Surviving the Collapse Omnibus

by Hunt, James

“Keep her steady,” Kate said then turned to the pregnant woman. “You’re next.”

  The woman waddled forward, belly exposed, and her hand gripped Kate’s arm like a vise. She breathed in quick, short bursts, and despite the frigid air a sheen of sweat covered her face and neck. “God, it’s getting worse.”

  “Just breathe,” Kate said, wincing from the grip on her arm. “Kid, a hand?”

  The boy made sure Grace was safe on the railing before he reached out his arm. “Okay. Got her.”

  “On three,” Kate said. “One, two, three!” Kate pushed and the kid pulled, and the pregnant woman landed breathlessly on the other side and winced from another contraction.

  The diabetic got over without much help, and with the three of their sick and wounded across, Kate went next along with the nurse. Kate turned back and saw the line of people already on the railing from the other cars. They had all waited just as the metro worker had told them to. And Kate noticed that all of them were looking to her.

  “Everybody keep a slow and steady pace.” Kate stole a glance to the long fall to the road below, and she quickly grabbed the railing for support. “No need to rush it.”

  Kate shuffled forward, while the kid helped Grace and the nurse guided the pregnant lady right behind them.

  The commotion below continued to pull Kate’s attention away from the emergency walkway. People had walked out of stores, and car doors stood open and abandoned. There were shouts of panic and fear. Most of the heads were turned north toward the pillar of smoke. Kate’s eyes were pulled toward it, and when she watched the column twist and then meld into the grey skies, another explosion erupted and rattled the train tracks.

  Instinctively, everyone ducked. Kate turned to the east, toward the sound of the explosion. A few seconds of silence passed before another column of smoke rose into the sky, and the mood on the ground below transformed from mild anxiety to full-blown panic.

  The same reaction spread to the crowd on the rails, and Kate watched the man in the black trench coat shove people aside and sprint up the railway, his feet teetering close to the edge. “Out of my way!” He waved his arms angrily and left a trail of dazed and confused bystanders in his wake.

  “Stop!” Kate thrust her arms out, but the man continued his bulldoze down the platform. He swayed right a little, and the people he passed followed suit as the orderly line was wrinkled by chaos. “Stop!” But it was too late.

  Kate yanked Grace and the kid forward, pulling them away from the stampede. When the old woman couldn’t keep pace the kid scooped her up in his arms. Kate kept an eye on the nurse, who pushed the pregnant woman forward as fast as the woman’s legs could waddle, but she couldn’t see the diabetic man.

  A shriek pierced the air, and Kate turned in just enough time to watch a woman fall from the safety of the emergency walk. She screamed all the way down, her voice ripping into the air. A thump sounded, the scream ended, and Kate looked away, tears forming in her eyes.

  Kate reached the platform first, and she spun around and pulled the old woman and the kid toward the wall, away from the structure’s edge. The nurse did the same for the pregnant woman, but the diabetic man led the charge down the steps and onto the street with the rest of the train passengers.

  When the platform cleared, Kate hunched over and placed her hands on her knees, with her backside up against the wall on a poster for some band playing at a local bar. She stared at the tips of her shoes, and after a moment, and with a shaking hand, she wiped the snot from her upper lip and straightened herself out.

  At first glance, everyone was still in one piece, though the pregnant woman looked one contraction away from spilling the baby right onto the dirty platform.

  “How bad are the contractions?” Kate asked.

  “Fucking bad! GAHHH!” The woman’s cheeks reddened, and her whole body spasmed as she shut her eyes tight and waited for the pain to pass.

  “She has maybe another hour before the baby comes,” the nurse said. “But it’s hard to tell.”

  “Another hour?” The woman slapped her hand onto the wall for support. “Mary, mother of Christ.”

  Kate turned to the kid. “All right, hero. You lead the way to the police station. I’ll take care of your lovely lady.” She took Grace’s hand and followed the kid down the subway steps, past the turnstiles, and to the street level.

