by JM Scott
I didn’t need more supplies, it was only a day since I was last there. The store looked fine, at least I had a place to come back to if the shit went bad. I crossed the street and started walking on thirty first. My plan was to be two blocks out from the library and then make my way down to Front Street.
I walked two blocks when I hit the jackpot as in a bike. The bike was pink with purple flowers. It had a large basket in the front. And it was covered in blood. It was also made for a ten year old. Oh well, at least it was here. I dumped some of my water on the seat and handle bars and took a shirt I didn’t like and wiped it off as best as I could. I looked at the sun; it was facing toward the library. I still wish I knew what time it was. The phone underneath the bike had pink flowers and was dead. I should have looked for a phone in one of the cars. I didn’t think about it at first. After untying two of my water jugs, I put them in basket and got on the bike. It was definitely too short.
I should have been there in no time. Still no one around, or at least no one that approached me. I maneuvered through street for ten blocks when wispy black smoke filled the air. And it was hot. Hotter than it should be. I got off the bike. Cars were charred and still smoldering. The pavement seemed to be sticking to my shoes. What the hell? I walked the bike further back and parked it beside a car. It felt good to stretch. The heat seeped up through my second hand shoes. I walked a little bit more. Downed power lines disappeared.
And there it was a giant hole in the middle of Allentown. It had to have been a plane. As far as I could see it was a massive hole. Smoke and heat poured from the hole as if the gateway to hell has been opened by God. Buildings that survived the impact stood like a Jenga tower ready to fall. Some were smoking. Some were twisted and falling in the hole. The hole went on forever. How the hell should I get around it? I couldn’t see to the other side. Just buildings in the distance. I stood there contemplating options when the heat seeped through my shoes and burned my feet.
I ran back with pain searing my feet and legs to my bike. I pedaled back toward the Wild Cherry.
When I was close enough, two people were emptying out the store. It was a man and a woman. They had rifles. They busted through the front door. Oh well so much for the Wild Cherry. Were they part of the library group? They had to have been. After all, I did say that I had keys to the Wild Cherry store. I ducked back in the shadows. Sunset was coming. Deep shadows fell over the street. I didn’t want to risk going back to Marzone’s and I couldn’t get back to the Wild Cherry. I knew I shouldn’t be out in the streets when night came. I knew the library people were around and who knows what other crazies were out in the world just waiting for someone like me to come around.
I walked the bike the way I came pushing forward six or seven blocks. I knew of another homeless shelter only five blocks away. That’s if it was still there and it was safe. I got on the bike and pedaled as hard as I could.
I was in luck the shelter was still standing. This particular one was a women’s shelter. It always had the front doors locked. I liked staying here best because I always felt safe. And out of all the shelters I went to this one tried to help me. They were going to put in a half way house so I could get a real job. I readied my gun and knocked on the door.
Shadows moved and a woman appeared. She came to the door and unlocked it. It was Nancy one of the shelter workers, the one was helping me get ready for the half way. The one who gave me hope.
“Holly,” she said and threw her arms around me. “I thought I was alone.”
I hugged her back because she was another person, one that didn’t want to kill me.
“Are there others?” I asked as I came inside with my bike. She locked the door behind me.
“Yes and no. Linda was here and then she left the other day. I was hoping she would come back.”
Linda was a homeless woman, who has been in and out shelters forever. I talked to her a few times. But like the guy at the other shelter. She wasn’t all there. I felt that I was a normal person, I couldn’t imagine what someone like Linda was going through.
“There is a group at the library but they shot at me,” I said.
“Why would they do that? You’re just a girl.”
“I don’t know. What happened, Nancy?”
“People exploded. Just one minute they were living life and next they were splattered all over. I’ve been cleaning. I want to go home, but I’m scared.”
“There’s a giant hole several blocks down. I think a plane went down.”
She frowned.
“I was at the Wild Cherry on thirty-first when it happened.”
