Detour: A Post-Apocalyptic Horror Story

by G. Michael Hopf

  “I told you things were getting bad,” Megan said, reminding Kevin of her concerns last night.

  “You were right, I’m sorry,” Kevin said.

  Megan turned around and began talking to Paul while Kevin kept his focus on the road. As his heart rate began to come down, he went through the events of the past hour. It was hard to believe that so much had transpired so quickly. He wasn’t sure if his life was forever changed or this was a mere blip and everything would get back under control. He had confidence in law enforcement and the military to handle this, but at the same time a tiny bit of fear resided in him that what he’d just encountered could be his new normal.

  “Your hand is shaking,” Megan said to Kevin.

  Snapping out of his deep thoughts, he asked, “Who, me?”

  “Yeah, you’re shaking. Must have been the trauma. I’m sure we’ll all have PTSD from what just happened.”

  “I already have it,” Paul quipped.

  Kevin looked into the rearview mirror and snarled, “Let’s not make fun of that.”

  “I was only joking,” Paul said.

  “Don’t be so harsh on him,” Megan said, defending her little brother.

  “I’m not being harsh, and we all very well might end up with some post-traumatic issues. I just don’t like when people make jokes about it, that’s all,” Kevin said.

  “Fair enough,” Megan said, an inquisitive eye focused on Kevin’s left hand shaking. “What now?”

  “We drive to Bear Lake and camp out for a while. See if this dies down,” Kevin said.

  “What about your parents?” Megan asked.

  “I forgot about them; I’m a horrible son. Can you call them?” Kevin asked Megan.

  “Shit, I forgot my phone,” she said, tapping all her pockets.

  “I have mine. What’s the number?” Paul asked. “But I doubt it will work. I tried calling you guys this morning; then the phones stopped working. Said all circuits are busy.”

  Kevin gave him the number.

  Paul dialed the number and said, “Same message as earlier, all circuits are busy. Says we should try the call again later.”

  “Guys, I don’t know what the hell is going on or for how long it will happen. What I do know is if we’re going to make it, we need to stick together. We’re a team now. We need to think differently, act differently. However we viewed the world yesterday is gone for now. I love you both and want us to make it out of this in one piece,” Kevin said.

  “I agree,” Megan said.

  “You love me, bro?” Paul joked.

  “Sometimes I wonder why, but yeah, I love you.” Kevin laughed.

  “We’re family; we stick together,” Megan said, reaching back over her seat and touching Paul’s hand.

  “Love you, sis,” Paul said.

  Kevin passed a sign that read BEAR LAKE STATE PARK 117 MILES. “I suggest everyone get some rest. We don’t know what the day will look like.”

  “What about you?” Megan asked.

  “I can do one hundred and seventeen miles easily; plus I want to think about what our next step should be.”

  “I thought it was to camp out and wait for this to die down?” Megan asked.

  He glanced at her and said soberly, “But what if it doesn’t die down?”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  BIG BEAR LAKE, UTAH

  JUNE 1, 2020

  Kevin woke early to see if any new information could be heard. He jumped in the truck and grabbed his phone, which he’d left on the charger. Glancing at the screen, he found it still had no service, leaving him only the radio. He turned the power on; the truck’s dash lights came to life and flashed. That was when he noticed they were low on fuel. The radio was on but the volume down. He flipped through station after station but only found the Emergency Broadcast System’s message they had heard yesterday. He flipped to the AM dial and discovered the same thing. How is that possible? he thought.

  “Anything?” Megan asked, suddenly appearing at the driver’s side door.

  Startled, he jumped and said, “God, you scared me.”

  “You’re jumpy.” She laughed.

  “Who wouldn’t be?” he replied.

  “My back hurts; that ground was so hard,” she complained, shrugging her shoulders and stretching.

  Kevin looked past her and asked, “Where’s Paul?”

  “Still sleeping,” she answered.

  “Listen, we’re really low on gas. I need to go find some. I’m going to go look around for a map to see where a station might be,” he said.

  “Just use your phone,” she said instinctually.

  “No service, totally worthless,” he said, holding up his smartphone. “Technology is great when it works, but when it doesn’t, we have to go back to the good old ways of doing things.”

  “Where will you find a map?” Megan asked.

  “Again the old-fashioned way, first I’ll ask around; then I’ll go to the ranger station and see if there are any there,” Kevin said. “Say, I want Paul to come with me. He could use the walk.”

  Megan put her hands on her hips and snarled at Kevin, “Don’t make fun of his weight.”

  “I’m just saying he could do with shedding more than a few pounds. A walk will do him some good,” Kevin countered. “And I’m not making fun. If we’re going to survive, we need to look after each other and be able to carry our own pack, as they say.”

  “Oh, we’re in the army now?” Megan quipped.

  Kevin stepped out of the truck, closed the door, and locked it. “No, I’m merely saying that he needs to be physically ready. What if the truck breaks down and we have to walk somewhere?”

  “That’s not going to happen,” Megan snapped, fully knowing her comment was silly and unrealistic.

  “That won’t happen, but a bunch of people running around savagely killing people is totally possible?” Kevin said. “You know, Meg, you defend him too much; in fact, you coddle him.”

