“I got it. If you think you’re fast enough, you just let me know.”
“Sure,” Rick said, yawning.
The next evening the three awoke and ate fried fish and canned corn for breakfast. The sun had just set, and cast a gorgeous array of colors across the trees and the town before falling behind the mountains in the distance. After their horses were packed and ready to go, the three set out east for Jamesville. Although they encountered very few people traveling in that part of the country, they still used as much caution as possible whenever they came close to a town or any place that might have people. The three always attempted to avoid human life as much as possible, other than when they occasionally tried to barter with a traveler.
Rick asked Billy about Jamesville, inquiring about its population, roads, and anything they might need to know before they arrived. These were things they always discussed before going anywhere new.
Billy told him it had been a nice town of maybe thirty thousand people, and many of them were older people who were in or near retirement. That of course was before the world had fallen apart, so Billy really couldn’t say how it was faring now or even if it was still there at all.
After four nights of riding, the trio arrived just outside of Jamesville. Stopping at the top of a hill, they saw the town nestled in the valley below. The town was all but gone, burned long before they arrived. Now, as with most places, only a few buildings remained.
“No signs of life,” Rick said
“No worries,” Billy told him. “I lived about fifteen miles outside of town, so there’s still a chance the old house could be standing.”
Chris looked at Billy with her soft green eyes, hoping her friend would find what he needed and wouldn’t be disappointed.
EIGHTEEN
At the outskirts of Jamesville, a young man named Robbie was lying on his back in a canoe, soaking up the warmth of the sun. He was tall and lean and had a golden tan. As he lay on his back, the muscles in his arms, chest, and abdomen were clearly visible. He had a physique bodybuilders spent their entire lives trying to achieve, the type of naturally toned body only a seventeen-year-old can have without putting any extra effort into the making. He had shoulder-length blond hair and bright-blue eyes that any woman could sink into.
Robbie, however, was shy and didn’t really enjoy being around people—not that he really had to worry about that, considering the population of Jamesville was only a third of what it had been when he was a child. Therefore, in that aspect, living here by the lake was perfect for him.
The water was as clear as it ever had been, but the silence bothered him. To him it was too quiet, and it had been for far too long. He lay in his canoe, closing his eyes, fully intending to drift off to sleep. As soon as Robbie’s mind began to calm and move to that place where dreams are made, his memories played out in his head, just as they had the day before and the day before that. They were memories he desperately tried not to think about.
He had been sitting in the same canoe on the same lake on what easily would become the worst day of his young life. It was the day before his seventeenth birthday, although he had forgotten about it at the time because he didn’t have a calendar or any way of keeping track of time, other than an educated guess based on the seasons.
On that day Robbie had been fishing when his pole began to bend and pull with the tug of a fish. Focused and in control, he had become an expert of sorts at fishing. His father had taught him, and being on this lake reminded him of the time he had spent with him. His mother had died when he was young, and his father had gone on a hunting trip the previous season and hadn’t returned.
At first he thought it was great that his father had been gone longer than the three days he’d expected. He’d have more time to relax and not have to worry about keeping the house tidy or cleaning and salting meat for the winter. However, as the days passed, it became clearer that his dad wasn’t returning.
Life was hard for him, but his father had taught him to be resilient and independent. Since he had left, Robbie reluctantly had continued with his duties. The house was clean; the chickens in the coop were fed, as were the cows in the pasture. The horses were brushed and their shoes maintained. It had been a lot of daily work for one young man, but he knew that in order to survive, he needed to maintain what his father had built.
When the collapse had happened, Robbie’s family had hardly noticed. Sure, there was no electricity, but they hadn’t even owned a television set. For them it just meant they’d have to use candles and oil lamps instead of lights. As for the kitchen appliances, with the help of Robbie father, it was somewhat easy to build a small windmill that was just big enough to power the few appliances in the house.
The farm near the lake was small, surrounded by dense trees, and the closest neighbor was more than four miles away. Robbie, unaccustomed to things other teens had, had grown up outdoors. He never had an Xbox or a Facebook account, not even before the power grid had gone down. It was a tractor and an occasional girl that he had talked into going behind the barn. He’d also sneak booze from his father’s liquor cabinet. As with most teens, girls and anything forbidden interested him the most.
After his father left, his life was quiet but and sad. He was, after all, lonely since he was the only one on the farm. Jamie had been Robbie’s girlfriend of four years, and eventually she moved in with him. Prior to that, she’d been living with her father and mother in Jamesville, and then the M.M. struck. The town, like so many others, was set ablaze. With no working fire department, the fire quickly spread through town.
Jamie’s parents’ home was one of the first to burn, and unfortunately they were asleep inside. They’d never had a chance to make it out alive. Jamie blamed herself; she felt if she hadn’t sneaked out to see Robbie that night, perhaps she could have helped or warned them, something. Nevertheless, regardless of the tragedies, Robbie thought Jamie was happy, as she rarely spoke about her parents’ deaths. In fact she was very happy that she had Robbie in her life; she believed that without him she wouldn’t have survived as long as she had.
