by E S Richards
“We need to move,” Len whispered back at Harrison. “We won’t outnumber him for long.”
“All right,” Harrison nodded after a brief second, “stay with me.”
The two of them paused for another couple of seconds before Harrison burst out from behind the sign at full speed, heading toward the gate. Len followed as quickly as he could, the Glock clutched firmly in his right hand as he used his arms to pump by his side, willing his legs to move faster. He didn’t need to worry about firing as Harrison skillfully picked off the final gang member near the gate with a single bullet, not even giving him a chance to raise his rifle as the two of them came into view.
Harrison barely slowed down as he continued sprinting for the side gate, the large entrance too heavy and slow for them to open by themselves. Footsteps sounded behind them followed by the clatter of bullets erupting against the gate. Len ducked instinctively, forcing himself not to stop as the gate came within touching distance. Harrison tugged it open and held the metal frame as Len ran through before firing three more bullets back into the zoo as the gate closed.
“Where to?”
Len panted as he slowed slightly, waiting for Harrison to point him in a direction. The prepper didn’t slow at all, running down the street to the right and only looking back over his shoulder to indicate for Len to follow. In that moment Len trusted Harrison entirely. He still couldn’t believe how he had managed to break into the zoo and rescue him and even more so he couldn’t believe he’d actually chosen to do it. Harrison was more than capable of continuing on his journey to Canada alone and yet he’d chosen to risk his own life to save Len. All the doubts that Len had felt previously about his neighbor faded away, replaced by thankfulness and the promise to repay him somehow.
By the time the two of them reached an abandoned house, Len’s legs were close to giving way beneath him. He staggered into the building behind Harrison, gasping for breath but trying to keep his ragged breathing as quiet as possible. Harrison secured the door with three metal bolts and then pushed past Len, climbing the stairs two at a time as he led him upstairs. Only then did he finally sit down and look at Len properly, indicating for him to join him on the floor.
“Thank you,” Len whispered quietly after a moment, only speaking once he completely got his breath back.
Harrison shrugged, smiled, and put a finger to his lips. “Thank me when we’re sure we’re out of the woods. They’ll be looking for us now.”
Len leaned back slightly against the wall and placed Harrison’s Glock on the carpet beside him. Looking around the dimly lit room, the only window too high up on the wall to see through from his position, Len realized that they were in a storage room of some sort. There was a sofa along one wall and boxes piled high throughout, each of them covered in Chinese lettering Len couldn’t understand. Squinting his eyes to see what was in the boxes, Len made out jars of spices and packets of food. There was also a filing cabinet with the bottom drawer open, binders full of paper spilling out.
In truth, it didn’t really matter to Len where he was. He was still in awe of the fact Harrison had rescued him. After everything they had needed to do to get out of the zoo, Len highly doubted he would have been able to make it by himself. But now he was out. He was out and the chance of him being reunited with his son had just doubled. Tripled maybe. He was starting to truly believe that with Harrison by his side there was very little they couldn’t accomplish. Running into his house while it was burning down was probably one of the stupidest things Len had ever done, but as it turned out it was also one of the most fortuitous. It had led him to Harrison and for that he was truly grateful.
He didn’t try to speak to Harrison again. It was obvious they needed to remain quiet and keep their location hidden. Len also knew he would have plenty of opportunities to talk to the man in the coming days. He decided he would try and learn more about who the prepper was and what his daughter in Canada was like. Harrison wasn’t a natural born conversationalist, but Len felt as if he owed at least that much to the man.
Thinking back to everyone he had met since Chicago started collapsing, Len realized that he really had led quite a sheltered life. Harrison had lived down the road from him for over eight years and Len hadn’t even bothered to learn his name. He was a strange man, but after everything they had been through Len could positively call him a decent man.
There were plenty of other decent people he’d met briefly on his journey as well. Freddie and Jen, who’d taken the young baby Matthew from him on their way back to Bloomington. Len desperately hoped they had managed to make it and that the baby boy was being brought up in a loving family. Two other families that he’d come across had been kind to him as well, providing him with supplies on his way back to his home. Even earlier before that there had been June, Rory the fire marshal, and other innocent people in the underground car park. Len wondered where they all were now and if they’d managed to find a place of safety.
Most of all though—as always—Len thought of his family. He pictured James and Amy sitting in their home in South Haven, none of the damage reaching the quaint lakeside town. He could picture his son peacefully drawing while Amy sat beside him reading a book. It was a beautiful picture in his head and as Len’s eyes started slowly drifting shut he prayed that it was a real one. He knew it was unlikely, but it caused him too much pain to imagine his son going through anything else. Amy was a good mother; she would always protect him but Len desperately needed them to be waiting for him when he finally got to South Haven.
***
“Len. Wake up, Len. It’s time to go.”
