by Hayden James
Turning her head, a giant smile came across her face. “Yes!” Natasha shouted.
While Rachel opened the clear plastic wrap of the doughnuts and gave the first one to Natasha, she saw a vintage Rolls Royce pull up to one pump. The black Rolls Royce was the epitome of luxury. It was a 1967 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow with a cream interior; it screamed old money from miles away. Thinking the driver of the rolls Royce would see the sign that Eric placed on the outside of the station, Rachel went back to eating powdered doughnuts with Natasha.
Something else particular caught Rachel’s eye regarding the Rolls Royce. The driver was a young woman and with her she had three young men. The car seemed odd for them to be driving, but perhaps they had family money and that vintage Rolls was the only working vehicle that family had. They should be moving along any moment as the young lady tried using the credit card machine at the pump. Were they that out of touch? The power grid had been down for a week, and they are trying to use the credit card machine by the pump?
Rachel opened the window and shouted, “Read the sign! No gas!” Rachel shut the window and went back to eating doughnuts with Natasha.
The four youngsters approached the convenience store where Rachel and Natasha sat at the counter. “Ma’am, I need gas,” one of the young men shouted from just inside the store.
“I’m sorry, we are out.”
“No, you are not. Everything could be bought for a price. Here, take this for a few gallons,” answered the young man as he took out a Black Amex card from his wallet and handed it to Rachel.
Rachel looked at it and replied, “I’m sorry. We have no gas.” She handed back the credit card.
“Do you know what kind of limit this has?” asked the young man. “The whole thing could be yours.”
“I’m sorry,” answered Rachel.
“God Damn it! Lady, I need gas!” shouted the young man as he punched the wall next to him. His closed fist went right through dry wall.
Rachel became on high alert, moving Natasha off of the stool and having her crouch down by her legs. “Sir, we don’t have any gas. Please leave,” she said with a stern yet polite tone. Trying not to escalate the situation any further.
“Wait! What is that?” Rachel’s voice quivered as she saw the black metal barrel of a gun aimed directly at her.
One of the other men took out his handgun and pointed it right at Rachel. “We need gas,” he hissed. The sound of him racking the slide and pointing the gun back at her put Rachel completely over the edge. Without hesitation, without thought, her body propelled itself into action.
Operating on instinct alone, Rachel grabbed the shotgun that was attached to the underside of the counter. She removed it and lunged toward the four youngsters, shouting, “Get out now!”
The foursome ran and sprinted into the Rolls Royce, starting it before Rachel could catch up to them. Rachel chased them down to the edge of the parking lot, running as fast as she could, her heart racing from being in fight-or-flight mode.
Taking a few deep breaths to calm down, she regained her composure and returned to the convenience store.
The walk back up to the convenience store seemed like an eternity since she sprinted down the parking lot in the blink of an eye. When she entered the door, she shouted, “Natasha, it’s safe. You can come out now.”
Expecting Natasha to come around from the bottom of the counter, her heart skipped a beat when that did not happen. “Natasha!” Rachel shouted, panic-stricken as she looked under the counter to find no one there.
“Natasha!” she shouted once more, this time looking through the empty shelves of the store. Looking for any place the little five-year-old could hide. Rachel frantically searched each spot and found no sign of Natasha.
Hysteria consumed Rachel as she feared the worst. “Natasha!” Rachel shouted outside of the door of the store. Certain that Natasha was not in the store, she checked the garage where there was the open bay door.
Not finding any trace, Rachel hastily pulled close the bay door of the garage and latched it how Eric instructed. Then she went through the store and searched one more time. Still, no sign of where this little girl could be.
Now, Rachel was certain that Natasha was not hiding from being frightened, because she would have come out by now. Instead, Rachel was sure that someone had kidnapped her while she was chasing the thugs who drove the Rolls Royce. “Oh, God!” Rachel shouted as she felt to her knees. She was only gone for a moment, but a moment was all it took for her little girl to go missing. That would have been the opportune time for someone to snatch Natasha.
Then, Rachel’s mind descended to the absolute worst. Could someone have been watching them, and plotting to take that sweet little girl when Rachel had turned away, even for a second?
Consumed by panic, wails came from Rachel as she could hardly get control over herself. She reasoned that acting like this was not in the best interest of finding her little girl, so she regained decorum and kept her wits about her.
Rachel got into the VW camper van and hot-wired the ignition wires the way William showed her. After the engine turned over, she drove off of the gas station’s property, driving slowly, looking for her blonde-haired child.
Looking in car windows as she drove by, Rachel scoured at least a block radius from the gas station. She found nothing. She prayed, “Oh God, please let nothing happen to my precious little girl. Dear God, please grant me your grace in my moment of need. Amen.”
Rachel was certain that her daughter was not in the surrounding neighborhood of where the gas station was. She made her way back to Eric’s house to give William the horrible news and to have everyone help her search for Natasha.
As Rachel pulled up in the yellow, VW camper van, William ran up to her. “Honey, is everything all right? I wasn’t expecting you back to just before sundown. My heart dropped when I heard you pull up.”
