shining on the carpet.  I hope she can see how much I love her, and why I am concerned about leaving.  

  "I wonder where my parents are..."  I say.

  "With all this zombie shit hitting the fan, they could be just about anywhere."

  I laugh a little.  "Zombie shit?  Haha, do zombies have the capability to shit?”

  She takes a deep breath and stares at me. “Dumb!” She changes the subject. “Do you know where your parents are? Do you think Dr. Hunter knows more than he is telling us?"

  "I don't know, I still need to be convinced this is for the greater good. I don’t want to leave you."

  I finish my soup and send Lila downstairs while I shower. It is not fun only having a flashlight shining on the ceiling while I shower, but it is better than nothing.

  It reminds me of the time when we had a really bad ice storm last year. We lost power for three days. It was a pain in the ass but at the same time it was kind of fun. There was no school, no work, and I took the four wheeler to Lila’s house and picked her up. Her mom did not care considering we all slept in the living room on air mattresses to stay warm by the fire place. We had to do everything by candle light, even during the day because the clouds were so thick.

  My dad, older brother Mike, and I played guitar for entertainment. It was a good bonding experience and I am glad Lila was there to see it. It was her first time seeing all of us play together. That day we had to take everything out of the refrigerator and set it outside to keep it cold. Anything in a refrigerator is better off freezing than getting too warm. The plumbing still worked but since the electricity was out, there was no hot water. At least we still had a toilet, even if we had to use candle light.

  This is a completely different situation. There was no danger in the ice storm.