  “I do not,” she said.

  Kevin headed to the camp to wake Paul up. Megan was close behind.

  “He needs support is all,” Megan said.

  Kevin reached the campsite and tapped Paul on the butt with his foot. “Wake up, sunshine, time to get up.”

  Paul rolled over, yawned and said, “Oh, hi, good morning.” He tossed off a blanket to reveal five protein bar wrappers and an empty bag of potato chips.

  Kevin shook his head and barked, “You ate all that!”

  Paul looked around at the wrappers and said, “I was hungry.”

  “We only have so much food, Paul. We need to ration it,” Kevin said, glaring at Paul.

  “I’m sorry, Kevin, don’t be mad,” Paul whimpered.

  “We’ll find more food,” Megan said.

  “Jesus Christ, Meg, we don’t know what we’re going to find. We don’t know shit. C’mon now, stop defending him even when you know he’s clearly made a mistake. Paul, you can’t just free feed,” Kevin roared.

  “Stop yelling,” Megan said, picking up the wrappers.

  “You baby him, Meg. This is stupid,” Kevin snapped.

  “Well, maybe he needs some tender loving care,” Megan said.

  “He’s twenty-four; last time I checked, that’s a man,” Kevin shot back.

  “His parents died when he was little, he didn’t have a real childhood, and he’s…” she said then looked at Paul, who was still sitting on the ground moping. “He’s different.”

  Annoyed to the point of losing his cool and saying something he might regret, Kevin turned and walked off. “I’ll be back shortly and, Paul, try not to eat all our food.”

  “Screw you, Kevin,” Megan yelled back.

  Kevin ignored her and strutted away.

  ***

  After hiking down the gravel road they used to enter the park, Kevin found the ranger station. As he expected, it was empty. He tried the door to find it unlocked. He opened it and went inside. The building was small. Plastered on the far wall was exactly
what he was looking for, a map of the park and general area. He headed right for it, found his location, then discovered something better than a gas station; he found the location of the park maintenance area. As a teenager he’d worked at a state park, and he recalled that the park’s maintenance area had gasoline pumps; he just hoped the power was still on there. He scoured the station for food and water, but found only a melted chocolate bar in a desk and a half-full bottle of water. He took both; his thinking was they could come in handy if food became scarce.

  He turned to leave and saw a woman standing in the doorway.

  “Do you work here?” she asked.

  “Ah, no,” he replied.

  “I haven’t seen a ranger for days,” she said. Her long dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and her skin had an olive complexion. She was wearing a tank top and shorts; she was easily able to pull off that look because her body was toned and fit.

  Kevin was instantly attracted to her but pushed his primal desires aside. “How long have you been here?”

  “Four days, I’m out here with friends from college for an end-of-school camping trip,” she said.

  He approached her with his hand extended. “My name is Kevin.”

  She took a step back out of caution. Not taking his hand, she said, “Sabrina.”

  Kevin looked at his dangling hand and pulled it back. “I won’t hurt you. I’m here with my girlfriend and her brother. We just arrived yesterday.”

  “Do you know what’s going on?” she asked.

  “No, but I know it’s bad. People for some reason are attacking other people, killing them. It’s gotten so bad they’ve evacuated some major cities. We live in SLC and had to leave; the chaos was getting pretty bad,” Kevin said.

  “I’m from back east. I spoke to my parents three days ago. They were going to a shelter. I haven’t heard from them since,” Sabrina said.

  “Where was this?” Kevin asked.

  “Maryland, just outside DC,” Sabrina answered.

  The two stood speechless for a second before Kevin spoke up. “I’m going to head back to my campsite. If you and your friends are looking for company, we’re at campsite thirty-three.”

  “We might do that. Do you have any booze?” she asked.

  “No, we don’t,” Kevin replied.

  “We do. If you have any spare food, we’re up for exchanging a bottle for something to eat,” she said.

  Kevin thought for a minute and said, “Come by later. I need to see how much we have.”

  She stepped away from the door, making enough space for Kevin to exit.

  He exited the ranger station, gave her a nod and said, “Hope to see you and your friends later.”

  She smiled and walked off.

  Kevin watched her leave for more than a few seconds before scolding himself for flirting. “What’s wrong with you?”

  ***

  Back at the campsite, Kevin went directly to the truck. He was still annoyed with both Megan and Paul, and the last thing he needed was Megan chastising him some more.

  He turned on the truck, put it into gear, and started to back out.

  Megan ran up and smacked the hood. “Hold on!”

  Kevin stopped and rolled down the window. “Yeah?”

  “You come back but don’t say anything?” Megan said, walking up to his window.

  “I don’t have time. I think I might have found a place to get gas,” he said bluntly.

  “Can Paul come?” she asked.

  “Does Paul want to come, or do you want him to come?” Kevin asked.

  Paul ran up and gave Kevin his answer. “Hey, Kev, can I join you?”

  Kevin gripped the steering wheel tight. Having to spend time at this very moment with Paul wasn’t something he wanted to do.

  “Well, can he?” Megan asked.

  “Hop in,” Kevin said, unlocking the passenger door.

