by Sage du Toit
Since she was in a clearing mood, she also went through the chest of drawers and sorted out all of the stuff she couldn’t wear. She found some warm flannel pajamas and put them on the bed for tonight. It would be nice to wear something comfortable to bed. She found a picture scrap-book in the bottom drawer that she hadn’t really paid attention to before. She couldn’t help but flip through the pages to see what this family had been like.
The woman liked like she was part Hispanic or Pacific Islander. It was hard to tell from the pictures. The man looked like the average white guy but he was short and skinny compared to his wife. She was a few inches taller than him and plump but she had had two kids. And the girl was adorable! Big brown eyes and curly hair. The boy was the spitting image of his mother but he was slender and tall where she was round. There were pictures of camping and out on a lake, bicycle rides, Birthday parties and Christmas and other holidays. It was all like a brief summary of their lives with decorations around the pages. She remembered she had made a scrapbook page with “Tom” on it, she wished she hadn’t of left it behind. She debated what to do with this book, she didn’t want to throw it away. They might return one day...she imagined them coming into the house and seeing what she had done to it and she prayed they wouldn’t come before she left!
Sam hadn’t tried the men’s jeans, she had just assumed that they would be too big but after seeing his pictures she realized she should not have assumed. She used the laundry basket to hold all of the clothes she was removing. She completely emptied one drawer that had bathing suits and swimming trunks in it. She was about to put the men’s underwear in their too when she realized they would probably fit her better than the women's. Her hips were still very slim and the woman’s panties fit her very lose. There was a brand-new pack of men’s bikini underwear. She laughed and imagined the wife must have bought them for him and he must have refused to wear them. She put the woman’s panties and the older worn out men’s underwear in the basket. She was about to put the pantyhose in too but she remembered that wearing them under jeans was very warm.
She finished sorting through the drawers and consolidated everything to the top three drawers, leaving two empties. The top drawer was underwear, socks and stockings. The second drawer was long underwear, that she was happy to find, another set of fleece pajamas, a fleece night gown and a few big t-shirts. And in the third drawer more t-shirts and several sweats suits.
She carried the full basket with the scrap book on top to the boy’s room. She placed the scrapbook on top of the useless computer keyboard and dumped the clothes on the bed with the rest. She went through the clothes she had brought in from the closet and pulled out all of the men’s jeans. She held a pair up to herself and realized they would fit much better length and waist wise. She didn’t mind wearing ill-fitting clothes, as long as they were clean, but she preferred comfortable clothes that fit.
Taking the useless lamps off the two drawer night stands, she also put those in the boy’s room. She pulled a drawer of the stand out and saw receipts, old bills, a ledger and a box of checks. She dumped the whole drawer in a garbage bag. The next drawer had several pairs of handcuffs, including a pair that was pink and she remembered that her mom had some pink handcuff’s. She said she liked them because she didn’t have to worry about them not being returned to her. None of the guys wanted to carry her pink cuffs.
There were a couple of flashlights in the drawer and she tested them, even with new batteries they didn’t work. She kept the handcuffs in the drawer but threw everything else in the garbage bag. She went through the other night stand, keeping out several tubes of lip balm and tissues that were in the top drawer. Tucked in the back of the bottom drawer she found a long rectangular box she had not noticed before and after opening it she quickly closed it and threw it away, the box had dildos in it and she wasn’t interested in looking too closely at someone’s sex life!
The night stand near the door was then moved next to the closet where the vanity table use to be. She put the cat vitamins, hairball treatment and nail clippers in the top drawer and the kitten milk and bottles in the bottom and moved the handcuffs to the other night stand. She had several cups of warm coffee while she worked and even stopped once to eat a Hershey’s bar. The sun was shining through the window and Lucky had come in the room and was laying in the beam of sunlight on the bed.
Sam lay on the bed next to her and stroked her fur. She was finally starting to look better; the kitten food and canned cat food were making the difference. Lucky purred and headbutted her hand asking for more pets and she was happy to oblige her. She suddenly felt like being lazy. It was still cold but the warm sunshine through the glass was relaxing. She felt her stomach rumble and put the leftover Hamburger helper in a pan over low heat and placed a full kettle on the other burner to boil. When the kettle whistled she mixed a cup of Ovaltine with creamer.
After she was done eating she took the hot water that was left in the kettle and poured it in the stoppered bathroom sink and added just enough cold water so she could dip her hands in it. She stripped and washed herself with the warm water from the sink and recalled her warm bath in the mess hall sink.
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13 July 2020 N-Day +3
Fort Jackson, SC
The next morning Drill Sgt. Davis called a meeting after breakfast and told everyone about Sam’s idea. There was a lot of excitement because everyone wanted to know what was going on outside. They had yet to see a single movement. Sam sat at the table listening but not saying much. Her nose was very tender and painful and she had a slight headache. Rebecca had gotten some more ibuprofen from Jerry before breakfast but it only took the edge off the pain.