Harrison’s voice woke Len a few hours later, his neck aching instantly from how he had slept upright against the wall, but the few hours of rest had done him good aside from that. From the small window high on the wall Len could see it wasn’t properly daylight yet, but if Harrison had awakened him, he knew it was for a good reason.
“We need to get out of here before it’s completely light out,” Harrison continued. “They’ve been searching most of the night but we can’t stay here forever. They’ll find us eventually if we do.”
Len nodded and pushed himself to his feet, stretching out his joints and cracking his neck from side to side. Harrison looked awake and ready to go and Len wondered if the old prepper ever slept, his body clearly in peak physical condition for him to keep going through everything.
“That’s yours,” Harrison nodded to Len’s side, causing him to turn his head and see what Harrison was referring to.
“What the,” Len gasped, “how did you get that?” He couldn’t believe his eyes as he stared at the old rucksack he had packed days ago in Harrison’s bunker. The last Len remembered he was taking it off and laying it on the dock beside him, before Harrison fled into the trees and he was knocked unconscious. His 9mm Beretta pistol was lying beside it, along with the bow and quiver of arrows he had used to defend himself more than once.
Harrison grinned and slung his own rucksack over his shoulders. “Those guys aren’t as clever as they like to think,” he said as he fastened the straps tightly around his body, not giving anything else away.
Once again, Len couldn’t believe what Harrison was capable of and quickly pulled the rucksack on, feeling the familiar hard corners of his wooden box within it. He couldn’t believe that box was still with him after everything that had happened and as usual, he owed all the thanks to Harrison for it. Once they were out of reach of the gang with shaven heads, Len would make sure to thank him properly for everything. Now, he realized, wasn’t the time or the place.
Harrison moved quietly as he led Len back down the stairs and paused by the bolted door. His Glock was clutched in his right hand as usual and Len did the same with the Beretta, the cold metal of the once-frightening weapon now a familiar sensation against his skin. Pulling back the locks both Harrison and Len winced at the sound they made, aware that a gang member could be waiting just around the corner. Thankfully the street was empty an
d Len followed Harrison’s steps exactly as they turned and started walking away from their overnight hideout.
Looking back Len realized it was an old Chinese takeout restaurant and he was reminded of Chinatown in Chicago and how destroyed that place had been. It felt like a lifetime ago that he had made his way through that part of the city, Matthew’s tiny body clutched closely against his chest to protect the young boy from the fires and smoke that ravaged the city.
The street Harrison led him down was filled with little shops and small apartments, all of them deserted. Len wondered where all the people had gone. So many had died in Chicago, but this town was much smaller and showed less signs of obvious damage. Had everyone just fled at the first sign of trouble? Len realized that if he had been able to, that would have probably been his first choice. How glad he was that things had worked out differently.
Somehow the two of them made it out of Michigan City undetected, choosing to stay away from the shores of Lake Michigan and instead walking down the once-busy highway of East 2nd Street. Cars shielded them from both sides as they walked down the middle, many of them simply abandoned but more which had been burnt down to their metal shells.
It was astonishing how much destruction and ruin had resulted from the solar ejection. Even after seeing everything that had happened, Len didn’t really understand what had been the cause of it all. From the radio in his car failing and the television screen cutting out in O’Riley’s to the gas line rupturing and his house going up in flames. Chicago—and most likely the whole country—had spiraled out of control at the drop of a hat. Len could only guess at what their next destination would reveal to them.
Chapter 20
“That’s incredible.”
Len looked at Harrison in awe as the older man finished explaining to Len how he’d managed to break into the zoo and find him. Somehow, under the cloak of darkness Harrison had managed to scale a wall into the zoo, finding himself landing in a grassy enclosure, which he quickly learned was populated by zebras and giraffe. Thinking about it, Len knew Harrison had been lucky from the start, the possibility of him climbing into an area with more dangerous animals all too real to think about.
Harrison had then explained to Len how he’d performed a quick once-over of the main zoo area, finding one of the Latin Kings sleeping at his post in what had once been an office, Len’s rucksack, bow, and quiver of arrows resting beside the door. Harrison had left the gang member sleeping as he slipped out of the room, also taking with him a tranquilizer gun from the unsuspecting guard and climbing back over the wall to return Len’s possessions to the small room they’d spent the night in.
Len was going to question why Harrison hadn’t shot the gang member; at the very least with the tranquilizer gun before realising himself that Harrison’s mission had been one of stealth. Were it not for every one of his carefully planned actions, Len knew he would almost certainly be back in that prison, his own plans for escape nothing more than a desperate pipe dream.
It was probably the longest Harrison had ever spoken and Len was eager to get to know his companion a little better. A natural pause in the conversation followed the end of Harrison’s story and Len took the opportunity to mine for more information.
