by R. M. Smith
We didn’t really know how to approach him. Surely he couldn’t describe what had happened in a way adults could understand. Somehow he had survived here all alone in this room of corpses. I wondered what he had done for food.
Mindy asked how old he was. He said “six and a half.”
Mindy was slowly getting him to come to her. One of his hands was still holding what was left of his mother’s hand. The other was holding the truck securely to his chest, but he was inching toward Mindy.
Finally he let go of his mother. He grabbed Mindy’s hand.
She said “You want to go outside with me? The sun is warmer than in here”
He shook his head violently no.
“Why?” she asked, looking into his eyes.
He looked at me, then at Mindy. He said quietly “There’s a bad man out there.”
We stayed in the restaurant for quite some time. Pete finally came around to both of us. He told us – in the best way he could – what had happened to him and his family.
“Mommy brought us here. Daddy is working. I like fish sandwiches. The lady fell. A man fell. The building shook. The roof fell. There were no lights. I got scared. Mommy was crying. Mommy fell down. The roof hit her head. Mommy didn’t wake up. I lost my truck. Didn’t know where it went! It was under other man’s table. I got it!”
I asked him “What have you been eating?”
He picked at his nose as he pointed at some double doors leading back into the kitchen area.
“Will you show us?” Mindy asked him.
He took Mindy by the hand. He led us through the doors. It was very dark in here. The flashlight stabbed through the darkness.
Pete led us to a walk-in cooler. He lifted a small plastic milk carton crate which was lying against the wall and he placed it in front of the door. Stepping onto the crate he was able to pull out on the handle of the walk-in door. We felt cool air rush past us as the door opened.
“Daddy’s working,” Pete said again as he put the plastic crate back by the wall.
Inside the cooler, along one wall there were stacks of boxes. They were full of mostly frozen fish sandwich patties.
Along the other wall, a frozen man leaned against a stack of the boxes. He wore a shirt similar to the dead waitress out in the dining area. He had long red hair and a red beard which was covered in frozen blood.
Pete pointed at him. “Daddy is working,” he said plainly.
A long knife was sticking out of his chest.
We had no idea what had happened to Pete’s dad. Seeing him sitting there with a knife sticking out of his chest gave me goose bumps.
Evidently, Pete and his mom had been eating at the restaurant when the world collapsed. When it did, she must have been killed by a part of the ceiling as it crashed down.
Pete, like his dad, had red hair and freckles. His teeth were covered in scum when he smiled. His hair had grown very long. He was a good boy, and very smart for being only six.
He showed us where he had been going to the bathroom – under a booth in another dining room further back in the restaurant. He also showed us where he put his food. After getting some out of the walk-in, he would lay several patties down in a line on a counter nearby to let them thaw. Also he showed us a sliding-door cooler nearly empty of drinks. He only liked the bottled water in there because it was easiest for him to reach. He didn’t like the other ones because the bottles were too hard to get open.
Mindy and I asked if it was ok if we each could have one of his fish patties and we would share one bottle of water. At first he didn’t like the idea, but then he shyly said it was ok. He watched us eat and then laid down for a nap under the table where we had first seen him.
When he was asleep Mindy said to me “He sure is one smart boy.”
I agreed. “Yea and to have survived in here all this time alone...”
“His Daddy must have showed him around a few times. How else would he know about the fish in the cooler?”
“And to make sure is stayed closed, too. That is very important.”
The fish didn’t taste good at all, but at least it was something to eat.
We sat there looking at him as he slept.
I asked “I wonder if the bad man is the one who stabbed his dad.”
“I don’t know,” Mindy said. “Could have been anyone. Could have been someone who passed through here long ago; I just hope he’s long gone – whoever he was.”
“Me too,” I said. “You know, maybe we should try to find a house around here. At least we know where to find some food. We could set up a grille and cook the fish – it would taste better cooked for sure.”
“Pete might know some other places in town where we could get some other supplies, too,” Mindy said. “Like stuff for babies…”
I nodded, smiling, “Right. Vitamins, stuff like that.”
Mindy nodded and put her head on my shoulder. She said “I don’t like being in here with all these dead people.”
“I know,” I said. “We’ll leave when Pete wakes up.”
She nodded and closed her eyes too.
When Pete woke up we asked him where he lived.
He shrugged. “I dunno.”
Mindy asked “Could you show us where you lived? Do you remember where your house is?”
He shook his head no.
Mindy patted her belly. “I need to find a pharmacy – some pills. I have a baby in here.”
Pete looked at her with no expression.
I asked “Do you know where a doctor worked around here?”
He looked at me. He shook his head no.
“Maybe we should just go look around,” I said to Mindy.
“I’m not leaving him here,” she said.
I hunkered down and asked Pete “Do you want to come with us outside?”
He shook his head no.
“I’m going to go look around outside,” I said.
“Ok, I’ll stay with Pete,” Mindy said.
Outside the sunlight seemed so bright.
