The First Hours

by Christine Conaway

  “I don’t know how good it will be, but I figure as long as Teagan and Nancy don’t take up caffeine, we should be good for a long time. One of those large totes we buried is full of cans, but you’re right, when it’s gone, it’s gone. For now, we can enjoy it while it lasts.”

  “When are we leaving, and what are we taking with us for supplies?”

  “Look in the pantry. I didn’t bury everything. There should be enough food in there for a week or better. We’ll leave a little behind just in case someone breaks in while we’re away.”

  “So, you want to feed the thief? That doesn’t make any sense.”

  Tom laughed, “I want them to think that’s all there is and move on. We’ll leave the door unlocked, and maybe they won’t trash the place, and we’ll have something to come home to.”

  Carrie nodded and saw that maybe Tom had put more thought into this than she’d previously thought. “In a weird way, that makes sense, but what if they decide to stay? This is a pretty remote property, and I could see someone trying to claim it for their own thinking whoever lived here got stranded somewhere and won’t be returning to claim it.”

  “They will have to rethink that idea pretty quickly.”

  The two sat in silence until they heard Nancy moving around inside. There was one place on the floor that Tom had always meant to repair that when you stepped on it, it squeaked like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. Tom wasn’t surprised when the door opened, and Nancy stumbled through it.

  “Are we leaving right away? Do I have time to clean up?” She looked at the Carrie, and her face lit up, “Is that coffee?”

  Carrie rolled her eyes at Tom, and the two of them laughed, “There goes that idea, she said. “It’s in the pot out on the barbeque. Help yourself.”

  “Do I detect a joke on me, or is it private?” Nancy sometimes didn’t understand Tom and Carries humor. Her parents had never shared a private joke and rarely laughed at anything together. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she heard her mother laugh. Karl laughed, but it was usually at her mother’s or her expense, generally after he told them no or they couldn’t do something they had been looking forward to; like the senior trip. She’d been planning and saving for months to go, and he’d waited until the last possible moment to tell her no. It was like he took pleasure in denying Nancy anything that would bring her a measure of happiness. She had never understood how her mother had put up with him for as long as she had. If he provided her mom with any measure of happiness, Nancy had missed seeing it.

  “No joke and certainly it would never be about you. Go get your coffee, but other than washing your hands and face there won’t be water for a shower.”

  Nancy frowned, “No shower?”

  “No shower,” Carrie and Tom said in unison.

  “At least not today,” Tom added.

  Nancy went back through the open door mumbling to herself, and Carrie said to Tom, “I know you’re worried about her, but she’ll be fine, and if my opinion counts for anything, we can’t leave Nancy here alone for the very reason you brought up earlier.”

  Tom’s forehead creased as he tried to remember what he’d said, “What I brought up?”

  “About someone breaking in. I’d hate to leave her with the responsibility of guarding the house, and she would be another set of eyes.”

  Tom knew Carrie had a legitimate point. He couldn’t very well drive and watch at the same time, with dead cars all over the freeway. Being only the first few hours after the disaster began, Tom didn’t think the conditions could have deteriorated beyond people begging for rides. Food along the freeway would probably be getting scarce, and he could encounter walkers. The smart people would have already figured it out and left the highway, but there would always be those that sat and waited for someone to come to help them. They expected FEMA to ride up on a big white horse and provide for them, and Tom was sure it wouldn’t happen.

  His little part of rural America had taken a turn with the breakup of the family dairy farms and the mom and pop cattle ranches. When farming and ranching on the smaller scale no longer provided enough to be self-sustaining, for the farmer or the rancher, farm and ranch lands were re-zoned into smaller ranchette properties, and the price of land skyrocketed. The influx of folks looking to escape the larger cities to the south priced the typical first-time buyer right out of the market.

  On the one hand, if the land hadn’t been sub-divided, Tom would never have found his little piece of heaven. But, on the other hand, there wouldn’t be trailer parks and government-subsidized housing either.

