The Defiant: Grid Down

by John W. Vance

  Carlsbad, CA

  Nicholas again didn’t wait for the sun. He was up at five and already in the garage, preparing for the day’s adventure.

  Siphoning gas from his Mercedes, he topped off the Dodge and filled an additional five-gallon can, which he stored in the trunk. Besides his preferred handgun, the Sig Sauer P239, he carried a second, the Sig Sauer P220, and also took a rifle, an AR-15.

  The Marine Corps had given him much-needed skills and training, but he also left the Corps years ago with a half-dozen thirty-round magazines. These were banned in California, but now knowing that most law enforcement was out of commission, he loaded the magazines with glee, knowing he’d have the firepower to protect himself. Another item he fixed in the early morning hours was the ‘bullet button’ on his rifle. It didn’t take a gunsmith to remove it and put in a proper magazine release. There was no way he was going into a possible gunfight with one arm tied behind his back.

  With both he and the car ready for the day, all he needed now was the list and two more able-bodied men.

  Right on time he heard footsteps coming his way in the predawn morning. A chilled breeze blew in from the west and the birds began to rise from their slumber. Again he marveled at how Mother Nature ignored the bane of humans and continued on. Even if mankind found a way to destroy itself, the planet would keep spinning and moving through space in its orbit around the sun. What nature told him was they weren’t as important as they thought they were. Just because their world was falling apart didn’t mean theirs had to as well.

  Chandler and two men emerged from the shadows.

  Nicholas didn’t recognize the first man; he stepped up and introduced himself immediately.

  “Nicholas, hello, my name is Alex. Nice to meet you.” Alex was a man of average height and build. Nicholas guessed he was in his late thirties to early forties.

  Just behind Alex was Brent.

  “Chandler, what’s he doing here?” Nicholas asked.

  “He insisted on coming due to his son’s prescription,” Chandler answered, handing Nicholas a sheet of paper.

  “You heard him, he doesn’t own a gun. How can I rely on him out there?”

  “I’m not going to get into this. Please let him go,” Chandler begged.

  “I’ve got a piece,” Alex said, lifting up his shirt to show Nicholas a semiautomatic pistol.

  “You know how to use it?” Nicholas asked.

  “Ten years as a cop, and I know how to hot-wire a car.”

  “Aren’t you a jack of all trades.” Nicholas laughed.

  “I had an interesting childhood, to say the least.”

  “Must have, I thought I knew a lot of stuff, but hot-wiring old cars was never on my list.”

  “I can also pick locks.”

  “Were you a cop or a con?” Nicholas joked.

  “They say you have to be one to catch one,” Alex said and winked at him.

  “Good man, glad to have you here,” Nicholas said as he turned on his headlamp to read the list. “Who the hell put ice on this? Fucking idiot.”

  “I put everything down like you asked,” Chandler said defensively.

  “Come on, Chandler. Ice, really? Oh, and dry cleaning? What the hell, man, I’m not a damn delivery service. I said only critical items.” Nicholas took out a felt-tip marker and began to cross off items. “Gone, gone, nope, really, nope, no, no, no, I don’t think so.”

  “You’re marking off most of the list,” Chandler moaned.

  “Because most of the list is bullshit. I’m not picking up crayons. I don’t think paper towels are critical, nor do I think risking my life for Purina Cat food is worth it, and all of this shit about organic food. Seriously, this might be the apocalypse; organic and non-GMO is not going to happen. They’ll be begging for a can of fucking Spam after a couple weeks of starving.”

  “I’m just the messenger,” Chandler responded.

  Nicholas gathered them around the hood of the car and laid out a map. He pointed to the places they would go in order. He pointed to Proctor’s house in Carmel Valley, approximately twelve miles south; from there they’d head directly for some car lots down in Pacific Beach he’d found in the phone book. If they were able to secure more vehicles, they’d convoy to get food and water. Nicholas ruled out grocery stores; that was the low-hanging fruit. Using the phone book he found a commercial kitchen in Claremont and a Sysco Food warehouse in Poway. He just couldn’t imagine they had been hit up yet, so it was worth the drive. In total they’d be driving over fifty miles of potentially dangerous highways, roads and streets.

