They were stopped by an elderly man and woman who were standing off what had now turned into a paved blacktop road. They’d been eating something, and hidden it once they saw the small group approaching them.
“Are you headed to the city?” the man asked, and Regan forced a smile at him. His face looked kind, less guarded than so many of the other people they’d been seeing.
Wolf nodded his head. “I need to get to my daughter.”
The man shook his head, putting his hand out to take his wife’s hand when she made a strangled sound in response to Wolf’s comment. “It’s terrible. I hope she is somewhere safe. The roads into the city are extremely dangerous. Gangs have claimed the city. It happened almost right away. We had to leave everything behind. This area is less wealthy, and that now means it’s less dangerous.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. I have to get my daughter,” Wolf answered simply.
“I understand. Good luck, and be careful,” the man said before shuffling on down the road with his wife beside him.
Regan turned to look at them go. Where would they go? They were carrying nothing. A horrible realization slammed into her with that thought. Those nice people wouldn’t survive for long.
She didn’t realize she’d stopped walking until Wolf was beside her, speaking. “You okay?” he asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.
Regan looked at him. “They’re going to die.”
Wolf looked back at the elderly couple and nodded his head. “Probably.”
“Shouldn’t we offer to help them?”
“How? We don’t know what we’re walking into. Taking them into the city could get them killed, and they made the choice to leave it behind for a reason.”
Regan watched as the old man put his arm around his wife’s shoulders. “This is terrible.”
“It is. We need to keep moving. I have to get to my family. They’ll be waiting for me. We can ride this out on my island,” he said.
“You want us all there?” she asked, finally looking back at him to meet his eyes, and noticing that the others in their group were listening to their exchange as raptly as she now listened for how Wolf would respond.
He smiled. “You won’t get to be a freeloader. There’s going to be plenty of work to do to stay alive. I could use the extra hands,” he added, looking around at the others and meeting their gazes. “My dad and daughter are fairly capable, but a few extra able bodies are going to be nice. I have to be able to protect and defend what we have.”
Regan sighed and nodded her head. She still wasn’t entirely convinced she would stay with him, but it was good to know the offer held.
“Okay, let’s go. I can’t wait to hear more good news,” she said sarcastically.
He chuckled. “We’ll get through this. Stay strong.”
13
The Island: Lily
Dear Diary: This apocalypse thing is a real drag. I thought I hated going to school. That was easy compared to all the stuff I have to do around here. I hope Dad gets back soon. Then he can help Grandpa. He’s still worried about the little stuff and not really doing what Dad said. I guess he has to. He says things are breaking left and right, and those things are the priority.
Today, I had to help him fix a crack in the foundation of the house. I didn’t think it was a big deal, but he insisted it could be a serious problem. If the waters happened to get too high after a hurricane or tropical storm and flooded the island, the crack in the foundation could result in structural damage. Thankfully, Dad had a few bags of concrete mix in the shed. We mixed up enough to pour into the crack. We’re going to keep close watch over the next few days to make sure it dries and hardens correctly. I hope we don’t get any rain before it can fully dry. I’m learning all kinds of stuff I never wanted to know.
Yesterday sucked. Grandpa and I left the island, hoping to get a few more supplies to fix the pump. I was excited to see some of my friends. I mean, I’ve been dying to get off the island. Grandpa didn’t want to leave. He was afraid someone would see us pulling up to shore in our little rowboat and know we were living on the island. I convinced him it would be safe if we said we had gone out fishing if anyone asked. He finally agreed.
If anyone asked where we’d been, we were supposed to say we were holed up in our condo where everyone thinks Dad and I live anyway. Even the people at his work think we live there, and sometimes we used to stay there. The island was our bug-out location. At least, that’s what Dad calls it. I kind of like to think of it as our vacation home, even if it is only twenty minutes away from our condo by car. He always said we had to live nearby in case there was an emergency. I guess he was right. He wanted to make sure we could get to the island quickly, without having to travel a long way.
But, back to the mainland. The first thing we did when we got to shore was tie up our boat and cover it with a bunch of tree branches. Then, Grandpa wanted to make sure Dad’s boat hadn’t been found. We’ve kept a small boat hidden in an inlet that’s completely camouflaged. That’s the boat Dad will use to get to the island as soon as he gets back. When I saw the boat hadn’t been disturbed, I was SO relieved. I know Dad will be showing up any day.
Grandpa told me we couldn’t let people see us, and to try and blend in as much as possible. If people figured out we were coming and going, they’d want to know where we were holed up. Everything was fine at first, too. No one paid us any attention.
Then, I happened to see Kylie. She was with a couple of other girls from school. Grandpa said I could talk to them for a minute and then we had to get moving.
Kylie was not the same girl, seriously, I can’t believe how she changed because of this. She was mean. Her and the other girls were making fun of my hair. They said it was the worst dye-job they’ve ever seen. I can’t believe she turned on me like that. We’ve been friends forever, and I didn’t do anything to her! It really hurt my feelings. I thought we were friends.
