Breakout (Final Dawn)

by Maloney, Darrell

  But their time together was coming to an end. The previous spring and summer the snow and ice had melted completely. It had come back in the fall and winter, of course. But the small group knew that this year would see even more moderate weather. The world was getting back to the way it used to be, and there was no longer a need to stay here.

  “I don’t know,” Joe Koslowski said. “I guess Tina and I will head back east. Back to North Carolina, where we would have gone if we hadn’t gotten stuck so far from home.”

  “Do you think any of your family survived?”

  “I don’t know. I’d like to think so. Only time will tell, I guess.”

  “How will you survive?”

  “Hell, we’ll go through all those dropped trailers on the highway until we find a good one. One that’s full of dry stock and stuff that hasn’t gone bad. We’ll latch onto it and drag it back to Goldsboro. I don’t reckon Walmart will miss it none. Hell, I doubt if Walmart’s even in business anymore.”

  Tina laughed.

  “What’s that old fable, about the Greek guy who comes back from war bearing gifts? That’ll be us. Pulling into the yard back home, with a big ass Walmart trailer saying ‘here we are. We’ve been through hell and we’re bringing back gifts.’ And hoping like heck someone is still alive to greet us.”

  “What about fuel to get you there?”

  “I don’t reckon that’ll be a problem. If the I-10 next to the truck stop is any indication, there’s likely abandoned rigs all the way east. We’ll just siphon the diesel we need from them. What about you, Marty? What are you gonna do?”

  “Well, I’ve got no family to go home to. Heck, I haven’t even had a home in so long I wouldn’t be able to find it if I tried. I’m a modern day gypsy. Was before the sky went dark, and that hasn’t changed.

  “This may sound strange, but I’ve actually gotten comfortable here. I’ve made good friends with the folks at the Bennett farm. They’ve treated me at least as good as the family I used to have.

  “And Lenny wants to stay here and get the truck stop running again. I think I’ll help him.”

  “Seriously? What do you two know about running a truck stop?”

  “Don’t have to know much about running it the old way. We’ll run it our own way. Ain’t that right, Lenny?”

  Lenny had just crawled out of the empty trailer he’d modified into a home and was pouring himself some campfire coffee.

  He chuckled and said, “Damn right. And it’ll be like no other truck stop in the world. Everything will be free. Heck, I don’t expect money’s worth anything anymore anyway. I think it’s just a matter of everybody fending for themselves and struggling to stay alive.”

  Tina was puzzled.

  “What do you mean, everything’s going to be free?”

  “Sure. There are over two hundred abandoned trailers in the yard and in the field behind it. One of them’s a flatbed with two huge ten kilowatt generators on the back. One of ‘em will be plenty big to provide power for the truck stop. We can haul the diesel tankers over to the pumps to refill the underground tanks, and restock the shelves with the stuff from the Walmart and other trailers.

  “Any time anybody comes by we’ll tell ‘em to help themselves, if they have no money. If they do have money, we’ll ask them to make a donation in a jar.”

  Marty added, “We don’t know if money will ever be any good again. But if it is, Lenny and I will use the money in the jar to reimburse us for our troubles. If it isn’t, I guess we’ll just live out our lives eating Ramen noodles off the back of trucks.”

  He laughed, but Tina couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.

  “Well, I’ll talk to Mason Bennett before Joe and I head out. I’ll tell them you’ve both lost all your marbles and to watch over you both, because you’ll definitely need keepers.”

  “When are y’all headed out?”

  “We’re thinking that today we’ll go find a good trailer to take with us. Make sure it’s still in good shape. And I want to take a couple of air lines and batteries off some of the other rigs to keep ours going if it breaks down. Then we’ll set out early the day after tomorrow, if the weather is cooperating. No sense setting out if it’s rainy or icy. Been here this long, might as well wait for good weather.”

  Tina said, “And we want to spend a little time with the Bennetts too before we leave. In fact, Joe and I are headed over there after we finish our coffee, to hang out for a bit and to say goodbye. Do you guys want to come along?”

  Lenny said, “Sure, why not?”

  Tina looked at Marty.

  “No, I’ll pass. Sarah and the girls will be all emotional about y’all leaving. And I never liked seeing dames cry.”

  “Dames, huh? What a silver tongued devil you are.”

  “Hey, as one of my favorite philosophers once said, ‘I yam what I yam.’”

  “I know, and then he ate his spinach and was strong to the finish, right?”

  “Yeah. Something like that.”

  Tina got up and stretched.

  “Lenny, do you think you can use the yard tractor and pull two of these trailers out of the way today, so we can get our rig out of here?”

  “I reckon so. The brake lines are probably rotted after all this time, but I can drag ‘em out of the way if I need to.”

  Marty dumped the rest of his coffee into the campfire and walked over to the truck stop.

  Chapter 7

  John sat at the new security control center and called Brad from the base station.

  “Brad, this is John. You got your radio turned on this morning, or did you forget again?”

  Silence.

  He tried again.

  “Brad, this is John. Come in.”

  “Go ahead, John. I just… had my hands full.”

  But John could hear Sami laughing in the background.