“So have you always lived around here then? You seem to know the area pretty well.”
Harrison glanced sideways at Len as they walked down the once-busy highway, the road providing them with a fairly straightforward route all the way up the coast to South Haven.
“I’ve always lived in Chicago,” Harrison replied nonchalantly. “I’ve traveled around a fair bit though. And anyone can plan a route with a map.”
Len laughed, remembering how useless he’d been at navigating a map once on a road trip he took with Amy. Harrison was a hard man to have a conversation with, rarely asking a question in return or offering an answer that would develop into something more. Len knew he’d lived alone—and underground—for a while, but to have a daughter he must have been sufficient at basic human interaction at one point or another.
“I can’t believe I lived just down the road from you all this time,” Len mused. “I’m sorry about that. Never saying hello or anything, you must have thought I was so self-absorbed.”
“It’s all right,” Harrison shrugged. “You had your own family and your own problems to deal with.”
“Yeah. I’d happily take back those problems over this one though. I just hope James and Amy are okay.”
“I’m sure they will be.” Harrison tried to offer Len a reassuring smile. “Your ex seemed like a good woman, I’m sure she’ll be looking after your boy.”
“What about you?” Len tried to steer the conversation back to Harrison, dwelling on where Amy and James might be and what they might be facing didn’t sit well with him. “How old is your daughter? Is her mother still around?”
A long pause drew out between the two men after Len asked his questions. Immediately he regretted them, wishing he could have gone about them in a more tactful way. Harrison wasn’t the sort of man to just blurt out the answers and Len needed to keep the prepper on his good side. Shuffling along beside him, Len looked to Harrison with an inquisitive yet apologetic gaze.
“Nina’s almost thirty now,” Harrison spoke quietly, his eyes glued to the floor as he spoke. “Her mother passed away a while back.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Len could have kicked himself. It was obvious Harrison’s wife was no longer with him, and whether she was dead or they’d simply separated, neither was a comfortable topic. He knew first-hand how awkward it was for people to ask about your partner when you were no longer together; there was always a sympathetic head nod and a lopsided smile waiting as a response.
“It’s in the past now,” Harrison replied swiftly, trying to appear unaffected by the conversation even though Len could see otherwise. “Nina moved out shortly after Sophia passed; I’ve been on my own since then.”
Len could almost picture Harrison’s life from before: a happy marriage, a loving daughter. To have everything taken away from him must have been devastating; slowly Len understood that the bunker and all the crazy things Harrison knew must have been his way of dealing with it. While Len had happily turned to drink and the comforting warmth of O’Riley’s, Harrison had followed a different path. It was funny, in a tragic way, how they had both lost loved ones in a similar way and yet their lives had turned out almost completely opposite to one another.
“Do you keep in touch?” Len spoke up eventually, not wanting the silence to fall between them again. “With your daughter, I mean?”
“No,” Harrison shook his head somewhat mournfully. “I tried to at first, but I haven’t spoken to her for years now. To be quite honest with you, I’m not even a hundred percent sure where she’s living now.”
“What?” Len couldn’t believe it; surely Harrison wouldn’t be trekking across the country if he didn’t know where his daughter would be. “But you know she’s in Canada?”
“That’s where she was last,” Harrison nodded. “Toronto. But she could have moved away by now. I honestly don’t know.”
“How will you find her?”
“I’ll just keep looking. I’ve come this far now, not much point just turning around and going home.”
It truly did sound crazy to Len what Harrison was doing, but in a strange way it made him admire the man even more. Thinking about it from his own perspective, Len knew that even if he weren’t sure where James was, he would keep searching for him. In fact, he knew that he wasn’t going back to Chicago until he had held his son and made sure he was safe. Harrison’s statement reminded Len that he was a father too and there were things you did for your children that didn’t make complete sense. It was a bond unlike any other. You might choose your partner, but that’s never guaranteed to last. Your child will always be your child, whether you’ve lost touch like Harrison had with his daughter or you moved far away like James had. Thinking about his son, Len realized that it didn’t
matter if James was in South Haven, South Carolina, or even the other side of the world. He was going to keep moving toward him, one day at a time and for the rest of his life, if he had to.
“I’m sure you’ll find her,” Len replied eventually. “If anyone can do it, it’s you. I know I’ve thanked you already but seriously, I can’t express how much it means to me that you came back for me in that zoo. If it weren’t for you I’d probably never get the chance to see James again. Truly, I am in your debt.”
“Seriously,” Harrison turned his head to look at Len, pulling his eyes from the concrete road they were walking along. “Forget about it. We’re back on track now and hopefully we won’t run into any more of the Latin Kings again.”
“The Latin Kings?” Len questioned Harrison’s choice of words for the group of criminals with shaved heads he’d seen far too much of since the collapse. “Is that who they are?”
