Lucky

by Sage du Toit

  He said, “Lets hurry and get across the bridge and put some distance between us and this water. Then we will find a place to decontaminate if needed.” They ran over the bridge. Sam felt like it was about half a mile, so it wasn’t too long but it was still nerve racking.

  They kept going at a fast pace after leaving the bridge. Tom held out his detector and showed her that it had quit flashing. They stopped for a moment and he ran the detector over each of them. They were both clear. Tom asked her if she wanted to keep going or did she want to stop to eat. Sam decided they should keep going.

  They had to skirt around several farms and houses. Then they entered thick woods again and made better time. It was getting close to sun set and they were looking for a good place to stop for the night. Sam saw a small building that looked like a storage shed through the trees and pointed it out to Tom. They cautiously made their way closer but didn’t see any other buildings, there wasn’t even a road coming to it just a small dirt track.

  Sam looked at Tom questioningly and he stated, “Hunting camp.” Tom tried the door and it was locked so he used his knife to pop it open. It was a small garden shed that someone had assembled on site. There was a bunk bed in one corner, a metal cabinet sitting next to it and a porta-potty in the other corner. On the wall opposite the porta-potty there was a small two shelf case sitting under the curtained window. On the top shelf there were various cans, packages of Ramon noodles in a cup, a few plastic bowls and a roll of black garbage bags. There was more stuff on the bottom shelf that she couldn’t tell what it was yet.

  Tom shut the door and leaned against it. Sam stepped forward and opened the metal cabinet. There were blankets and sheets on the two bottom shelves. On the top shelf there was a camp stove, two bottles of propane and two pots and a pan that had obviously been used many times before. There was also a small lantern and a case of water.

  Sam turned back around to look at what was on the bottom shelf of the little case. There was a jar of peanut butter, instant coffee, hazelnut spread, box of hot chocolate, bag of marshmallows, box of chocolate bars, and a box of graham crackers. Sam joked, “Looks like someone was fond of S’mores!”

  There was barely room for the two of them to move around inside of the small shed. They placed their rucksacks on the floor in front of the door. Tom checked the room with his detector and then checked over both of them again, including the bottoms of their boots. It showed clean. They decided to wipe down with some special wipes Tom brought just in case.

  Tom was taping plastic bags over the two small windows that were on each side of the door and Sam was looking for a place to set up the camp stove. She realized there was just enough room on top of the small shelving unit. She asked Tom, “How does Chicken noodle soup sound for dinner?” The cans on the shelf were mostly soups and two cans of beans.

  Tom mumbled, “Sounds delicious!” He had the roll of tape in his mouth and was trying to talk around it.

  Sam looked at the can and realized she didn’t have a can opener. She looked around the shelf and pushed the bowls to the side and found a small bag that had plastic spoons and forks and under it was the can opener and a small pack of wooden skewers. Once she had the stove lit and the soup mixed with a can of water she lit the other burner and put a pot of water on.

  Tom put new batteries in the lantern from the cabinet and went through their gear and started making room so they could take the food with them. He asked her how much room she had and she told him she could leave a set of clothes behind. They were dirty anyway. He agreed and said he could do the same. He pulled out his dirty clothes then found hers in her kit and pulled them out. He then started packing the cans and packages and she told him to leave out the hot chocolate and the s’mores ingredients.

  He had everything packed and she knew he put the heavier stuff in his pack, but she wasn’t going to complain. They shared the soup out of the pan and she had made each of them a cup of hot chocolate. When they were done eating she lit the stove again and held two marshmallows on a skewer over the flames. She already had the graham crackers and chocolate sitting out. When the marshmallow was toasted she slid it off onto the cracker and added a chocolate piece on top and then squished them together with another cracker. She held it up to her mouth to take a bite and Tom exclaimed, “Hey! I want one too!”

  She laughed and handed it to him, “Just kidding! I was making two!” She made the other one and sighed as she bit into the gooey mess. “Want another?”

  Tom nodded as he popped the last of his in his mouth. Sam was still munching on hers as she put two more marshmallows on the skewer. After they finished the s’mores they sat around and talked for a bit. Ever curious, Sam asked him, “How is that lantern working? It’s electric.” Tom pointed at the metal cabinet and explained to her what a Faraday cage was and told her that most likely the metal cabinet acted like one and protected the lantern.

  Chapter 23

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  23 November 2020 N-day +136

  Somewhere in GA

  They slept on the bunk beds with her on the top and him on the bottom. They had a breakfast MRE in the morning, since they had other food now she reasoned with him that they should eat it. It was a cheese & vegetable omelet and had salsa with it and they both agreed it was one of the better ones. There was also a toaster pastry and granola w/blueberries in the packet. They each took one to munch on in case they got hungry later.

  Tom told her that they should be hitting the outskirts of Atlanta today and they would probably be running into a lot more houses and probably a lot more bodies. Sam felt nervous about entering the city, even if it was just the outskirts. She made a thermos of coffee and they were ready to go. Just before they left they topped their hydration packs and canteens off with the water from the cabinet. There were two bottles left so they each took one.

