To Cross a Wasteland

by Phillip D Granath

  A few minutes later, Kyle, Anna, and Juan joined him next to the fire. Miles sat just where Kyle had left him still wrapped in the blanket in which he had slept. The old man was awake now and tending to a small black pot in which water and several strips of meat now simmered. Miles looked up when he saw them approach.

  “Stewed jerky for breakfast. The pot and the jerky courtesy of Coal here,” Miles said nodding towards the miserable looking Indian.

  “Thank you Coal,” Kyle said sitting down next to the fire. Coal just waved a hand in his direction and laid out on the ground much too caught up with the pounding in his head to form any words.

  “It’ll be a bit before it’s done, anything we need to discuss while we wait?” Miles offered, looking at Kyle pointedly.

  Kyle took a breath and looked around at the little group. He hated the idea of being put on the spot like this, but he knew Miles well enough to know that the man would no longer be delayed. It was either tell him everything now, or Miles would never let it go.

  “So all of you have heard the story of how I found this place. I’m not going to go over all of it again, you have seen for yourself what this place is, can see what it used to be. What I haven’t told, is what happened to me the first night I stayed here,” Kyle paused and looking around the group to find all of their eyes were on him. Even Coal rolled his head to the side to look in his direction.

  “I found a light mounted on the wall of the cave inside. It was weird, not like anything I have ever seen. It started flashing blue, slowly at first and then after a while, it started going faster. It was late, and I was bone tired by the time I found it. So I holed up for the night in the back of the facility, behind a heavy steel door and figured I would try and get a better look at it the next day,” Kyle paused again as if not sure how to continue.

  “That night I was attacked. I woke up to the sound of pounding, the sound of steel upon steel. Like they had fucking jackhammers or something, a couple of them at least. I stayed hidden, but they found me and tried to force the door open. I had barricaded it up pretty good, so they blew the damn thing open with some kind of explosives, blew through the steel door and concrete of the wall and everything…,” Kyle explained, but Coal cut in.

  “Jackhammers and explosives? I don’t know who these guys were, but I have to meet them. Sounds like my kinda dudes!” Coal said with a big grin.

  “Yeah well, whoever they were they did a piss poor job when it came to the actual killing and stealing a bit. I woke up hours later very much unmurdered and with all of my stuff. They were gone, not a sign of them anywhere,” Kyle explained.

  “What? Fucking rookies. New plan let’s just track them down and steal their jackhammers and their explosives. I hate dealing with amateurs,” Coal said amending his original plan.

  “Kyle that’s, well that’s a hell of a story. But that just doesn’t make any sense,” Miles said gently.

  “I know, it’s one of the reasons I didn’t want to bring it up,” Kyle replied.

  “I mean even the basic physics of it, you’re in a small narrow space, and someone uses explosives on the door. Enough to blow apart a steel door and the concrete of the frame. The overpressure alone should have killed you,” Miles was speaking, but Kyle could tell he was really just turning the problem over in his head.

  “I know, the worst I got out of it was a nasty bump on the head and probably a concussion,” Kyle said, and he glanced over at Anna who now wore a concerned look on her face.

  “So you took a pretty good knock to the noodle then?” Miles asked. Kyle nodded and then replied.

  “I’ll say, pounding headache, vertigo, I passed out once or twice. Damn near drowned myself in that pond trying to get a drink.”

  “Any chance in your condition at the time that you, well maybe missed something?” Miles asked carefully.

  “What do you mean?” Kyle replied.

  “I mean like maybe those boys blew themselves to pieces trying to ferret you out of your hole. Then when you woke up stumbling around in the dark, likely concussed you simply didn’t see what was left of them. Or maybe you did see them and have just blacked it out,” Miles offered.

  Kyle looked down at his hands considering Miles words carefully.

  “Doesn’t that make more sense than them simply walking away? Leaving you alive and with all your stuff?” Miles added.

  Kyle nodded his head in agreement. “It does. I just, I just don’t think that’s what happened,” Kyle said weakly.

  “Okay Kyle, Okay,” Miles said and then paused before asking.

  “So you seem to think there is some kind of connection between that light and these guys showing up a few hours later trying to kill you?”

  Kyle nodded again and said. “I do. I don’t know why I think that. I don’t know how it would even be possible. It just seems too much of a coincidence to me.”

  Miles paused again as if deep in thought and then spoke. “Okay folks, quick change of subject. Are we still going to try and cross this desert? Or are we heading back to help the city council rebuild?”

  Kyle was caught off guard by the old man’s sudden shift in topics. He hadn’t thought that far ahead, he was only worried about Anna now. Giving her everything that she needed to heal. He turned to look at his wife, and she took his hand and gave him a half smile. He knew that she had never really wanted to leave. Now with Murphy out of the picture, likely dead before sundown if Coal got his way, he found himself feeling a bit more optimistic about the town’s future.

  “I think we want to go back,” Kyle said, and Anna simply nodded.

  “Yeah, I think that would be the safest bet. Me and Juan don’t have much left to go back too, but the town still needs the pump and soon enough that old girl is going to start giving them real problems,” Miles said with a nod and then he turned to look at the Indian who was now lying flat on his back with his eyes closed.