  The cat screeched, and Nancy opened the door, “I’m ready.”

  After packing the necessary survival tools in the trunk of the car, Nancy climbed in the back seat on Tom’s side, and Carrie took the front passenger. Tom took a moment to explain his plan to both of them and started the car. As they rolled down the driveway, he felt like he was abandoning everything he owned and said a silent prayer the house would remain untouched in their absence.

  Before he rolled out onto the two-lane, Tom wished he’d already built the gate, he had always thought they should have. He added it to the long list of necessities they needed to tackle as soon as they returned.

  Chapter Nine

  Teagan didn’t see the guy who blindsided her. She was intent on reaching the shopping bags and had forgotten to assess the situation. Situational awareness. How many times had her father tried to drum that term into her brain? She had failed to pay attention and went down hard. As much as she wanted to lay there and let the pain in her shoulder ease, from the corner of her eye, she saw a hand reach for one of the bags.

  Teagan pushed with her knees and grabbed the cloth bag. Her fingers slid off, and she threw herself forward and grabbed for it again. This time she dug her nails in and felt one of them snap off. Teagan saw red. The pain from her finger was excruciating, and her shoulder throbbed, but she couldn’t let the person take their food. Teagan wiped the pain away and pushed herself to her feet. The guy who had demanded their food was on the ground. She didn’t know why or how, but his fat kid was dragging the shopping bag toward their truck. He couldn’t even pick the thing up, and this made Teagan furious. She grabbed him from behind by his hair, and as she tripped, she pulled him over backward. The kid was as tall as her and outweighed her by fifty pounds. She swore he bounced when he hit the pavement. His eyes met hers as they lay there trying to breathe. His red face began to pucker up, and she swore he was going to start crying at any second. Teagan bumped over the top of her backpack and rolled to her feet and grabbed the bag. He grabbed her ankle, and without thinking, Teagan stomped the arm holding on to her leg. He howled and jerked the hand to him.

  She looked up when she heard another howl of pain and saw two women kicking the kid’s father, pinning him in place. Teagan didn’t know how they’d gotten involved, but she was grateful for the help.

  “Behind you!” one of them screamed while pointing and Teagan turned to see the fat lady bearing down on her. Teagan had seen a mother bear one time while camping and the bear had nothing on this lady. A guttural roar spewed from her lips. Spittle flew out from her open mouth. Teagan grabbed the bag and ran.

  She didn’t stop until she reached Ryan, Maddy, and the kids. Thank God, Ryan hadn’t come to help her or Maddy wouldn’t have been as far away from the fight as she was right then. Puffing from her efforts, Teagan panted, “It’s time to run.”

  She reached down, grabbed one of the boys around his waist, hauled him up into her arms and with the shopping bag beating against her knees with every step she ran. Teagan saw Ryan grab the other boy and they ran. Maddy was either more rested or in better shape and passed Teagan and Ryan. She clutched the baby to her chest, the diaper bag swinging off her back.

  Teagan remembered seeing expressions of surprise and alarm on the faces she passed and thought one man was going to try to stop her when Ryan bowled him over, never missing a stride. The bystanders may have thought t
hey were trying to steal the kids or something, but after seeing the first man fall, no one else attempted to stop them.

  Just when Teagan’s steps began to falter, Maddy threw herself against a car, panting hard. Ryan stopped beside her and lowered the boy to the ground. Holding his side, Ryan drew in huge gulps of air. The boy he’d set down began to cry and fell back onto his backside. The boy Teagan held, looked up at her, and pushed his thumb into his mouth. He wasn’t crying and didn’t seem about to. If anything, he had enjoyed the flight down the roadway.

  Breathless, Teagan set him down beside his brother, dropped the shopping bag, and tried to catch her breath. With her hands braced against her knees, Teagan looked around. Sweat ran into her eyes, burning them. She dropped her head to let it fall from the tip of her nose. She was too weak with exhaustion to use one of her hands to wipe it away. Had she lifted either hand from her knees, she was sure she would have collapsed.

