by Godsby Jim
“Course it is.”
“Me too. Nothing more important than the people who love you and depend on you.”
“Yeah.”
“So imagine how I felt when I had to explain to my wife that I’d lost all our savings to a shady salesman. Tell me, Ash. How does mirror seem when you stare into it? You like what you see?”
Ash felt the blood start to rush to his face. He felt like grabbing the door handle and then diving out of the car. If it wasn’t for the fact that he’d probably knock himself unconscious, he’d have done it.
“Pull over,” he said.
“The plant’s a few miles away yet. Look.”
“That’s not why I want you to pull over.”
“You can’t keep running Ash. You need me today. If I go back to town and tell them you bailed on me, you’ll have half the population chasing you outta Pasture Down with pitchforks.”
“Fine, just shut up then. Please.”
“Sooner or later you’re going to have to face up to things.”
“Thought you were supposed to be gone by now, anyway? What about your family in Greenock?”
“We’re getting more stuff together and then heading to the ranch. Don’t think we’ll be coming back to Pasture.”
“What, never?”
“Think about it, Ash. If this was a power shortage, you’d expect out it to be back on by now. Even if not, surely somebody would have come to see us? But we’ve seen nobody. No-one from the power company, the army, the police. This isn’t just a power cut.”
“Then what is it? I’ve heard lots of theories, but nothing that’s clear cut.”
“Definitely an emp. An attack. By who, I don’t know. How far it goes, I have no idea.”
“Pull up,” said Ash.
The power station was in front of them now. A giant cylinder chimney stretched a hundred feet into the sky. Usually it would have had plumes of white steam rising from the top and discolouring the air, but there was nothing coming from it today.
Ash grabbed a pair of binoculars from beside his feet and scanned the power plant boundaries. A chain-link fence ran around the perimeter, and there was a guard booth at the entrance next to a two-lane road that let cars move in and out of the facility. There was nobody there now, and no signs of movement anywhere. Ash moved his head and looked at every inch of the plant, until he saw a white sign strapped to part of the fence. Something was painted on it in red.
WARNING: Plant in meltdown. Do not approach.
He started to notice that there were at least five other versions of the same sign spread across the perimeter. He realised what this meant, and he suddenly felt cold. He lowered the binoculars from his eyes and turned to Tony.
“Oh shit,” was the only thing he could say.
“We’ve gotta leave,” said Tony.” All of us. Everyone in town. “
“I’ve wanted to leave all along.”
“You sure you don’t want to come with us to the ranch?”
“Why are you being so kind to me?”
“Everyone deserves a second chance,” said Tony. “One day you’re going to open yourself up and everything you’ve done will come crashing down on you. When it does, you’re gonna need someone there to pick up the pieces. “
Ash thought about saying something, but instead he stayed silent and slunk back into his seat.
“Sure you’re not coming?” said Tony.
“Can’t. Need to get home.”
Tony nodded. “Okay. When we get back to town, I’m leaving for the ranch. “
Tony turned the car around and they drove back the way they came, toward Pasture Down. Tony drove faster this time and the speedometer crept toward ninety. It felt like he was trying to outrun the radiation that the meltdown would soon spread. The pick-up rattled, but the vehicle seemed to handle to increase in speed.
As they drove across the rocky plain they heard a bang, and suddenly the pickup lurched violently to the left. Tony struggled with the steering wheel, and Ash grabbed his seat belt and checked it was tight enough.
“Shit,” said tony. “Puncture.”
As he put his foot on the breaks and the speed needle dropped, there was another bang.
“That the other tire?” said Ash.
He didn’t believe that anyone could be unlucky enough to have two punctures in the space of seconds, yet it seemed like that was exactly what had happened. Pasture Down was still five miles away. As Ash thought about how much he didn’t want to walk back to town, something hit the passenger door of the pickup. It sounded like a rock had been thrown at it, but then the sound rang against other parts of the vehicle. Ducking down in his seat, Ash realised that they were being shot at.
Chapter 5
Ash found himself gripping the underside of his seat. His heart pounded, but he held his breath to try and bring it under control. Tony steered the pick-up to a stop, unclipped his seat belt and then opened the glove compartment in front of Ash. He pulled out a Glock 19 and put it in the pocket of his coat. His face was calm and his breathing was steady. He acted as though he faced this kind of dangerous situation every day of his life, but Ash guessed that was the effect of being a prepper. It meant that mentally he had rehearsed the shit hitting the fan enough times that he wasn’t scared when it actually happened.
A green jeep emerged from the horizon behind them and rolled over the rocky plains. It looked miles away, but Ash knew that it was much closer than that. He opened the door of the pickup and put unsteady feet onto the floor. A bullet sped near his head and made a dinging sound as it lodged into the roof of the vehicle.
