46 Hours To Home

by Pat Riot

  They soon arrived at the end of the wildlife preserve. Now, on the left, they could see a large commercial area, including several large warehouses set back off the road, along with a drive through burger joint and an office building. Just past the office building was a Chevron Gas station. On the right side of the road, just past the curb line, the land sloped up sharply for about ten feet before leveling off. Due to the terrain they couldn’t see what was on the other side, but Rob believed it was just open land. He knew they were getting close to the I-215 so he decided they should take a break before making the push into Moreno Valley. “Let’s head over towards that office building on the left and find somewhere we can rest for a few minutes.”

  They walked onto the sidewalk on the north side of the street and used the driveway entrance to access the office building property. They cut across the parking lot and moved around to the backside of the newer two-story office building where they found a concrete picnic table in a small grass area. After putting their bags down on the table Rob told Rachel, “I need to go to the restroom, give me a minute.” He walked to the side of the building and found a bush to relieve himself behind. When he returned he could tell Rachel wanted to say something but was staying quiet. “What’s up?” he prompted her.

  “I need to go too...” she paused “…do you have anything I can use?” Even in the semi-darkness he could see Rachel blushing.

  It dawned on him what she needed. “I have a roll of toilet paper in my bag, but hold on, I have a better idea. Wait here a second.” He walked over to the burger joint where he found a few outdoor tables that still had the condiments and napkin holders on them. He pulled a stack of napkins a several inches thick from one of the holders and walked back to Rachel. “Here you go,” he said as he handed her the stack. “Keep what you don’t use in your bag for later.”

  “Thank you,” she said, still a little embarrassed.

  While Rachel found somewhere to relieve herself Rob sat down at the table and opened one of the protein bars he took from the dispatch center. He was about halfway through it when Rachel returned. “Thanks, I don’t feel like I’m going to burst anymore,” Rachel said.

  “You’re welcome. Let’s take about thirty minutes to rest here. Eat a little bit and drink all your water. We gotta stay hydrated as much as possible and before we start walking again we’re going to stop by that Chevron next door to get some more water and food. Where in Moreno Valley do you live?”

  “Over near the golf course off Moreno Beach and Cactus.”

  That got Rob thinking. This was the first time he really thought about where in the city she lived and what route she would need to take to get there. The golf course was at the south end of the city against some hills and situated in the middle of several newer neighborhoods, the kind where the backyards of a lot of the houses butted up against the course. The route that Rob planned to take was the freeway which ran east and west a little north of the middle of the city. Not only was this the most direct route home, but at the time of night that everything stopped working there would be little traffic on the freeways, so he had less of a chance of encountering other people.

  As they rested he turned it over and over in his mind. Walking Rachel all the way home would add miles and time to his own journey, but he couldn’t just let her walk alone through one of the worst parts of town in the middle of the night with no hope of an emergency response if something happened. He battled with it for several minutes. His responsibility to his own family to get home as soon as possible, or risk Rachel making the attempt to get the rest of the way home on her own? In the end he knew it would eat him up inside if he didn’t know Rachel made it home safe. Even though it would add who knew how much time to his own trip home, he decided to take Rachel at least to the entrance to her neighborhood.

  “Well, I planned to take the freeway through to the east side of Moreno Valley, but I want to make sure you get home safe, so I’ll detour and walk with you to your neighborhood,” Rob told Rachel.

  “Are you sure Rob?” she asked. Her voice was hopeful but she didn’t want him to feel pressured into changing his initial plan. “I’m sure walking all the way to my house is going to add on a lot of time to your trip, especially since you need to go through San Tim on the north side of the city. I live on the south side, and you need to get home to your wife and son.”

  “Yeah I’m sure. It won’t add on that much time,” Rob replied, downplaying the amount of time it would add to his journey. “Besides, there’s safety in numbers, and if we make it to your neighborhood you’ll be home and I’ll be almost through the city. I’ll just need to cut over to Redlands Blvd and then head north and I’ll be out of the city before I know it.”

  “Wow, thank you. I was really worried about trying to make it through the city on my own,” she said, obviously relieved.

  With that decision made, he needed to plan out the best route to take. While it was impossible to completely avoid residential areas the entire way there, he still wanted to do so as much as possible. Because the EMP occurred in the middle of the night most commercial areas should be devoid of people, except for overnight security at some buildings and the few businesses that had employees working overnight shifts. Because of this he decided that prior to reaching the freeway they would cut down Meridian Parkway and head south through the commercial warehouses to Cactus Avenue, then turn east. From there it was a straight shot, much of it being in commercial areas, until they reached Rachel’s neighborhood. The only residential area would be a two mile stretch that would be heavily populated.

  The other part of this route that worried Rob was the County Hospital. If they took Cactus they would walk right by the front of it. Being the County Hospital, they had a small jail ward inside that treated inmates from the county jails and a psychiatric facility to treat anyone with mental health issues. Due to the power loss, who knew what the status of the hospital and patients would be. Rob decided to just get past the residential area first, then worry about the hospital when the time came.