She listened as more ideas were given for setting up a decontamination room. Someone suggested rigging a shower in the room that could even be used when the room wasn’t needed for decontamination. The three showers they had was not enough for 49 people. There were more suggestions and Sam started losing track of all of the ideas. There were also several people that volunteered to be the first to go out, and others wanted to know if they were going to check on the families. Drill Sgt. Davis said that when it was ready Tom and himself would go out and yes, they would go check on the families of anyone that was local. Sgt Garcia, one of the Green Berets suggested that when they went out the first thing they should do was check the cars in the parking lot to see if any of them worked. He said he had noticed that several of the cars were older model cars and they might not have been affected by the EMP, same with the bus. More suggestions were made about transport including going to a motor pool to see if any of the military vehicles had been EMP hardened.
The meeting was dismissed and jobs were assigned. Sam was told to rest so she couldn’t even help with the physical stuff. She sat at the table and watched while the locals drew out maps to their houses. It took a while because some of them didn’t know all of the street names for directions. Plus, they were so used to using the GPS on their phones they didn’t even know how to use a real map or how to draw one. Everyone else worked on clearing out the Refrigerator and Freezer and setting up the decontamination area. There wasn’t any edible food left in the Refrigerator or Freezer, but they had been using the Freezer to store their garbage.
Everyone had disbursed from the table and Sam went to the bathroom to check her face in the mirror. She knew she looked awful, both of her eyes were black and her face was very tender. As she came in the bathroom she heard someone sobbing. She saw it was one of the kitchen workers, she thought her name was Betty, sitting on the floor with her knees pulled up tight and her head down sobbing. She had talked to Betty a few times over the last few days and she knew she was having a hard time dealing with everything. She had an 18-mo. old daughter that she had dropped off at daycare on N-day and she had no idea if she was even still alive.
Sam sat on the floor next to her and rubbed her back gently. She asked her if she was OK and through her sobs Betty said no she really wasn’t. Sam aske
d her if she wanted to talk about it and grabbed some paper towels from the dispenser for her to wipe her face. Betty blotted her face, she had mascara and make-up running all down her face. She was one of those girls that plastered make-up on every day. Sam didn’t understand it, especially in this situation but she had decided to each their own. Once they got out of here there was sure to be a plethora of make-up available, unlike food.
Betty said that she had been dealing OK, not really knowing if her little angel was dead or alive, she could just keep believing that she was alive and well at the daycare. But now that they were going out and they were going to check on her, what if she wasn’t alright. What if she and all of the other babies were dead? What if they didn’t have food and they had starved to death? Sam didn’t really know what to say… if she assured her they were alright and they were dead that might make it worse. She hugged her and said she was sorry and she hoped that they were all alive. She did assure her that as long as they had water they would not have starved to death. She sat with Betty until she was done crying. Betty thanked her and said she better go get ready to cook lunch and then left the bathroom. Sam sat there for a bit longer wondering how bad it was going to be.
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Chapter 10
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19 December 2020 (Continued)
Douglasville, GA
The rice was on the stove cooking and she opened a can of peas and a pouch of the flavored tuna, Herb & Garlic. She kept an eye on the rice through the glass lid and when she didn’t see any water and the rice looked puffy she shut the flame off. She had timed it and it took 12 minutes instead of the normal 20 minutes. She mixed the peas and tuna in and tasted it and added salt and pepper. She looked through the spice rack and decided to add some ginger too. There was enough food in the pot for probably 3 or 4 meals. She dished out a serving into a plastic bowl and sat in her collapsible chair with a blanket wrapped around herself.
After washing she had put on the thermal underwear and a long-sleeved t-shirt and then sweats over that with some thick socks. She didn’t want to go outside because it was still so cold so she dressed warm and comfortable. She had watched out the window all day and she could see icicles hanging off the roof of the shed and the house in-front of the window. The sun was going down so she closed the shutters and lit a few of the candles. She heated more water and replaced the hot water bottles in the kitten tub and put two more in her bed. She was now using four of the hot water bottles and worried about all of the propane she was using to heat the water. But it was her only source of heat and she didn’t want herself or the kittens to freeze.
After cleaning up for the night and dividing what was left of the rice into three separate bowls with lids she topped off Lucky’s dry food, blew out the candles and climbed into bed with the lantern on so she could read. It was still early and she wasn’t ready to sleep but she didn’t have anything else to do at the moment. She had chosen a book with a big red dragon on the front and she was hoping to get lost in the book.
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14 July 2020 N-Day + 4
Fort Jackson, SC
Sam knew she was relieved from guard duty for this shift because of her broken nose but she didn’t know when she would get a chance to talk to Tom again before he left in the morning. Their team’s guard duty was from 04:00-08:00 and she slept fitfully listening for the current team to come wake up her other team mates. She waited until they were all up and the other team had laid down to sleep before she got up. Their duty stations were one at each front corner, one at the back door, and the leader patrolling inside the building. They couldn’t put someone at the front door because the front was closed off and blocked by the bus. She saw that one team member, Miguel Hernandez was sitting at one front corner and Brandon Hodges was sitting at the other. Being on guard duty didn’t mean you couldn’t leave your post, if you need to relieve yourself or just walk around a bit to stay awake, but you weren’t supposed to sleep, even though some of the people did.
