by Jack Hunt
“You might want to sit there for a while before you try to move.”
He scowled. “Did you really have to hit me so damn hard?”
“Like I said.”
“Yeah, I got it,” he replied. “So you’ve been surviving here for two months?”
“About that. Things got really bad in Lake George. I had to get out, and I assumed my parents would still be alive but…” She trailed off again, her lip quivered. For someone who acted strong, she wasn’t immune to the pain.
Damon leaned forward, clasping his hands together. “We don’t have much but you are more than welcome to come with us.”
“Any women?” she asked.
“Three. Well, four if you include Elliot’s kid.”
“Elliot?”
“One of the two we came here with.”
She studied his face while nodding slowly. “If you’re scavenging here, things can’t be good in Lake Placid.”
“No but we’ve planted seeds and we watch each other’s backs.”
She got up and walked over to the window and looked out. “I don’t know.” Ella placed a hand against the white frame.
Damon got up and squeezed the bridge of his brow. “Anyone else besides us attempted to enter?”
“A couple.”
“And?”
“They’re buried out back.”
He took a deep breath. “I feel special,” he said realizing how close they’d come to death. She let out a laugh before heading back in and picking up her cup of coffee.
“Things are only going to get worse.”
“I already know that.”
“So come with us.”
He eyed Jesse across the room. His eyes darted between them.
Her fingers tapped out a beat against her leg. “I’ll consider it.”
“Of course,” he said.
“It’s just I feel safe here.”
He nodded. “Right.”
Jesse looked amused as he watched the back and forth between them.
“Well I guess I should grab a few belongings.”
“So you’ve made up your mind?” Damon asked.
“Like I said, I’d consider it.”
Confused, he shook his head as she turned away. “You need a hand?”
“Not unless you are good at picking out underwear.”
Jesse snorted as she walked out back. He slapped him on the chest. “You’re crazy.” He headed over to the window and peered out and for a second he continued to smile. That quickly disappeared as he pulled back and pressed himself against the wall.
“Jesse?” Damon asked, his brow furrowing.
He raised four fingers, and Damon knew that meant trouble.
Chapter 4
By late afternoon the sun was beginning to wane behind the trees. Summer in Lake Placid was a hell of a lot more comfortable than the previous winter months. Temperatures were hovering in the high seventies, a stark difference to below freezing. When Elliot lost his house in the fire six months ago, Gary offered to have them stay at his home, but after everything they’d been through they opted to remain in the shelter. Although they were desperately short on food supplies, the bunker offered protection that none of the homes or buildings in the town could. Unlike others who were worried about home invaders, they slept well at night and only had to deal with threats by day.
Six months had changed everybody. It was surprising how quickly some people adapted while others buckled. Some held their ground while others fled. Rarely did a day go by when they didn’t see smoke rising in the air or hear gunfire. The once pleasant town had morphed into streets full of violence. The EMP brought out the worst and best in people. Residents from ten homes along Mirror Lake Drive had banded together and created their own blockade on the north and south side of the road. There was little to worry about from the east, as there were several miles of thick woodland, and to the west, the lake.
Rayna had just returned from pulling a four-hour shift on the south end when she found Maggie in front of the ham radio. “CQ, CQ, CQ, calling CQ. This is WR7YZ.” She glanced at her and smiled as she hung up the rifle and checked in with the kids who were in the back with Kong.
“This is New Hope Springs,” a male voice replied.
“Can you provide your call sign?”
“SHN2UW.”
“SHN2UW, this is WR7YZ calling out of Lake Placid. Where are you?”
“East Texas.”