  “Coal, how do you vote?” Miles asked.

  “Whatever,” Coal replied through his hangover.

  “So then that’s settled, we're going back to town then. Any reason that shouldn’t be today?” Miles continued.

  Kyle looked from Anna over to Coal and then replied hesitantly still not sure what Mile’s game was. “I guess it could be.”

  “So then, is there any reason why we can’t hitch the horses up, get the wagon and buggy ready to move? Then go in and get a closer look at this facility, the light too? It took hours you said for your boogeymen to arrive last time. We can be out of her in a few minutes if need be, and perhaps we’ll find something you missed, something that maybe explains who these people were that attacked you,” Miles said a grin creeping across his wrinkled face.

  Kyle was already shaking his head. “Why risk it? I’ve been through every part of this place that isn’t collapsed. You have been through it yourself.”

  “Yes, but that was just a cursory poking around. This time we do it right, room by room you guiding us. You show us the clinic, the place where you were attacked and most importantly, you show me this light,” Miles was not going to be deterred now Kyle could tell, but it was the way that Anna grabbed his arm that caused him to pause and look at her.

  She was looking straight at him. “If we are going back we’ll be starting from scratch again. The clinic we built is gone. We’ll need to replace a lot of things, things that we can find inside and maybe nowhere else,” Anna said slowly.

  They were more words than she had spoken since her rescue. Underneath everything that she was going through, the pain, the fear, the humiliation she was still Anna. Kyle knew that she was going in now if he guided them or not. The Scavenger just shook his head and gave up.

  “Seems like it’s settled then,” Kyle said standing and then added.

  “Coal, let’s get them horses hitched up and the wagon ready to move.”

  “Is it too late to change my vote?” Coal groaned in reply.

  It took just 10 minutes for them to break camp. The horses
were hitched back into their makeshift harnesses. The garage wasn’t deep enough for them and the wagon to fit while hitched, so Coal moved the team over to a section of brush and stunted trees that provided a measure of shade. What little personal bags they had were loaded into the wagon along with the handful of items the group bothered to scavenge from the garage. As they were loading these Miles decided that all of the space-age hand tools they had found for sample collection should be loaded as well. Now that they had decided to return to town he was going to have to replace all of his lost tools.

  The small group gathered in the narrow hallway in front of the inner door. Miles handed out chemical lights to all of them including Juan. Then the group all turned and waited on Kyle expectantly.

  “Okay, so just follow me. Keep your eyes open and don’t touch anything,” Kyle said not sure what else to say.

  Before the words were even out of his mouth, Juan disappeared through the door into the darkness. Miles followed a heartbeat later. Anna at least had the courtesy to smile at him as she broke his first rule as she stepped past him and through the opening. Kyle just shook his head again and then turned to look at Coal.

  “Well aren’t you going to go ahead of me?” he asked the Indian.

  “Hell no, I saw enough cheesy monster movies growing up to know how this works. The first people to die are those that break the rules and do something immensely stupid. Also, you never want to be the guy who walks in front, so I’m happy to follow you,” Coal said grinning. Kyle nodded in agreement and followed the group into the darkness.

  Kyle turned sideways and slipped through the narrow gap in the inner door. He took his first half a step and ran straight into the back of Anna. He reached out for her touching her back and then tried to step around her only to step on Juan and almost fall. Neither of them made a sound.

  “What the hell? Get out of the way,” Kyle said into the darkness.

  Anna reached out and found his hand but didn’t say a word. Kyle was confused for a moment, and then the dark space was filled with the strange blue light. In the blue glow of the light, the Scavenger could see Miles a dozen paces ahead of them and moving straight for the source of the light on the opposite wall. As quickly as it had flashed to life the light went out again, returning the cavern back to darkness, with the exception of the pool of light cast from the hole in the ceiling.

  “You fucking happy now Miles? Now you’ve seen it,” Kyle called out to the old man.

  Miles didn’t reply, but from the crunch of the dead crops in the darkness, Kyle could tell he was still shuffling towards the cavern’s opposite wall, still searching for the source of the light.

  “Come on,” the Scavenger said and strode across the dead field with Anna and Juan close behind him.

  They were halfway across when the light flashed again, and a long low whistle came from the area of the doorway.

  “I’m guessing that’s the light the old man has been going on about?” Coal‘s voice asked in the darkness.

  “Yeah,” Kyle replied as the light died away and he reached the opposite wall to stand next to Miles. The old man leaned heavily up against the rock wall and was reaching up barely able to touch the strange light fixture.

  “See what I meant, three-legged starfish,” Kyle said.

  Miles simply chuckled in reply and said. “I do now, yes I do.”

  Kyle sighed and watched as the old man shook his chemical light to life he held it up to reveal the odd-shaped object. Just as he remembered it appeared to be made of polished black steel with clean almost organic looking lines. This time, however, the appearance of the thing sent an unexpected shiver down the Scavenger’s spine. Perhaps it was knowing what happened to him the last time he was here, knowing what had happened after. As if in response to his thoughts the evil starfish flashed again momentarily flooding the chamber with the piercing blue light.

