Saga of the Scout

by Cliff Hamrick

  “Pit? What pit?” Jeff asked.

  “What do you mean other people?” Madison asked.

  Ethan recounted his story at the wildlife center and what happened to his family. Then he described the raiders that came from the pit and their brutality. But when he got to the part with the woolly rhinoceros, Andrew, the handcuffed man interrupted.

  “Are you shitting me? A fucking rhino?”

  Jeff told him to shut up again. But Tully looked concerned and studied Ethan’s face.

  Tully leaned back in his chair. “If his story is true, then it means this is bigger than just a bunch of people who have gone crazy.”

  Jeff said, “He has to be full of shit. No one has said anything about this. It's not on the radio and not on the news. If there was a big pit just north of one of the largest cities in the country, spitting out knife-wielding maniacs—”

  “Don’t forget the rhinos,” interrupted Andrew.

  “—then we would have heard about it by now. It would be all over the news.”

  Ethan explained, “I think they are keeping it hidden. I saw a helicopter fly to the wildlife center, but it crashed after a blue light came up from the ground. I think they turned off the engines somehow.”

  Jeff stood up, his chair sliding loudly against the tile floor. “OK, this is bullshit. Fuck you, kid. You can have some water and then get the fuck out of here. We don’t need anyone making jokes right now. The situation is bad enough.”

  Without waiting for a response, he stormed out of the room. Ethan could hear his boots stomping down the stairs.

  Tully looked more conciliatory at Ethan. “You do understand that all of this is difficult to believe, right?”

  Madison looked to Tully. “You mean thousands of people all over Texas going crazy at the exact same time is perfectly believable?”

  Ethan smiled at her. Most girls don’t stick up for him like that.

  Tully sighed. “It would explain one question from your story. Why were they capturing people, and who were they waiting for?”

  “But what did they do with the people they captured?” asked Ethan. No one had an answer, and they sat in silence.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Despite Jeff’s demand that he leave, Ethan stayed at the fire station while Jeff stayed on patrol outside of the building.

  Ethan later learned why the family did not participate in the conversation. They did not speak English, and the only person who spoke Spanish well enough to speak with them was Ray, the policeman who went to the convenience store, and most likely to his death.

  But before he left, Ray learned the family had gone to a hospital for help for the grandmother. She had severe emphysema and had difficulty breathing after the chaos struck.

  Elena, her daughter, said that the hospital was not safe. She told a story of fires and looters taking over the hospital. Someone tried to steal their car at gunpoint, but they drove away and came to the fire station after hearing on the news that it was a safe place.

  Tully explained that he was at the station alone because all of his men went out on calls just as the world was going crazy. He never got a response on his radio when he tried to contact them. They never returned to the station, and he never learned what happened to them.

  Later, Jeff calmed down and told a similar story. He received calls of robberies and assaults and went to a pharmacy where a riot had broken out, though, at the time, no one knew why. The only person he was able to catch was Andrew, who had jumped over the counter in the pharmacy and was filling his pockets with prescription drugs. But the situation became too dangerous, so Jeff left with his suspect in tow.

  By the time he was on his way back to the police station, he could hear over the dispatch that violence had broken out there as well. All units were directed to go to a secure location and wait until further orders. He and Ray were the only ones who went to the fire station, and Jeff had not heard anything from the dispatch since.

  Madison sat with Ethan in the nearly empty bay of the fire station and explained their original plan to Ethan. “We were going to get as much food and water together as we could and use the fire truck and the minivan to carry everyone back to San Marcos.”

  “Why San Marcos? It's probably just as bad there as everywhere else.”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. Someone suggested it, and we all just went with it. I think we had the idea that maybe there is someone there who knows what is going on. I guess it doesn’t matter now.”

  “I guess you could stay here. I mean, it seems to be safe here for now.”

  “I don’t think it is going to stay that way. I mean, what if more people go crazy? What about looters? Or those raiders you described? The ones you say came from that pit. I don’t know if any place is really safe anymore.”

  “You could come with me. I’m going to walk back to Austin. It hasn’t been easy, but I haven’t seen many people until I found this place. I think if we stay away from areas with lots of people, then we will be safe.”

  Madison spoke quietly so she would not be overheard, “I just don’t know what to do about the Martinez family. I don’t want to leave them here because, you know, they won’t make it. But I don’t know how we can take them with us. None of us can even talk to them.”

  Ethan thought for a moment. “Well, I can speak some Spanish. I mean, that’s what I’m studying in school. Or used to.”

  “Yes, but then what? What do we tell them? The old woman can’t walk down the stairs. Tully had to carry her and put her in one of the beds they have up there. And then there’s the little kids. Someone has to carry them, too.”

  He sighed and looked around the bay. Equipment left behind by the firefighters lined the walls of the bay, and the bright red pickup truck sat in the middle.

  “Maybe we can just stay here for a little while longer. I mean, if we keep the garage door closed and board up the windows, then people can’t get in. There are just empty fields around the building, so we will see if anyone is coming just like when Jeff saw me coming.”

  Madison also looked around the bay and nodded slightly. “Yeah, maybe. That might buy us some time.”

