by Lee West
“That’s what I was thinking. They were a little too ready, if you ask me. That’s why I hid and didn’t go. I found it a little too convenient that their vehicles and electronics work but no one else’s survived the event. The whole thing reeks of some sort of government-manufactured disaster,” said Marvin.
“Where did they take them? The people? Where did they take them?” asked Mike, his voice cracking.
“I’m not sure. All I know is that somehow our government, which can’t seem to get out of its own way on most days, somehow managed to mobilize a quick ‘rescue’ of the citizens right after an unexpected devastating event. The whole thing makes no sense.”
“I agree. I think you did the right thing. There’s no way I would’ve gotten into one of those trucks either,” said Nancy.
“I can’t just sit here! I need to go find my family!” said Mike, getting up abruptly.
“Wait! You can’t go out there! They patrol every day picking up stragglers. I think they’ve been going door to door.”
“Perfect! Then I’ll be taken to Sharon and the kids. That’s all I care about right now!” said Mike.
“Hold on, Mike, you need to think this through. Sharon and the kids could’ve been taken anywhere. If you’re picked up, who knows what’ll happen. You’re better off being on the outside and learning more about what happened before jumping in. You won’t be able to help her if you’re being shuffled around by them instead of calling your own shots,” said Brett.
“I completely agree. I wouldn’t trust them at all,” said Marvin.
“They’re right. Let’s try to get more information before we allow them to load us on one of those personnel carriers. I’d like to know what we’re getting into before being taken away,” said Frank.
Mike looked stricken. The obvious stress and worry for his family were weighing him down, forcing him to make reckless decisions.
“You’re all welcome to stay here for as long as you need to,” said Marvin.
“Tomorrow, we planned to go to our house. It’s in Fischers at the base of the mountains. Why don’t you come with us?”
“Thanks for the offer, but I’ve been fine right here.”
“I agree, but for how long will you be fine?” said Nancy.
“We have plenty of space and might be safer out there than in the city,” said Brett. “Come with us. There’s safety in numbers.”
“You might be right about that. Alright, I’ll do it. It will be nice to have the company. How about if we leave in the morning? It isn’t safe to be out at night.”
“Sounds like a plan. I’m glad you’re coming with us,” said Nancy.
“Me too. Let’s get you guys fed and settled in for the night. Brett, can you help get the curtains with me? You need to pull them shut and then use the clips to hold the sides together,” said Marvin as he approached a bank of windows.
“Why so tight? And what do you mean it isn’t safe to be out at night? I was thinking we’d be better off walking in the dark,” said Frank.
“Patrol trucks make regular rounds during the night. As of the last few days, they’ve been shining lights on the building facades. I know they’re looking for holdouts, and I don’t plan to get caught up in whatever they’re doing.”
“What happens if they find people?” asked Brett.
Marvin looked down uncomfortably and wrung his hands. “I don’t know exactly, but I’ve heard the screaming.”
A shiver went through the small group of survivors. No one spoke for quite a while after his comment, each lost in terrifying thoughts of what had become of their fellow citizens.
Later that evening, Meg and Joe changed into fresh clothes and got ready for bed. The brownstone was pitch black, making retiring for the evening the obvious choice of activities. Marvin had given them a pullout couch in the den to sleep on. It was lumpy and old, but welcome for Joe’s sore body. The heat, lack of water and long walk had exhausted him more than he realized. Finally lying down with Meg, he felt exactly how exhausted he was.
“I love you,” she said.
“I love you too.”
“We’re going to be alright, right?”
“I hope so,” he said.
The rumbling sound of a truck passing the front of the brownstone made him wonder if they would survive the next phase of their journey.
THE END
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Turn the page to read book 2 in the Reckoning Series:
LOCKDOWN
LOCKDOWN
Book Two in the Reckoning Series
— 1 —
Joe Birch slowly woke from a deep sleep. As he exited the dream world, a painful awareness moved through his body, the full extent of his fatigue immediately coming into focus. All of his major muscles were sore to the point that he could barely move at first. Rubbing his eyes, he slowly opened them and looked around the room, momentarily unable to recall where he was or how he’d ended up in a dusty, book-stuffed den. The only familiar sight was Meg, his wife of three years, who dozed peacefully next to him. She was the only anchoring sight to his weary mind.
Within moments, it all flooded back. He recalled their weeklong delayed honeymoon cruise, and all the fun they’d had—before the “event.” Something had knocked out most of the ship’s electrical equipment. Brett and Nancy insisted a high-altitude nuclear detonation had caused an EMP that damaged the ship. They had witnessed the blast, which temporarily lit up the sky in the direction of the shore. The next few days on board had been dominated by fear and a creeping sense of panic among the passengers.
With a mix of horror and sorrow, he recalled their escape from the cruise ship. Mike’s roommate, Raj, had basically sacrificed himself to free the lifeboat. His mind recoiled at the memory of the man’s guts plastered along the side of the cruise ship. Joe knew that if Raj hadn’t disentangled their lifeboat from the cruise ship, they would either be dead or sitting in the ship’s brig—under arrest. Joe quickly wiped the tears that had formed, and fought to erase the image of Raj’s crushed body. He needed to appear strong and composed when Meg woke up.