Grandpa says she’s jealous and that’s why she was being mean. I guess I can see that. My clothes were clean and my hair did look good. She was dirty and her hair looked like it hadn’t been washed in days. Grandpa says we should have dressed down before we left the island. He’s right. We were walking around like everything was normal. It wasn’t. Everyone else we saw was dirty and grumpy. Like, super grumpy and acting a little crazy.
Oh! And the smell! I would be grumpy too if I had to smell that all day and all night. It stunk so bad. I wanted to throw up! Grandpa said it was because the sewer treatment plant isn’t operating. All I know is it’s disgusting. It smelled worse than a gas station bathroom. When we got back to the island, he made me take my shoes off outside. Then I had to wipe them down with bleach. I totally didn’t blame him.
According to him, we were walking through all kinds of gross stuff on the mainland and he didn’t want to bring bacteria, germs, and viruses into the house. I got a really long lecture about the viruses in human poop. It was the grossest conversation I have ever had. It wasn’t like I was going to lick my shoes or something, but he was really serious about sanitizing everything.
Kylie also said some pretty mean stuff about Dad. She asked why I wasn’t with him. Grandpa told me not to tell anyone Dad wasn’t home, but she’s my friend. I didn’t think it would hurt if I told her he was on location. And you know what? She told me he was dead! Why would she say that? I know he’s not dead. Wouldn’t I have some sixth sense or something? I don’t know, I guess, but I don’t feel like he is dead. It is taking him a long time to get home, but I know he’s not dead.
Grandpa keeps telling me not to worry. He says he would have probably been deep in the swamp, and because they had just started the second week when the power went out, he probably wouldn’t have even known. My dad is crazy, seriously. I don’t know why he keeps going into the swamp for this show. He says it’s good to disconnect from everything for a while. No thank you. I like lights and running water and my iPod. Man, do I miss using my iPod.
But now Kylie is
n’t my friend. When all this is over and we go back to school, I’m going to let her know I don’t need her. Her and those other girls are going to see who comes out on top after this. My family is prepared. We’re going to get through this with flying colors. We have water, power, food, and everything we need to survive. They don’t. Kylie doesn’t even know how to fish!
I know I shouldn’t be mean, but she really hurt my feelings. I wanted to share some stuff with her, but Grandpa says we can’t let anyone know. I know that, I guess. Dad has always told me to never talk about the island and all the prepping we’ve done. I get it. If people know we live out here and how well we’re set up, they’re going to try and take it. After seeing and smelling the way the other people are living, I get it. I would be willing to steal, too, if I was hungry and had nothing to lose. It’s not like anyone can go to jail for stealing now, or even killing someone and taking their stuff.
It’s scary out there. I guess that’s what I’m saying. I hope Dad hurries up and gets home. I know the gangs in Naples are bad from what people are saying. One of the girls tried to say Dad made it out of the swamp only to be killed by the gangs because he tried to fight them. She is such a loser. My dad would never try and fight an entire gang, but even if he did, he would win. She was a really mean girl. I cannot wait to get back to school and tell her my dad is alive.
I hate this waiting, but I know he’s going to show up any minute. For now, I have to keep doing what he told us to in case this ever happened. I’m not going to tell him, but I’m so glad he did all this for us and made me listen to those hours of lectures. I don’t want to be like Kylie and the other kids. I’m glad Dad was smart enough to prepare for the apocalypse. Oh, and yeah, that is what we’re calling it. It’s not only me using the word. I haven’t seen any zombies. Wouldn’t that be cool!
But, actually… now that I think of it…. No, no, it wouldn’t be cool. Strike that. We’re having a plain old apocalypse. Way better.
14
“We need to find somewhere to hole up for the night,” Wolf commented as they walked down yet another deserted street.
They had passed through two small towns that had bled together and still had another twenty miles or so before they reached Naples. They were all exhausted. The meager supplies in their packs were far heavier than they could have imagined. Wolf didn’t come right out and say it, but he had warned them.
“I don’t think these people look very hospitable,” Fred murmured as they passed by a group of people standing around on the sidewalk.
“We can’t walk all night,” Tabitha pointed out. “Plus, it’s going to rain. Look at those clouds coming in.”
“She’s right,” Wolf agreed. “It isn’t too cold, but I would guess the temperature is in the mid-fifties. If we’re wet, that’s too cold for our bodies to maintain our core body temperature. We need to find shelter for the night.”
Regan’s eyes moved up and down the street. It looked a lot like the first town they had walked through. The main street of the city where all the businesses were looked like a bomb had gone off. There was broken glass everywhere. Garbage and debris were scattered all over the sidewalks and in the streets. She could smell urine, too, and had a feeling that the trickling liquid running alongside the road wasn’t only water. She was familiar with the slums and knew exactly what people did when there weren’t restrooms; this wasn’t a city, but it looked like the whole area had degenerated into the equivalent of a back alley. When you had to go, you had to go. People would relieve themselves over sewer grates or along the edge of a street with the intention of the waste flowing into the sewer. It didn’t always work like that, clearly.
“Rain will help clean this place up,” Geno commented, obviously smelling the stench of human waste as well as she could.
“Keep your eyes open for anywhere we can hunker down,” Wolf instructed them.