  “And if you tell me what we need, then maybe I can go out and find it. I passed some houses on my way here, but I didn’t go inside. Maybe they have stuff we can use.”

  Madison didn’t seem very hopeful, but she smiled slightly, which made Ethan smile.

  “Yeah, let’s talk it over with the others and see what they think. I think a lot of us wanted to get out of here, but maybe this will be good until we think of something else.”

  A couple of hours later, all of them sat around the table in the dining area. Tully turned on the generator long enough to cook dinner and check his radio. He didn’t get any word from the radio, but at least he was able to heat up some cans of soup.

  Ethan was grateful for the first hot meal he had since he had breakfast at his mother’s house before she dropped him and his sister off for their weekend visit with their father.

  Madison and Ethan described their plan to the group. The Martinez family did not join them. The grandmother was very tired, so they stayed in the sleeping area. Andrew just listened with his head down and tried to eat soup with one hand while his other was handcuffed to his chair.

  Tully stared off into the distance, thinking the plan through. Jeff was the one who spoke up first.

  “So, we just sit here and wait? For how long? We’re already running low on food, and who knows how long the water will hold out.”

  Ethan said, “I can get us food. I bet there is plenty in some of those houses. At the first house I stayed at, they had more food than I could carry.”

  Tully replied, “But you don’t know what else is in those houses. It's not going to be safe. I think you may have just gotten lucky at that house.”

  Ethan didn’t have a response to that. He didn’t feel lucky about what he found there. But he had to agree that he didn’t know what would be in those houses.
But he didn’t want to leave without trying to help these people.

  Jeff added, “I think we take our chances with the vehicles. We can siphon gas out of the police cars and fill up the minivan and the truck. Then we will be on the move and can get to San Marcos or Buda, maybe even Austin. There’s bound to be more people there that can help.”

  Madison said, “Take our chances? That’s a big chance. If we get lost, if we run out of gas, then we are stuck out there.”

  Jeff shot back, “Would you rather stay here and watch Mrs. Martinez slowly die?”

  Madison was quiet. The natural response hung silently in the air over the table.

  Andrew was the one who said it. “She’s going to die anyway. My grandpa had what she’s got, smoked for forty years until he slowly turned gray and died. And that was with doctors and medicine and an oxygen concentrator. She’ll die here, or she’ll die out there. Don’t matter what we do.”

  Jeff didn’t tell Andrew to shut up like he usually did. The truth needed to be said though no one liked hearing it.

  Andrew continued, “This place is a castle, you know? We can board up the windows and doors on the first floor and shoot out of the windows on the second floor. I bet we can get up on the roof, too. The kid and I can go out and scrounge for food and supplies. If we can find gas cans, then we can bring back gas to fill up the truck and minivan, so if we need to get out of here, then we can just run.”

  Ethan said, “I can go on my own. I can sneak around better if I’m alone.”

  “Bullshit, kid,” Jeff said. “You’ll need back up. Besides, two people can carry more supplies than just one. I just don’t know if I want to send you out with this loser.”

  “Hey, fuck you, man!” Andrew shouted. His face was twisted in exacerbation. “Fuck you. I told you I wasn’t stealing drugs. I don’t do drugs anymore. I was going for the antibiotics. That’s what we’re going to need now. Everyone else was either killing each other or stealing liquor, but you decided to arrest me for a few bottles of clindamycin.”

  Tully gave a puzzled look to Andrew. “How do you know what clindamycin is?”

  Andrew replied sarcastically, “I was a paramedic. And I was going to school at Texas State to be a nurse.”

  Madison glanced up and down at Andrew’s worn-out blue jeans, scruffy face, and dirty trucker’s hat. “So, what happened?”

  “I got busted for skimming Oxys from the pharmacy. If I had been a doctor, then they would have given me rehab. But because I was a piece of shit paramedic, I got fired and lost any chance of being a nurse. They said I was lucky I didn’t go to jail.” Rattling his handcuffed wrist against the chair. “Lucky me.”

  Jeff looked at Andrew puzzled, and then to the group. “OK, does anyone else have any skills they need to tell us?”

  Everyone just looked around at each other. Madison spoke up, “Well, I’m the catcher on the softball team at TSU, and I’m studying exercise and sports science to become a P.E. teacher.”

  Andrew said, “So…that’s a no.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  There was some debate on who, if anyone, should go with Ethan. Tully needed to stay at the station because he knew where everything was and could help board up the windows.

  Andrew was released so he could help, as well. The Martinez family were in no real shape to help anyone. The debate came down to Madison or Jeff going with Ethan.

  Though Jeff was a police officer and was already familiar with dangerous situations, he stated that he needed to stay at the station to keep an eye on Andrew. Ethan didn’t think Andrew seemed dangerous and didn’t need anyone to watch him. But Ethan also didn’t mind getting the chance to spend more time with Madison. He thought she looked even prettier in the fire station T-shirt she put on in the afternoon when it became warm in the station.

  Ethan decided they should go immediately. He didn’t want to spend more time at the station. He already lost a day of traveling by staying with them. He wanted to be on his way at first light the next day rather than wait longer. Though he wanted to help the people there, he could not forget that his mother was in Austin alone, and he needed to get to her.