  Sami came on and said, “Don’t believe him, Dad. His radio was off. He heard you calling on mine.”

  John heard Brad, in the skewed falsetto voice of a twelve year old boy, say “tattle-tale.”

  John said, “Brad, what are we going to do with you?”

  “Nothing, John. Living with your daughter is punishment enough.”

  John smiled but let the comment slide. Sami was a handful, all right. Always had been, even as a little girl.

  “Brad, Mark and Bryan are going out this morning for a couple of hours. Can you give them cover from the roof?”

  “Sure. Not a problem. I’ve been wanting to check out those blinds up there anyway. When are they heading out?”

  “In about forty five minutes or so.”

  “Ten four. I’ll come and see you as soon as I tie Sami up and leave her outside for the vultures.”

  John caught Rusty’s eye as he walked past the security console. Rusty was only fourteen, David’s oldest boy. But he was always volunteering to help out where he could, trying to prove he was more than just a kid.

  “Hey, Buddy! What are you up to this morning?”

  “Oh, nothing. Just looking around the new place. I think we’re going to like it here. Can anybody use the pool tables over there? Or are they reserved for just the ‘adults?’”

  He made air quotation marks with his fingers.

  “Oh, they’re for everybody. Warm yourself up a few games, and when I get relieved in a little bit I’ll play a few games of eight ball with you.”

  “Cool. But eight ball’s for amateurs. How about nine ball?”

  “Doesn’t matter the game, son. You’re going down either way. But hey, you want to help us out in the meantime?”

  “Sure. How?”

  “Mark and Bryan are going outside the wall this morning to do a little gardening. I need somebody to let them out, and then to man the gate in case we see something out there and have to tell them to come in quick. Can you man the gate for us?”

  “Okay. Do I get to carry a radio?”

  “Yes, but not to play with. You’ll have to stay off of it so you
can hear me if I yell for you to open the gate for them.”

  “Can I carry a gun?”

  “Now, Rusty, we’ve had this conversation before. Your mom and dad don’t want you to carry a loaded firearm until I’ve had a chance to train you. And I told you I’d give you some training for your fifteenth birthday. Remember?”

  “They said I was almost ready. How about if I carry an unloaded gun today? Just so I can get the feel of it?”

  John rolled his eyes and considered looking for someone else to man the gate for him. But Rusty was the only person he’d seen this morning who didn’t look busy, trying to settle in to the new place.

  “I’ll tell you what,” he said, handing Rusty a radio. “Go ask your parents if it’s okay for you to carry an empty gun. If it’s okay with them, have them call me. But if you take one, you’ll have to leave it in your holster. Empty or not, it’s not a toy, and should never be treated as one. Fair enough?”

  “Sure.”

  Rusty ran off, but the radio remained silent, as John knew it would.

  Rusty came back a few minutes later, looking dejected.

  “Dad said no, not until you train me and I’m mature enough to know men don’t carry guns for the fun of it.”

  John smiled. He almost could have predicted the exact words David was going to share with his son. David and John were on the same sheet of music when it came to weapons safety.

  Brad walked up to draw out an AR-15 rifle and a web belt containing four magazines from the gun locker.

  He took the rifle from the locker, checked it again to make sure it was clear, and then slung it over his shoulder.

  “I’ll call you when I’m on the roof.”

  Rusty took his radio and headed outside to the gate, sulking every step of the way.

  John called behind him.

  “Don’t forget to wear a mask and gloves.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah…”

  Because of the thousands of decaying bodies outside the compound, of humans, livestock and wild animals, the group was worried about airborne diseases. It was probably overkill, but they decided to mandate the wear of surgical masks and latex gloves while outdoors, at least during the warm weather months when such issues were more likely.

  Nobody liked the whole idea of masking up to go outside. But they did it anyway. If for no other reason, to avoid hearing people like John nag them about it.

  Five minutes later Brad called in.

  “John, this is Brad. I’m in position.”

  “10-4. Mark or Bryan, this is John. Come in.”

  “Go ahead, John.”

  “Mark, your cover’s in place and so is your gate monitor. You guys about ready?”

  “Yep. We’re heading for the gate now. Thanks, John.”

  “You bet. You guys be careful out there.”

  Chapter 8

  Hannah and Markie walked down a flight of stairs to the basement and to the room they’d designated for their resupply center. She needed some bubble bath for Markie. He’d never had one, because he never had a bathtub before now. But she remembered that they had stocked some Mr. Bubble, knowing they’d be able to use it once they broke out of the mine.

  Now all she had to do was find it.

  “Hi, Sarah. Hi, Sami.”

  “Hello, sleepy head.”

  “Hey, it wasn’t my fault. Somebody woke me up in the middle of the night because he was afraid of monsters getting into his bed.”

  Sarah looked shocked.

  “Seriously?”

  “Yep. Took me forever to get back to sleep.”

  Sarah looked at little Markie and said, “Markie!”

  “Uh, huh?”

  “You tell your Daddy there are no such things as monsters, and to quit waking up your Mommy.”

  Markie giggled for just a moment, before a toy grabbed his attention and he went off to play.

  Hannah looked around and commented, “What a mess.”