  Rob checked the time. 2:45 am. It had taken them about an hour to walk to where they were currently taking their break, plus the thirty minutes to rest. It was time to get moving again, but before they did, he wanted to go over something with Rachel.

  “Hey Rachel. We are going to get moving, but first, like I mentioned, we’re going to go over to the Chevron and get some stuff. I’m pretty sure it’s closed but I can’t remember offhand if they are twenty-four hours. If they are closed, I’m going to break in. If they are open and someone is inside, we’ll get what we need and offer to pay. I have eighty dollars in my wallet, but if they refuse we are just going to walk out. If they try to stop us I’m going to show them my gun and hopefully they’ll just decide it’s not worth trying to stop us. Before we go, I need to make sure you’re going to be okay with that. Breaking in is a felony. Armed robbery is a felony. But right now, none of that matters. There are no cops responding to the 9-1-1 call. No detectives coming to take over the investigation. No one coming to arrest us. The only thing that matters is getting home, you to your husband and kid, and me to my wife and son.” Rob fell silent while he watched Rachel think about what he just said.

  After a minute or so she responded, “I don’t really like it, but we have to do what we have to do. I took that terrorism class too, I just never thought something like this would actually happen. I have to get home to my family, and I’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen.” By the time she finished talking there was determination in her voice.

  “Good enough for me,” Rob replied. “Let’s get going.” They stood up, picked up their bags, walked around the side of building, and back towards the street.

  As they walked Rob talked, “Before we get there drink whatever water you have left.” He had emptied his water pouch on the walk from the dispatch center so he took out his canteen and drank heavily from it. “Drink it all if possible. We’ll get all we need from the gas station. For food,
get stuff like trail mix and more protein bars, stuff that’s high in fiber and protein. Try to stay away from junk food, sweets, chips, all that stuff. Get as much as you can comfortably carry.” They could now see the parking lot and the pumps of the station. The station property was situated on the northwest corner of Alessandro Blvd and Sycamore Canyon Blvd and had two rows of pumps in the lot in addition to the usual propane tank and air and water station. Rob decided to walk to the street corner so that they could get a look of the east side of the building where the employees normally parked. They found no cars anywhere in the parking lot.

  “Okay, looks like we’re breaking in.” Before approaching the building, Rob took out the Kershaw Siege hatchet. “We’ll go in through the front door. You keep an eye on our backs and if you see anything call it out right away. And get your ASP out and keep it handy, never know if you’ll need it.”

  Rob gave her a second to get ready then walked up to the building. He started from the side and took a good look through the large front windows. Just because there were no cars in the lot didn’t mean there wasn’t an employee, or someone else that had Rob’s same idea, inside. When he was satisfied he approached the front door and went to work. He checked to make sure the door was locked before breaking the glass, then one swing is all it took to shatter it. He took a moment to make sure all the glass was removed, the last thing they needed was a large piece of glass falling on their head as they walked through, then ducked under the metal handle that was placed horizontally across the width of the door about halfway up. When he entered he dropped his Eberlestock backpack and hatchet on the front checkout counter and using his flashlight took a quick look behind the counter and down each aisle.

  After clearing the front store area, he went through the open door at the rear of the business that had an “Employee’s Only” sign attached to the front of it. “Wait here and keep an eye out front, if anyone comes give me a holler,” he said to Rachel. He quickly cleared the storage and break areas, then tried the office door. Locked. And no windows to see inside. He knocked to see if he would get any response. Nothing. He took a moment to stack a few boxes in front of the door then took a six pack of sodas and put them on top. His hope was that if anyone did come out of the office they would knock over the boxes when they swung open the door and cause the soda cans to fall onto the tile floor, making plenty of noise and giving him and Rachel a few precious seconds to prepare for a possible confrontation.

  He made his way back to Rachel and gave her a quick rundown on the early warning system he set up at the office door. “If you hear anything from back there get over to me quick, stand behind me and watch my back.”

  “Okay, I got it,” she said, eyes wide but voice determined.

  “Let’s get to work then, we leave in five minutes.” Rob first went to the large refrigerators with the swinging glass doors and took out several large bottles of water. He took them to his backpack and used them to fill his water pouch and canteen, then placed a full water bottle into the backpack. It would be extra weight to carry but would be worth it. He had one bottle left over which he opened and started to drink. He downed about a third of it and walked over to the food aisle where he picked up five bags of mixed nuts and a box that held twelve protein bars of assorted flavors. He was back at his backpack putting everything inside, including the hatchet, when Rachel walked up. “Ready to go?” he asked.

  “Ready when you are,” Rachel replied between large gulps of water from a water bottle.

  “Last thing, how long have you been up?” Rob knew working twelve-hour graveyard shifts sometimes caused them to go long stretches without sleep, especially those with children and working spouses. Rob himself had been up for about eighteen hours and at this time of night would normally be arriving home from work, unless he held over for overtime of course. He wasn’t tired yet but knew it was only a matter of time, especially with the stress of trying to stay hyper alert and worrying about his family.