  Please, come home, sweetie.

  He emptied his backpack to make more room for supplies. Madison took a large equipment bag from the fire truck and carried her baseball bat. Jeff returned Ethan’s gun to him.

  “Be careful out there. Don’t take any crazy chances.”

  Ethan nodded and saw a look in Jeff’s eyes. Fear? Guilt? Ethan wasn’t sure, but it seemed to him that Jeff felt bad about not going on the exploration. But Jeff didn’t change his mind about staying at the station, either.

  After Tully pointed them in the direction of the nearest housing development, Ethan led Madison across one of the open fields. The sun was still high in the sky, but it was already beginning its descent. The day was still warm, and Ethan left his hoodie, and Madison left her sweatshirt at the fire station.

  They crossed a shallow, tree-lined gully and saw the housing development a short distance away. Ethan knelt behind a tree and used his binoculars to look ahead. The neighborhood showed all the signs of the chaos that had erupted everywhere else.

  White smoke drifted up from the blackened shell of a burned house. A car crashed into the side of a house, it's tail lights protruding from someone’s living room. Vultures danced around a bloated corpse lying in the middle of a suburban road.

  The houses were all new construction, maybe only ten years old. There were no large trees in the neighborhood. All of the native trees were cut down to facilitate the construction of the houses, and then replaced with saplings.

  Except for a few bushes, the neighborhood provided little cover in which they could hide. But other than the vultures and a Texas flag swaying listlessly in the breeze, there was no movement.

  Ethan pointed towards one of the houses. “I think that one is a good place to start. It's closest, and it doesn’t look like it is burned or anything.”

  Madison nodded. Her brow was tense, and her eyes scanned the house as if looking for any sign of what to do next.

  She said, “What if someone is in there? I’m sure we aren’t the only people who are hiding and trying to wait until help comes.”

  Ethan looked back at the houses in the neighborhood. He had gotten so used to not seeing people that he just assumed they would be empty.

  He said, “We’ll just sneak close and see if anyone is there. If they are, then we’ll just go somewhere else. Who knows? Maybe they will be friendly.”

  She looked dubious at his optimism.

  “Don’t worry. We’ll be quiet and get what we need, and we will be back at the station before it gets dark. I’ve done this before.”

  Madison nodded again and gripped her baseball bat a little tighter. “OK. I’ll follow your lead.”

  Ethan led her up the gully, where they would stay hidden in the trees until they reached a point closest to the backyard of one of the houses. Then they ran across the open space until they reached the faded wood of the privacy fence surrounding all of the backyards. This let them peek through the slats of wood and observe the house closer.

  In the backyard was a small plastic kiddie pool, water still inside. The swing of a small jungle gym set bobbed back and forth in the breeze. Ethan noticed that the sliding glass door, which led into the house was open.

  Pointing to it, Ethan led Madison around the side of the house and carefully opened the gate. Then they went to the patio and peeked inside the house.

  A large sofa dominated the living room, facing towards a television mounted on the wall. The cheap art decorating the house looked as if it was all bought from a Christian bookstore. The house was dark, with no power. The smell of rotting meat came through the open glass door.

  Ethan drew his gun and went into the house first. He only stepped inside and waited as if expecting some monster to reach out and grab him. The smell was stronger inside and seemed to come from everywhere. Remembering that th
ey came for food first, he walked towards the kitchen and saw it was safe. He waved Madison inside.

  Silently, they set their bags on the counter and filled them with all of the food that had not spoiled. Ethan didn’t even want to know what the fridge would smell like if they opened it. After a few moments, their bags were full of half-full boxes of cereal, a bag of fancy cookies, a few cans of chicken noodle soup, and other random items that the previous owners bought but thankfully never got around to eating.

  Madison went into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. Ethan could hear her urinating and decided to check the garage.

  It was a large, two-car garage, but there were no cars in it. There were stacks of boxes and plastic containers. Looking through a few of them, Ethan found old children’s clothes and toys. He put a few items in his backpack for the Martinez children.

  When he returned, Madison had come out of the bathroom and packed away some soap and shampoo she had found. She held up a roll of toilet paper to show Ethan. “This stuff is gold.”

  Once they had finished, Ethan said, “I’m going to check upstairs. Maybe they have another gun.”

  She nodded and left the heavy equipment bag by the sliding glass door. Holding the baseball bat as if she was ready to knock out a home run, she followed him up the stairs.

  The smell grew stronger as they went up the stairs, and Ethan feared what they might find up there. The image of the little girl nailed to nursery wall jumped to his mind. He didn’t want Madison to see anything like that. She hadn’t even seen a raider yet.

  When he reached the top of the stairs, he saw that the doors of all of the rooms were open, just bedrooms and a bathroom.

  The harsh smell of dead flesh filled his nostrils to the point that he could taste it. All he could do was swallow it down and try not to gag. He could not tell where it was coming from.

  He crept towards the master bedroom. As he approached the open door, he could see a large wooden dresser against a wall, a well-made king-sized bed that dominated the room, and a wooden nightstand. If someone had a gun, then it was most likely there.