  Maddy had laid the baby on one of the baby blankets on the hood of the car. One hand holding her in place, Maddy bent over and vomited at her feet. Teagan turned away. She had never handled other people throwing up, and she would rather die than to vomit herself. Teagan thought it was the anticipation of vomiting that got to her. The queasy feeling in her stomach, the dizziness from standing, the laying on the bathroom floor or worse yet sitting with a wastebasket between her knees. Her stomach clenched with the pungent odor of vomit and swallowed, forcing her own bile back down.

  Teagan walked away to stand behind the car. As tough as she liked to tell herself she was, she couldn’t handle that. She shuddered and jumped when she felt a hand on her backpack. Teagan swung around, ready to defend herself.

  Ryan ducked away. “Whoa there. It’s me. I wanted to see if you were okay.”

  Teagan nodded, not ready to speak yet. Her eyes traveled around, looking for anyone or thing threatening. She saw nothing but a few abandoned cars and the next freeway off-ramp in front of them. Somehow, Teagan had thought there would have been people all over the road. People just like them trying to get home. Her brain didn’t want to process the only live bodies she saw were them.

  The large green sign on the side of the road said exit 238 1/2 mile. Nothing about what was at the exit or what town could be reached by using the ramp. Teagan wished she had bothered to pick up an Oregon map from the gas station.

  Ryan nudged the shopping bag she’d dropped at her feet, “So I guess we lost one of them?”

  Teagan felt herself deflate, sadly she didn’t know which one she’d grabbed. Both were important. She reached down and separated the opening and for some reason was happy to see the part loaf of bread, peanut butter, and the jam jar. At that point, she had no idea what the other had contained. She hoped it was canned food, and the fat woman had no can opener.

  “Yeah, I guess we did. Or I did. I didn’t even think about two bags when I went back.”

  “I’m happy to be away from there. My ribs hurt from that ass…fat guy sitting on me.” Ryan felt around his face gently, and I suppose I’ll be black and blue by tomorrow.”

  Teagan leaned to him, inspecting his face. When she saw handprints on his skin, she agreed. “Probably, you’re already turning dark in places.”

  Ryan reached for her hand and lifted it up. Only then did Teagan realize it was covered in blood. Her finger began to throb, and she remembered snagging her nail. As if the memory brought it to the surface, the pain almost took her breath away. Inspecting it, she saw the fingernail had snapped off half-way down the nailbed, and the free part was nearly torn off, but still hanging by the thinnest strip of the nail and skin. Tender bare skin seeped blood. Teagan wanted to wrap it up but knew the pain would be worse with touching it, but she needed to remove the hanging nail.

  “Want me to do it?” Ryan offered.

  With a grimace, Teagan nodded. Holding her hand out, she closed her eyes and clenched her teeth, which reminded her of her tooth. Teagan wasn’t sure which hurt worse until Ryan took hold of the loose nail, secured her hand in his and jerked. Teagan groaned trying to suppress a scream. Tears sprang from Teagan’s eyes no matter how hard she tried to restrain them. She pulled away from Ryan and turned her back.

  “Antibiotic cream and a band-aid?”

  “In my pack. Side pocket,” she hissed. As hard as she tried, to swallow it back, Teagan ran to the side of the road and sprayed the weeds. She shrank away when she felt someone gather her hair away from her face. She was too busy hurling bile to notice who it was and prayed for it to be Maddy. When she was finished, she turned. The first thing she saw was the men’s shoes. A hand reached for and lifted her chin. Eyes streaming tears, Teagan found Ryan with a paper towel ready to wipe her mouth. She wanted to sink into the hot pavement and disappear.

  “It’s okay,” he murmured and wiped her face. “You probably feel better getting that out of your system.”

  Teagan hung her head as embarrassed as she could ever remember being. Why couldn’t it be Maddy helping her? Why did Ryan have to be so sympathetic, and why was he so…tender and caring? What guy says it’s okay to puke in public?

