by Bowman, Dave
Finally, as the sun illuminated the land, she spotted a windmill down the road to her left. She remembered passing that windmill. She grinned as she pedaled off to the left. Soon, she hoped to make it to the highway.
It was late morning when she finally made it to her parents’ house, having found her way back to the highway soon after sunrise. When she at last saw the long, uphill driveway, she felt a surge of energy and she pushed the bicycle faster toward her family home.
She could scarcely contain her excitement. Finally, this nightmare would come to an end. Her mother and father would be there. And they would make everything okay.
Finding the door was locked, she knocked loudly and impatiently. Taking a moment to look around, she noticed her mom’s vehicle was parked out front, but her father's truck wasn't there. That wasn't too surprising – he had probably been driving somewhere when all the cars stopped working. And then he had walked home.
She could scarcely wait to see her family.
The front door finally opened. Heather was overcome with joy to see her mother standing before her.
"Heather! My baby!" her mother exclaimed. She opened her arms wide, pulling her daughter in close. "You made it all this way! But you look awful! Are you all right?"
Heather nodded against her mother's shoulder. "I'm fine now. Everything’s fine now that I'm home."
Myra looked off the porch to see Heather's bike on the ground. "Goodness! Did you ride your bike all the way from Roanoke? You must be exhausted!"
She led her daughter inside, closing the door behind her.
"You come sit down here," Myra said, taking Heather by the hand and plopping her down at the dining table. "What do you need? You must be starving!"
Heather nodded. "I need water most of all."
Myra poured her a glass of water and brought it to Heather, who downed the glass instantly. Myra poured her another glass.
"I'll get you some food," Myra said as she left the water pitcher for her daughter and hurried into the kitchen.
"Heather?"
Heather looked up to see her niece on the stairs.
"Katie!"
Katie ran to give her aunt a hug. Surprised, Heather stood up and wrapped her arms around the teenager, who looked up at her aunt with a grin.
"It’s so good to see you, kiddo! And you’re almost taller than me now! But why are you here?" Heather asked, collapsing back on the couch and downing the second glass of water. “You didn’t come by yourself, did you?”
"No. Dad wanted to come here," Katie said.
"Oh, Brody's here?" Heather asked, glancing up at her mother.
"Yeah, he’s still sleeping," Katie said.
"Lazy bones,” Heather said, grinning. She was elated to be back home. And better yet, her brother and niece were there, too. Things were looking up.
She grabbed a handful of chocolate raisins from a package on the table. “When did you get here, Katie?"
"Two nights ago," Katie said. "We rode our bikes here. It took all day."
"And that was just thirty miles," Myra said from the kitchen. "How long did it take you to come from Roanoke?"
"This is my third day riding," Heather said. "I waited two days to leave – after . . . after the bomb hit Roanoke."
Myra looked up. "Roanoke, too?" She stood bracing the counter as if she had suddenly felt dizzy. "Thank God you're okay!"
Heather nodded. "Yep. A coworker warned me at work that day, so I got out in time. He had some kind of tip from a friend at the Capitol. If I hadn't listened to him, I probably wouldn't be alive."
Myra shook her head and returned to the table with a plate of food. She threw her arms around her daughter again, who had already begun to tear into the food. "I'm just so glad you made it. I haven't been able to think about anything but you and your sister and –"
Myra stopped herself, then continued quickly. "I'm just so glad you came home, where you ought to be. I never want to let you out of my sight again!"
Heather swallowed a large mouthful of chicken and looked around. "Where's Dad?"
Myra and Katie looked at each other. Then Myra looked away.
"Mom?" Heather asked, her voice becoming higher-pitched. "Where's Dad?"
"Well, you know, he went to the hardware store that day. Wednesday. And then, all the lights went out and the cars stopped. I –"
Heather pushed her chair from the table and began to walk toward the back porch.
"Dad?" she called. "Dad!"
"Heather, sweetie," Myra began, her face lined with worry. "We've been looking for him for days. I just don't know what to do anymore."
Heather kept moving through the house, opening all the doors as if she'd find her father hiding. She had stopped listening to her mother. She couldn't bear to hear it.
"Heather, please sit down," Myra said. "I have to talk to you."
But Heather was already running up the stairs.
"Dad! Dad, where are you?"
Heather ran into her parents' bedroom. Empty. Then she charged into the spare rooms. She first looked in her old bedroom, then Annie's, which was now being used by Katie. She let out a frustrated cry as the realization sunk in that her father was actually gone. She didn't know where he was or how he’d disappeared, but just that her father was gone.
Angered and panicked, she charged into Brody's room, fully prepared to demand answers from her big brother about their missing father.
But she froze when her eyes fell on Brody. He lay in bed, his eyes closed, and his skin an odd color.
He looked terribly ill.
22
Annie drove the Porsche over the final hill, then began to charge down the highway.
The house came into view.
"Is that where the meth head lives?" Charlotte asked, looking off to the right.
"It's where he lives now," Annie said. "I think he murdered the owners of the house.”
Charlotte craned her neck to look down the driveway as they got closer.
"Oh, I see him!" Charlotte said, recoiling.