  People sprinted and screamed in terror, unsure of where to run or what to do. The kid brought them out of the street and away from the worst of the maddening crowd. They clustered at the corner of a coffee shop, and the kid gestured down the street. “Two blocks that way.”

  Kate followed, her eyes surveying the blank traffic signals overhead. A dog sprinted past her, causing both Grace and Kate to jump. The animal barked randomly on its run, then disappeared down an alleyway. They passed an apartment building, and Kate saw the pillar of smoke that belonged to the LaGuardia explosion still drifting up toward the sky.

  A cold blast of wind knocked a stack of newspapers over the sidewalk in front of them like an accordion. One of them flattened against Kate’s shin, and she ripped it off.

  “It’s just around here,” the kid said, separating himself from the group. “It’s right—” The kid turned the corner and stopped in his tracks.

  Kate followed, her hand still gripped tightly in Grace’s, but when she saw the police station, she let go. “Oh my god.”

  Hundreds of people poured off the front steps of the precinct, the sidewalk jammed with more pedestrians than it could hold. They clambered over one another, fighting to get inside, fighting for answers, fighting because they had no idea of what to do next.

  A few people stood on the outskirts, blood dripping down their faces. One man lay on the concrete off to the side. He was motionless.

  The nurse bumped into Kate with the pregnant woman, and all five of them stood in shock on the street corner. “What the hell is going on?”

  Kate spun around, gripping the nurse by the shoulders. “Is there another hospital nearby? Another place where the Red Cross might show up?”

  The nurse gawked at the hordes in front of the station. “I… I…” She shook her head, her eyes reddening. “I don’t know.” She let go of the pregnant woman’s hands and backed away. “I have to get out of here. I have to go home.”

  Kate shook her head, following the nurse step for step as the pregnant woman leaned against the building for support. “No, we need you.” She pointed back to the woman. “She’s going into labor.”

  “I can’t help her.” The nurse backed up more quickly now. “I’m sorry.” She spun around and sprinted away.

  “Wait!” Kate took a handful of quick steps but ended the pursuit as the nurse vanished into the panicked masses. She held the sides of her head, the atmosphere too overwhelming. There were no sirens in the distance signaling help. She saw no police on the street, no signs of authority anywhere.

  “Hey.” The touch of a hand on her shoulder accompanied the voice, and Kate spun around to find the kid standing there. His eyes were wide, his nose red from the cold. He gestured back to what was left of their group. “What do we do?”

  The pregnant woman shut her eyes, both hands over her stomach, grimacing in pain between short, quick breaths. Grace was next to her, her weathered hand brushing the sweaty strands of hair off the pregnant woman’s forehead.

  “Hospital,” Kate said. “I don’t know if anything will be working there when we show up, but it’s the best shot we have.” She looked to the kid. “Do you know one that’s close?”

  “Ah, maybe?” He shut his eyes to think. “There might be a small one off 30th Ave.” He opened his eyes, nodding. “Yeah. That’s the closest one.”

  “We need to hurry.” Kate relayed the plans to their two other companions and departed the chaotic scene of the police station. And just as they turned back down the street away from the precinct, gunshots fired.

  3

  Broken-down ambulances and police cars dotted t
he roads leading to the hospital. Behind one of the emergency vehicles were two paramedics lifting a man out on a gurney. He was bloodied, the cold already causing the claret to crust and grow brittle. The paramedics wore the same bloody stains over the chest of their uniforms.

  The hospital’s entrance wasn’t as hectic as the police station, but there were still dozens of people that passed in and out of the ER’s now permanently open sliding glass doors.

  Inside, the cold stench of bleach and antiseptic blasted Kate’s senses, but it was a small price to pay for the relief from the cold. A faint glow of warmth still lingered, either from the number of bodies or from the heat still trapped inside from before the power failure.

  Hospital staff scurried back and forth. Cries of pain and pleas for help echoed down the darkened halls. Two nurses sat behind the ER station, their bodies shaking with adrenaline as they searched for files in darkness. One of them held a lighter, examining a sheet with medication doses.