Rachel could not get the words out. The only thing that came out were hysterical sobs. Finally after a few deep breaths, Rachel cried, “Natasha is missing! Please help me finder her.” Rachel broke down into tears on William’s shoulder, releasing all she hid behind the composed facade she mustered to get herself to her husband. The man she knew who would protect their family to the end. The only one she knew who could find their daughters.
Gary and Vince ran to the front of Eric’s house after they heard the cries. “Rachel! What’s wrong?” Gary shouted, near panic at what could have driven her to become completely undone.
A stoic William replied, “Natasha is missing.”
“We must go and look for her. Where was the last place you saw her?” Vince asked.
“The gas station,” cried Rachel.
Eric, Maddy, and Addy came running to the front of the house. “Mom! What’s wrong?” Maddy shouted.
Gary put his arm around Madison and said, “Your sister is missing.”
“Oh, God!” Eric said. “I will organize some townspeople to help us search tomorrow if we don’t find her. Let’s get over there now!”
William drove the group over to the gas station where Natasha was last seen. Vince and Addy headed off in one direction while Gary and Maddy headed off in another to canvas the neighborhood. Rachel sat on the curb outside of the store, while William and Eric went off in a separate direction to look for Natasha.
While Rachel waited, hoping for good news, she found herself consumed with guilt. She could not believe that she left Natasha unsupervised. Even if it was for a few moments. The guild ate her up, and she was finding it hard to even think if they never find her.
Hours passed, and each of the pairs returned to the gas station without Natasha. After seeing Gary and Maddy, Vince and Addy, and Eric and William all return without her daughter, the sobs erupted from Rachel and she became inconsolable.
William whispered to Eric, “I hope Dr. Tate has something to calm her down so she can at least get some rest.”
“She must,” replied Eric.
William
drove the van back to Eric’s house and as they pulled into the driveway without her little girl, the sobs emerging from Rachel became louder as this was a reminder that this might be permanent. “I’ll get Dr. Tate,” said Eric, rushing into the house to let Dr. Tate know about Rachel’s condition.
Meanwhile, Gary and Vince did their best to console Rachel and to calm her down so she could take a sip of water and get the pills that Dr. Tate administered to her down.
Rachel cried, “Oh God, why did I leave my precious girl alone, knowing that this world has turned so dangerous. Oh, God! Please make her be all right and bring her back to me.”
Vince dabbed her forehead with a cool, damp washcloth and eventually the drugs that Dr. Tate gave Rachel took effect and she fell asleep.
Chapter Ten
Liam Conner
Residence of Dwight Conner
Townsend, Tennessee
8:05 PM
“I can’t believe it,” whispered Liam to himself, nearly deaf from the battle cry of the unmuffled engine of the motorcycle. “This way,” shouted Liam, pulling a left-hand turn into his grandpa’s house.
Both him and Prue cut the motors off and were quickly greeted by Dwight. “Glorious Heavens!” Dwight shouted running from his front door. “I did not understand it would be you. I could hear those things from at least ten miles away,” said Dwight, elated to see his grandson.
“Grandpa!” Liam shouted while putting his arms around Dwight in a warm embrace. “Grandpa, I’d like you to meet someone,” said Liam motioning over to Prue.
“You brought a friend with you? And a dog?” Dwight asked. After he saw that Liam’s friend was a female and the little Chihuahua that came out of her backpack. He said, “Ah! It’s a girlfriend.”
Liam blushed and then backtracked Dwight’s insinuation. “No, Grandpa. She’s just a friend. And the dog’s name is Chewy,” Prue blushed as well.
“Well, all right then,” replied Dwight. “Regardless, it’s good to see you. Where’s your mom and dad? Are they on their way?”
“I assume so,” answered Liam. “I haven’t spoken to them since this thing has happened. Nashville had building fires all over the place, and we left there. As we got out of Nashville, we found that the city was on mandatory evacuation.”
“Man, I’m glad you two left when you did.”
“I know. I wish I left a not or something for my parents on my apartment door. I didn’t think of it at the time. They might have gone looking for me. The only way that they will know where I am is if they hit the same border crossing.”
“Border crossing?” Dwight asked.
“Yeah, as we left Nashville, we had to check in at the border to help others find us. I’m sure my parents are headed to Nashville to look for me.”
“Do you think my parents will be coming here?” Liam asked.
“I have no doubt they are on their way. I know William. Despite our differences, he is coming over here like a dog with his tail between his legs. He’s blamed me my entire life for not spending time with him and his mom when she was alive. I’m going to have a hard time not saying I told you so to him,” explained Dwight.
“Oh well, I hope I get to see them soon. I want to make sure they know that I am all right. I could only imagine that they must. Be panicked.”
“Right. They’ll get here. They first have to accept what is happening and how severe it is. William has always been a little naïve. Once they accept that this pulse is far more powerful than I could ever imagine, they will come running.”