“What the hell are they firing?” he said.
“Looks like automatics. Listen, when they stop I want you to give yourself up and then play along.”
“What?”
A bullet hit the pickup, and Tony dropped to the ground. At first Ash thought that he had been hit, but Tony turned his head, opened his right eye and winked. He didn’t know what Tony’s plan was, but he didn’t really have much of a choice other than to follow it.
As the jeep got closer, Ash put his hand in the air to show that he wasn’t carrying a weapon. It got within five metres of Ash and Tony and then stopped. The door opened and two men in army fatigues stepped out. Another man stayed behind the wheel of the vehicle and watched them.
The men walked toward Ash and they kept their M16’s pointed at his head. One of the soldiers towered over the other, giving the both of them a little-and-large look. Both of them had crew cuts, but the shorter guy had a dark beard that spread across his cheeks and chin, before being sharply shaven away just under his jawline. The taller one trained his weapon on Ash, but he seemed to hold it awkwardly.
Ash’s heart raced. He had never been a fighting man at the best of times. Dad had once made him take a martial arts class, but Ash had gotten his arm broken by a guy three years older than him and after that his mom had banned him from going.
You gotta learn to fight your corner, his dad used to say. Or even better, never get in the corner in the first place.
The two men stopped in front of him. The taller one stared with an emotionless face. The other frowned.
“We’re from Fort Knowles,” he said. “And things have gone to shit.”
“To shit,” repeated the taller one.
The smaller guy looked at his partner and shook his head. Then he looked at Ash.
“Things have gone to hell, and everyone’s leaving the base. Pretty soon Pasture Down is gonna get stripped bare, since it’s the only place for miles around in this godforsaken part of the county. Man, I wish I’d never enlisted.”
“No you don’t,” said the tall one. “What else you got going for you?”
The smaller one ignored him.
“Now,” he said, and shifted the M16 in his hands. “What have you guys got for me?”
The two soldiers approached the pickup, taking cautious steps. The smaller one kept his gun pointed at Ash, while the other walked to the
driver’s side of the vehicle. When he saw Tony’s body on the ground, he stopped.
“Think we popped this one,” he said.
The taller soldier got down to his knees. The man was so big that when he was crouched, Ash could still see his head over the bonnet. As the soldier put his gun on the floor and looked at Tony, Ash heard a bang. The soldier’s head exploded in a mess of blood that spread across the already-red bonnet of the pickup.
The smaller soldier instinctively turned around just in time to see Tony get to his feet with his handgun gripped in his palm. Without giving him time to react, Ash stepped forward and punched the smaller soldier in the head. He connected with the man’s temple, and although he knocked him off balance, Ash got the impression he’d hurt his own knuckles more than the guy he had hit.
The soldier ignored Tony for a second and grabbed hold of Ash. They struggled with each other over the bonnet of the car, and Ash felt his strength start to wane. As the solder overpowered him, Tony pointed his gun and pulled the trigger. The soldier flopped to the ground and lay there motionless.
Metres in front of them, the army jeep’s engine rumbled to life. The vehicle lurched forward and headed straight at Ash and Tony, picking up speed so quickly that they barely had time to react. Tony raised his gun and shot a hole in the windscreen, missing the driver by inches.
The jeep was seconds away when Ash dived out of the way. Tony wasn’t as quick, and the bumper collided into the pickup at thirty miles per hour, trapping Tony’s leg in the impact. He screamed and dropped his gun.
Ash picked up the M16 from beside the smaller soldier. As the jeep reversed away from the pick-up, he stepped toward it and pointed the rifle at the driver. The driver stopped the engine. He moved his hands away from the steering wheel and held them in the air.
“Don’t kill me,” he said.
“You were going to kill us.”
“I just want to get the hell out of here. I have orders.”
His hair had been buzzed in the regular army cut once, but it looked like it had been a while since his hair last saw a razor. He had somehow managed to grow his hair long enough so that it was fuzzy, and it was a wonder that he’d escaped the anger of his commanding officer. As he sat in the driver’s seat of the jeep with his hands in the air, he looked genuinely scared.
On the horizon, Ash saw more army vehicles speeding over the rocks. There were a dozen of them, and if all of them had three soldiers inside, that meant at least thirty-six recruits were headed toward them. It would only take one of them to spot their fellow soldiers dead on the floor for Ash and Tony to suddenly have the guns of an entire battalion pointed at them.
“What the hell are we going to do?” he said.
Tony was stood over the body of the taller soldier. He stared down at him with heavy eyes, and his hands shook.
“Tony?” said Ash.