  “I’ll be damned,” Miles hissed. “Did you see that Kyle?” it was like the whole thing; the black steel body just went transparent for a moment.”

  “I’ve seen it before. Did that flash come faster than the last one?” Kyle asked.

  “Did it!?” Miles exclaimed in excitement. “What does that mean?”

  “Asking the wrong guy?” Kyle replied as the light faded again.

  The Scavenger felt Anna’s hand on his arm, and his wife was next to him then. She could tell that he was nervous and was doing what she could to comfort him. Kyle appreciated it, but it did little to change the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

  “You know with some booze and a little music a guy could turn this into a happening little rave club,” Coal volunteered from the shadows. “That is if you could turn up the speed on that thing, not near fast enough to dance too.”

  As if in response to the Indian’s words the light flashed again.

  “It’s definitely getting faster,” Miles pointed out.

  “I’ve had enough; you’ve seen the damn thing. Now let’s go,” Kyle said.

  “You said it yourself, IF anything were going to happen it wouldn’t be for hours,” Miles pointed out.

  “What about the clinic Kyle?” Anna asked.

  “Yeah, right. Miles, you have as ever long as it takes for us to scrounge up what’s left in the clinic to study your new toy. Then we are leaving,” Kyle said but if Miles responded he couldn’t hear him.

  “This way,” Kyle said leading Anna and a few paces behind her Coal towards the facility's medical center. They left Juan and Miles standing in the main chamber. Mile propped awkwardly up against the wall straining to touch the strange object when it flashed again.

  No change at all. It doesn’t get hotter or colder,” Miles said glancing back at Juan. “Interesting.”

  Juan just nodded in silent agreement, but the look on his face showed more fear than interest. Now in the dark again the old man turned to face the boy. “Juan run out to the wagon. Inside my bag bring me the tape measure, the small calipers, and my notebook. Hurry now, go!”

  At Mile’s words, the boy ran to the inner door and slipped through, eager to be out of the darkness and into the light of day. The old man turned back to the object, he had assumed it would be some type of cutting-edge space light. But this, this seemed just wrong somehow, and though he wouldn’t admit it to Kyle, the light was definitely flashing more frequently and that was starting to unnerve him as well. To highlight the point, the light flashed again, and Miles started a silent count in his head.

  As Kyle led Anna and Coal through the broken doors, they entered the halls of the ruined facility. Anna held her glowing green chem light out in front of them and trailing behind, Coal shook his to life as well. The Scavenger stopped after a few steps and pointed down to the steel grating and the walls in half a dozen places.

  “See here, these holes in the steel and the rock. Jackhammers, I think. Maybe pickaxes?” Kyle offered.

  Coal held his light up above his head and ran a finger across a few holes that had been even pounded into the hall’s ceiling. “Well whatever these boys lacked in common sense, they sure as hell made up for in motivation.”

  They came to an intersection in the hallway. “That’s a dead end down there, and that’s a living space turned crematorium that way,” Kyle said gesturing in one direction and the other.

  “I don’t think there’s much to salvage in there, just a lot of bones, melted plastic, and ashes,” Kyle said turning to Anna. His wife just nodded in reply, and they pushed further down the hallway.

  The small group entered the medical bay, the chemical lights giving off just enough of a green glow to illuminate about half the space. The smashed exam table lay crumpled at their feet. Without the need of any further prompting, Anna moved to the line of cabinets and began pulling out everything she could find adding these to the small pile of medical items exactly where Kyle had left them on his last visit.

  Kyle quickly realized Anna intended to take everything along that she could. Surgical booty’s, scrubs
and boxes of courtesy drapes. Things that he would have never considered having any value she added to the pile. The Scavenger just shook his head; she was right they were rebuilding from scratch. He grabbed a tattered exam curtain and pulled it down from its track in the ceiling. He laid it out on one of the counters and began to pile up Anna’s items.

  While the husband and wife worked, Coal wondered further back into the clinic poking around at random. He found the small office with its destroyed door and smashed cabinets. He slowly began turning and checking the corners of the room and behind the overturned exam table and anywhere that shadows still lingered.

  “No bodies,” Coal called out.

  “What?” Kyle asked looking up.

  “No bodies, no pieces of bodies, no bodies gooified by explosives. Not a one,” Coal replied.

  “Like a said, now tear down that curtain and come give us a hand. I want to get out of here as soon as we can,” Kyle commanded and never one to shy away from destroying something Coal ripped a nearby curtain down with glee.

  It took nearly ten minutes of searching, sorting and packing before Kyle could convince Anna that they had everything worth taking. The three of them trudged down that hallway carrying large bundles over their shoulders improvised out of the old exam room curtains. They stepped out into the dead field which was again momentarily bathed in a flash of blue light. Kyle could see Miles still leaning against the wall directly underneath the object in much the same way he had when they had left him. They hadn’t taken another six steps when the light flashed again.

  “Holy shit that’s sped up!” Kyle shouted in surprise.

  “Yes, it has,” Miles replied smiling in the dark. “I’m counting just less than 30 seconds now.”