His wife snuggled in next to him, her warm breath tickling the side of his neck. For a moment he closed his eyes and tried to imagine them lying in bed in their cozy little apartment. An urgent knock on the door instantly brought him back to the current situation.
“Are you guys awake? We need to get moving in about thirty minutes,” said Mike, in a loud whisper through the closed door.
“Sure thing. We’re just getting up. Be down in a minute,” he said.
Meg didn’t stir. He knew she was just as exhausted as he was. Getting her up and moving in a half hour would be a challenge.
“Meg, Meg, we need to get up now,” he said, caressing her shoulder.
“What? Why? I’m exhausted. I need more sleep. You go without me,” she said, making no sense.
He looked down at her serene face and shook his head, smiling. She had no recollection of the previous events and would be just as confused as he had been when he first woke. Something about it almost made him laugh out loud. He knew it was inappropriate and silly, but sometimes that was needed in a serious situation. A little lightheartedness could go a long way.
“Meg, wake up. Your mother is coming. Remember? She’s coming for brunch today!” he said, barely able to suppress his grin.
Her eyes shot open immediately and she said, “My MOTHER? What? No!”
Meg avoided seeing her mother as much as possible. They lived three states away and she could barely be convinced to see her or her extended family for the holidays. Bringing up her mother was like throwing a bucket of cold water on her, without the bucket. She sat up and looked around the room. He could tell her mind was scrambling to make sense of things.
“Nice,” she said, hitting his arm. “You scared the crap out of me.”
“Being in a stranger’s home in a world where the electrical grid is toast and all the citizens have been rounded up by the government wasn’t enough to scare you out of bed—but mentioning your mother did the trick?”
“You’ve met her,” she grumbled.
“Good point,” he said, pulling her into an embrace. “Sorry to startle you like that, but the others are getting ready to leave. We need to get up.”
“No worries. I can’t be mad at you right now, considering our situation. Geez, my body hurts. Everywhere.”
“Mine too. I think it’s exhaustion catching up with us. Being tossed around on the lifeboat was hard enough. Add a daylong hike, heat and dehydration to the mix, and this is what you get.”
“Maybe Marvin has water to share. I’m really parched,” she said, rubbing her eyes.
They quickly got dressed and went into the living room with the others. Marvin’s brownstone sat a short distance from their apartment building in the city of Stevensville. The group had walked into the city from Mike’s house in the outskirts of town. They had expected to be greeted by Mike’s family when they finally made it there after anchoring the lifeboat. However, Sharon and their two young children were missing. In fact, all of the people in Stevensville were missing, with a few scattered exceptions.
“Looking good, you two. Can I get you some water or food? I have plenty, and I don’t think it will be practical to carry all of the supplies,” said Marvin.
“I would love some water!” said Meg excitedly.
“Me too. Are those PowerBars?” asked Joe.
A pile of assorted energy bars and nuts sat on the table, in front of a case of bottled spring water.
“Take whatever you need. There’s plenty,” said Marvin.
“Did you have all of this stored up?” asked Meg.
“Not exactly,” said Marvin with a sly smile. “I’m a bachelor. I basically eat when I’m hungry without much thought being put into the next meal. These wonderful additions to my pantry were compliments of the generous health-nut couple that live next door.”
“So you stole these things from your neighbors?” asked Joe.
“I like to think of it as borrowing—with every intention of returning the favor when things get sorted.”
Nancy and Brett joined them in the kitchen. Brett took one of the bars and a couple of water bottles. He sat at the table and began to eat.
“How did you get into their townhouse?” asked Nancy.
Nancy and Marvin were both sociology professors at the local college. They had worked together for years and knew one another very well.
“That was the easy part. Our brownstone is unique because there is a stairwell between each of the units. The interior staircase separates the units so that we don’t have shared walls, like most townhomes. Instead, we have a narrow staircase that can be used as a second way to exit the unit. Most people use the staircase if they have repairmen over or for deliveries. It makes these units really private. I just opened the door to the stairwell and jimmied their door open.”
“What was the hard part?” asked Meg.
“The hard part? Well, the hard part for me was deciding to break into my neighbors’ house. However, the longer I sat here without electric, food or water, the less breaking into their place bothered me.”
“I can see that. I probably would have done it way sooner than you did. Societal moral norms aren’t fixed in stone but rather are a moving target given the situation. I’d say you are firmly in the moral majority by breaking into their unit under these circumstances,” said Nancy.
“I appreciate your analysis, especially since I broke into all of the units in the entire brownstone,” he said with a smirk.
Everyone laughed at the oddity of Marvin, an unassuming, older professor, breaking and entering his neighbors’ brownstones.
“This is where the party is!” said Frank as he walked into the room, followed by Mike.
“Maybe we should stuff some of these snacks and waters in our bags for the hike?” said Mike.