  The first part of the day went well, they had to cross a river, but there was a raised area of rock that crossed the river and they were able to get across without even getting their boots wet. Tom had pulled out his detector before they went across and it was all clear. Then right after they stopped for a quick lunch they had to make a big detour around a huge quarry.

  After that they started encountering houses. They were passing whole neighborhoods and the trees started thinning out. They were trying to stick to a straight line, but they had to go around a lot of houses and there were many with fences.

  They had just detoured around a small lake that was next to a golf course and were looking for a place to spend the night. Tom said, “How do you feel about camping in the rough tonight?”

  Sam starting thinking, ‘This isn’t rough….’, then she realized he was making a lame joke in reference to the gold course. She slapped him on the shoulder and grinned. “OK, let’s rough it.”

  There was a small copse of trees between the golf course and the lake and they found a smooth spot right in the middle that had some old beer cans around the edges and a dirty old mattress. Tom said, “I guess we found where the teens came to party.” They moved further away and found another smaller flat spot and decided that would be better.

  The sun was already going down, they made camp quickly and finished eating their daily MRE. Sam was hoping when they went in the city she could find clean clothes. She had been wearing the same ones for two days. They cleaned up and brought everything inside of the tent with them and made it an early night.

  24 November 2020 N-day +137

  Atlanta, GA

  They woke early the next day and Sam was only a little sore from the previous day. Tom let her make some more coffee and then they were off, he wanted to get through as much as they could before the sun came up. He told her if they saw other people they would have to observe them for a bit before letting their presence be known. And they may have to change their tactics and travel at night if they encountered any rough looking groups.

  They checked the map before taking off and
it looked like they only had about 15 miles to get to Maria’s family. But they knew it would be a lot longer than that because of all of the houses.

  They crossed the golf course in the predawn hour and Sam already felt like they were being watched. They had a detailed map of the city that Maria had marked her families church and house on. They kept that map out and referred to it often as they crossed the city. They were running from building to building and house to house. Sometimes cutting through parking lots and down side streets. It was much more tiring than hiking through the woods. Sprinting and then stopping.

  They were sitting in a small wooded area next to a large group of apartments and a railroad track. Sam had just poured them a cup of coffee to share and they were looking at the map. Sam noticed the railroad had a line that ran near Maria’s parents’ house and she traced it around and back to where they were. She pointed it out to Tom, it wouldn’t be a straight line getting there but it would be a lot easier than cutting through neighborhoods and parking lots. They could just walk along the side of the tracks in the trees.

  Tom smiled at her and roughed her head like you would do a kid, “I knew there was a reason I brought you along!”

  They only had to walk through a small section of trees and they found the right track, “I guess we’re on the right track now!” Tom joked.

  Sam smiled at him, “You’re going to make a great dad, you got great dad jokes!”

  They made much better time on the tracks and only had to cross over to the other side of the tracks to avoid buildings they passed by. They felt much less exposed and safer. Of course, Tom would occasionally throw out another bad joke about ‘crossing the line’ or something. Sam thought his jokes were funny and she knew he and her Dad would get along great, he loved making those corny jokes too.

  The tracks were mostly covered by trees on each side and they usually walked in the trees. They did have to get on the tracks once to cross a bridge that went over a road and a creek, but at least they didn’t have to worry about a train coming while they crossed it.

  They passed a stalled-out train with two dozen box cars in one of the heavily wooded areas and they saw the engineers dead body hanging out of the window of the lead engine. Sam wondered what was in the box cars. Some of them were coal cars and two of them were tankers, those were pretty easy to guess. But the container cars and box cars are what caught her attention the most. None of the door were open so they hadn’t been looted or even checked. They didn’t want to take the time to stop and check it, they were so close to being there.

  They were keeping an eye out for any road signs and had just walked over another small bridge. Sam could see a large overpass up ahead and buildings through the trees on both sides. Tom said, “I think it’s right passed this overpass and off to the left.”

  They went to their left off the tracks and sprinted across a parking lot. They walked through the trees and came out into an apartment complex. They skirted around the complex on the street and found a street sign and compared it to the map. The house and church should be two streets over.

  They found two cross streets and compared it to the map again. One more block and they could see the little white church with a steeple on top. There were a few trees next to a small house that was across the street. They hunkered down next to the porch of the small house and behind some bushes. There was a little gray house sitting next to the church and was the house number of Maria’s family’s home. Sam wondered how they fit so many people in such a small house!

  They took out an MRE and ate quietly while they watched the church, the house and the street. It was early afternoon and they decided to watch for an hour and then they would approach the house. While they were waiting they heard gunshots off in the distance. It sounded like various guns shooting back and forth. Tom signed, “Gun fight.” Sam nodded in acknowledgment.

  After an hour they went to the small house and cautiously walked around it. They hadn’t seen any movement and there was a window open on the front with the curtain blowing in the breeze. Tom pointed it out and Sam nodded gravely. The tried the front door and it was unlocked so they entered the house. They quickly went from room to room and the house was empty. Really empty, even the beds were gone from the bedrooms. They did a quick check of the kitchen and found the cupboards and even the refrigerator and freezer were empty. They checked back through the house and the closets and found those had been partially emptied as well. Sam signed, “Church?” It was Tom’s turn to nod.