  “Room twenty needs their antibiotics bag, and eighteen needs their pills.” The nurse, husky with short-cropped hair and a tattoo that crawled up the side of her neck and out of the collar of her scrubs, slapped the folder into the chest of another nurse.

  “But all of the equipment is on the second floor, and the elevators aren’t working.” The second nurse was a mouse compared to the husky woman. “I can’t even see what I’m doing up there!”

  The husky nurse opened the mousy woman’s hand, shoved the lighter into it, then closed her fist. “There. Now go.” The bark was accompanied by a shooing hand, and Ms. Mouse scurried away.

  Kate rushed to the station, grabbing the husky woman’s shoulder just before she was out of arm’s reach. “Excuse me, I have a woman—”

  “Little busy, sweetheart.” Husky Nurse easily removed Kate’s hand and flung it away, moving quickly toward the double doors that had a sign with the letters “ICU” etched over the top.

  “Hey!” Kate sprinted after her, sliding in front of the woman and blocking her path. She thrust a finger into the nurse’s face, and the woman wrinkled her nose in annoyance. “I’ve got a pregnant woman in labor and an elderly woman with a possible concussion. They both need help.” She gestured to the kid, who had one arm out for each of their patients to grab onto.

  Husky Nurse turned to look and then pinched her fingers in her mouth and whistled, high and loud. “I need a wheelchair and a doctor, now!”

  An orderly brought the wheelchair and slid it under the pregnant woman’s backside then looked to the nurse for direction.

  “Get her down to room seven. I’ll meet you there.” She clapped the orderly on the back, and the woman was whisked away, panting heavily.

  Just before the pregnant woman passed through the double doors, she looked back at Kate, the kid, and Grace and smiled, her cheeks a bright cherry red and covered in sweat. “Thank you!”

  “You’re welcome!” Kate waved back, but the woman had already disappeared.

  “Your mother can take a seat here, and we’ll get to her when we can,” the husky nurse said.

  “Oh no, she’s not—” But the nurse was gone. Kate returned to the kid and took Grace’s hand. “She said someone will come out in a second.” But as Kate examined the ER’s lobby, she wasn’t sure how long that would take.

  While they waited, more and more people poured inside. Some were bloodied, some were scared, most were both. Another twenty minutes of this steady influx, and it would be the police station all over again. “We should leave.”

  “What? Why?” The kid asked. “This is probably the safest place to be right now.”

  “No generators,” Kate said, talking to herself. She looked to the emergency exit signs. They should have been glowing, alerting people to their presence, but none of them worked. “Hospitals have generators as backups in case of power outages to keep the equipment running.” She shook her head. “None of them are working here.”

  The kid let go of the old woman’s hand. “S-so what are you saying? Everyone here is going to die?” He shouted the last words, and Kate hushed him.

  “I don’t know.” Kate pressed the back of her hand to her forehead. “I need to get home.”

  “Go.” Grace’s voice was soft and weak. She shifted in the plastic chair, and folded both hands in her lap. “You’ve done enough.”

  Kate joined her in the empty seat to her left. “Listen, it’s only going to get worse. You can’t—”

  “I’m seventy-nine years old.” Grace smiled and gently patted Kate’s hand. The gesture was similar to the one that Kate’s grandmother had done whenever she had a story to tell. It was reassuring. It was safe. “I’ll be fine. It might look bad now, but things will turn around.” She leaned in close. “But we’ll need people like you out there.” Then she pointed to herself. “To help more people like me.” She looked to the kid. “They’ll need people like both of you.” She placed her weathered hand against Kate’s cheek. “Go. Be with your family. It won’t be long before I’ll be with mine.”

  What was surely meant to be comforting instead filled Kate with a sadness that swelled in her chest. It was the way the old woman spoke and the double meaning of her words. But Grace was right. She needed to go home. She needed to be with her daughter and husband. And she needed to get in contact with her son. “All right. But if someone doesn’t come by to check on you in five minutes, then I want you to raise hell.”