  “You’d do the same for me, now, let’s get that finger bandaged and get out of here before someone else shows up.”

  Teagan could only nod and hold the offending finger out away from her body. Ryan went behind her and dug through her pack until he found what he was looking for. Gently he rubbed on ointment and swathed her finger in two crisscrossed band-aids. Teagan’s finger looked like it was wearing a turban by the time he was finished, and the finger didn’t bend. Unfortunately, it was her middle finger, and fortunately, it was on her left hand.

  “Thanks,” she mumbled, still embarrassed about being sick.

  “We do need to go. I think we need to wear our packs on the front so we can piggyback the boys. They both look worn out, and I don’t think we can carry them in our arms for very long.”

  “Maddy, how many of those blankets do you have?” Dealing with something other than her problems rejuvenated Teagan. Ryan helped her turn her pack to the front, and then she did his. It was awkward and hard to move freely, but she could see the two boys were almost at their limits.

  “Maddy you’re going to have to give us a hand. With Ryan’s bag on the front of him, Teagan lifted Kyle to his back. The child didn’t protest but slumped against his back his legs dangling. “Give me one of the blankets.”

  Teagan hung it under the little boy’s butt and brought the corners, one under Ryan’s arm and the other over his shoulder around the front of Ryan and tied a knot. She surveyed her sling and saw it would work. If they had to run, the boy would be secure on Ryan’s back, and he could sleep without falling off. She had Maddy help her into the same arrangement with Kevin. Teagan felt him lay his head against her back and could tell when the thumb went into his mouth by the way he relaxed.

  As soon as she saw Maddy with the baby in her arms, she told her, “Tie a sling and put the baby in it. That will free up your arms in case we have a problem, and you can still carry the diaper bag.”

  Ryan picked up the one shopping bag they had left, and down the freeway, they went. Only one time, were they forced into hiding when Ryan spotted the sun glinting off a moving vehicle in front of them. It was on the other side of the freeway, but he wasn’t taking any chances. He pushed Teagan and Maddy behind a stalled semi-truck before the driver could spot them, or that was his thinking. When he determined the moving vehicle was out of sight, he helped them up and set off again.

  Teagan trudged along with her head down, watching every step. Having Kevin on her back forced her to walk bent over only because she was afraid the blanket would fail, and the kid would fall backward if he struggled at all. The extra weight of her pack and the boy made her knees ache, and she wished they’d never run into Maddy. They could have been so much further along in their journey without the hassle of helping the woman and kids get home. When Maddy yelled, it startled Teagan, and she stumbled.

  Maddy exclaimed,
“This is it. This is my exit. I didn’t realize we were so close.”

  “We weren’t. That last run covered a lot of ground. Where do we go from here?”

  “East a mile and then through town and then it’s only another half mile.”

  “Through town,” Teagan groaned. She remembered how it was going around Corvallis and Albany, and it wasn’t that they’d had any trouble, it was the mental pressure of being on guard the whole time.

  Maddy laughed, her spirits much brighter now that she was going to make it home, “The town isn’t much. Two-lane road and not even a stoplight. The two of you will have to spend the night so you can rest up and we can doctor your wounds properly. My husband Richard will want you to, in fact, I’m sure he’ll insist. He’ll be so happy to have us home safe.”

  Teagan looked at Ryan, who shrugged. She noticed how low the sun was in the west. She couldn’t believe they’d spent the whole day only making it such a short distance. She figured they hadn’t walked or run more than 8 or 9 miles. Then she thought about everything that had happened that day and realized how tired she was. Once her ears heard how close they were, her body almost gave up. She didn’t know if she could carry Kevin another mile, let alone a mile and a half. Her body was used to supporting her 115 pounds, and she was sure she carried, between the pack and the little boy another 40 or 50 pounds. She wondered how those fat people lugged their weight around and realized they had grown used to the added pounds gradually and not had it dropped on them all at one time. She braced her knees and walked on following Maddy who had lengthened her stride in anticipation of getting home.