He turned his head toward the shore, where she stood like an angel awaiting him in the distance. Her hair was as black as the night, and her skin was soft and fair; she didn’t look one bit like a woman who was living through an apocalypse. She stood barefoot on the shore in a white knee-length dress that blew slightly in the breeze.
A goddess,” Robbie thought every time he looked at her.
Jamie, on the outside, was the perfect woman. Her body filled her dress exquisitely with curves, like a beautiful vase. She was in so many ways a woman of grace and intellect, and Robbie trusted her, respected her, and confided in her. She was his first love and the romance of a lifetime.
“When are you coming back? I have lunch ready for you, baby.”
“I’m on my way to shore now,” Robbie called out. He was floating nearly thirty feet out in the lake. He took out his oars and paddled to the shore to meet his love.
At the shoreline Jamie walked into the water, wading up to her knees and helping him pull the small canoe onto dry land and tie it to a nearby tree. Then the two walked hand in hand into the little house, where lunch was waiting.
They sat down and ate homemade chicken, grown and cooked right there on the farm. They talked about their plans for the day which included a walk near the water and berry picking. After lunch they walked barefoot to the shoreline, where they sat holding hands. Soon they unintentionally fell asleep on a blanket next to the water, with Jamie’s head resting on Robbie’s arm. When they awoke it was late afternoon. The sun was low in the sky, and the sweet scent of flowers hovered in the air.
Robbie knew it was time. He got up on one knee and nervously looked Jamie in the eyes. “Sweetheart, I’m nervous.”
“What is it, baby?”
“Look, you’re the most important thing in my life. I love you so much and…well, I can’t and don’t want to imagine my life without you. Jamie, you’re e
verything to me. Will you marry me?”
For an instant he wasn’t sure if he had really asked for her hand in marriage or if he were still dreaming.
He knew they had no preacher, no church, or even a ring for that matter. But what Robbie was trying to convey to Jamie was that he loved her, that he always had, and so he told her exactly how he felt with just four words.
“You’re everything to me too,” Jamie told him.
The two embraced passionately. She never did say yes, but Robbie believed he knew exactly what she felt, and for him that was all he needed. They were in every way soul mates, and Robbie knew it.
That night they fell asleep in peaceful bliss after making beautiful love. They kissed, touched, and held each other long into the night before they finally fell asleep. After the sun rose on Robbie’s birthday morning, he woke first and slowly slipped out of bed, trying not to wake his bride-to-be.
He needed coffee, and they both liked it made the old-fashioned way. Hand-ground beans and a filter with boiled water. Jamie preferred to wake up with the aroma of fresh coffee emanating throughout the house in the morning.
Robbie placed his hand in an oven mitt and poured Jamie’s cup of coffee after scrambling two eggs in a pan on the wood stove. He placed everything on the plate perfectly. A short-stemmed rose was the final addition. After everything was on the tray, he was ready to serve breakfast to the woman of his dreams.
With a gigantic grin on his face, he walked into the bedroom where Jamie was asleep. Setting the plate and coffee on the table, Robbie noticed a card he had overlooked upon waking. He opened the handmade card and read the note inside: “Happy birthday, my precious love. You are and always will be my soul mate.” A tear formed in his eye; that moment was something he would remember for the rest of his life.
When Robbie bent down and kissed his lover on the forehead, she didn’t respond. He touched her shoulder but still got no response. He closed his eyes for a moment, as they began to fill with tears. He opened them, held his breath, and reached for Jamie’s wrist to take her pulse.
She was gone, and he knew it. He didn’t know why or how; he just knew she was gone. Robbie collapsed to the floor in disbelief.
On his knees, with his hands covering his mouth, he screamed as his world imploded.
Then he saw it. A bottle of sleeping pills that had belonged to his mother. Sleeping pills she had left in the bathroom years earlier. The bottle was on the floor, and it was empty. Jamie had taken her own life.
NINETEEN
Before arriving in Jamesville Billy, Rick, and Chris had been traveling late one evening under the brightest stars they’d ever seen. They’d stopped outside a city that was filthy, decrepit, and known to be full of the worst kinds of people. If evil were to occupy a city, it certainly did here.
They had stabled their horses near a barn just outside town; Chris was to stay with the horses while Billy and Rick went into the city to scavenge or possibly trade for the medical supplies they desperately needed to treat a bad wound on Chris’s leg. The unfortunate truth, however, was if they did find someone they could trade with, it probably would cost them more than either of them had, as medical supplies were one of the most expensive commodities a person could acquire.
The city was dark, dirty, and dangerous. With that in mind, Billy and Rick made their way through the streets with extra caution. The buildings towered over the city streets like ancient monuments lost to time. The windows and doors were all but gone, leaving easy access to any creature looking for a home or temporary shelter. The only sounds that broke the silence were of animals scurrying about in the buildings.