  Grace laughed. “Oh, I will.” She turned to the kid and extended her hand, which he took gently. “You know, I have a granddaughter about your age. She’s very pretty.” She leaned in close and raised her eyebrows with a coy smile. “I’ll put in a good word for you. She’s crazy about me.”

  “Thanks.” The kid smiled, blushed, and then let the old woman’s hand go.

  Grace returned Kate’s jacket, and then Kate and the kid walked toward the exit, and both turned back one last time once they reached the door. They each raised a hand to Grace, sitting in that plastic chair, bundled up in her pink sweater, and a kind smile over her face.

  Grace waved back. They never saw her again.

  4

  Around every corner, down every street, in every neighborhood they passed, the scene was all the same. People scurrying around, afraid, confused, panicked. Anything that sat on the sidewalk in front of stores was either broken or looted.

  Kate shook her head, numb with disbelief. “I can’t believe people sometimes.” She looked to the columns of smoke that had faded somewhat against the greying sky. The clouds had darkened. It wouldn’t be long before they started spitting snow again.

  “People do weird stuff when they’re scared,” the kid said, his eyes always looking, always scanning. “My uncle was an alcoholic, and he used to beat up my cousin when he was good and drunk. It went on like that for a long time. He’s a little older than me, and he still can’t be around drunk people. You try and get him close to a bar and he freezes up. Can’t speak, can’t move. He goes catatonic.” He stopped and gestured down a street. “If we turn here, we can make it to the Lincoln Tunnel to get back into the city.”

  “Tunnel?” Kate raised her eyebrows. “No. We haven’t seen any traffic moving for the past six blocks. Everything’s dead in the water, including the tunnel. I’m not going into a concrete tube buried under the river with all of this happening.” She gestured ahead. “Let’s take the bridge.”

  “The closest bridge to us right now is Williamsburg.” The kid glanced back down the street. “That’ll take me longer to get home.” He looked back to Kate. “My mom’s sick.” He tapped the side of his head. “Kind of a mental thing. Has a hard time keeping track of stuff. The longer it takes me to get home, the more she’s at risk of wandering out into all of this and getting herself hurt.”

  Kate studied the worried lines on the kid’s face and was suddenly reminded of how young he was and that she didn’t even know his name. “Hey, listen—What’s your name?”

  “Doug.”

  “Doug
, take it from a mother who has a son about your age. The only thing your mom would be concerned about is you getting home safe in one piece. The bridge is safer, and we’ll have better line of sight into the city. And trust me, when you’re heading into a storm, line of sight can save your life.”

  Doug nodded but offered a final longing glance toward the direction of the tunnel. When he faced Kate again, that steady assurance had returned. “Yeah, that makes sense.” He pointed down the road they’d been traveling on. “But I need to hurry.”

  Kate did her best to keep up with Doug’s jog. While she would have preferred to keep a steady speed walk, she didn’t want to hold the kid up any longer than she had to. And she didn’t want to lose him. Not because she didn’t think he couldn’t take care of himself or that she couldn’t find her own way into the city but because of something inexplicably simple. She didn’t want to be alone.

  In the maddening storm that swirled around them, they were each other’s lifeboats, and they needed one another to stay afloat, lest someone else come along and try to drag them down into the dark abyss of the cold waters.

  Intermittent screams and the crash of glass had replaced the city’s bustling motorists and honking horns. Destruction had replaced production, and Kate still hadn’t seen a single authority figure since they’d left the police station. Had they all gone home? Had they all been absorbed into the mob?

  After fifteen minutes on the run Kate winced and clutched her side, slowing to a walk. “Doug!” She stretched out her hand and then leaned up against a storefront, the sign on its door flipped to “closed.” “It’s just a cramp. Give me a minute.”

  Hesitantly, Doug slowed and then jogged back toward her. Kate lifted her arms into the air, doing her best to draw in long, deep breaths. The knives digging into her sides had lessened, and she paced in a tight circle. “Don’t get much cardio anymore.” She smiled, but Doug wasn’t paying attention. She was slowing him down.