Over the course of the next few minutes Rayna listened to the conversation. Maggie had been spending a lot of time on the ham radio getting updates on FEMA camps as well as trying to find out if anyone from Kansas had survived. If the reports were anything to go by, the nukes had hit Kansas, California and West Virginia. The extent of the damage was still unknown, but it was safe to say that if her family were in Kansas at the time, they were probably dead. From what Elliot had learned from the news prior to the EMP, North Korea had conducted several nuclear weapon tests and the last one was more powerful than either of the bombs dropped by the U.S. in World War Two. In fact it was said they had one that tested at 120 kilotons. Compared to Little Boy or Fat Man, which was between 15 and 21 kilotons, that was powerful. On average it was estimated it would have inflicted more than 150,000 casualties, and that would have come from the initial blast radius. As for beyond that, well, it would have created less radioactive fallout compared to a surface blast which would have sucked up debris into the atmosphere, irradiated it and spread it for miles. Fortunately no matter what the fallout was, it was reduced rapidly in the first twenty-four hours. Again no one truly knew the extent of it but Elliot believed prevailing winds had assisted in pushing away much of the radioactive fallout, if there was much at all.
Maggie lowered the microphone and leaned back in her seat. “Did you catch all of that?” she asked without even looking at her.
“Some,” Rayna replied, running a hand through Kong’s hair.
Maggie turned her head. “There is a 650-acre complex with enough food to last the next three years for over 1,700 people. They currently have just over a hundred slots filled.”
Rayna stroked the back of Kong’s neck and nodded slowly. “That’s good. It’s going to help a lot of people.”
“What about us?”
“What about us?” she said throwing the question back at her.
“We are scraping the bottom of the barrel here, Rayna. I’ve seen it. You’ve seen it. Hell, the rest of the families have. We need to start thinking long-term.”
“We are. That’s why they’re out there right now.”
She scoffed and shook her head. “And every day they come back with less. These small towns didn’t have enough to begin with, and it’s been six months.”
“I know.”
“So?”
Rayna frowned. “What do you want me to say, Maggie? What? You want to go to Texas? You know how far away that is?”
“I know it’s far but—”
“No buts, look…” Rayna got up, went over to a shelf, pulled out a map and spread it over the table. She took out a red marker pen and circled Lake Placid. “By car we are looking at close to a two thousand mile journey. That’s close to 30 hours without stopping. Now add to that the state of the roads, the unexpected attacks, and we could be looking at a week.”
“But can’t we at least see what it’s about?”
Rayna shook her head and looked over at Lily and Evan who were reading magazines and drinking pop. She wanted the best for them, she really did, and if she was honest, she knew they were getting dangerously close to not being able to feed their own kids. It was one thing to go hunting when only a handful of hunters were doing it in season; it was another to know that thousands of people in upstate New York were doing the same. The deer population, which had once thrived, was dwindling. Most of the time when Gary and Elliot returned they brought back rabbit or squirrel. No one complained, but it was getting harder to find a good source of food. She’d planted all types of
seeds from carrots, potatoes, beans, corn, cucumber, lettuce, onions, peas and so on and they’d reaped a good harvest but was it enough? Crops were becoming the new gold. Everyone wanted them and few had taken the initiative to gather seeds the way Elliot had before the EMP. Now they were sharing what they had with the other ten families as word soon spread and well, if they didn’t share, their neighbors would have turned into adversaries and they had enough of those already.
Maggie continued, “The other families can go with us. That’s more than enough protection. There are at least two people per household. Including us we are looking at twenty-five to thirty people being able to watch our backs as we make our way down.”
“Not everyone has the means,” Rayna replied. “Or the desire.”
“This isn’t about desire. It’s about survival. You and Elliot of all people should know that.”
“Look, Maggie, I get it but to reach Texas we have to go through the eye of the storm.” She turned back to the map and drew a line from Lake Placid to Texas. It went between Kansas and West Virginia.
“But it was a high-altitude detonation. It’s been six months.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous. We’re safer here.”
“For how long? And even if we are, how long realistically can we last? The winters are brutal up here. At least down there we stand a chance of being able to survive. Hell, it might even be better than the FEMA camp Gary was talking about.”
She frowned. “Gary was speaking about going to a FEMA camp?”