Annie looked over toward the driveway. She saw the man who had attacked her earlier. Hearing the approaching vehicle on the highway must have provoked him to take action. He was running at full throttle toward the highway.
But he was too late. The Porsche passed the turnoff toward the house before he could get close. For a moment, Annie braced herself, worried that the man might start firing a gun at them. But they passed the area without incident. She returned her eyes to the road, determined not to miss any more obstacles on the highway. She wanted to get to Loretta without any more problems.
Charlotte sighed in the passenger seat. "I'm glad he didn't have a gun! He looked crazy."
Annie nodded silently beside her. She felt her racing heart began to slow down. They had escaped one more madman. She took a few deep breaths as she drove the Porsche around a tight curve.
"Do you think we'll be there in an hour?" Charlotte asked hopefully. "I can't wait to lie down in a bed. Finally."
"About an hour and a half," Annie said. "And I have a quick stop to make before we get to the ranch."
Charlotte looked at her, somewhat alarmed. "A stop? Where?"
"I just want to stop and check on a neighbor in Loretta," Annie said. "She's an old friend of the family. Jack and I always stop and make sure she's all right. She's elderly and all alone. It won’t take long, though. Loretta is a tiny town. And Jack's ranch is two or three miles on the other side of town."
"Okay," Charlotte said as she settled in her seat, trying to find a comfortable position despite her injuries. "As long as no one starts shooting at us or tries to steal the car."
Annie laughed. "I don't think that would happen in Loretta. It's a friendly little town. But you're right, we have to be careful just the same."
Annie gripped the steering wheel with both hands as she drove through the peaceful countryside. She could hardly believe how good it felt to be on the move at high speeds again. They had been s
o vulnerable, stuck on the side of the road for the past thirty-six hours. Now, they had mobility, and that meant power and freedom. Annie promised herself that she'd fight with everything she had to keep access to the car.
She felt the tension in her shoulders ease up.
Almost there. Soon, they would be safe.
Finally, the first house on the eastern edge of Loretta appeared. Annie felt excitement building in her chest. They had almost arrived.
The Porsche's deceleration woke Charlotte from her nap.
“Where are we?” she asked groggily.
“Almost to Loretta,” Annie said. “And I’m gonna make my stop first right here.”
Annie turned in a short driveway on the outskirts of town and parked the car in front of a modest single-story home. A cheery flower garden out front was well cared for and made the property colorful.
"This is Edith's house," Annie said as she killed the engine.
Annie got out of the car, stretching her arms overhead to get the kinks out from the drive.
"You wait here," she told Charlotte. "I'll be right back."
Charlotte watched as Annie walked past a ten-year-old Ford sedan parked in the driveway. Annie climbed the steps to the porch, then knocked loudly on the front door.
Inside the car, Charlotte struggled to turn around without pulling too much at her wounds. She wanted to keep an eye on the highway. Loretta looked like a sleepy little town, but Charlotte didn't trust anyone anymore. What if one of the neighbors had heard the Porsche and took a notion to stealing it?
Annie knocked a second time on the front door, louder this time. When there was again no answer, she pressed her face against the glass of the front window, shielding her vision from the sun. After a moment, she came down from the porch and began to circle around toward the back door.
"I don’t hear anything inside," Annie said to Charlotte as she passed. "It’s weird. She should be at home."
Charlotte waited in the car as Annie was gone for several minutes. Charlotte wished her friend would hurry. She didn't like being left in the car alone. She picked up the gun from its resting place on the middle console and put it in her lap, running her finger along the cool metal of the barrel. Having the gun there made her feel a little less afraid.
Finally, Annie reappeared and returned to the car. She didn't say anything, but Charlotte could see the worry on her face.
"What is it?"
"She's not here," Annie said as she started the Porsche. "I let myself in with a key she keeps hidden in the backyard. It looks like she hasn't been around for a couple of days."
"Maybe she's staying with family now," Charlotte said. She was relieved when Annie started to back the car out of the driveway. Charlotte was anxious to get to Jack's house. She hoped that they could feel at least a little safer there.
Annie shook her head. "She doesn't have any family left."
"Friends in town?" Charlotte suggested. "Maybe they didn't want an elderly woman living on her own after the attacks."
"Maybe, though Edith didn't have a lot of close friends in this town. She moved here kind of late in life. That's why Jack and I always checked on her. But you're right – she could be staying with someone nearby," Annie said with an uneasy edge to her voice, despite her words of agreement.
"Yeah, or she’s just visiting someone in town for the day," Charlotte said dismissively. "I'm sure she's fine."
Annie nodded. "Yeah, you're right. She probably just wanted some company.”
She bit her lip as she pulled the Porsche onto the highway and drove on toward the center of town.
“You’re still worried,” Charlotte observed.
“I don’t know, Edith’s empty house just doesn’t sit right with me,” Annie said. “It feels like something is wrong.”
Charlotte raised her eyebrows in an exaggerated way. “You think someone murdered her?” she asked in a mock panic.
Annie rolled her eyes. “I know it sounds silly. But Edith’s always at home when we come through here. It’s just weird.”