“Well you can choose any of these beds in this room. There was no one in this room so the sheets aren’t bloody.”
“There was a bunch of army guys at the store. They left after everything. They didn’t see me or anything. Where’s the closet base?”
“There is a National Guard base outside of the city toward Trexlertown.”
“How far?”
“Ten, fifteen miles.”
She looked at my bike and cracked a smile. “Are you planning on riding your bike to the base?”
“I will if I have to.”
I looked up and saw a clock. It was 7:00 p.m. At least I knew what time it was.
Chapter Five
Days melted together and a week after the Day, we were getting low on food and especially water. I wanted to get to Front Street. But every time I would mention something, Nancy would beg me to stay. She was really terrified. We waited for Linda to come back and she never did. In that time, rats became a problem. They would skitter out in front of the doors and we killed several inside the building. I considered building a fire and eating them; Nancy wouldn’t hear of it. She said they were full of disease. I thought cooking them would make it safe.
“Nancy, maybe we should go to the base. I can find you a bike. We need food and water. Fifteen miles on bike is not really that bad.” Perhaps it would be for Nancy. She had a big heart but not in shape.
“I don’t know, Holly. There is a store seven blocks over. Maybe you can get something from there.”
“I’m pretty sure there is a gaping hole that far over. I couldn’t see to the other side.”
“Right. I’m just not sure about going that far to Trexlertown. You said there were bad people at the library.”
She had a point. I emptied my bag on my bed and loaded the gun. I took the extra bullets and put them in my bag.
“Well I’ll check out some of the places around here for stuff,” I said.
“You won’t be gone long?”
“I hope not.”
I went to the kitchen and fashioned a knife holder in my jeans then slipped a knife inside. I looked around and found a crowbar, which would be rather useful.
Nancy let me out. Finally, fresh air. We opened the windows, but I haven’t been outside since I got here. I breathed deeply it felt good to be in the sunshine. Next to the shelter was a church and on the other side was an empty lot. Across the street were row homes.
Dashing in between broken cars and rats, I made my way to the one directly across the street. I waved to Nancy once I was on the porch. I have been watching these homes. No one had come or gone. There were old people, what if one of them was fine when this happened but because the rest of the city died, they died in their easy chair waiting for dinner. I didn’t want to think more about it.
I looked in the window. There was a couch, a tv, and a few plump chairs. But I couldn’t see anything else. I knocked on the door. Nothing. I tried the handle. Locked. Grabbing the crowbar, I broke the door frame, but this house had a dead bolt engaged. I hacked away at the door frame until the door swung open.
The smell knocked me on my ass, and I puked mini raviolies over the small hedges. I wrapped a shirt around my face like a hobo bandit. Flicking the flashlight on, I peered inside the house and called in. It better have some goodies inside. Water was one of the most important things. Most houses had some kind of wate
r service. Most of Allentown’s neighborhoods had bad water. It tasted funny and left stains on sinks and tubs. I dragged a small table and propped it against the door to keep it closed.
Who lived here? There were no pictures on the walls at least not in the living room. The flashlight illuminated stains on the sofa and a rat. I hated those fuckers. The rat squeaked and continued munching on the sofa. I figured he shouldn’t bother me if I left it alone. I made my way past the living room, to the kitchen which was on the left. As suspected there were unopened water cooler bottles lined a in nice little row next to the fridge. There were four in total. I could only carry one a time. As long as there was no trouble on the streets, it shouldn’t take me too long.
I went through the cabinets and found ramens that you cook on the stove and oodles of noodles that also required heating water. And we couldn’t do either at the shelter. The gas didn’t work. We washed in cold water and ate cold foods. I found an array of spices, which were also useless. Maybe they were the type of people who only shopped a little time. In this neighborhood, there wasn’t a large grocery store. And you would have to buy enough food that be can carried on the bus. Unless you were lucky enough for someone to give you a ride.