Maggie shifted her weight from one foot to the next. “Yeah. You didn’t know that?”
While her conversations with Jill had improved, things between them weren’t the same. Jill harbored deep-seated resentment, and it didn’t matter what Gary, Elliot or Rayna told her, it was clear the relationship would never mend. It was like a cut that had healed over. The scar still remained and every time they saw each other, they were reminded of what had caused it. Rayna brushed past Maggie on her way out to speak to Jill who was taking a shift at the north blockade.
“Where are you going?” Maggie asked.
“We’ll talk later.”
“But—”
“No. Later,” she replied.
Rayna made her way past the charred remains of her home and turned up the street passing Bobby Wilmington and his wife, Susan. They gave a curt nod but said nothing. She’d come to know more about her neighbors in six months than she’d ever known before. It was amazing what stories people would share around the campfire at night. Everyone had a history, a reputation and opinions — not all of them jibed with hers but that was okay. Everyone was entitled to his or her view.
Jill was speaking to a group of three when she approached. She spotted her and Rayna raised two fingers to indicate she wanted to talk.
“Everything okay?” Jill asked. They were always concerned when Elliot and Gary went out. There was a chance they might not come back, but that was the cost of surviving. Danger lurked everywhere, and it didn’t stop to ask if you had a family.
“Yeah, yeah, everything’s good.” She took a deep breath. “I was meaning to talk to you about the FEMA camps. Is Gary serious about that?”
She pursed her lips and adjusted the rifle strap around her shoulder. No matter what background people had, even if they had never fired a gun before, within the first two months almost everyone was trained in how to hold, use, and clean a weapon. Although it was vital to learn some had refused. Jill wasn’t one of them; she’d already been trained by Gary.
“Yeah. We’ve talked about heading south tomorrow or in a couple of days, to the FEMA camp just north of the Big Apple.”
“And when were you going to bring this up?”
“Does it matter?” Jill asked.
“You know it matters. We rely on each other to get through each day.”
“But aren’t you tired of trying? I know I am.”
Rayna stared back at her with a look of astonishment. At no point had they discussed this with Elliot or her.
“Do you really think it’s going to be any better than here, Jill?”
“It can’t be any worse,” she replied.
Rayna let out a heavy sigh and ran her fingers through her long dark hair. She looked over to Tristan Summers, Zach Matthews and Sean Young. They were oblivious to it all. Most of what they knew about the EMP and FEMA had come from what they’d shared so far. They were ordinary folk not given to disaster preparation.
“When Elliot returns we need to talk about this as a group.”
“Rayna, as much as I appreciate your concern, this is something we’re doing for us.”
“Don’t you mean you?” Rayna asked.
Jill folded her arms and narrowed her gaze. “No. It’s for me and Gary.”
Rayna shifted her weight. “And what about us?”
She shrugged. “You are more than welcome but I don’t see Elliot wanting to do that.”
“And that’s why you’re doing it. This isn’t about survival, it’s about you and me, isn’t it?” Rayna asked.
“That’s in the past.”
“Is it? Because I still get the sense that you harbor resentment towards me.”
“What do you want me to say, Rayna? I’m not going to stand here and lie to you and pretend it didn’t happen.”
“Elliot and Gary have managed to work things out.”
“So?”
Rayna placed a hand on Jill’s arm. “Can’t we?”
Jill pulled away and breathed in deeply. “I don’t hold any animosity towards you, Rayna. What we are planning is for us. We need this. I need this.”
Rayna nodded. “So you’re saying Elliot knows?”
“Gary was going to speak to him today about it.” She looked over her shoulder. “Listen, I have to get back. We’ll talk later.”
Rayna agreed and walked away, her mind full of questions, concerns and worry. She knew entering a FEMA camp wasn’t going to fly with Elliot but a camp run by ordinary people — maybe.