“Absolutely. I think we should take as much as we can carry. We should also go into the other units and grab anything else we think might be helpful for us. Nancy, how far away is your house from here?” said Frank.
“Brett and I were talking about that this morning. We think it should take around six to eight hours to walk there, given our previous pace,” she said with a glance to Frank.
Frank was the slowest and most out-of-shape person in their group. His frequent breaks had added at least an hour to the group’s hike from Mike’s house to the stadium.
“Our apartment is close by. Maybe we could go there first?” asked Meg.
“We’re just off Freemont. From here it shouldn’t take too long to get there,” said Joe.
Marvin took out a small map of the city and spread it across the table. He traced his finger over the streets until he found Freemont. “Are you in this block?” he asked, turning to Joe.
“Yes. In between Freemont and Rosecrans.”
“We should be fine going there. From what I can tell, they’ve cleared the entire block,” said Marvin.
“Cleared? What do you mean?” asked Nancy.
“As I mentioned before, the soldiers have been going door-to-door checking for holdouts. I’ve tried to keep track of their movements in order to figure out when I need to relocate. That’s what you see on the map in yellow. These are the areas I think they’ve been through. My plan going forward was to move to one of those buildings and wait until they finish searching this one.”
“Do they ever go back to the same place?” asked Joe.
“Not that I can tell. However, it’s pretty hard to get a good handle on things from in here.”
“So we could get home and stay there,” said Meg, turning to Joe. “We could just hide out and ride this thing until it blows over.” The desperation and hope on her face blossomed.
“Originally I had the same thought. However, I don’t know what else they have in store for the city. Besides, eventually, I figured they’d find me. Then what? I’d be taken to some camp? No, thanks. I think we’re way better off going to Brett and Nancy’s house,” said Marvin.
“Our house is outside the city and fairly isolated. I think we should be fine there,” said Brett.
“My house is outside the city and isolated. That didn’t mean my wife and kids were safe. Whatever swept through here also took them,” said Mike.
Mike’s solemn reminder that his family had been taken had a chilling effect on the group. Each person sat consumed in thought for a few moments.
“We don’t know what happened to them, other than they’re gone, like everyone else. What we do know is that Marvin has observed troops going door-to-door. If we stay here, it’s only a matter of time until they find us. And then what?” said Nancy.
“You’re right. I know you’re right. We’re better off going. We’ll be much safer at your house. I appreciate you allowing us to come with you guys,” said Meg to Nancy.
“I agree. Don’t worry, Mike. We’ll help you figure out what happened to your family and get them back. You’ll see, everything will turn out alright,” said Joe, trying to soothe Mike.
“Then it’s decided. Let’s get to the neighboring brownstones first. Then we can make our way to your place. If we leave from the Murphys’ place, we’ll be closer to your side of the block,” said Marvin.
“We’re ready to leave whenever you are,” said Brett.
“Us too. I just need to grab our bags,” said Joe.
Joe fetched their two small bags from the den. Looking around the room, he envied Marvin. The den looked like the office of a person who spent his life learning. Books, magazines and scholarly journals were jammed into every conceivable space in the room. A well-used oversized leather reading chair and antique desk were prominent. Joe could imagine Marvin spending hours in his reading chair, learning all the things that Joe had never strived for. Looking around the room one la
st time, Joe felt a deep sense of purpose to help Marvin eventually return to his cozy haven.
— 2 —
The group assembled on the small landing outside Marvin’s kitchen, where they could easily reach the access stairway. He hesitated for a moment before closing the door to his unit and locking it. Despite his brave words to Meg and Joe, Marvin also wanted to stay put. He didn’t relish the idea of hiking all day in the heat to get to Brett and Nancy’s house. He had never been a physically fit person, instead spending a lifetime reading books instead of playing sports or exercising. The thought of walking that far frightened him.
“We can use their kitchen access door. I never relocked it,” he said, pointing across the landing.
Meg opened the door and walked into the neighbors’ kitchen. The gleaming white cabinets, marble counters and stainless steel appliances sharply contrasted Marvin’s worn and dark kitchen. The couple had even put a skylight into the ceiling, which drastically lightened the space.
“Wow! This is nice!” said Nancy.
“Yes. This is the home of our building’s yuppies. I had to live through the dreaded remodel for months, with nothing to show for it but a nagging desire to take a sledgehammer to their new cabinets,” said Marvin.
“It was that bad?” said Frank.
“Worse than you can imagine. These two are also health nuts. So grab all the bars, water and granola you can!”
Their pantry was stuffed full of healthy snacks, alongside a good amount of bulk-sized candy, brightly colored bottled drinks, chips and alcohol. The size of the bounty made Marvin think they must have just restocked from a bulk store right before the event.
“You call this health food?” said Mike, holding up two family-sized bags of chips.
“I’ve seen him eat at a buffet. That’s health food to him,” said Nancy.
“I wonder if we should look in their medicine cabinet and take some first aid supplies,” asked Brett.
“We took the kits from the lifeboat, but more couldn’t hurt,” said Frank.