The two men had climbed their way up the side of a building. From the top of a Dumpster onto a ledge, they were able to make the leap onto a fire escape at the end of an alley and climb to a rooftop. The city was an absolute mess, worse than either had anticipated, and climbing up here was necessary for them to make their way through the maze of trash and debris. The city streets were directly over a subway station that had collapsed after filling with water and mud. Only a giant river of oily, dirty, contaminated sludge remained—an oily mess both men wanted to avoid.
After getting to the rooftop, they planned to gain access to the inside of the building, and with a little luck, they could find an exit below. Hopefully this would allow them to continue to move through the city. The problem, they now realized, was that what once had been the front entrance of the building where they stood had collapsed. They were in a dangerous situation, and they knew that if they hurt, getting out of the city would be nearly impossible. It made no difference, however, because they were doing this for Chris. By now Billy knew there wasn’t anything Rick wouldn’t do for her. He couldn’t have talked Rick out of going if he’d wanted to.
Billy, looking like an old prospector in his duster and cowboy hat, moved with the precision of a man half his age. Tall and powerful, he always amazed Rick with his physical prowess. He often wondered how Billy had the so much energy.
On the roof of the building, the men looked down at the city below, wondering where all the people were. They both found that question to be extremely odd and worrisome. They had in fact seen signs of people—bedrolls and human waste, scraps of food—but no actual people. A city of this size surely must have people in it. After climbing a series of fire escapes and metal gutters, morning was upon them, and they were tired; they had to stop. On that rooftop, under a faded blue canvas tarp they had hung by rope, Rick and Billy sat silently on their bedrolls with their weapons at their side.
The next evening they continued their search until they reached a public library. Rick had remembered watching the news when Hurricane Katrina had hit Louisiana. What stood out in his mind was that not one public library had been looted or damaged. For whatever reason, when disasters hit, no one ever goes to a library. To Rick, however, libraries offered a wealth of untapped knowledge.
Billy and Rick found road and city maps and how-to books on everything from cleaning and cooking meat to treating wounds. If information is power, then in a disaster, a library is the generator. Anything they could think of was there—from information on starting a fire with flint and steel, to a good novel to take their minds off reality for a time. The library they stood in showed no signs that a human had set foot in it since the day its doors finally had closed. For Billy and Rick, this place was a treasure trove of wealth and knowledge.
The two men had no problem starting a fire in a fenced in back porch, behind the library. Once intended for a Dumpster, it was perfect for a fire as there was a never-ending supply of paper. After spending some time reading, they slept through the day until sunset, when they awoke to start their mission once more.
They had collected maps, books, and government statistics on population density. The latter would come in very handy, as they needed to avoid heavily populated areas. They knew the numbers were no longer accurate, but it would still give them an idea of which areas had denser populations.
Once all their things were in order, they set out on their final attempt to procure medical supplies. As unremarkable as the city was, somehow it was still able to make them laugh and give them a couple of things that just made them wonder. At one point they came across a car in a building near the top of a set of escalators nine stories up. They just looked at each other and without words knew what each was thinking: How the hell does a Toyota Corolla get to the top floor of a building?
The two men were moving through the night once more, hoping and praying they’d find what they desperately needed. Then something they didn’t expect or believe could be possible happened. From the rooftop of the building where they stood was the most remarkable site they’d ever witnessed. Like a beacon in the night guiding ships to port, what they saw would never leave them
TWENTY
From the rooftop of the building where Rick and Billy stood, they saw the most remarkable sight they had witnessed in what seemed a lifetime. It was in fact a hotel; at leas
t it had been a hotel at one time. It was at least thirty stories tall, and the top three floors were lit up with bright lights. How was this possible? Was everyone in the city living in a hotel?
After moving closer to the hotel by way of rooftops and fire escapes, the two clearly saw that it looked just like a modern-day military base. Outside the main lobby doors, under the covered roof that limousines once had parked under, were stacks of rocks and sandbags. Razor wire was spread around the perimeter, funneling anyone that dared walk up into a confined space directly in front of the armed men guarding the entrance. The outside of the building alone had at least ten people standing guard at various positions. Looking closer they saw men on the second floor as well as the fourth, in the windows, armed and looking very serious.
“How the hell are we going to get in there?” Rick asked. “Maybe we should just walk up and see if they’ll let us in the front door. Won’t hurt to try.”
“No, it won’t hurt unless they shoot us,” Billy responded.
After a short discussion, the two agreed they’d drop all their gear where they were, except for one weapon each. Although Billy didn’t like the idea of going anywhere near the hotel, but he knew he couldn’t keep Rick away, and he didn’t want him going alone. They climbed down from the rooftop of the building where they stood, made their way to the street, and did their best to walk tall and give the impression that they should be there.
As they strolled up to the hotel, the armed guards didn’t say a word. They just watched with their eyes and their weapons at the ready as the two men walked by. Rick and Billy didn’t make it five feet into the hotel lobby before three men met them with questions. The first was short and stocky, maybe five six or seven. He didn’t look very intelligent or as though he had much responsibility, but he was clean-cut, with a military-style haircut. The other two were of average height and size and also clean-cut.
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