  Everyone agreed to the route, with Brent staying oddly quiet.

  Chandler wished them well and again thanked Nicholas.

  When Nicholas pulled out of the driveway, he took a moment and stopped.

  “What’s up?” Alex asked.

  Nicholas looked at his house. He smiled and said, “I just want to take a mental picture of it.”

  “Oh.”

  “You know, so I don’t forget it,” Nicholas added.

  “You’re freaking me out,” Brent blurted out.

  “I get it; I used to do that too when I was a cop. You never know if you’re going to come home.”

  “Alex, you get me.”

  Disgruntled, Brent huffed and looked out the window.

  Nicholas looked at Alex and turned to face Brent, who was sitting in the rear passenger-side seat. “As my dad used to say, let’s keep our powder dry and always stay off the horizon.”

  He leveled his foot against the accelerator and sped off.

  San Diego, CA

  Bryn woke the second the sun made its appearance. She bolted out of bed and got dressed, making sure her new weapon was neatly on her person. She felt a high, a self-confidence that she hadn’t felt just the day before. She fully knew that having a pistol and knife wouldn’t keep her alive forever, but it helped. Her next goal was to find a vehicle. Not only would it come in handy for scavenging, but she knew that eventually they’d have to leave. To where, well, she wasn’t sure just yet.

  She walked into the living room to discover Matt and Sophie were positioned almost identical to how she found them upon her return earlier.

  Matt was sprawled on the floor, snoring, and Sophie was curled up on her side, in an almost fetal position on the couch.

  Bryn walked into the kitchen, opened a bottled water and tore into a bag of jerky. As she ate her skimpy breakfast, she charted her day. She wanted to keep gathering food and water, but with the small stockpile she and the others had gathered, she was nervous now about protecting that. Not only were the three amigos on her mind but whoever was lurking in the parking lot last night. They couldn’t hide what they were doing, and she noticed that with each trip, more and more eyes were on them. Soon those who weren’t scavenging or didn’t have food or water would be knocking on their door.

  She walked over to Matt, his mouth wide open and his hand placed on his plump belly. Kicking him, she said, “Get up, new day.”

  Like the day before he shot up, his eyes wide. “What, huh?”

  “We have a lot to do today. Get up,” she answered him.

  Bryn then went to Sophie, but she didn’t have to wake her. Sophie rolled over and said, “I’m awake. Where to today?”

  “I love your enthusiasm, little sis.” Bryn smiled.

  Sophie sat up, stretched and said, “You took forever last night. I was starting to get worried but…”

  “But what?”

  “It’s you; I pity the person who fucks with you.”

  “Ha, ha, now here’s the plan for today. A few doors down from the Best Buy is a Staples. I would imagine they have water and snack food there too, but before we go there, I want to go to the used-car lot.”

  “Cars don’t work,” Sophie said.

  “But old cars do. We’ve seen them, remember?” Bryn stated.

  “You’re brilliant!” Matt exclaimed.

  “I know. Now get dressed, we have a long da
y. I need to go see Colin about something,” Bryn said and left the apartment.

  The warmth of the new sun’s rays hit her face and felt good; she paused to take in the moment. Sunny mornings, especially near the coast like she was, weren’t so typical. The marine layer from the ocean often hung over the coastal areas till late morning, so seeing the blue sky made her feel hopeful about the day ahead.

  No one was moving in the parking lot and the sounds were of nature. She heard birds chirping and the patter of a squirrel in the eucalyptus tree that partially shaded her building. Her respite from it all ended when a familiar voice spoke.

  “Good morning, sunshine,” Colin said.

  “Oh, hey,” Bryn said, a bit startled.

  “You were having a moment there, I see.”

  “Yeah, you caught me,” Bryn said. A small smile creased her face. She walked over to Colin, who was perched in a small folding chair.