  “Yes, and this isn’t even all of it. There are thirty or forty boxes still in the mine that they didn’t have room in the truck for. Brad was going to help us put the racks together, and then he was going to put the rest of the stuff on a hand truck and roll it through the tunnel a few boxes at a time. But then he went off to help the other boys, as usual.”

  “Are the lights still on in the mine?”

  “Yes. Bryan’s going to leave them on until we get everything out, and then he’s going to switch it to emergency power, with just a few lights on for evacuation purposes.”

  “Well, let’s get the racks put together and then you guys can start putting things on them while I go back for the rest of the stuff. Do you know how the racks go together?”

  “Oh, yeah. They just snap together. We could have done it ourselves, but I like watching Brad work when he’s wearing a tight t-shirt and I can see all of his muscles flexing.”

  Hannah rolled her eyes and said, “Oh, brother.”

  Then she looked over at her son.

  “Markie, honey, you stay over there and behave yourself, and don’t get into things while we’re working, okay?”

  “Okay, Mommy.”

  “Hey, keep an eye out for the Mr. Bubble, will you?”

  Karen, the resident artist and plant expert, called out from the hallway, where she was painting “Welcome to Walmart” on the door. It was an inside joke, owing to the fact that nearly everything they’d purchased for their resupply center came from the big blue retailer.

  “The Mr. Bubble is in one of the big blue plastic containers where we keep our long term storage stuff. I took it off the shelf in the mine because it was taking up space, and nobody used it because we had no bath tubs.”

  “Thank you, Karen. Do you remember which blue tub you put it in?”

  Karen chuckled.

  “No clue. But there are only sixty of them, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find.”

  “Thanks a lot. I owe you one.”

  She went to the hallway to check out Karen’s sign.

  “Nice sign, but doesn’t Walmart only have one ‘l’?”

  Karen looked up at her work in mild panic, and was very relieved to see that she had indeed spelled it correctly.

  “Ha! Made you look. Now we’re even for you hiding the Mr. Bubble on me.”

  Karen smiled.

  “Hey, are you going to need any help in the greenhouses today?”

  “I don’t know. I’m going over there after I finish here. Mark said he found two volunteers to help me. He wouldn’t tell me who they were, but they’re supposed to meet me there at ten. You’re welcome to come over, though. The more the merrier.”

  “Okay, I’ll work here until I get tired of looking at Sarah, or get tired of Sami’s dumb jokes. Then I’ll come over and help.”

  A large sponge went sailing past Hannah’s head, but she didn’t know where it came from. By the time she turned around, both Sarah and Sami were both hard at work, as though they hadn’t heard a word.

  It was going to be a fun morning.

  Chapter 9

  “Nope. Hold on, it’s not budging. We need to dig some more!”

  Frank gave a signal by waving his hand across his throat to tell Jesse, Bobby and Mike to stop pulling. Each of them was in a different vehicle, trying to pull over the stump of an oak tree that had been gracing Widow Spencer’s front lawn for over twenty years.

  And all three vehicles together were having a tough time toppling the stump.

  The group reassembled at the stump to talk strategy.

  “I think we made a mistake by not pulling it over first,” Bobby suggested.

  His brother wasn’t so sure.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because we no longer have any leverage. All three of the ropes go around the trunk two feet off the ground. What we’re essentially trying to do is pull it sideways. And it doesn’t want to go sideways.”

  So how should we have done it?

  “We should have climbed up the tree ins
tead of cutting it down. And tied the ropes around the trunk ten or twelve feet above the ground. Then the leverage would have been on our side, and we could have pulled the whole thing over. And then cut it to pieces, after it was laying in the street.”

  “Okay, so we’ll try your theory on the next tree. But meanwhile, what in hell do we do about this one?”

  “We have no choice. We dig some more. And we use hand saws to cut some more of the roots. Sooner or later we’ll get it. It’s just a matter of how much crap we have to dig through before it breaks free.”

  “I hope not too much more. I’m already tired of digging, and we haven’t even started digging up the yards yet.”

  Frank said, “The package on the corn said not to plant it until we had two straight weeks above fifty degrees. We’ve only had seven so far. So we’ve got another week at least before we can plant. More if the temperature drops again.

  “Why don’t we get this sucker out of the ground, and one more next door. That’ll give Tony a whole tree to cut up, which will take him at least two days. While he’s doing that, we’ll focus on getting the first two yards dug up. Then once we hit the fourteen day mark, the women will have a place to start planting while we move on to the rest of the trees.”

  “Works for me.”

  Tony volunteered, “And just for the record, I’ll be happy to take my turn at digging. I’m getting just as tired of the chain saw as you guys are from the shoveling.”

  “You’re on!” Bobby said, while handing Tony his shovel. “I’d rather use a chain saw any day.”

  “Yeah, you say that now. In four hours, when your forearms go numb from the vibration and your back starts to break, you’ll be begging to give it back.”

  Tony and Mike spent another two hours digging completely around the stump. It was a dirty, nasty job. Especially when they had to get down on their hands and knees and reach down into the hole to saw off a root.

  Finally, they declared it time to try again. The three of them got back in the vehicles, pulled the ropes taut, and then floored it.