The first rule of engagement in order to survive against a threat was not to engage unless it was absolutely necessary. Stupid people ran into the heat of battle, allowing their egos to get the better of them. Smart individuals assessed, planned and then took action. Action didn’t always mean going head to head. Pick your battles, Elliot had said. Damon and Jesse waited in silence as Ella returned. Jesse’s heartbeat was slamming inside his chest and a bead of sweat rolled down his temple. A flashback from the beating he’d got made his stomach feel queasy. Panic was rising in his chest. He closed his eyes trying to calm his mind.
“Jesse. Jesse,” Damon said. Jesse’s eyelids popped open. “You good?”
He nodded, adjusting his grip on the Glock that he was holding with both hands down low. They’d heard the conversation below the window. The men were searching for Ella.
“I’m telling you, I saw her go around the back of these buildings,” a gruff voice said.
“Did you check inside?”
“By myself? No. She might not have been alone.”
“What about that window up there?”
“It wasn’t broken the last time I was here.”
“Well get on up there. Go check it out.”
Jesse heard the sound of a man jumping up a few times, reaching for the ladder and then yanking it down. They all heard the scraping of metal and boots pounding against steel while a man grumbled. “She’s probably staying in that hotel four blocks down. No one is going to stay in an apartment with a broken window.”
Damon gestured to Ella to head back while he chambered a round in his gun, raised it and prepared for the man to poke his head through the window. He slid against the wall to the right of the window while Jesse headed with Ella out the door and into the stairwell. Ella shrugged off Jesse’s grip as he motioned for her to keep going. Damon wanted to tell her to stop being so stubborn but she wasn’t having any of it. Instead she pulled the Sig Sauer from the front of her waistband an
d headed back in, sinking down behind the sofa, out of view but at the ready. Jesse shrugged and took cover behind a chair. Anyone looking in would see an empty room, unless of course they turned their head and then it would be a bullet.
Damon slowed his breathing in preparation as the sound of boots got louder, closer and… just as he saw the man’s shadow against the floor inside, he heard the other man’s voice.
“Ricky, get down here, we’ll have to do it later. Seems we got company on the west side.”
For a few breathless moments he listened to their verbal tennis until the man walked away from the window and descended. A minute or two later they heard them leave. Once they were gone he turned to Ella and said, “Still think you’re safe?”
Chapter 5
Elliot arrived in Lake Placid shortly after nine that evening. The journey back had been filled with silence after a brief argument between Damon and Elliot concerning Ella. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to help her but they were already struggling to feed mouths. At some point a line in the sand had to be drawn. Damon refused to budge. A small group of neighbors came out to meet them, hoping to see what kind of haul they’d brought back. Expressions of hope soon vanished as they unloaded the Jeep.
“That’s all?” Sean asked.
“Afraid so,” Elliot replied.
“You look like you’ve been in a war,” Tristan added.
Right then Jill made her way down and a look of horror spread across her face at the sight of Gary’s bloody gash. The wound wasn’t from the katana but from having slipped and knocked his head on the counter inside the store. Still, it was a nasty cut. One half of his face was caked in dry blood.
“What in heaven’s name?”
“It’s okay, Jill.”
“It’s not okay.” She tossed Elliot a glare as if he was responsible for his safety. “Let me get that cleaned up. And we need to talk.”
Four months ago, Gary and Jill moved into Mr. Thompson’s house so they could be closer. They’d stayed in their home for a while until it got too dangerous. Besides, it made life easier to have them closer — that way everyone could share what they had and support each other. Elliot watched as the ten families hauled in the supplies. It would all be distributed out evenly between the families. Three months ago they were fending for themselves but the need to constantly hunt or scavenge meant taking everyone along or leaving them behind, and that was too risky. Gary was the one to come up with the plan. He’d handed out flyers to those on the street who were interested in combining resources in exchange for doing different tasks. Some would man the blockades while others searched for supplies. It was working but as the demand for food increased and supplies dwindled, it was getting harder to justify working together.