  “Take care of him,” Megan said.

  Kevin rolled his eyes, then put up the window.

  Paul jumped in and buckled up. “Where are we going?”

  “To the maintenance area,” Kevin said and sped off down the gravel road, leaving Megan in a cloud of dust.

  After a couple of miles and a few turns, they arrived at a locked gate.

  “It’s locked,” Paul said, seeing a large padlock on the bottom of a fork latch.

  “I see that. Maybe we can find a hacksaw or bolt cutters somewhere,” Kevin said with a look of frustration on his face.

  Paul opened the door and hopped out.

  “Where are you going?” Kevin asked.

  “To unlock it,” Paul said, keeping the door open.

  “With what?” Kevin asked.

  Paul walked up to the gate, removed his wallet, fished around and pulled out what looked to Kevin to be two small sticks. He knelt in front of the lock and inserted one, then another. Seconds later the lock popped open. He removed the padlock, tossed it aside, opened the fork latch, and shoved the gates open enough for the truck to pass through.

  A broad smile creased across Kevin’s face. “Well, what do you know?” He drove through the gate and stopped.

  Paul got back in, a huge smile on his face as well.

  “You know how to pick locks?” Kevin asked.

  “I know a few more things too,” Paul said proudly.

  “Huh,” Kevin said before driving into the maintenance area.

  They found a gasoline pump, and fortunately the power was still on.

  As Kevin filled the truck, Paul went looking for spare gas cans. He found some in one of the bays along with a large toolbox. He tossed it in the back of the truck. “Thought we could use this.”

  “Smart, anything else?” Kevin asked.

  “I’ll go look around,” Paul said and headed back inside the maintenance bays. He returned with two large bags. He lowered the tailgate and placed them on it.

  Kevin finished topping off the gas cans and put them in the bed. “What do you have there?”

  Paul slowly emptied the bags. “Some food—crackers, chips and cookies. And I found a refrigerator and got some Gatorade, bottled water and an energy drink,” he said with a smile. “Hopefully this will make up for my gluttony last night.”

  Kevin peeked inside the bag and asked, “What else you got in there?”

  “Overalls, fireproof, might come in handy. A roll of plastic sheeting, work gloves, engine oil, radiator fluid, brake fluid, an assortment of batteries, two flashlights, rope, a lighter, pens, notebook; with our phones dead, we might need to write things down.”

  “You got a lot of good stuff,” Kevin said happily.

  “That’s not all,” Paul said, reaching into the second bag. “Two cans of Fix-A-Flat, duct tape, three face ventilators, four pairs of goggles, some rubber bands, a first aid kit, saline solution, and the grand finale, a Slim Jim. Dude, we can open locked cars easily now.”

  “Nice job,” Kevin said. He spotted something else in the bag. “What’s that?”

  “Nothing.” Paul blushed, trying to close the bag before Kevin reached in and grabbed it.

  “A Hustler magazine? I didn’t know they published these anymore with all the free online porn,” Kevin said, flipping through it casually.

  Paul snatched it from Kevin and said, “Don’t tell Meg.”

  “I won’t, you dirty dog,” Kevin said, winking. “I’m seriously proud of you, what a mother lode. You did a damn good job today.”

  “Thanks,” Paul said, lowering his head shyly.

  “Come on, let’s get back and celebrate with Megan,” Kevin said.

  “Hey, Kev,” Paul said.

  Stopping, Kevin asked, “What is it?”

  “My sister means well, but I don’t need to be treated like a child. She feels sorry for me, and I admit I let her do it sometimes. I know that I can’t continue to do things the way I used to. I know I need to be better, stronger and help out. I don’t want you to cut me slack just ’cause she says so.”

  “I won
’t, but you need to tell her that, not me,” Kevin said.

  “I’ve tried,” Paul lamented.

  “Then try again. Tonight, tell her in front of me; I’ll defend you.”

  “You will?” Paul asked.

  “Of course. I think of you as a brother, and right now I need you just as much as you need me. Like I said yesterday, we need to be a team if we’re going to survive this.”

  “I agree,” Paul said.

  “How about we get to the campsite and show Megan everything you got us today?” Kevin said.

  “Good idea,” Paul said, slamming the tailgate.

  ***

  The trio spent the remaining part of the day and early evening sorting through the loot Paul had found and stashing it in the truck.

  Megan was proud of Paul but even happier that Kevin had allowed him to contribute.

  “Now that that’s done, I think we should talk about setting up a night watch,” Kevin said, taking a seat in front of the fire.

  “You think we need it?” Megan asked.

  “I agree with Kev, and I’ll volunteer for the first shift,” Paul said.

  Megan gave him an odd look and asked, “You do?”

  “Yeah, it’s smart. We have a truck, fuel and now a lot of gear; we need to keep watch over it,” Paul said.

  Kevin smiled and said, “Everything he said, but the shifts should be three hours starting at ten. We will rotate who starts the shift to be fair,” Kevin said.

  “Since you two think it’s a good idea and I can’t find a reason to oppose it, I agree,” Megan said.

  “Knock, knock,” a woman said from the shadows.