She didn’t see Tom so she went to the back hoping she would find him there and not in the bathroom or something. He was standing at the back looking through the small window in the door with a set of night vision goggles. She walked up behind him and said his name. He turned around and smiled at her and asked what she was doing up and if she was alright. She said she was OK, and then suddenly she felt shy and a little awkward. She didn’t know what to say to him now that she was here and she wasn’t sure he felt the same way about her that she did about him.
He was holding the Night vision goggles in his hand and he asked if she had taken a turn using them yet. She reached up and touched her nose wondering if it would hurt her nose to wear them. He saw her touch it and said it would be fine, they were heavy but you could just hold them up like binoculars. She walked over to the door and was standing so close to him she could feel his body heat. He showed her how to hold them and where to look and she stood up on her tip toes to look out of the little window with the goggles. Everything was green and bright, she could see the back-loading bay and some large dumpsters in the back. But there was nothing moving that she could see except off in the distance there were a few trees blowing in the wind.
She started to lose her balance because she was on her tip toes and Tom wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back against him. He said, “Saved you again” into her ear. She leaned back into him feeling his strong arms and muscled chest press against her back. She could smell his masculine scent, it wasn’t a dirty scent like some of the guys, his smelled clean and woodsy. She was still trying to look at the window but his bulk behind her was distracting and she felt her breath coming quicker. He reached up and took the Night vision goggles from her and sat them on the table. He then gently nuzzled her neck and kissed it. He turned her around and pressed her against the back door with his body and gave her a deep kiss. She moaned and he backed up, “Did I hurt your nose?” She replied, “No, you just surprised me, I didn’t know you liked me too.”
He leaned into her again and gave her another kiss that made her feel weak in the knees. She ran her hands over his chest and up to his shoulders, not wanting him to stop.
He pulled back again and whispered, “You better get back to bed, I have guard duty to do” She nodded and then pulled him back down for another kiss.
She told him “Please be careful when you go out...and come back... to me.” He kissed her one last time and then pushed her toward the door, slapping her on the butt as she was walking away. She smiled all the way back to her sleeping spot, she was floating on air.
In the morning at breakfast she took the seat next to him like she almost always did and after she sat down she felt his hand on her knee and she reached down and squeezed it. She smiled and him and asked him how guard duty was last night. He grinned and said it was eventful for once. There were some confused looks from others at the table because guard duty was never eventful! They started asking what happened and he said the wind blew hard enough to knock some branches out of the trees. He hoped it meant rain, because that is what they needed to wash away the Nerve agent. Sam knew that wasn’t what he was actually talking about when he said eventful and she smiled quietly while she gave him a sly look.
After breakfast Tom and Drill Sgt. Davis suited up in two of the Green Berets MOPP suits and they were about ready to head out. One of the benefits of these MOPP suits was they had M9 paper that could possibly detect the Nerve agent. The decontamination room was ready, they had taped overlapping layers of garbage bags that had been opened up flat with the hopes that the curtain would keep anything trapped inside when they went through the door. The door leading into the fridge was also sealed shut and locked. The only way through was the freezer and then through the connecting door where the curtain was. There was also a shower rigged up in the fridge section so they could turn it on and rinse off as soon as they entered back in. They were about to leave when Sam had a though
t and she called them to wait.
How were they going to communicate with anyone inside a building? You couldn’t really shout and be heard inside a building while wearing a gas mask. And if they did find survivors how would they bring them back? Tom hugged her and kissed her in front of everybody and she blushed a bright red. There were some cat calls, whistles and a few people shouted, “About damn time!”. They found a big note pad and black marker to take with them. He said they didn’t want to take any of the other full suits...just in case something happened but they packed 6 of the soldier’s gas masks in a bag to take with them. People could always cover up with garbage bags as long as they had a gas mask.
Once the door was shut to the freezer everyone rushed to the front windows to see them come around the building. It took them awhile to make it around to the front and Sam wondered what the holdup was. Finally, they both came around the corner. Davis went straight to the bus, the wind had already worked the plastic barrier lose that they had put up 4 days ago so he just walked right through it. Everyone was standing at the front windows watching him. He got on the bus and then got off and shrugged. Tom had already headed to the cars in the parking lot. They each had three sets of keys, bus keys and the five kitchen workers. They each tried their first set and then moved on to the second when those didn’t work. Drill Sgt. Davis got out of the second car he tried with no results. Tom rolled down the window and held a thumbs up from his third and final try. The vehicle was an old tan Ford Bronco with wood panels down the side. Betty shouted and said that was her truck! She told everyone that it was a 1983 Ford Bronco and that it use to be her dads. Betty grimaced and said she hoped they had enough gas because she hadn’t fill it up this week.
