“You don’t think I see how you look at her?” Rick asked him venomously. “News flash, friend: she’s mine. If you ever hurt her or try to move in on her, I’ll end you. You got it?”
“What are you saying, Rick?” Chris said. “I’m your property now? What I am is grown, and I’ll be with you if I choose to be. If I wanted to be with someone else, I would be. I hope you can understand that. Now let him go!”
Rick let up on Robbie’s arm, releasing and pushing him away. Chris ran over to Robbie. Standing in front of him, she reached out and touched his face. “Are you OK?”
“Screw you, Chris,” Robbie spat out. “Why the hell would you tell him? I know you did. That’s the only reason he’d think something was up between us.”
“What?” Chris asked.
“You know what. Why did you have to tell him about us at my house by the lake?” Robbie said, walking out of the cellar and into the storm.
“What the hell is he talking about, Chris?” Rick said, looking at her through the darkness.
“Rick, there’s never been anything between Robbie and me—I promise you.”
“You’re lying Chris.”
A single tear fell from Chris’s eye as she silently walked out into the night.
“Go then. Run to your new man. Damn!” Rick yelled.
A few seconds later, he ran outside to look for Chris. “I’m sorry, baby,” Rick yelled out into the night.
Now drenched, Rick felt defeated and abandoned. He lay down on the wet ground, pulled his coat over his head, and fell asleep. Billy, having started a fire in a small woodstove that sat at the back of the cellar, sat in the empty room, not knowing what to do about what was happening to his family.
After some time had passed, Billy also went outside. A slight mist had formed just above the ground, and the rain was still falling steadily. The only sounds were of the wind blowing against the trees and the raindrops hitting the wet pavement. He saw Rick on the ground and helped him stand up. Rick was shivering, his wet clothes clinging to his body. Both went inside to sit by the fire and take in its warmth.
For the rest of the night, neither said much, but both worried about Chris and Robbie.
“Billy, what have I done?” Rick asked.
“You’re human, and people make mistakes. Chris loves you, and you know it. We’re all under a lot of stress. Hell, just look at everything we’ve been through.”
“I know, Billy but…but what if they don’t come back?”
“Rick, that’s not going to happen.”
“Do you think Chris and I are over?”
“Ricky, listen. Robbie was talking about having seen her undress—that’s all.”
“What do you mean? I thought they—”
“Nope, it’s nothing like that,” Billy replied.
“Well, I feel stupid now,” Rick muttered, sipping on some coffee Billy had made. The two men sat together quietly, hoping Chris and Robbie would return soon.
THIRTY
After Robbie left the cellar, he angrily walked up the road. He hadn’t traveled far when he saw something in the distance, perhaps four hundred feet away, on the side of the road. It appeared to be a barbed-wire fence with towers far off on the right and left. Unsure, as the rain and darkness made it difficult to see clearly, he took one knee and peered out, trying to figure out what he was looking at.
Only a few minutes later, Chris caught up with Robbie and knelt next to him.
“Hey, I’m sorry about all that back there,” Robbie said without looking at her.
When Chris looked at Robbie with a half smile, he knew they would be OK.
He stood up and made his way through the field of knee-high grass. Chris, following him, asked, “Is that what I think it is?”
“I think it’s some kind of military base, maybe National Guard. It’s too small to be a regular army base.”
As they walked closer to the fence, they saw it was made of chain link, which the plant life had overtaken. The weeds were growing up the fence, almost reaching the top, near the razor wire. About forty feet away was a guard tower that barely stood, as the roof had collapsed, and the support beams looked as if they were about to give way as well.
To the right they saw the same thing: another tower that was on the verge of collapse. It appeared that it had caught fire at one point, as the outside was stained black, with just the base still standing fifteen feet above the fence. Looking beyond the fence, through the fog they saw a large field of overgrown grass and weeds. Only one building stood, a four-story concrete structure with no windows and only one large bay door. A single stairway led to the roof of the building.
Chris and Robbie stood looking through the fence, debating what this place might be. Although Robbie initially had suggested it was a military base, as he looked at it more closely, he wondered whether it was an old jail or prison.
“Should we go get Rick and Billy?” he asked Chris.
“Hell, no,” Chris responded. “Let Rick cool off for a while. This is all you and me.”
They moved through the grass and weeds toward the tower on the right until they were directly under it. Examining the area, Chris found a small spot under the fence that had been washed out from years of rain; it was just big enough to crawl under. After doing so, Robbie and Chris, covered in mud from their faces to their feet, looked at each other and laughed.
“Come on. Let’s go check it out,” Robbie yelled to Chris, as he was practically sprinting toward the building nearly in a sprint.
As Chris caught up with him, they slowed to a walk as they approached the building. Standing just outside the inner fence, they agreed it wasn’t a prison or a military base. Unsure what it was, they moved around the fence line until they reached an open gate. The sally port was set up so those entering could walk through one gate, which would then lock behind them before they would have access through the second gate. Chris and Robbie felt excited to be able to explore something new. The possibility that something of value could be inside made them even more eager. Their hunger, anxiety, and the stress of constantly moving had taken their toll, and this was an opportunity for the two of them to get away from it all, even if just for a short time.
