Josh rubbed at his chin in thought and then held up a finger to ask for a minute. When the man nodded, Josh turned to his friends and they all gathered around to discuss the offer.
Alex took a deep breath to launch into her reasoning to reject the offer and keep going when a distant explosion rang through the air. They all turned in the direction it had come from and saw in the dimming light a smoke cloud billowing up from in between two of the office buildings in the core.
Cooper was the first to speak. “Holy crap, it’s like a war zone in there! I vote we stay and get the best way to avoid all that.”
Dara chimed in with Emily and Lisa nodding in agreement. “He’s right. It’ll be dark pretty quick and I don’t want to go anywhere near that!”
Quinn just shrugged at Josh’s questioning look so he turned to Alex. “I know you want to blaze through and get to where we need to be but we won’t be helping our town if we end up dead. These people seem to feel safe here and the city is their turf so they’ll know the best way for us to go. This might actually save us time in the long run. And Alex, we do have to sleep eventually so this might be the safest place to do that.”
Alex looked around at her friend’s expressions and saw that they all agreed with Josh so she just gave a curt nod and turned away. It was the best thing to do but she didn’t have to like it. She heard him sigh at her attitude and then call out to the other group.
“We’d like to take you up on your offer. Where exactly is your shelter?”
Alex turned so she saw the old man grin before replying. “It’s in the Zoo!”
Chapter Thirteen
There was no easy way for them to get their sleds and trailers into the zoo from where they were. The glass station had dead escalators and a steep stairway that led underground to where the main entrance to the park was. The older man introduced himself as Matthew and sent one of the other men to ride on the back of Cooper’s sled, they backtracked on the tracks until they cleared the platforms and concrete barriers. It was quick work with bolt cutters to create an opening in the chain link fence big enough for them to drive through and onto the eastbound lanes. The street leading out of the core wasn’t as heavily congested with dead vehicles as the westbound lanes so they had no problem navigating through. They drove the sleds up the embankment to another chain link fence that surrounded the zoo grounds. This fence was carefully cut along a support post and peeled back before the man that gave his name as Jeff re-secured it with zip ties after they had driven through.
Jeff gave them directions through the grounds as the sounds of their engines brought curious people out of buildings they passed. The people followed behind them as they drove over a bridge and into the main zoo grounds. All the exterior cages and enclosures that Alex could see were empty of living or dead animals and she once again wondered what had happened to them. Jeff had them pull up in front of a large glass-topped building and shut their machines down.
A large group of around thirty people was starting to surround them with more joining as they caught up. The group of teens dismounted and pulled their helmets off. Alex was starting to get nervous with the way the people were eyeing the snowmobiles and trailers covered with tarps. She edged closer to her friends and her hand started to reach back towards her rifle when a loud voice rang out.
“Everyone back up! Give these people room.”
Alex relaxed slightly when the crowd took a few steps back and started to part to let through the owner of the voice. She tensed back up again when she felt someone tightly grip her arm. Whipping her head around she was surprised to see it was Lisa clutching her and the girl’s face was deathly pale. Alex was about to ask her what was wrong when the voice started yelling again so she turned back and saw a good-looking middle-aged man with a young, heavily pregnant woman on his arm break free of the crowd.
“I know Matthew offered you shelter here for the night but he doesn’t have the authority to do that! I’m sorry but we don’t know you or know your intentions. We can’t compromise our group’s safety.”
Just then, Matthew walked through the crowd and gave the man with the loud voice a hard look.
“It’s also not for you to decide if they stay, Kirkland! I spoke to these people and determined they aren’t a threat. They’ve traveled a great distance and have news of the government.”
The man, Kirkland, scoffed. “And you just believed them? For all you know they could be spies for one of the gangs. Sent here to infiltrate our group and steal our food and women and then kill the rest of us!”
Before anyone else could speak, Lisa pushed through from behind her friends and pulled her hat off. She zeroed in on Kirkland and stared at him with one of her ice-queen death stares.
“We don’t want your food or your women but I do know someone who would like to kill you! Then again, she probably doesn’t even remember your face, but I’d take a shot at killing you myself!”
The crowd gasped and the man’s mouth dropped open in disbelief as he managed to gasp, “Lisa?”
Lisa raised her eyebrows in contempt. “Hi Dad, you asshole!”
Matthew worked hard at not smiling but his eyes danced with merriment when he asked, “So, I take it you know these people?”
Kirkland was still open mouthed when the lady on his arm tugged at it. “Kirky, who is that girl?”
He started shaking his head. “Lisa, my daughter.” He shook her off his arm and stepped towards Lisa. “But where, how, what are you doing here?”
There was no thaw in her face when she shrugged. “It certainly wasn’t to find my deadbeat Dad! This is just an unhappy coincidence.”
He took another step as shame filled his face and he started pleading. “Honey, you don’t understand! I couldn’t make it home. That day, you have no idea what it was like here in the city on that day! Nothing worked, people went crazy. Planes dropped from the sky! You and your mother were safe in Prairie Springs away from the big city populations. You have no idea what I went through!”