They passed one store after another. Some places had what could only be called guards posted outside, protecting the little merchandise that was left. No one threatened them, but it was made very clear that they shouldn’t stop.
“What about there?” Tabitha asked, pointing out a small secondhand children’s shop on a side street. “I guess people aren’t desperate for used baby clothes. At least not yet, anyway. And I don’t see anyone standing around.”
“Let’s check it out,” Wolf replied.
The door wasn’t locked, and the one window in the front of the store was still in place. The business had definitely been ransacked.
“I think this looks like a good enough place to settle in for the night,” Wolf said.
“What about water?” Geno asked. “I’m seriously thirsty.”
“We have some tablets left. We can check the tap and see if any water comes out. Don’t drink from the tap,” Wolf added as an afterthought.
“Why not?” Regan asked.
“The water treatment plants will be down. Whatever water is coming out of the tap isn’t safe to drink. We still need to purify it,” he explained.
She nodded her head in understanding. “Got it.”
“We’ll do a better job scavenging tomorrow,” Wolf told the group. “I’m afraid we’ll have to go hungry tonight.”
Geno moaned in frustration. They were all hungry, but there was nothing to be done about it. Regan thought about going out on her own to look for food, but then thought better of it. If they didn’t find anything tomorrow, things were going to get ugly.
“There’s a room back here,” Tabitha announced. “I think it will be safer if we stay out of sight.”
“Good. Is there anything useful back there?” Wolf asked.
Tabitha shook her head. “No. There’s a small refrigerator, but it’s empty.”
Regan rubbed her back after dropping her pack to the ground.
“Does your back hurt?” Wolf asked, removing his own pack and walking toward her.
She nodded. “Yeah, a little.”
He put his hands on her lower back and gently rubbed. She wanted to tell him to stop touching her, but the back massage felt too good to be refused. Her shoulders were sore, as well. The pack couldn’t have weighed more than twenty pounds, as Wolf had recommended, but it had felt like fifty halfway through the day.
“I have an idea,” Fred called from the back of the store.
He walked up one of the aisles pushing an umbrella stroller.
“I don’t think I’ll fit,” Regan quipped. “Tabitha might.”
Tabitha laughed. “I’m certainly willing to try. Geno can push me all the way into Naples.”
Fred rolled his eyes. “Not for you to ride in. For us to push our supplies in. It’s all paved roads from here to the city. We have a couple more towns to pass through. This will save our backs and hide our supplies. No one is going to mess with our babies,” he said with a grin.
Regan was surprised she actually liked the idea.
“We only need a couple,” Wolf said. “Maybe a double stroller? We don’t want to look too obvious.”
Fred agreed. “A couple of us will wear backpacks, with a few things inside, and the rest of our supplies will be pushed in a stroller. Anybody that sees us will assume we have little to nothing. If they do try and take the packs from us, it won’t be a huge loss. We’ll need to divide up the supplies in case one of us gets robbed.”
“Good thinking, Fred,” Wolf said, dropping his hands from Regan’s back.
They each used the single bathroom in the back of the store. Regan had never been so grateful to sit on a toilet seat in her life. They were stingy with the toilet paper left on the roll. It could very well be the last roll of toilet paper they saw for a while. Still, the quick sponge bath they each got left them all feeling, looking, and smelling significantly better.
After purifying water and getting some fluids into their bodies, they settled into the small office area. Wolf shut the door and pushed a chair under the handle. If someone came in, they would have some advance warning. They d
idn’t have any weapons to defend themselves with since Wolf had told them to lose the makeshift spears before they’d left behind the swamp. They’d been too threatening. Their group had to focus on looking inconspicuous and nonthreatening to avoid any unwanted confrontations.
“I’m so tired,” Tabitha said, laying her head down on a pile of infant clothes.
“We all are. I’m guessing we probably walked at least fifteen miles today,” Fred agreed.
“My feet feel every one of those miles,” Regan added. “Boots are great for the swamp, but not so great for the hard pavement.”
“We may need to go off-road tomorrow. I don’t know if it’s safe to travel the highways. We’ll have to see what it looks like,” Wolf said.
None of them were looking forward to rough terrain, but if it was necessary to stay alive, they understood.
Wolf propped himself up against the wall next to the door.
“You’re not going to lay down?” Regan asked.
He shook his head. “I want to be ready to move, should someone try to come through that door.”
“Are you going to sleep at all?” she asked.
He smirked. “I don’t think I have a choice in the matter. I’m beat. My body is demanding sleep.”
She nodded. “I can stay up and keep watch.”
He shook his head. “We’re safe enough. I’ll hear if someone tries to come in. Sleep. You need it. We need to get up early, crack of dawn early. There will be less people moving around in the early hours of the morning. We have a better chance of scavenging supplies.”
There were murmurs of agreement, but everyone had already closed their eyes and started to drift off to sleep. Regan knew there was no way she could stay up. Her body ached all over and was demanding rest.
She awoke with a start, sitting straight up. Ready to fight.
“Shh,” Wolf whispered.
“What are you doing?” she asked, blinking up at him in confusion.
Survivalist Reality Show: The Complete Series Page 14