They made their way up the stairs, which now were nothing more than rusty metal. After climbing up four stories, they reached the roof. It was a square structure, completely flat on top, with no railing. The only things they saw on the massive roof were a few air-conditioning units, a giant H in faded white paint, and a small room that was the only visible entrance to the inside of the structure. From the top of the roof, looking out over the horizon, they saw nothing except fog and rain for miles. The door—twice the size of a regular door—was hanging by only two out of the three hinges. It was evident that at one time someone had used some kind of explosive to gain entry, as the frame around the door as well as the door itself were badly bent and twisted. Looking past the door and peering into the darkness, Chris and Robbie saw a ladder that descended into the darkness below.
At the top of the ladder, they were out of the rain, which had been steady for hours. They peered down into total darkness. With no lights, not even a match, Robbie was having some reservations. He told Chris he had a bad feeling about the place.
In the cellar Rick and Billy continued to talk about what had happened, and Rick now understood what Robbie had said. He felt stupid for thinking Chris would have cheated on him. He just wished he could apologize to her.
After Rick had dried his clothes next to the fire, he and Billy went looking for their friends but soon returned to the cellar, as the rain was coming down harder. They continued to wait for the storm to pass or their friends to return.
Chris and Robbie descended into the depths of the unknown. They climbed down four floors when they reached a catwalk, but the ladder continued farther down, with no sign of stopping. They were standing on the metal catwalk in nearly total darkness; the only glimpse of light came from a crack beneath a door ahead
them.
Chris, who had stepped off the ladder first, slowly moved forward on the catwalk. Using the handrail as a guide, she made her way toward a faint red EXIT sign.
“We need to get out of here,” Robbie whispered. “We can’t see anything and we don’t know what the hell this place is.”
“I really want to see what’s behind this door.”
Robbie wasn’t leaving Chris alone, and knowing she was a stubborn woman, he gave in. In the darkness Chris felt her way to the steel door and turned the metal handle counterclockwise. It spun freely, and the door opened, echoing throughout the building.
Robbie followed Chris as they stepped through the threshold. Inside they saw a single blue button flickering on some kind of control panel. Every few seconds it flashed just brightly enough for them to see a panel filled with knobs and switches.
“Power? Could this place really have power?” Robbie asked.
“Looks like it just might.”
After they felt their way through the dimly lit room toward the far wall, they discovered a long desk that also had controls. Feeling her way around, Chris made her way back to the control panel with the blue button. Closer now, she saw that above the panel was a large rectangular window that overlooked a vast open space.
Without warning Chris flipped the blue switch. At that moment the most unexpected thing they could have imagined happened: absolutely nothing. They had thought for sure the lights would come on, or the panel would light up, something.
“Hey, don’t touch anything else,” Robbie said. “We don’t know what the hell this stuff is. Let’s get back to Rick and Billy, and we can all come back together later.”
“OK,” Chris agreed.
After closing the steel door, they headed across the catwalk to the ladder. At the top, as they looked out from the small room on the roof, they saw that the rain had turned into a full-blown storm that was much stronger than when they’d arrived. Deciding not to push their luck, they turned around and headed back down the ladder.
Rick and Billy exchanged startled looks when they heard the unmistakable sound of vehicles coming from outside the cellar.
“That’s not possible,” Billy said.
They stood up and raced up the stairs. Peering around the corner of the building, they saw vehicle after vehicle driving past. Both men kneeled and looked in awe as an entire fleet of midseventies trucks, vans, and cars passed the dilapidated gas station. The trucks had machine guns mounted in the beds, with men positioned behind the heavy weapons.
As the last vehicle passed, it was clear who they were. On the driver’s-side doors, they saw the M.M. insignias.
“What the hell?” Rick said. “When was the last time we saw a working vehicle?”
“We haven’t seen the M.M. for months, and that was hundreds of miles from here,” Billy replied. “We need to find Chris and Robbie as soon as this storm subsides.”
Rick nodded, and he and Billy returned to the cellar to wait out the storm.
Stepping off the ladder to the catwalk, Chris and Robbie heard a remarkable sound. They had no doubt it was the sound of vehicles. After rushing back up the ladder and out of the small room, they moved into crouching positions at the edge of the roof, trying to keep the lowest profiles possible.
There it was in the distance, screaming toward them: a fleet of vehicles driving through a gate on the far side of the compound.
“Shit, let’s move,” Chris said.
They went back down the ladder, but this time they didn’t stop until they reached the ground floor. At the bottom of the ladder, neither saw anything in the pitch-darkness. Holding hands Chris and Robbie felt their way along a wall as quickly as they could until they came to a ventilation shaft.
“What’s that noise?” Chris asked.