  “It’s good to remember the beauty in the world.”

  “Um, I wanted to talk to you.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “Do you mind watching over my place? I don’t trust those guys, much less others here that might be tempted to pay us a visit. Our stockpiling hasn’t been secret.”

  “You don’t have to ask. I’m always watching over everything. I got you covered. So where you off to today?”

  Bryn was about to tell him then hesitated. She knew she could trust him, but an odd paranoia came over her. She looked at him, his eyes watching and waiting for the answer.

  “To another store.”

  “You might want to start looking for a car.”

  Her eyes widened and she felt a bit flush. It was as if he was reading her mind. “I was thinking the same thing. Maybe stop by a used-car lot.”

  “Not a bad idea.”

  “Thanks for all the help.”

  “My pleasure.”

  Bryn walked back to her apartment, but her mind raced. She wondered what Colin’s story was. She realized she wasn’t seeing the world fully; her focus and attention were only on herself and her needs. Last night, she had asked a couple questions, but spent most of her time talking. She wanted to know who this man was, this guardian angel of some sort. How was it he seemed so at ease, so confident? She hadn’t seen him leave; he just sat there, like many others in her complex did, but he wasn’t like the others at all. Upon her return, she would take time to find out who her new friend was.

  “Change of plans, kids. Today we’re off to find a car. This walking and pushing carts stuff is over,” Bryn said to Matt and Sophie. She was pacing the apartment while the two sat on the couch, staring up at her like children.

  “We should have thought about a car day one. Not sure how easy it will be to find one,” Matt commented.

  “This is exactly why we need to go to Mom’s house. She has that old MG,” Sophie said then blew a bubble with her gum.

  “Enough about Mom’s house, we’re not going,” Bryn snapped.

  “I bet that car works,” Sophie countered. “You said old cars, and that thing has to be thirty or forty years old.”

  “That will probably work,” Matt said.

  “It won’t. It’s a two-seat car. We need something bigger,” Bryn said.

  “You just don’t want to go is all. Two seats are better than none,” Sophie fired back.

  Bryn rolled her eyes and continued with the plan she had thought out. “There’s a few used-car lots down off Garnet and Grand.”

  “This is going to be fun,” Matt joked.

  “I’ve got this to help protect us too,” Bryn said, holding up her new handgun.

  “Whoa, where did you get that? Did the old man give that to you?” Sophie asked. “I want one.”

  “Let’s grab our backpacks. We have a long walk ahead of us,” Bryn said, ignoring Sophie’s requests to get her own gun.

  The three geared up, and under the mid-morning sun they walked out of the complex. Noticeably absent were the three troublemakers. Bryn knew this pleasant absence was the result of the tense incident yesterday and that they wouldn’t be gone for long. They might have fled yesterday under threat but would no doubt come back, and at that time it would probably be deadly. Fully aware of how untenable their ability to stay in her apartment was, she hoped they were successful today. Getting a car would give them the mobility to find a safer place to call home.

  Sophie constantly kept the pressure on to go to their mother’s house, but Bryn wouldn’t budge. She wanted nothing to do with her mother. Having lived her entire adult life free of her mother’s influences, there was no way she’d give in now.

  Matt was perplexed by her resistance and suspected there was something darker, a skeleton residing in Bryn’s closet, one she wasn’t about to let Matt see just yet.

  “This is sort of cool, don’t you think?” Matt said with a smile.

  “What do you mean?” Bryn asked, sweat glistening on her forehead and face.

  “This is like a movie. I feel like I’m on a movie set.”

  “Only you would think this shit is cool. What a freak,” Bryn snapped.

  “I think it’s cool, Matt, I dig it. Fuck this materialistic capitalist system. It got what was coming to it.”

  “You’re too funny, Soph. Only a princess who was given everything and lived a privileged life with birthday parties that featured ponies, actors and an overabundance of cakes and presents would have such an attitude,” Bryn snarked.

  “Fuck you, Bryn.”