Looking east and west up and down the road along the overpass, I couldn’t see any signs of a clinic. To the east there was a Cash Loan shop. To the west there was a Chiropractic center. In front of me was the overpass. I walked toward the west. There was a large Best Western sign visible through some of the trees along the street further ahead. I thought about going inside to look for stuff in suitcases, but then my eye caught a blue hospital sign with an arrow pointing up along the curbside.
Surely it can’t be that far, I thought. There has to be a pharmacy in it.
I picked up my walking speed. This shouldn’t take that long, I thought. I really didn’t like being away from Mindy that long, either.
Ten blocks later, beyond a large ripple in the ground, I found the clinic. It was on the east side of the street. There was a drive-thru pharmacy on the left side of the building. I went up to the pharmacy drive-thru window, cupped my hands around my eyes, and peered through the glass.
There were shelves upon shelves of filled prescription bags inside.
I looked around on the ground for a good sized rock. Finding one, I threw it through the drive-thru window. Glass splintered all over the drive and onto the floor of the pharmacy. I took off my shirt, balled it up, and wiped as much glass as I could off of the window sill. Then I shook my shirt out and put it back on. I could feel tiny pinpricks of glass in the shirt. I climbed up into the pharmacy.
Again, it was dark in here. I wished I would have brought the flashlight. Still, there was enough light to make out where I was going.
The pharmacy didn’t look like it had been looted at all. I remembered the one in Denver – it too hadn’t been looted other than the missing flu medication. The flu medication was all here in this pharmacy. I didn’t look like anything had been taken at all.
There was a small waiting room outside the pharmacy. There were no bodies. The place simply looked like it had closed down for the day. A thin layer of dust coated everything
.
I rummaged around looking for prenatal vitamins. For a minute I didn’t think there were any, but then I found a section behind the pharmacy’s main desk where they stored them.
I found some chewable ones called Bellybar. The box had a cute red teddy bear on it that I thought Mindy would like. I grabbed six packs of them as well as some OneADay prenatal vitamins. There was a metal holder with some plastic bags attached to it. I took one of the bags and tossed the vitamins in for the trip back to the restaurant.
I found myself almost running on the way back. I hoped Mindy had convinced Pete to at least step outside into the sunlight.
But when I got there, they weren’t outside.
They weren’t inside either.
Where had they gone?
I looked through the whole restaurant, even climbed under part of the collapsed ceiling to see if they had gone under there for some reason. Who knew? Maybe Pete had been playing hide and seek and got stuck – but they weren’t there.
I looked in the kitchen and in the walk-in cooler. Pete’s dad looked at me sideways but didn’t utter a word.
“Where did they go?” I asked him.
Shutting the door I went into the other side of the restaurant. I looked under the table where Pete had been going to the bathroom. Nothing. I went into the restrooms thinking that maybe Mindy had told him to go in there instead of under the booth, but they weren’t in there either.
I went outside. I ran around the whole building. Nothing.
Then I heard this loud screech.
It was the sound of metal scraping on metal.
Spinning around, I saw Mindy sitting on a bench across the street. She waved at me.
Scrreeeeeeech!!
Pete was sitting in the middle of a small rusty playground merry go round. Anytime it made a full revolution, the metal would grind on itself causing the screech.
“Jesus,” I whispered as I ran over to her.
“Pete wanted to come outside after all,” Mindy said.
Out of breath I said “Good.” I bent down and kissed her. “I got you these.”
Smiling, she reached into the bag. She pulled out the chewable vitamins. Pete hurriedly got off the playground equipment to come see what Mindy was eating. She opened the pack, popped two into her mouth. “Mmmm cherry,” she said. “Thanks baby.”
“You’re welcome” I said as I sat next to her. I put my arm around her.
Pete saw that the vitamins weren’t for him so he went back to the equipment.
“He doesn’t talk much,” Mindy said still chewing.
“I don’t blame him” I said.
“Me either.”
We watched him under the shadowy flickering of tree leaves as he ran from the merry go round to the slide, over to a jungle gym on sandy ground to some swings. Pete was having a great time.
That night, back in our hotel room, I watched the two of them sleeping.
Pete was on the floor wrapped up in blankets. Mindy had cut his hair and washed it using soap and bottled water. She also gave him an extra toothbrush from our bag along with some toothpaste. He got to brush his teeth using the rest of the bottled water.
He was a handsome young boy. His freckles really stood out now that his skin was clean – and his hair was so red!
Mindy was next to me on the bed, her blonde hair spread across her pillow. Her hair was getting so long, but she wouldn’t let me cut it – even though she had no problem cutting mine or trimming my beard.
The next morning we decided to walk around a nearby neighborhood. We left our motorcycle, as well as our belongings, at the hotel. Mindy and I held hands. Pete held her other hand.
The homes in the area were middle class, one car garage houses. Some of the houses had fences. Many of the homes had cars parked in front of them. It looked like a normal neighborhood.
It was eerily quiet. I expected to hear a dog bark at least, or maybe the chirp of a passing bird, but there was no sound other than the crunching of our feet on the pavement. The sun was on our backs, warm, not hot yet.
