Down the Hole

by Sally Six

  The barrels of gas were about two feet past some other things. There were four-55 gallon barrels of gasoline and six-55 gallon barrels of diesel. There was all kinds of things stacked on top of the barrels as in extra truck parts and other car parts for other vehicles. Matt thought most likely for his van too. There were sleeping bags, five gallon buckets of all kinds of foods, rice, different kinds of dried beans, oats, barley, wheat, dried potatoes, peas and even one that said cocoa.

  Matt knew there were many more that he didn’t see. He could see clothes, winter boots, blankets and a case that said flashlights and batteries. He didn’t know if those would work.

  Gary had Matt pull his van closer and Gary put a hand pump into a gas barrel. They gassed up the van in no time at all.

  What was strange was that they got cold standing out gassing up the van and then the truck. This seemed weird for it to be 35 degrees at this time of the year yet. They were now sitting on the west side of Indiana. They were making good time, but didn’t know how long that was going to last. People were going to start getting more and more desperate as the days went by.

  “Matt is it alright if I have Leroy join me in the truck? I will teach him how to drive it so I can take a couple hours of sack time.” Asked Gary.

  “Yeah that’s fine Gary, but it’s up to him. I will ask him? If he is willing, that’s all the better. We both need a break once in a while. We will have him wait to pull out after the van. Then if he agrees to drive for you, so the more experienced is in the front.”

  Matt walked over to the corner of the truck where Leroy was keeping watch and approached Leroy.

  “Leroy, Gary was wondering if you would like to learn to drive his truck so you could spell him once in a while so he can rest. You already know how to drive the van. So this would be very good for both Gary and I. That way it would make it easier on all of us.”

  “Wow Dad, sure I wouldn’t mind at all. Tell him that I will.”

  As they headed back out again, Leroy jumped into the truck in the driver’s seat smiling from ear to ear with Gary beside him.

  “Okay Leroy, this is a pretty simple rig to drive. I forgot to ask. Can you drive a stick shift can’t you?”

  “Oh yeah, I sure can Gary. Dad taught me on an old race car that he had a couple of years back. It’s alright if I call you Gary, isn’t it?”

  “Yes it is. Okay start her up so we’re ready to pull out after your dad does.”

  An hour down the road Gary felt he could get some rest. He told Leroy that he was going to do so since things had been so calm. When we get close to Chicago Leroy, wake me. If we’re going to have trouble, it sure would be there. With that Gary pulled his pillow out from behind the seat and lay against the back of the seat and door. He was out like a light. Leroy tried to drive and keep an eye on the sides of the road at the same time even though there wasn’t much to see being dark and all. He just had never had so much responsibility before. He guessed it was going to be like this more and more from now on. Leroy found it hard to believe that two days ago life was normal. He was looking forward to the football season at school. Now he was carrying a gun and driving a truck. His dad always did say one of Grandpa Graham’s sayings was wait 24 hours things will change. But this was something else.

  “Gary, Gary wake up. You wanted me to wake you up when we’re getting close to Chicago and the stalled cars are getting worse.”

  Gary woke up shaking his head and then rubbing his eyes. “Man that felt like it was just a few minutes, not a few hours”.

  Gary bent down and picked up his thermos, opened it and grimaced a bit. Cold coffee was never his thing.” But he drank it anyway.

  He also unwrapped a protein bar and chomped it down in 3 bites. Then he reached back behind the seat for an apple.

  He tossed one to Leroy who was beginning to look a bit weary himself. Just then the van stopped ahead of them and Leroy brought the truck to a stop right behind it. His mom, Cass, got out of the driver’s side of the van. His dad got out of the passenger side. They both walked back to Leroy’s side of the truck for the moment. It was strange to look around and it to be so dark everywhere. Leroy had never seen darkness like this.

  It was time to gas up the truck and van again. Thirty minutes later they were all gassed up and Matt and Gary took the driving back over. They knew what the stalled cars must be like the closer to Chicago. They didn’t really know how bad Chicago had gotten nuked so they took some smaller state and country roads around it with Gary in the front again. They had a bit of an idea what the radiation levels were because Gary had a couple of dosimeters. The levels were still in the safe zone, but the closer they got to the Chicago area, the higher they went.

  Gary happened to look down at his Nuk-Alert. “Uh oh,” he thought. It showed they were taking Rads. They knew it wasn’t a good idea to get any closer than they already were. He radioed Matt and told them they had better take an even longer route around Chicago.

  It was better to go out of their way than to glow.

  A while later Gary slapped himself in the forehead. Gary picked up the radio. “Spitfire to Manic. Spitfire to Manic, over.”

  Manic here Spitfire. What’s up?”

  “We need to pull over. I have to get some potassium iodide out of the back of the truck for us all. We need to start taking it right away. I hate to tell you this, but we’re taking rads. Chicago must have taken a major hit after all.”

  His brain must have been more tired than he thought. He really hadn’t been thinking straight.

  They stopped rather quickly and Gary ran to the back of his truck. He pulled the back open. It only took him a few moments to find what he wanted. He was a bit miffed with himself. He should have recommended that they all start taking it yesterday. That done he explained how it should be taken. What they needed to watch out for in case someone was allergic to it. They got back on their way again.