  “What happened to you?”

  “I grew up. I had nothing to do with that. I wasn’t given a choice, but if I have kids, they won’t be tortured with such things.”

  “I would have loved to have been tortured as a kid,” Matt quipped.

  “Don’t get me wrong. Mom took care of me; she was misguided.”

  “She was more than misguided,” Bryn snapped.

  “I love seeing the duplicity of siblings. Two people raised in the same house, same parents but totally different people. It really shows that it’s more about nature versus nurture.”

  “Don’t be quick to assume you know if we were raised the same,” Bryn challenged.

  “We were, Bryn. Stop being a fucking drama queen.”

  Bryn grew quiet, electing not to respond. Conversations about her past, specifically her childhood, were off-limits.

  Her silence infected the others. Each step they drew closer to their target. People moved about, going through abandoned cars, looking for what they thought was valuable. As if they were invisible, they glided through the maze of cars that littered the street, the odd stranger taking notice for a brief moment then carrying on with whatever they were doing. Occasionally a car would weave through, the rumble of the engine making them stop and look.

  With nervous energy Bryn kept touching the grip of the revolver. Having it with her gave her a confidence she hadn’t had before. Her life was one absent of such things, and she was a person that was ambivalent on the topic of firearms. She never had a need for one but didn’t believe so strongly that they were the source of all evil that she wanted them banned or over-regulated. All she had ever wanted in her life was to be left alone to pursue her dreams unencumbered by others’ desires. Never one to engage in political discussions, she avoided those who did as if they had a highly contagious disease.

  On the flipside, Sophie had turned into a passionate advocate for every left-leaning cause regardless if it truly affected her.

  Bryn looked at this as naïve and vapid, finding those who dwelled on such things needed a job because they clearly had too much time on their hands. Whenever she was cornered on hot topics, she’d just state that the truly huge issues of their society were gone. Poverty in the country wasn’t true poverty compared to a villager in central Africa, or that people’s rights weren’t in jeopardy when looking at those suffering under the strict regimes in North Korea or Cuba. The one issue she found zero connection with was the neo-feminist. The talk of a war on women she found ra
ng hollow. Her opposition to this enraged Sophie, who often labeled her as either blind or dumb. Bryn would counter that by telling her a modern feminist was really a sexist, and that if someone wanted people, all people, to be equal that they should label themselves humanists.

  Bryn just didn’t have time for all the ‘issues’ of the modern world and only sought freedom from it all. She believed the only way to get that was to be independent and accept the world was full of good people who sometimes did bad things and bad people who sometimes masked themselves as good. Like the car-riddled street, she viewed life as a maze. If you wanted to succeed, you had to navigate through it. For those who liked to talk, they sat in one place and endlessly discussed the maze without ever taking a step and then would blame their lack of movement or success on others instead of realizing they held themselves back.

  “Garnett Street is up ahead, half a block,” Matt said.

  “Thank God, my feet hurt like hell,” Sophie complained.

  “If I remember, the first place is called Mike and Son’s Auto Sales. Let’s keep our fingers crossed,” Bryn said.

  They reached the corner and stopped to survey the area and car lot. No one was there.

  “Looks clear. I can’t believe it,” Bryn commented after spending a minute eyeing the lot for any movement.

  “In fact, the place looks untouched. Are we that lucky?” Matt said.

  “Can we please stop talking and go get a damn car?” Sophie moaned.

  Bryn again touched the butt of the revolver before taking her first step out into the intersection.

  The car lot sat across the street, just one lot off the intersection corner.

  They dashed across the street and jumped a small barrier wall that ran the perimeter of the lot and into a row of cars.

  Squatting between two cars, they looked at each other nervously.

  “Wait. We’re being silly,” Bryn said and stood up. “Come on, let’s go.”

  Matt and Sophie followed her. Matt’s head swiveled in both directions, looking for anyone that might walk up or pose a threat.

  Bryn beelined it for the long trailer that operated as the office. “Matt, find a car you think will work.”