“I’m hungry,” Pete said.
“We are too, hon,” Mindy said leaning down to him as we walked.
“Can we go to McDonalds?” he asked.
“Eww,” Mindy said quietly to me.
I smiled.
“I don’t think they’re open,” she told Pete.
“Why?”
“Why?” she asked, repeating him. She thought about it. How could she explain to a young boy that the whole world was dead? Should she lie to him and tell him it was closed because someone was doing repairs on it? Or should she tell him the truth? Finally, Mindy said “We just can’t go right now.”
“Ok.”
We made it to the end of the block. More houses faced us at the intersection.
In the backyard of a home to our right, Pete saw a swing set. “Let’s swing!” he said as he pulled Mindy’s hand toward it.
“Ok,” she giggled. “Hold on.”
He led us over to it. He hopped into a swing. “Push!”
Mindy stood behind him as she started to push him.
I stood with my hands on my hips. I was checking out the houses around us. This home had a large wooden fence along the backyard. On the other side of the fence there was a roof of another home and the top of yet another swing set.
“I’m going to go check something out,” I told Mindy. I went into the home that this swing set belonged to. The back door leading into the garage was unlocked; as was the door leading into the home. Inside the house I found a toy chest full of plastic trucks, cars and planes. I grabbed a handful of them and took them outside to Pete.
Pete’s face lit up when he saw them.
“Thank you” he said. He gave me a hug.
I searched through the rest of the house while Mindy watched Pete play with his new toys outside. In the garage there was a tarp covered barbecue with some propane still left in the tank. I manually opened the garage door and pushed the barbecue onto the driveway.
It wasn’t far back to the restaurant.
I told Mindy I was going to go back for our stuff.
While I was there, I popped into the restaurant and grabbed a box of fish filets out of the walk-in. I also spotted several boxes of half-frozen french fries.
Taking those and as many bottles of water I could carry, I loaded it into our bag and carried it back to the house.
Mindy and Pete had gone inside. Mindy had opened the front door of the house and all the windows as well. She had opened up the whole house, actually. All of the drapes and windows had been opened. Fresh air blew through the house. Sunlight poured in. Pete played with some other toys he had found in another room.
Outside, I fired up the barbecue and cooked the fish filets as well as a good portion of the fries.
We had ourselves a new home.
One day while Mindy and I were sitting on the front porch, we heard this awful sound coming from Pete’s bedroom. We couldn’t figure out what it was. It had been one of the old Transformer rockets. When Pete turned it on, the battery still worked! He was crying it had scared him so bad.
I found more bottled water as well as some larger bottles of water in some other homes. We used it to clean and cook with. Sadly though, I didn’t find any other food that was edible.
We used the houses around us for our bathroom. Once one was full, we moved to the next. It was no use flushing the toilet because the water wouldn’t come back up to fill the tank.
Mindy started having morning sickness about the third week at the house. Most of the time she would lay on the couch until she felt better or she would sit on the front porch just to get some fresh air on her face. She kept saying that she needed more nutrition. All I could do was tell her we would have to stay on the fish until we found something better.
In the meantime, I looked through all of the homes in the neighborhood. In one home I finally found a set of keys that fit the car outside. We needed a car because Pete did
n’t want to ride on the motorcycle with us. Not only that, but it really wasn’t safe with the three of us on it.
After a rough morning with morning sickness, Mindy took me by the hands. She firmly told me that we needed to find some better food.
We all hopped in the car.
It was time to get serious.
The split – or splits – which had ripped the earth into three pieces came to be known by three names: The Pacific split, the Atlantic split, and the Mid-East split.
The Pacific split originated near Spokane, Washington upon detonation of a low-yield nuclear blast. The blast caused a massive cracking of the earth from crust to core. It was immediately felt in the Spokane, Washington area. From there, the earth began to heave under massive stress. The split cracked to the south by southwest from Spokane, down into the Pacific Ocean. The west coast of the United States was obliterated by half-mile high tidal waves. The crack continued to the west where it missed the Hawaiian Islands by several hundred miles. Tidal waves again were formed. Volcanic activity was increased ten-fold. Hawaii was destroyed. The split then countered straight to the north. It went through the Aleutian Islands causing yet another tidal wave and earthquake in Anchorage, Alaska. The split passed directly over the North Pole, went down through Siberia, into Russia, tore Mount Everest in half, cocked then back to the southeast where it nearly made a straight line crack through New Zealand. It then went straight east, through the shipping zones of the southern Pacific, causing mile-high tidal waves. It then made a sharp dip southward into the South Pole. It then dead-headed back to the north along the Chilean fault line. It ran along the west coast of South America, jaunted to the east a bit when it hit the lower end of Mexico, then tore northward up through Texas at a southwest to northeast track. There was a sharp 350 mile loop as the split turned in central Arkansas, sheared eerily around Omaha, Nebraska, and then sliced across the upper Midwest where it eventually met itself back in Spokane, Washington.
The entire split took eight months to complete. As the earth split into three pieces, 2 billion people were killed.