  Hours down the road, they filled up again. This should be the next to the last fill up before they got to Granddad’s place up by Lake Superior. They had driven all night.

  They were already into Minnesota and had come up over a hill when Gary spied the bridge that they would have to cross at the bottom and he stopped. Matt stopped behind Gary and got out to see what was up. He came up beside Gary who was looking down the hill. Matt looked to see what Gary was looking at. He sure didn’t like what he saw at the far end of the ¼ mile bridge. Matt was hoping it would be another few days before people started putting up roadblocks, traps and ambushes.

  Matt couldn’t believe his eyes. “Crap.”

  Gary looked over at Matt. “You can say that again, that’s for sure.”

  There on the far side of the bridge were three cars. Two were sitting end to front right in the middle. Where the cars met in the middle, a third one was on the far side of the first two.

  Matt could see smoke from a fire coming over some tall bushes off to the left off the end of the bridge. No one seemed to really be on guard that he could see anyway, unless they were hiding in the trees and bushes.

  “Okay.” Matt was saying. “Let’s backup our vehicles. I don’t think anyone has seen us yet. Let’s do that before they do get sight of us.”

  They both got back in the truck and the van and backed down the hill and off on the side of the road. Matt told Cass and Leroy what was going on and gave her a 38 Special which she didn’t like. She had started to say something about it.

  “Now Cass, I know that you don’t like guns, but Gary gave me an extra 38 and you will put that on and use it if you have to. If anyone comes at you around here, it may mean your life or worse. It may mean the lives of the children or slavery for them and you.”

  “Okay Matt, you’re right. The sooner I face up to this new world the better I guess. You do what you have to. Leroy and I will guard the vehicles.”

  “About Leroy Cass, he’s going with us. I know it’s seems soon, but he is going to start growing up right now. His childhood is over while t
he world is like this because it’s just going to get worse as far as I can see.”

  Tears started to run down Cass’s cheeks and she said. “You mean I am going to be here all alone with the little ones. How can you do that to me? I can’t do it by myself.”

  “Cass, you have to do this and you will. You have to be strong and hold up your end. We have to see what’s going on with that blockade on the bridge. That means that we need Leroy’s help.”

  “We don’t know what kind of people are over there. You said before that you knew you had to do better about this kind of thing. Well now is that time.”

  Cass hung her head a moment. “You’re right. I will suck it up as your dad puts it. Go get this done so we can be on our way again.” With that she stood on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss. “Go, get out of here and keep Leroy safe.”

  “I’ll be fine Mom.” Leroy said and with that he turned and followed his dad and Gary back up the hill.

  The three of them went back up and carefully looked around the corner to see if they could sight anyone yet. There still wasn’t anyone that they could see around. Just the smoke that was still coming over the bushes where they had seen it the first time.

  Matt said. “Let’s get down by the river over here on the right where we will have bushes and trees to cover us. Then we will see where we can cross the river out of sight of that camp. I think we should cross in three different places. Keep that in mind and watch how the land lays if you can as we work our way down and over to them.”

  They went back a few feet and crossed the road and headed down the hillside to the river.

  It didn’t take very long for them to reach the river bottom keeping as quiet as they could and keeping low. When they reached the shore in some bushes, Matt had made his decision. “Okay we need to keep our guns out of the river. Hold them over your heads and try not to trip over something.”

  All three took their hand guns out of their holsters and went their different ways to the places that they would cross the river.

  All Leroy could think of as he crossed the river was he felt like he was in one of those Mad Max movies or something. This still didn’t seem real. He climbed out of the river. It mostly had been shallow never reaching much over his waist, but it was pretty chilly. He was the furthest right with his dad in the middle under the bridge and Gary on the left past the bridge. He kept as low as he could trying to stay behind bushes and trees as best he could. He tried to do what he had seen on TV and in the movies when an Army guy was sneaking up on someone. It wasn’t as easy as it looked.

  Matt stayed as close to the bridge abutments as he could and in the shadows of the bridge. He had stepped in a hole coming across and had a dunking over his head. Talk about a surprise. He climbed out onto the shore and kept as low as possible going right into a bunch of bushes about five feet from the river’s edge. He looked as best he could through the bushes. Still no sign of anyone. He crept over to the next set of bushes. Whoever had put those cars on the bridge must be counting on someone naive enough to just drive right up to them it seemed. They sure weren’t keeping a real close eye on things which was a blessing for Matt and his family.

  Meanwhile Gary was just coming out of the water. He hadn’t come straight across the river, but did an angled job keeping close to some large rocks sticking out of the river.

  He had seen Matt come out and go up onto the shore by the bridge and head into some bushes. He did the same as fast as he could. As he did, he heard his shoes go squish squeak. “Gads.” He thought. “It can’t be.” He stayed a few moments in the bushes dripping off a bit. He took off his shoes and laid them on the ground to come back and get later. Then he made his way toward where the smoke had been seen over the bushes by the bridge. With a few ouch, ouches in his mind from the rocks poking him in his stocking feet. “Why me?”

