Tammy hesitated before she looked back at Charlie. Her eyes were wide with fear and she waved for her to come inside in a hurry. Tammy’s gut tightened and she knew she needed to listen to her daughter.
“What do you need?” She went inside and slammed the door before the guy on the sidewalk got any closer.
Charlie locked the door and pulled Tammy away from it. “They knocked on the door earlier and wanted to know if the suburban was working. They remembered it from when we were coming home. I said I didn’t know and that you and dad were coming back any minute.”
“Seriously? Oh geez.” Tammy wrung her hands. “Why didn’t you say no?”
“I don’t know. Because it was a lie?”
“You don’t have a problem lying to me about your homework.” Tammy pulled the curtain away from the window just enough so she could see her car. “We really need Betsy so we can get out of here if things go crazy.” They circled the suburban before one of the men headed for the front door. “No, no, no.”
It was terrible timing when all four girls came into the living room at once. Tammy held up a hand for them to stop and whispered, “Go downstairs. Just be ready. Charlie, get Buddy from outside and all of you stay there until I say it’s okay to come up.”
They stood beside each other with squinty eyes and a quizzical look as if she was speaking a foreign language. “Go!” She waved her hands at them.
Charlie was the first to grab Mae’s hand and head for the stairs. “You guys head down. I’ll get Buddy. He’s barking like mad at something out back.”
“Do not open the door if anyone is in the backyard. Lock it instead.”
“Yes, mom.” She didn’t sound as snarky as she usually did when she was told what to do.
When there was a knock on the door, Tammy jumped. She could not even bring herself to reach for the door handle. They might try to take the suburban anyway if she didn’t answer. She needed to scare them off. Perhaps the stun stick would come in handy after all. After the scene on the street on the way home, she wasn’t ready to get out their guns. It was an awful feeling to know it wouldn’t be long before she would need them.
She stuffed the key to the front door in her pocket and grabbed the stun stick before she opened the door. As she held the handle, she twisted the lock on the back as she stepped outside.
Her heart raced as she closed the locked door behind her and two of the four men were standing on her front step. “Can I help you?” She gripped the stun stick tighter.
The skinny tall guy standing in front of her seemed awful fidgety. “So I was wondering, I thought I saw that vehicle on the road earlier. We want to know if we could pay you something to sell it to us.”
“I’m sorry. I think you were mistaken.” Tammy struggled to contain her nervousness as her hands trembled. She rested her thumb on the button of the stun stick, ready to use it. The men were too intense and the one in front of her too bouncy for them to be nice people wanting a ride. “Perhaps it was another vehicle that looked a lot like mine. There’s another one over there.” She pointed to an old white suburban down the road with a smashed headlight. There was a thick layer of dust on the windshield though so it was obvious it hadn’t been used in some time.
“There aren’t very many blue and silver ones like yours.” Skinny man wasn’t going to believe her lie.
“I’m sure you were mistaken. Even if it did run, there are too many disabled cars on the street in the way. Besides, I don’t think any money you can give me right now is going to do me any good. Can’t exactly buy any gas right now and also, it has none.” There were a few lies mixed in with the facts.
Skinny took a step closer to her and she was not comfortable. “Look, we have a long way to go and you’re obviously safe at home. The nice thing to do would be give us your car. That flashlight you have in your hand might be helpful to us as well.”
“No. And if you step any closer I will use this flashlight on you and will scream for help and my neighbors won’t hesitate to come out and help me.” She pressed the button on the stun stick. The electricity snapped so loud on the end that Skinny jumped back.
“Whoa, now. No need to overreact.”
“I think you all should leave.” She activated the stun stick once more and waved it at them to go.
They casually meandered back to the sidewalk into their tight-knit group again.
“If I were you, I’d keep a close eye on everything. Especially your pretty girl in there,” Skinny shouted.
“Is that a threat? Because this stun stick is not what I’d use if someone enters my house making those kinds of threats. Everyone in my family has their own gun and they know how to use it.” Tammy wasn’t sure how she found the courage to stand even taller as she crossed the lawn, ready to see what a stun stick could do to tall skinny guys that liked to make threats.
When they realized she was prepared to use it on Skinny, they did more than just walk away. They jogged off shouting obscenities at her as they did.
They were finally out of sight when Tammy crossed the lawn, heading for the door and she was a trembling, nervous wreck. Her heart had never pounded so hard.
It had only been a few hours since the power went out. Already she witnessed a shoot-out and had to defend her home. Swallowing hard as she unlocked the door, she knew she had lots to do before they would be prepared and safe before night fell.
“Girls, I need your help,” she yelled.
7
Tammy
Tammy put her girls to work. Zoe and Holly brought the generator out of the shed. Charlie and Mae helped her reorganize the two-car garage so they could park Old Betsy in it. They usually parked the smaller cars inside and Betsy was one over-sized beast. She sure didn’t want another confrontation or want to make it easy for someone desperate to steal it.
Once it was inside, Charlie helped her nail two by fours above the garage doors so they couldn’t be opened.