Way before this, I was saving for a car. I worked at Popeye’s. My life wasn’t easy but considering where I was right now, I would much rather be frying chicken, smelling like stale chicken, all while listening to manager talking in Spanish about the Gringos that came into the store. It was hard to keep calm and tell the customer standing front of me that she was bitching at the kitchen staff, while I knew better. Growing up in Allentown, meant I learned both English and Spanish at the same time. It does come in handy when I used to pick up work down on twenty-second at the abandoned warehouse. It was sort of like a job for the day, cash under the table. I went most days and most days, I was hired as a translator for the Mexicans that somehow made their way from the border all the way up here. It was a good gig. I kind of wished they would hire me for better wages. But what do you expect those jobs at the warehouse were for illegals, the crack heads and the drifters. I never liked to call myself homeless but a drifter. I always had these big plans of going somewhere. On the streets, time has a way of going on without you.
Something ran across my foot, and I jumped back letting out a yelp. Another rat. The couch rat was still gorging himself on tasty bits. The other rat ran away from to a door past the kitchen and before the stairs and disappeared into a chewed hell. I didn’t care if there were three years worth of canned food down there, I wasn’t going down there. How many rats were down there? It was something I never wanted to find out.
There had to be other stuff in the house, especially clothes and blankets. I knew it was only April but now was the time to be prepared for whatever life might throw at us. The stairs went up eight steps and stopped a large landing. On a small table there was a picture of a woman and two kids. The woman was white and had two black kids. I wondered if they were hers. I guess it didn’t matter now because they were probably gone. I know there are some shitty foster parents out there, but I used to wonder what it would be like to be in a home with no roaches or rats and have somebody care about me.
I took all the clothes I could find from the woman’s room. I didn’t see any many clothes. So she must have been single mother. My mother was a single mother. But she was miserable, the woman in the picture looked happy. Her kids looked happy. I opened my bag and took all the clothes I could fit in there. I looked through her stuff and found nothing useful. I went back down and stuffed a pot and the ramens in the bag.
It took me twenty minutes to carry the four water bottles across the street. It would have been much faster if Nancy would have helped but she constantly locked the door after I left and stood guard. Going through these houses would take me forever. We couldn’t stay at the shelter forever. We had to make a plan to move to the National Guard base outside of the city. It should be safe. Who knew how long we had until the library people found us? It could be anytime now. I checked the bullets in the gun. I never shot before. I had one magazine in my bag and one in the gun. Would they hurt us? They almost shot me when I was at the library. They would do anything for water and food.
Chapter Six
Two days later, there was frantic knocking on the glass door. Both Nancy and I sat straight up. Darkness swelled around us. Silence came from the windows we had open.
“Who’s that?”
I put my finger to my lips and grabbed the gun that I slept with under the pillow. I took the safety off and crept out from the dormitory toward the front door. I saw something moving at the glass doors. But I couldn’t tell what it was. Or who it was. I crept in the shadows. Whoever was knocked again, “Nancy.” It was a woman’s voice, but it was weak. Linda.
“Nancy, Linda’s out there,” I yelled and dashed over to the door. Nancy stumbled behind me, jingling the keys.
I flicked on the flashlight and flashed it out the glass door. Linda was paler than normal. Her gray hair, which she always kept up in a neat and tidy bun, was wild and framed her face. She held her side. Nancy unlocked the door. Linda fell into her arms and let out a groan.
Nancy screamed as she moved Linda’s hand away. “It’s blood, Holly.”
I knelt down beside Linda and said, “She was shot.” I’m no expert on gun shot wounds, but this wasn’t fresh. It didn’t happen minutes ago. Maybe hours. She was still bleeding but most of it was dry.
“We need to clean it, get her shirt off. I’ll get the first aid.”
“We don’t have what she needs,” Nancy said and started to cry.