“What do you think this thing is?” Prue asked, interrupting the grandfather-grandson dynamic.
“Yeah, grandpa. What do you think this thing is?”
“I wish I knew. I can speculate that it is an extremely strong solar storm, but there’s something else. I don’t know what that could be, but it bad. That’s all I know. I seem to have other issues from the town, but that’s a whole different story.”
“I’m sure my dad will figure it out,” Liam said with confidence. “And I am fairly certain he’ll be on his way soon.”
“So what is the plan for you two? Prue is more than welcomed to stay. We have plenty here to share.”
“Thank you, I appreciate the offer, but I must find my parents. I need to get to them soon,” answered Prue.
“If you want, when you find them you can bring them here. There’s more than enough for them.”
“Thank you, that’s a nice offer.”
“In any case, I’m sure you two are exhausted. Let me show you around and then we can have dinner. How does that sound?”
“Great,” replied Liam.
“Perfect,” answered Prue.
Dwight led them to the livestock coops on toward the back of his property across the rows and rows of vegetables. “How did you guys drive those motorbikes all this way?” Dwight asked.
“It was rough,” answer Liam.
“It was,” confirmed Prue.
“Well, in any case, glad you made it. Well, here we have chicken coops, a barn for the pigs and cattle, and on the other side of the barn is a field where they feed. That lessens the amount of feed that I have to keep on hand since they feed in the field and I keep one field fallow to allow it to grow. It was the best sustainable system that I could keep up with.”
“This is amazing what you could build all of this yourself,” chimed in Prue.
Liam found himself amazed as well, but knew his grandfather was a prepper, but he didn’t know one that was on this level. “That’s right grandpa. I don’t remember even half of this when I used to visit and spend my summers with you.”
“Yeah, I picked up more of this after your grandma passed. I got caught up in it. It was like I had built one thing like the chicken coops, then I figured out it would not take much more to have dairy cows. Then I figured I could use some sheep, goats, and pigs. Then I figured I could make it all sustainable.”
“In any case, grandpa. This is quite astounding. I can’t believe you did all of this.”
“I’m glad you appreciate it,” replied Dwight.
“Appreciate it, I’m blown away by it. My dad will see how much work all of this all took. He’ll see the light, don’t worry.”
“There’s something between him and I that I have never been able to put my finger on. I suppose it starts with a lot of resentment. If I could do it all over again, I’d make the same decisions.”
“It will all work out,” replied Liam.
Day Eight
Chapter Eleven
William Conner
Victoriaville, Indiana
7:33 AM
“What’s going on out here?” William asked after he heard the commotion coming from outside of the VW camper van. Before he pulled on his pants, he took a look over at Rachel who was still passed out. She had tried tear streams, the salt outlining where she cried herself to sleep.
Buttoning up his pants, William headed outside to where he saw a crowd of people. “Hey Will, I told you I’d organize some townsfolk if we didn’t find your little girl. I made fliers with her description. I wrote down the information at least a hundred times last night so people would know what to look for,” explained Eric.
William felt touched by Eric’s initiative and that he did all of this without even asking. “Thanks,” he muttered, humbled by Eric’s fortitude.
“Now, let’s find your little girl.” Eric turned to the crowd, “There needs to be a search party that travels the field toward the gas station. Second, another group needs to go through the neighborhood, working their way back to my shop. Finally, those that have vehicles, I’m going to need you to dive slowly around the surrounding neighborhood. Remember, look in car windows, house windows, and look int he backyard.
Gary and Vince join Eric and William and the crowd that assembled in the driveway. “Vince and I will take Maddy and Addy and we will walk one of the neighborhoods working our way back to Eric’s shop,” suggested Gary. William nodded.
&nb
sp; Eric then suggested, “Dr. Tate and I will ride with you guys.. We will drive around, looking to see if you saw anything.”
Eric shouted to the crowd, “All right guys, lets get the search on. We will meet back at my shop and debrief there.”
The crowds of people spit up into their designated groups and canvased the area, working their way back to the shop. William started up the camper van just as Rachel came to. Dr. Tate and Eric hopped into the van, and William pulled out of the driveway.
Hours had gone by with no trace of his little girl. “Goodness, where could she be?” William asked Eric who sat in the passenger seat. Both Rachel and Dr. Tate looked out of each side of the windows, trying to see if they could see anything.
“She had on a pink jacket,” reminded Rachel. “I just keep looking for any flash of pink that I might be able to see.”
“This is a park,” explained Eric. As William drove the van through the park, keeping his watch for anything, blonde curls, a pink jacket, anything; he spotted four youngsters waving him down.
“Hey, look at that. I wonder if they know something. They seem to be flagging us down,” William said to Eric.
“Couldn’t hurt to ask,” replied Eric. William pulled up next to the black Rolls Royce where three men and a girl waved him down.
In the back, Dr. Tate said to Rachel, “We are slowing down. I wonder if we found something.”
Rachel made her way to the driver’s seat and saw the black Rolls Royce. “William, don’t you dare stop!” Rachel screamed.