“Do you think Amanda is going to make it home?” Charlie finished hammering her last nail in.
“I sure hope so. I really hope she didn’t wait too long to start walking. If it took her some time before she realized what’s going on, that this blackout isn’t ending today, I hope she waits to walk home and stays with a friend on campus.”
“I hope she makes it home tonight.” Charlie’s sentiment was surprising. She always acted as if she couldn’t stand her older sister.
“Me too. I won’t be able to sleep until all of you girls are here at home.” Tammy blinked back tears again. If only she could hear his voice to find out if he was okay.
“I wish dad was here. Or at least not so far away.” Charlie wiped her eyes.
“Of all of you girls…” She trailed off and opened her arms to give her daughter a hug.
She squeezed her mother tight. “I know I’ve been awful to him. He drives me nuts. I would much rather he was home to drive me nuts though than to never see him again.”
“I would actually miss hearing the two of you banter. Just don’t give up hope.” Tammy was only clinging to the little hope she had left by a thread. If it was an attack, he was much closer to being invaded than they were in Idaho. “I need help moving the fridge out here to the generator.”
“Now I really wish Amanda was here.” She slumped her shoulders as they made their way back into the house.
“When you are the only one in the neighborhood with a cold glass of milk that isn’t spoiled, you’ll take a little pride in those muscles it took to make it happen.”
They pulled the fridge out from the wall.
“Do you think people will try to take our food?” Zoe asked.
“I hope not but we are going to do everything we can to make sure we are safe and no one takes our stuff. That’s why we have the safe room and also why we’ve been preparing and practicing for so long.” Tammy pulled out the milk and juices and set them on the table. “When we get it out there, bring me that stuff.”
“But we didn’t
practice for jerks like those guys that wanted Betsy,” Charlie said.
Tammy gasped. “You heard all that? I told you to wait downstairs.” She stopped moving the fridge to glare at her daughter.
“I was scared they were going to hurt you. I listened through the window just in case I needed to help protect you.” Charlie’s face flushed.
“She was getting one of the rifles ready, Mom.” Mae was always good at ratting out her sisters.
Tammy sighed and shook her head. “It’s very, very important that you follow my instructions right now.”
“What if they did hurt you? Then what? I knew to be careful. I wasn’t going to do anything unless they tried to do something to you. You didn’t see it, but one of those jerks was getting ready to jump you. When you showed them what the shock thing could do, you scared him off.”
Tammy rested her head against the side of the fridge. “All right. I’ll admit I might need a little help at some point while this is going on. At least you know to be careful. We don’t know who we can trust right now. I also don’t want to be hasty not trusting anyone either. If we can work on protecting ourselves without shooting someone, that is what I’d prefer.” She met Charlie’s gaze before she looked at each one of her daughters. They all nodded in agreement. “We need to finish getting this house ready.”
All the years of reading blogs and websites about preparing for a crisis was about to be put to the test. She had a binder full of lists. What Tammy wasn’t prepared for was the stress.
Ben had made shutters to hang on the inside of the windows. They were easy to put up, strong enough to prevent easy access from an intruder even if they broke a window, and easy to take down if they found another way in. Ben had made them for all the windows. She had the girls help her put them all up. About every half hour, Tammy stepped outside to the front porch looking for her oldest. Once she returned inside, she busied herself once more so she wouldn’t think so much about where Amanda might be and if she was going to make it home safe.
They had the strong floor locks set up and ready on all the doors so no one could kick the doors in. Tammy hesitated to use them all in case Amanda showed up.
She already missed the microwave when she needed to defrost the meat she needed for dinner. It would have helped if she planned ahead hours earlier but she had been too busy running all over town. She heated some water on the side burner of the barbeque.
If someone had come to visit, they wouldn’t have thought much was amiss as the girls sat outside. The temperature dropped and it was rather pleasant out. However, it was abnormally quiet with none of the usual city noises. The constant drone from cars must have been like a white noise machine because they could hear their neighbors in their houses. The people that were still trying to find their way home on the main streets would occasionally yell. Now and then they’d hear a gun shot. That made them all uneasy. Tammy checked outside the front door again for Amanda. Still nothing. She wanted to check more often as the sun started to set. She focused on cooking dinner on the barbecue instead.
As they ate, Charlie, Holly, and Zoe would check their phones as if they somehow would miraculously work even though nothing else had even given them the slightest hint that things would change.
Tammy was having a harder time dealing with the absence of her oldest daughter. She was exhausted from the events of the day and turning her house into a fortress. She reclined in the lawn chair so she could rest her aching body. Unfortunately, her mind wasn’t going to settle down. The little bit of light the candles placed around the patio were putting off was somewhat comforting as she realized how dark it was going to get without power across the city.
“Can you build a fire, mom?” Zoe asked.
“No, please don’t,” Holly begged. “Look how dark it is. It’s like camping. We can actually see the stars in town. I want to bring my telescope out.” Holly ran into the house. Moments later, something crashed on the floor inside.
“Be careful you don’t hurt yourself. It’s dark in there,” Tammy yelled, settling her shoulders against the back of her chair.