  Matt edged closer to the campsite. He got a glimpse of Gary over on the left but only briefly. He was at the last bush and could see three sleeping bags around the fire. “Well I’ll be,” he thought. “Whoever they are it looks like they are still sound asleep. No sense in taking chances in case there is someone on guard somewhere.” He looked around looking for anything out of the ordinary. What he found was a set of eyes looking straight into his.

  Chapter 13

  Straighten Up

  The woman was tied to a tree about 30 feet from across the campsite. He saw another set of legs so he guessed there was someone else tied to the same tree, but more on the other side. There was a blanket thrown over her legs. She looked to be about 30 to 35 with brown hair about mid length wearing a blue and white checked long sleeve flannel shirt.

  Matt put his right index finger to his lips in a well know signal to be quiet. He hoped she knew to be quiet and that she didn’t think she just had gone from the frying pan into the fire.

  Matt picked up a small stone and threw it over to the left in the bushes. He hoped Gary was there by now and get his attention. Gary heard something fall about five feet from him to his left side. He saw it was a small stone. Gary looked over to the bushes where he thought it came from. He saw Matt’s hand come slightly out of the bushes that he was in off on the left. He was pointing his left index finger and Gary looked to see what Matt was pointing at.

  Gary’s eyes followed Matt’s finger to where he was pointing and saw a woman look his way that was tired to a tree. “Well,” Gary thought. “It’s not a camp of good guys just keeping people out of their town. From the way things look anyway, this kind of thing hadn’t taken as long to happen as I thought it would. I thought it should be at least a week or two before this kind of thing started to happen.”

  Leroy who also was there, but behind a tree not 30 to 40 feet from the camp saw something going on. He looked around the camp instead of at the sleeping people lying on the ground around the smoldering fire. He saw two women tied to a large tree both with blankets on their legs. One of the women was asleep, but the other one was who was facing the camp was awake. It looked like she had seen both his dad and Gary.

  Leroy saw his dad stand up after he had gotten to the edge of the bushes. His 44 was in his right hand and cocked. He just stood there. So Leroy stepped out from behind the tree copying his dad. Meanwhile, Gary made his way quietly over to the tree that the women were tied to. Gary put his left index finger to his lips so that the woman that was awake would hopefully kept quiet. He then put his right hand over the other woman’s mouth that was asleep and shook her with his left just a bit to try and wake her. She came awake with a start and a bit of a squeal came out, but not loud enough to wake the men around the camp fire. He bent down and whispered in her ear. “It’s okay. We’re here to rescue you and the other lady.”

  Gary then put his finger up to his lips to be quiet and proceeded to cut the rope that they were tied to the tree with. He sure was glad he had kept his Bowie knife sharp at all times.

  In this modern world things like that weren’t very important anymore, but he had been watching things and preparing for a few years now. One thing that he thought was important is that his knives and guns be sharp, clean and ready to go at any given time.

  After he had the rope cut, he helped them up to help things be as quiet as possible. He pointed straight into the woods in back of the camp and whispered. “Go that way as quietly as you can about 100 feet. We will find you when this is all over.”

  Gary watched as the women headed off deeper into the woods. He then turned and headed into the campsite this time walking in with his pistol drawn in his left hand. He turned his right hand and did a quick glance at it to see the time it was 7:00 AM. He loved his wind up watch.

  What Gary hadn’t seen happening behind him was the older of the two women point and tell the other one to go on where they were told to go. Then she turned around and followed him. She stayed about 15 feet back from him not letting him realize she was there until he heard a scuff. He quickly turned his head to see her standing there a few feet behind him.

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nbsp; The man that had cut her loose motioned with his hand to get back, but there was no way that she was going to do that. She wanted to see this out. These dirt balls needed to pay. They may not have really harmed her or her sister, but she had seen what they had done to an older couple that they had stopped on the bridge.

  These scum told the two women that the boss was going to have a good time with the two women when they got them back to their friends in town. For now the boss had told them just to see what the bridge brought in the way of good-looking women and kill everyone else. The scum didn’t like having to keep their hands off the women. They had been griping about the boss getting the best and all they got was the leftovers.

  The two had been tied to the tree for a day with a bathroom break at gunpoint and a few laughs because the scum wouldn’t let them out of their sight. All they had been given to eat since they had been tied up was a protein bar each last night and a ½ cup of water.

  When they were all about 20 feet from the sleeping men on the ground, Matt yelled. “All right, all three of you get up and keep your hands where we can see them.”

  All three men struggled awake. Toad thought. “I must have drunk to much last night. I’m hearing voices.”

  Then he heard it again and shook his head. “No he wasn’t hearing voices after all. Someone was yelling at him and his friends.”

  “Ohhhh,” Toad groaned with the thought. “I shouldn’t shake my head that hard.”

  Toad looked up and saw a man standing a few feet from him with a pistol in his hand. He then saw Herb and Bad Boy trying to get their sleeping bags unzipped. Looks like all of them had too much to drink last night. Toad looked around some more as some of the cobwebs cleared from his brain. He saw two more men. Well one big man and over on Toads right a teenage boy all pointing their guns at him and his friends.