Tony turned round, looked at Ash and then ran his hands through his thick hair. His shoulders were sagged as if some heavy weight had been added to them, and his face was drained of colour. He leaned his injured leg against the pick-up and looked like he was struggling to stay on his feet. Ash felt like he should go put his arm across his shoulders.
The driver of the jeep opened the door next to him, got out and rested his arms over the doorframe. His forearms were covered in the dark blue ink of a tattoo, but Ash couldn’t see what it was. Behind him and across the plains, the other jeeps got closer.
“Take their jackets off,” said the driver, nodding at the dead soldiers. “Put them on and then get in the jeep.”
Ash looked at Tony, who nodded.
“Can you walk?” he said.
Tony pushed away from the bonnet.
“I can hop, but I won’t be winning any marathons any time soon.”
They stripped the soldiers of their jackets and put them on. Ash took his from the smaller soldier and the fatigues were tight around his arms and left his wrists uncovered. Tony’s jacket seemed to fit him well. Ash let Tony drape an arm around him, and then he supported him over to the vehicle. Once they were inside, the driver turned around and grinned.
“Guess we better go. Welcome to the United States army,” he said, sarcastically. “I’m Chad by the way. In the barracks they used to call me the beast.”
“Why?” said Ash.
“You don’t wanna know. Buckle up.”
As they joined formation with the other army vehicles and then drove toward Pasture Down, Chad excitedly told them what he knew of the current situation.
“Fort Knowles lost juice at the same time as everywhere else, but we had hand-crank radios that let us stay in contact with other barracks. My unit were going to drive east to Fort Allion, but General Powell died when his pacemaker blew. Things turned to shit after that, and people decided they wanted to go see their families. “
“Know how that feels,” said Ash.
“A guy called Beele took charge,” said Chad. “He’s a real asshole. Said we should raid the towns around us and take everything they’ve got.”
“How far does this whole thing go?”
“We haven’t had much contact from anyone.”
“So what’s your plan?” said Ash.
“I got family south of here. An uncle and an aunt. Think they were glad to get rid of me when I enlisted, but maybe they’ll be happy to see me with the way things are now.”
“I need to go the same direction,” said Ash.
The vehicle hit a rock and then jolted, and Tony broke their conversation by shouting out in pain.
“Sorry pal,” said Chad.
“We need to get him to his family,” said Ash. “They were going to his ranch in Greenock. You know the way?”
“Nope.”
“I need to go get there no matter what,” grunted Tony. He turned and looked at Ash. “And you’re going to make sure I do.”
“I can’t,” said Ash. “Georgia needs me.”
“Screw that. You owe me, you bastard. You owe me this.”
Ash knew that Tony was right. After everything he had done wrong, and after all the things Tony had done to help him, he couldn’t leave without doing the same. As they came within minutes of Pasture Down, he knew that he had to get Tony back to his family before he could go and help Georgia.
Chapter 6
They parked the jeep on the edge of town so that they didn’t attract too much attention. Chad pulled his door handle, kicked open his door and leaped out. He took a big stride and started doing warm-up lunges as though he were about to go on a run. Ash looked at Tony. His forehead was covered in sweat.
“Can you walk?”
“I told you. I can hop.”
Ash left the jeep and held out a hand out for Tony. The man didn’t take it, and instead grabbed the doorframe and heaved himself out. The colour rushed back to his face, but Ash could tell it was because of how much he was straining to get out.
They could hear raised voices and banging noises coming from somewhere in town, so they decided to walk quietly through the streets. When they reached the corner of the main street they stopped. The voices were louder now, and Ash saw what was happening.
There was a green military truck parked lengthways across the road. Soldiers walked to it with arms full of supplies, put them in the back of the truck and then went to collect more. Ash watched as they raided the pharmacy, grocery store, outdoor clothing shop and even the utility emporium. A group of Pasture Down citizens stood across from the lorry, with Kenny at the front. They had their arms folded and most looked angry, though they were subdued by the M16’s pointed at them.
One man sat on the bonnet of the army truck, a metre off the ground, and peeled an apple with a knife. He let the skin drop to the floor and once the flesh was bare, he bit into it. He stared at the Pasture Down folk as he chewed.
“That’s Beele,” said Chad. “He used to use that knife to kill the rats we caught in the barracks. He’s never cleaned it, to my knowledge.”
A
man broke free from the Pasture group and stood below Beele. Ash recognised the man as Frank Tealman, the owner of the Food O’ Mart which was being raided by the soldiers. Frank’s face was red, though it wasn’t through anger. Ash didn’t know him very well, but even he was aware that Frank couldn’t start the day without draining a quart of bourbon.
“Why are you doing this? What the hell are we supposed to do when you’ve bled us dry?”
Beele opened his mouth and spat a spray of apple chunks to the floor.