I was pretty sure Linda needed blood and a bullet removal. And I couldn’t do either. I understood basic biology, but this was beyond what you learn in the GED class. I found the first aid kit. When I returned, Linda was groaning and mumbling. Nancy had her shirt off and seemed to be praying.
I took the peroxide and dumped it over the wound, which prompted Linda to kick and scream.
“I’m sorry, I’m just trying to clean it.”
All my time on the streets, I never saw a gun shot victim up close. I guess I was lucky. I heard gunshots, but they were always far away. I’ve heard about people, people I knew from the streets getting shot. I took gauze and pressed it against the wound. I knew she was going to die. Though I felt like I had to something. It didn’t feel right to sit around praying watching the woman die without trying something, anything.
“What happened?” I asked
In between moans and screams Linda managed to say, “They shot me at the park.”
“Who?”
She didn’t answer. Her chest stopped rising. She was dead.
“Linda! Linda, wake up. You’re going to get better,” Nancy said. She shook her, nothing.
And the only thing, I could think of at that moment was at least she died in the company of friends and not out there. And then my next thought was we had to get rid of the body. Rats could smell blood miles away. We didn’t need rats in here. I held the gauze to the wound even though it was useless. I just didn’t know what to do with myself.
“Nancy.” She continued to weep. I wonder how many dead bodies she had seen. Maybe it wasn’t that, Nancy knew this woman. And Nancy cared for people. “Nancy,” I said again louder.
She looked up me with red and puffy eyes.
“We’re not safe here anymore.”
She nodded.
“I’ll go out at first light and get us bikes and you a pack. We are leaving as soon as I come back.”
“If you think that’s best.”
Chapter Seven
I stayed up with the body. As the sky began to lighten, I wrapped Linda in a sheet. There was a flat bed cart in the storage room that was used to bring supplies in from the back door. After heaving Jane’s body onto the cart, I packed my bag. I made sure my gun was loaded and the extra bullets were tucked in the bag.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can, I promise. And then we’re leav
ing,” I said.
Nancy nodded and turned away from me
There was only one place, I could dispose of Linda. I couldn’t bury her nor could I burn her body since that will draw too much attention from the wrong kind of people. It was the crater. I pushed the cart in front of me through the maze of smashed cars. It wasn’t even six yet, and the heat started to build in the city. This was going to be a long day.
Who shot her? I had a pretty good feeling who did. It had to be the library people. Except for the occasional crack head gone crazy or kids looking for a thrill, the homeless were relatively safe. No one went out of there way to hurt us. We looked out for one another. We were a community. Even drug dealers and thugs wouldn’t mess with us; they had more important things to worry about. Most of us didn’t cause trouble. So yeah it was the end of the world, but I believed people had some kind of morality left. Why would they shoot Linda? It was every man for himself now.
While I pushed her body to the crater, I couldn’t help thinking about my Mom. I knew she was messed up. I tried to understand how hard it was. I left home when I was fifteen. That was two years ago. She was a drunk. Was she even okay? Through all this shit, I had this overwhelming urge to go to Front street and see if she was okay. Ask her if she want to come to Trexlertown with Nancy and me. She was still my mom.
I made it to the crater. The ground was still warm and the gaping hole looked more warped and deformed. I could feel the heat coming up from my shoes. I wasn’t sure if I should say a prayer or not. But I guess now it didn’t matter anyway. I shoved the cart as hard as I could. It went straight and hit a rock. Linda’s body flopped over and tumbled into the crater. I stood there for a few minutes. This was not what she deserved. Of course, she didn’t deserve to get shot either.
I caught a lucky break on my way back from the crater. A tiny house had a small gate across the front of the porch. On the porch were toys- legos, Barbie dolls, and blood. In one way, I knew where there was kids, there should be bikes and maybe backpacks. But in another way, seeing all that blood, I knew they were dead. Why did I get to live when little kids were killed, by what- a virus, a terrorist attack? I had no idea.