It was the fastest Holly had found anything in her life and she was back outside setting up the telescope. “I can already see the Big Dipper. I want to see what else I can find. I’ve been studying.” Holly rattled off an endless list of odd names of stars and constellations that didn’t look like the things she said they were. She also pointed out Jupiter and Mars, which were the two planets Tammy could recognize on her own.
They all jumped when they heard a woman scream nearby. A man shouted, a group of people yelled at once and suddenly a man jumped their fence and ran across their backyard.
All the girls and Tammy jumped to their feet. She grabbed Mae and pushed her youngest daughter behind her.
Charlie had been bouncing a tennis ball on her racket. She held the racket over her shoulder ready to give him her best two-handed backhand swing.
At least Zoe was thinking ahead when she brought her dad’s bat out of the shed with the generator. Tammy grabbed it and held it over her shoulder.
He seemed a little crazy and was about to head for their back door.
Buddy barked and lunged at the stranger. He kicked the dog. That was all it took for Tammy and Charlie to confront him. Buddy didn’t back down and was ready to attack. Zoe grabbed his collar.
“Get out of here.” Tammy used the end of the bat to thump the man’s chest to shove him away from the house. “Get out of my yard before you can’t leave on your own two feet.” She held the bat over her shoulder again.
He must have been on something because he lunged for Tammy. She was getting ready to swing when Charlie smacked his face with the tennis racket.
He fell back on his rear. “Why you…” He tried to scramble to his feet when Tammy swung her bat and hit his arm. He cried out.
“I didn’t even swing it as hard as I could have. Now go.” She pointed at the gate.
He was stunned and rubbed his arm until Charlie was getting ready to swing at him again. He scrambled across the yard and left.
There was shouting on the street again. They heard the man that had been in their yard yelp in pain.
“Everyone inside now.” Tammy ushered Mae through the door. Holly grumbled but complied willingly when the screaming and carrying on in the street intensified.
“What do you think they’re doing to him out there?” Zoe asked.
“It’s best we probably don’t know,” Charlie said, grabbing the leftovers from the table outside.
Once they were inside with the backdoor shut, locked, and shuttered, she was able to look over Buddy, their Yellow Lab, to make sure he wasn’t hurt by the stranger in their backyard.
Mae held his head and nuzzled his face. “That bad man tried to hurt you. I’m so sorry.” She gave him a couple of dog treats.
“Don’t give him too many at once. What we have is going to have to last as long as it can.”
“Do you really think this is going to last that long?” Charlie asked.
“I do. We’re all sleeping in the safe room tonight. Well, you all are. I don’t think I’m going to sleep until Amanda is home.” She listened at the front door before she opened it to check for her one more time. Whatever had happened moments ago must have been resolved because the street was empty and quiet again. She sighed. Still no sign of her daughter.
8
Ben
Apparently finding a boat to take Ben to Anchorage was taking forever. Night had fallen and there was no word yet from Dave. Ben stood near the harbor where the few commercial boats were lined up along the dock. He hadn’t paid much attention to the coming and going of boats unless they were taking a majority of his crew that were also commercial fishermen when it was salmon spawning season. That wasn’t all that long ago and he lost many of his crew permanently after that. He was willing to pay one of them from his own pocket to help him get out of the village if it meant he could leave as soon as possible.
Ben w
ould have started cooking dinner but he couldn’t focus long enough to make food. A knock on the door pulled him out of his desperate thoughts.
“Oh, hello there, Johnny.” Ben really didn’t want to be social.
“Do you know when you’re leaving yet?”
“Actually no, I don’t. I wish I knew.”
“Come to the dance. We want to give you a send off you won’t forget.”
Ben looked over at his all too quiet phone sitting on the table and clenched his jaw. Watching it obviously wasn’t going to make it ring any sooner. There wasn’t anything for him to do by himself but stew about his own inability to make something happen. “All right. I’ll change out of these work clothes and meet you there.”
He wasn’t prepared for the greeting he received at the community building. Everyone in the village must have been there. Several of the children ran through the door to head outside. He turned out of their way as each new friend he made since he arrived that spring had something to say and shook his hand. It was a little overwhelming, as was the sympathy. Soon he was guided to a place to sit and the older women from the village gathered in the center of the room visiting while they decided what dance they would do and the men prepared their handheld drums. Some of them warmed up and soon the men drummed a steady beat in unison. The women found their places as some stood and others sat on their knees and they finally started.
Ben’s eyes were on the performance even though it was a rather relaxed atmosphere with children coming and going, much visiting was taking place on the benches while they attentively watched. It was similar to the ones he’d seen over the course of the many weeks he had been there. He had always enjoyed their dances even though he didn’t understand much of the symbolism of each motion. They all seemed to enjoy having him there. His work buddy, Nate, said that he wasn’t nearly as welcome when he showed up at his assigned village, at least not the way that Ben was. Unfortunately, even though all their kindness and generosity was overflowing and they were providing him a much-needed distraction, he couldn’t stop his mind from racing.
Enduring the Crisis Page 3