  They headed over to the church and made a careful circuit around it. All of the windows were covered over and they tried to look in the ones that were at ground level. The building was multi-level and bigger than Sam had originally thought. There was also a small garden plot behind the church and it looked like someone had been tending to it. Sam frowned and hoped no one had tried to eat anything from the garden.

  The looked at each other hopefully and decided to try the back door to the church, there was a small fence next to the door that would provide them some cover to hide behind. Sam knocked on the back door of the church and waited. They didn’t hear anything so Sam knocked again and in a hushed voice said, “Maria sent us from Fort Jackson.” They felt very exposed out in the open next to the church with only a small fence to hide behind.

  Sam tried to turn the handle and it was locked. She looked at Tom and he signed, “Try one more time.”

  She knocked again lightly, “Hello? Maria sent us from Fort Jackson.” She remembered the letter and got it out and carefully wedged it under the door. Just a corner was sticking out on her side and then it disappeared. She looked at Tom and he gave her a grimace of a smile. A minute later the door opened and someone was waving them inside.

  They both entered the dark building and had to wait a moment for their eyes to adjust. There was a small man and a young boy standing there waiting. Sam could tell they were related to Maria, the boy looked a lot like her, except emaciated.

  They waved them further inside of the church and toward the front of the build without saying anything. They could see a set of double doors ahead and when they opened them and went through there was an area set up with candles around the room and beds and mattresses laid out on the floor. There were several people lethargically laying on the mattresses and a few sat in chairs around a table sipping on cups of water. Sam counted 8 people total, half of which were children.

  As soon as the doors were shut the little man stuck his hand out and said, “Sorry about that, as soon as Joey told us there were people sneaking around the outside of the church we automatically assumed you were looters.” He ruffled the boy’s hair, “He is always looking out for us and followed your progress around the church. He came and got me when you mentioned Maria. The letter you slipped under the door just confirmed you were alright to let in.”

  Tom and Sam looked at each other and Sam discreetly signed, “Food?” and when Tom nodded agreement. Sam introduced herself and Tom as they were removing their packs and the little man said he was Jose, Maria’s father and the boy was Joey, her youngest brother.

  They opened their packs and started taking the food out and putting it on the table. The young boy gasped and put his hands over his mouth and the man fell to the floor on his knees and looked up to the ceiling as he put his hands together, “Blessed be! Praise the Lord!”

  Sam knew the food wouldn’t go far, there were too many of them and too little food. She wished they had more. They took out everything, even the last of their MRE’s. Tom told Jose that they would have to make sure everyone ate slowly; the food would make them sick if they ate too fast. Jose readily nodded.

  Sam asked if they had a gas stove to heat the food up on and Jose said yes, they had a full kitchen here, and he pointed to a side door off the big room, they just didn’t have any food left. They gathered up the food and took it to the kitchen. Sam decided to cook all of the Ramon, that would probably be easier to digest and go a lot farther. She put a pot of water on to boi
l and opened up the lids on the four noodle cups.

  Jose was standing by the door waiting anxiously. Sam asked him, “How did ya’ll manage to survive?”

  Jose said, “We were preparing for a special Friday Church brunch. There were a few women from the congregation that had come in to help us cook and all of the kids had just gotten out of school for the summer holiday.” He continued on telling her what they were cooking and how much they were cooking, almost like he was reliving all of the delicious food, he also mentioned that there were twelve people here total. Sam thought four dead.

  The water was boiling, so she carefully poured it in each cup and pushed the lid back down. She asked him if they had any bowls. He pointed to a cabinet and she got out eight bowls as he continued talking, “The brunch was scheduled for 9 am and we expected people to start arriving about 8:30 am, you know how those old folks like to sit around and drink coffee! But then everyone got that strange alert on their cell phones about not going outside. Everything was ready, including a big urn of coffee and when the lights went out at 8:45 we just thought it was a power outage.

  “But at 9 o’clock when no one had showed up yet we began to worry. Some of the kids were complaining that their phones wouldn’t work and my daughter, Sofia, came and told me that she had seen some strange posts on her Facebook about people dying in the street in town. That’s when Monica, my wife, came and told me the details of the alert message. She knows I don’t look at my phone.”

  Sam could see it was getting hard for him to talk and she knew it was going to get worse as he went along. Jose’s eyes were glistening with tears, “My wife said she just wanted to run next door to the house and get Camila, our youngest daughter that was 8 years old.” His voice sobbed and Sam took his hand and he looked her in the eyes. “She just wanted to stay home and play! She was too young to help cook and spoiled rotten to boot, we never made her do what she didn’t want to! My wife went out the side door that we always use to run home and Anna, one of the ladies that came to help cook…. she...she fell on the floor and started shaking. We didn’t know what to do. Martha started CPR, but as soon as she did the mouth breathing thing..she fell over and started shaking!” Sam squeezed his hand that was cold and bony under her warm hand.