Lisa’s mouth started to twitch and then her expression cracked when she heard Emily snicker behind her. When a small laugh escaped Alex and then Dara, she couldn’t hold back and she gasped out a full-on laugh causing all her friends to laugh too.
Her father’s face went from pleading to confusion to anger and he finally couldn’t take it anymore. “What is wrong with you? How dare you laugh at my misery? There was nothing I could do to get back to you and your mother! For God’s sake Lisa, it’s over two hundred kilometres. No one could make that!”
Lisa wiped away a tear of laughter and nodded her head in understanding. “Yeah, that’s really, really, REALLY FAR!” The laughter left her face and the ice queen came back. “I was in Los Angeles Father, I made it home.”
Her dad shook his head. “What are you talking about?”
Lisa let out an exhausted sigh and waved her hand dismissively.
“Class trip? No? Hmmm, didn’t even know where your only child was? Yup, that pretty much sums up your parenting history. So, let me catch you up! I was on a class trip to Los Angeles the day the lights went out. All of us here were. So yeah, I saw the planes fall from the sky and I was in a city of over twenty million people that went crazy. We managed to travel two thousand, five hundred kilometres to get home but yeah, I totally get how you couldn’t make it home. It’s really far from here! Whatever!”
She turned her back to him and walked towards her friends, her real family.
“Lisa, please! I’m sorry!”
Alex gave the man a look of disgust before turning to Matthew. “So are we staying or are we leaving?”
He gave her a firm nod. “You and your friends are more than welcome to stay here as our guests. We are all anxious to hear the news of the rest of the world. Let me show you where you will be sleeping so you can freshen up before supper.”
Alex shot a look at Josh who only nodded so she replied. “I’m not comfortable leaving our sleds and supplies out here in the open. Is t
here somewhere more secure we can put them for the night?”
He gave a sad smile of understanding. “Yes, there’s a maintenance garage not far from here where they’ll be safe. I would also ask that you leave your heavy weapons there before joining us. They’re a little intimidating and might frighten some of our children.”
Before Alex could disagree, Quinn stepped forward. “That’s fine.” He turned to his group. “We’ll stand a watch in the garage. Two people, four-hour shifts through the night.” Everyone but Alex nodded in agreement and Matthew frowned.
“I can assure you, that’s not necessary. No one here would steal from you.”
Quinn turned back and found Lisa’s dad in the crowd and threw his words back at him.
“Yeah, no offence but we don’t know you or know your intentions. For all we know you could try and steal our food and weapons. We already know you don’t want our women but just in case…” Quinn stared Lisa’s father down until the shame-filled man backed away and melted into the crowd.
Matthew stepped up and put a hand on his shoulder. “Fair enough, son. Fair enough.”
Quinn turned back to his friends. “Let’s get the sleds moved and set up a rotation for the night.”
As they fired the sleds up to move them, Alex thought about Quinn. He had barely spoken since they had their blowout in Red Deer. It was good to see him start opening up again. He used to be a huge driving force in their group and even mad at him, she missed him. She was glad he stepped up and put Lisa’s father in his place. She wasn’t so happy about him agreeing to leave the assault rifles with the sleds but they all carried handguns under their jackets so it was a compromise she could live with.
As they drove into a dimly lit garage, she could only hope their stop here produced information they could use to get what they needed quickly tomorrow. If all went well, they would be able to make it home by dark.
Once they had all parked off to one side of the open space and shut the machines down, they decided who would take first watch. Lisa spoke up first.
“I am more than happy to just stay here for the whole night. I have no interest in seeing or speaking with dear old deadbeat dad again!”
Cooper gave her an understanding nod and volunteered to stay with Lisa, he knew all about crappy fathers.
Quinn looked around the empty garage. “I think it would be best if we bunk right here tonight even if they offer us better accommodations. We can secure the two doors and keep a watch going through the night. I don’t think we should trust them with all the supplies we brought to trade for medicine. They all look like they’ve been decently fed so let’s save the food in case we need to trade for meds and just give them the information about what’s happening outside the city. Matthew seems like an ok guy but who knows what the rest of them are like. Four working vehicles and a stack of weapons is a very tempting score, so let’s just stay vigilant and hopefully there won’t be any problems.”
Emily jumped in with a question. “Shouldn’t we offer something to contribute to supper? I mean, food in the city has to be getting scarce. For them to feed all of us, that’s a big deal.”
Josh nodded. “Yeah, we can give them a pork or beef roast. It won’t feed all of them but it might create some extra goodwill and more than make up for anything we eat. That will still leave a lot of meat to trade if we need it. We should also pack some snow around the meat to keep it from thawing. It should still be frozen but better to be safe and keep it that way.”
Emily sent him a smile of agreement. “That’s sounds fair. I should check the eggs too. They’re pretty protected in the travel cases but they may be all scrambled inside from the all-day ride.”