  “What time is it? Like three or something right?” Rachel asked. Rob looked at his watch, 3:02 am, and nodded. “I woke up about eight when my husband left for work, after getting about five hours. I worked the night before and got home just before three.”

  “Okay, so you are coming up on twenty hours then, after only five hours the night before.” Rob walked over to a center display that held dozens of BANG energy drinks made by a company called VPX Sports. Rob loved them as they didn’t leave him jittery and he didn’t have the “crashing” feeling he did with other energy drinks. “Take one or two of these with you. I think we can make it to your house without stopping anywhere to sleep but we’re going to be pretty tired towards the end of the walk.” Rob selected two for himself and stowed them in his backpack. Again he was adding weight, but besides the obvious benefit of an energy drink, the cans had several uses once they were empty.

  He started to pick up the pack when a stand on the side of the checkout counter caught his eye. 5-Hour energy shots. He decided they were light enough he could carry a few without really affecting weight but would give him a good boost of energy if he needed it on the long walk home. He took four and put them in one of the smaller zippered pouches on his pack, picked it up and turned to Rachel, “Let’s head out the back and use the emergency exit. I doubt anyone is out front, but just in case someone saw us break in and is out there waiting to ambush us when we come out it’ll be safer this way. Follow me close.” They walked through the storage room, passing the office, and to the side emergency door that doubled as a delivery door for the large deliveries of goods that arrived every few days.

  One of the perks of working for the agency was that during certain training classes they sometimes got to do things like watch the department SWAT team train, shoot all the cool weapons that SWAT deployed on their callouts and missions, and play with the driving and “shoot don’t shoot” simulators. One of the things he remembered from observing the SWAT training was the importance of not standing in doorways. They even had a term for the area around the door called the “fatal funnel”. They taught that a doorway was one of the most dangerous areas to be due to the limited options for retreat, no cover and the small area that a suspect had to point his gun at without really aiming. Before opening the door, Rob put his ear up to it and listened for a few seconds. He was checking to see if he could hear anyone talking or moving around on the other side.

  Once he was satisfied he slowly opened the door while standing to the side and took a good long look. Then he stepped through and immediately started moving east away from the building and through the parking lot, with Rachel right behind him, towards Sycamore Canyon Blvd, scanning their surroundings the whole way.

  When they reached the street they crossed to the other side and walked to the corner. When Sycamore Canyon Boulevard crossed Alessandro, it changed names to Meridian Parkway. Rob paused for a moment to take a good look in all four directions. Not seeing any movement or anything that gave him pause they crossed the intersection and continued south on Meridian. The street was very wide with two lanes in each direction and an oversized middle turn lane. It was built this way to accommodate all the hundreds of big rigs that drove through the area to and from the warehouses on a daily basis. As they walked, this time using the sidewalk on the left side of the street, Rob once again reflected on how quiet it was. After growing up in busy southern California, with the large population and congested freeways, manmade noise was just part of the background. Hearing only the sounds of nature, which were somewhat limited due to being in a city, reminded Rob of the camping trips his family took when he was growing up. They were some of his favorite memories and he planned to start taking his son camping once he was old enough.

  They passed a Metrolink train station on the left and more warehouses and commercial buildings on the right. They were about halfway between Alessandro and Cactus, now with commercial buildings on both sides, and Rob was walking backwards for a few yards checking their rear when Rachel grabbed R
ob’s arm and suddenly stopped walking. He spun around and looked in the direction she was pointing.

  It took him a moment to see it but once he did he realized she was pointing at a very large dark colored dog. The dog was on the right side of the street, so Rob said, “Just keep walking, stay on this sidewalk. Get out your ASP and get ready. Don’t be afraid to hit the dog if you need to, you definitely don’t want to get bit. Keep me between yourself and the dog.” As they got closer Rob could see the dog was obviously a stray with very dirty matted fur and no collar. As they got even with the dog he could see it was huge, at least 100 pounds, maybe closer to 120. The dog was staring at them but didn’t move. C’mon doggo, don’t do anything dumb, Rob thought to himself. While he wouldn’t hesitate, he didn’t want to shoot the dog. Not only did he not want to use the ammo and make noise that might draw unwanted attention to them, he was also a dog lover.

  They were 200 feet past the dog, with Rob walking backwards keeping an eye on it, when the dog started following. Dang, I thought we were good to go. Rob drew his gun but kept walking backwards. “The dog is following us. Just keep walking, make sure you keep a real good lookout in front of us and let me know if you see anything,” Rob told Rachel. He took a quick look to the south and could see a car stopped in the middle of the street. “Actually Rachel, turn around and watch the dog but stay close to me. Tell me right away if he charges us. I’m gonna check out that car. If it’s empty, we’re getting inside.” He didn’t wait for her to reply, quickly approached the car, which turned out to be a silver Kia Optima, and confirmed it was empty. He tried the driver door. Locked. Damn, can’t catch a break, he thought as his mind raced. “Rachel, up on top, hurry.” Rob made sure Rachel was getting onto the car with no problems as he took off his Eberlestock backpack and slung it onto the roof. Then he scrambled up himself right before the dog reached the car and started to growl manically.