Charlotte shook her head. “You worry way too much, Annie.”
Annie didn’t answer. The sensation that something was wrong nagged at her, but she continued on as they began to enter the center of town.
“So this is Loretta proper?" Charlotte asked.
Annie nodded. "This is it. Population 685."
Charlotte whistled. "That is tiny!"
The highway ran through the center of the tidy, quiet little town. A couple dozen houses stood on the main road, with several more on the blocks running north and south of town.
"Is this all?" Charlotte asked incredulously as they reached the middle of the settlement.
"This is pretty much it," Annie said. "Isn't it great?"
"If you say so," Charlotte muttered. She was beginning to miss Austin. Old Austin – before the attacks.
Charlotte watched as they passed a tiny community center, a little restaurant, and a well-maintained church. All the civic buildings were closed up. There wasn't a light on in the town, nor the sound of a motor running. Clearly, the EMP had hit here, too.
Charlotte glanced at Annie, who was chewing on her lip again. “Now what’s wrong?”
“No one’s outside,” Annie said, glancing up and down the streets. “Usually you see at least a few people outside, working in their gardens or whatever. And with the EMP, you’d think there’d be more people outside. It’s not like they’re all indoors watching TV.”
Charlotte shrugged. “They’re probably freaked out and want to stay indoors. Especially when some out-of-towners in a fancy sports car roll into town.”
“Yeah, that’s true,” Annie said distractedly. She looked up and down all the side streets as they traversed the little town. Not a soul was out on the street, or standing in a yard or on a porch.
She shivered, suddenly feeling a chill run down her spine.
Why was the town of Loretta empty? It felt like a ghost town.
And the fact that Edith wasn’t at home made Annie even more on edge.
Something felt wrong. Annie didn’t know what it was, but fear began to take her over. As she floored the gas pedal and left the empty town behind, one thought repeated over and over in her mind.
What if something’s wrong at the Hawthorne house?
23
"Brody?"
Heather stood in the doorway of the bedroom, watching her brother.
He lay in bed motionless, his eyes closed. His skin had an ashen pallor. Seeing her brother like that struck fear in Heather's heart.
What had happened to Brody?
Finally, his eyes slowly opened. It took him a long time to focus on Heather. She slowly walked inside the room and stood at his bedside.
"Heather, is that you?" he asked in a weak voice.
Heather swallowed. "Yes, it's me. Brody, what happened to you?"
He blinked a few times. His eyes moved from Heather to the doorway.
"Oh, dear God," Myra gasped.
Heather spun around to see her mother standing in the door. Katie appeared behind her a moment later, her face filling with shock and surprise.
"What happened to him?" Heather demanded.
Myra entered the room, staring at her son. She opened her mouth several times as if to speak, but her voice eluded her.
Anger and frustration welled up inside Heather’s chest. "What's going on here?" she asked, looking back at Brody.
"The bomb," Brody muttered.
Heather looked helplessly from Brody to her mother, then back to Katie, who stood with her mouth open in the doorway.
"He was supposed to be getting better," Katie said angrily.
Myra wiped tears from her face as she took Brody's hand.
"He's so cold," Myra said. She pulled the covers up under his chin.
Brody waved her away. "It's radiation exposure," he told Heather. "I was too close . . . to Ground Zero when the bomb went off."
"What?" Heather asked i
ncredulously, staring at him.
"He was downtown in Johnson City," Myra said sadly. "He was sick when he got here two days ago, but he was doing so much better yesterday. He thought it might have just been the flu. We thought he was going to get better," she with a shaking voice, looking back at Katie.
Katie stood in place as she stared at her father. She was stricken.
"What is this?" Heather asked. She grabbed something off the nightstand and held it in her palm, staring at a small, blackened object.
"It's a tooth!" Myra exclaimed.
Heather stared at the tooth in disbelief. "Why is it black?"
Myra shook her head sadly. "It must be from the radiation. It’s poisoning him from the inside."
Brody took a breath. "It fell out sometime this morning."
He opened his mouth and pulled his lips back to show his teeth.
Heather looked closely. Several of his teeth were turning various shades of gray and black. She recoiled in terror and disgust and returned the tooth to the nightstand.
She ran a hand through her hair nervously and took a few steps back.
"How can this be happening?" she asked.
No one answered. Myra stood in place, looking at Brody.
Heather began to pace back and forth across the room.
"What do we do?" she asked frantically.
"I don't know," Myra answered. Her face twisted in anguish.
"There's got to be something we can do!" Heather snapped. The powerlessness and frustration of the situation were beginning to overwhelm her.
"Katie?" Brody asked. "Where's Katie?"
Heather and Myra turned toward the door. Katie was gone.
Myra sniffed and wiped her tears. "I'll go look for her."
Myra left the room. Heather could hear her calling Katie's name as she walked down the steps.
Heather returned to Brody's side and took a deep breath. "What can I do, Brody? Isn't there anything I can do to help?"
Brody shook his head. "I'm sorry you have to see this," he said slowly. "Nothing can be done."
Heather swallowed the lump in her throat and looked around the room. "What about Dad? Where is he? No one's telling me anything!"