Alex finally resigned herself to the delay and went over to Lisa while the others checked on the meat and eggs. Her friend was sitting sideways on one of the sleds with a lost expression on her face.
“Are you ok? That had to have been hard seeing him like that.”
Lisa let out a weary sigh. “Honestly, I just don’t understand how it could hurt this much. I mean, I knew my mom was a write off all along and Dad wasn’t much better in a different kind of way. He always was an absent father, but to now know just how little I meant to him thrust in my face like this, well, it really sucks! Alex, he didn’t even know I was on a class trip. He thought I was still at home a few hours travel from here and he didn’t even try to come for me!”
Alex sat down beside her and put an arm around her shoulders.
“I’m so sorry Lisa. I can’t even imagine how you must feel right now. I really don’t understand how either of your parents could be like that. Especially now with the way the world is. Family is so important, even more so now. All I can say is that we consider you our family and nothing will ever change that. We’ve come too far together to ever break that bond.”
Lisa wiped a tear from her cheek and leaned her head against Alex’s shoulder.
“God, when I think about how I used to treat you guys. It amazes me that you just took me in like that. You guys truly are my family and I can’t thank you enough for it. I didn’t even know what that word was supposed to mean until this all started.”
Alex just squeezed her tighter and looked to the others who had come to stand in front of them. She took a minute to just let go of all the stress that had been consuming her. To remember just how blessed she was to have each and every one of these people as her family. They all looked back at her and Lisa with the same love she was feeling.
“Are you sure you want to stay here on watch? We all have your back if you want to go and see how he’s been living here.”
Lisa gave a trembling smile to everyone before answering. “No, I really don’t want to know. Besides, it looked like he had a pregnant woman on his arm. I have no interest in meeting his new wife.” She snickered. “The first one was bad enough!”
Everyone laughed at that. Lisa’s mother, Claire Kelly, was a cold self-serving woman who had forced teenage girls to work in her pleasure house. It was a move she made when a gang had taken over their town and it allowed her to have comforts and privileges no one else in town was afforded. Once the town had been freed from the gang, Claire had no remorse for the things she had done and left town without looking back, not even for her daughter.
With one last pat on the girl’s shoulder, Alex got to her feet. “We’ll bring you guys back something to eat.”
Cooper shook his head. “Don’t worry about that. I brought a bunch of rations we can have for our supper. Lisa and I will set up a sleeping area while you’re gone so it’ll be ready when you get back. I’m sure we’ll all be ready for an early night and early start tomorrow.”
Josh slapped him on the back and handed him one of Mrs. Moore’s walkie talkies. “Thanks man. Good to have you back with us! Keep your radio on in case anything goes sideways.”
Chapter Fourteen
Josh, Quinn, Alex, Emily and Dara left the garage and found Matthew with a small crowd waiting for them. He gave them a brief nod when he saw that they were no longer carrying their rifles and waved for them to follow him.
“We have a communal dining area where we take our meals in shifts. It’s in a nice dining room that the zoo used to hold fundraising galas in. I’m sure the news of your arrival has spread by now and it will be packed with people who want to hear your story.”
Alex had to ask, “What happened to all the animals?”
He gave her a sad look and shook his head. “By the time the founders of this group decided to set up a community here, most of the animals had been euthanized, freed or possibly eaten. When we got here a few weeks after lights out, the place was abandoned. Some of the exhibits like the reptiles and butterflies were still here but that was it. It took a lot of work to clean out some of the bigger animal enclosures so we could use the buildings.”
Alex was sad at the thought of all those animals being put down but it was just another by-product of the devastation caused by the EMP. The group walked on empty pave
d paths that used to be filled with laughing children who had come to this place to be amazed and delighted by exotic animals.
Josh broached the food subject. “How do you manage to feed so many people if there are no animals?” Matthew gave him a sharp look but then relaxed when Josh followed up. “We don’t want to strain your resources so we have some meat to contribute.”
His face broke into a genuine smile. “That’s very kind of you all. Food is one of our biggest challenges as well as fuel for heat. Once we realized that the government wasn’t coming to save us we made plans to take over this area. A few of the main reasons we picked the zoo was because of the fences that secured it. The property is just over ninety-two acres and runs right down to the river so we have access to the Bow River for water and fishing for a food source.
“We knew that eventually the stores would empty and food would become the hardest resource to find. We needed to be able to grow crops, preferably year-round. The Zoo was the perfect choice for that with multiple glass conservatories already set up for the rainforest, tropical and butterfly gardens. It took a lot of work and scavenged replacement parts to bring the solar tubes and panels back on line to heat the conservatories through the winter but we got it done in time for the first freeze. All the gardens have been replaced with food crops and the rain cisterns were already in place to water everything. It was a hard go to get it all set up but we can now grow year-round.
STRANDED: Box Set: Books 1-6 Page 88