“I don’t hear anything,” Robbie responded
An eerie feeling came over Chris as she heard voices; they were soft but definitely there. “Are you sure you don’t hear anything?”
“Chris, I’m sure. Now let’s go.”
Robbie pulled out his multitool and unscrewed the vent that covered the ventilation shaft as fast as I could.
The voices weren’t any louder, but the longer Chris spent in that dark room, the more of them she heard. It was almost as if the voices were calling out through the darkness, pleading for help. By the time Robbie had gotten to the last screw, Chris was more determined than ever to get out of the building as fast as she could. The voices were something she had heard before, although she couldn’t place when or where.
The last screw fell from its hole into Robbie’s hand just as the sound of the enormous metal door being opened echoed throughout the entire structure.
After Robbie pulled the vent cover aside, Chris entered the ventilation shaft first, followed by Robbie. Robbie pulled his feet inside the vent, and the screen closed just as floodlights filled the room one after another, each with a popping sound followed by a crackle of electricity. Chris and Robbie were on their hands and knees, as there was barely enough room for them to fit. Inside the shaft they waited, trapped in their tiny cubbyhole with nowhere to go. They stayed as still and silent as possible, peering out from behind the screen.
As they looked through the vent, their eyes slowly adjusted to the floodlights. In the huge warehouse, they saw row upon row of cages stacked three high throughout the vast room. Every cage had a person in it; suddenly Chris knew exactly where the voices she had heard were coming from. The cages were made of thick wood with steel reinforcing the edges. Each one had a large circular ring on each of its corners and a single small window in the front that was perhaps six inches wide.
Once the three-story cargo bay door was fully opened, M.M. soldiers flooded inside.
“Captain,” a soldier said into his radio, “I’m down here inspecting the cages. It looks like they’re all secure.”
“Check them again, and make sure they’re all secure and accounted for.”
“Roger, sir.”
The warehouse was full of soldiers performing various tasks. Some were fastening chains to the cages, while others appeared to be inspecting and taking inventory.
Chris and Robbie watched as chains dropped from a swing arm on a small crane. The chains were then attached to the rings on the cages, which were then hoisted one after another onto a flatbed truck that had backed into the warehouse.
Chris wanted to do something for the people in the cages, but she’d have no chance, especially with so many soldiers. If she and Robbie left the protection of the ventilation shaft, the M.M. undoubtedly would shoot them. They wouldn’t make it ten feet.
They sat silently in that small space, waiting, praying, and hoping their nightmare would end soon. Finally, after all the cages had been lifted and loaded onto the trucks, the lights went out, and the cargo door closed. Only then did they crawl out of the shaft. The only things left in the room after all the soldiers departed were large bags of salt, which both thought was very odd.
THIRY ONE
Almost twenty-four hours had passed since Chris and Robbie had left the cellar. The weather had cleared slightly, and Rick and Billy were worried about their friends. Rick and Chris had argued before, but she’d never been gone that long. Although Billy was calm, he too was worried; he just wouldn’t admit it to Rick. He only told Rick to be patient; he was sure they’d return soon.
The sun had just set under the mountains in the distance when the cellar door opened. Chris and Robbie headed downstairs and met eyes with their friends once more.
Rick and Chris quickly embraced, and Robbie apologized for how he had acted. Rick and Chris left the cellar together and didn’t reappear until late that evening. When they returned, they looked refreshed and smiling; each seemed to have renewed spirits.
Although Robbie was happy they were working things out, he couldn’t help having mixed emotions. He was very attracted to Chris but felt guilty because Rick was his friend, and Jamie was always on his mind. He sat in t
he corner, near the fire, gazing into a small cracked mirror for a time. Looking at the burns on the left side of his face, he wondered whether Jamie would still be attracted to him if she were able to see him.
Billy had gone outside to take in the night air and smoke a cigarette after Chris and Robbie explained what they had witnessed. They told them of the caged people they believed to be slaves that the M.M. were collecting. They all agreed something had to be done, but it wasn’t the right time. They needed food, supplies, and a more permanent place to stay.
Upstairs, in the gas station, Billy pulled away a board that covered one of the doors. He entered and spent some time exploring the three rooms inside. He discovered nothing of any value, but it was a time when he could be alone for a few minutes, which was just what he needed. He thought about how far they had come and wondered whether they’d ever find a place to build a town called America. Once he left the gas station and met up with his friends in the cellar, they all gathered their belongings and set out on the road once more.
They were hungry, tired, stressed out, and ready for a change. The four walked for the next two weeks, hunting animals and catching a few fish, which they were thrilled to have. They knew it wouldn’t last, but for now they all had their fill of food and a renewed sense of hope, even if it was only temporary.
Rick had reached a hilltop and yelled down for his friends to hurry up and get up there. Once all four had reached the top, they gazed down on a small town below. None of them could believe what they were witnessing. People were walking freely in the streets; it had been so long since they’d seen civilized people. There had to be at least fifteen or twenty people out and about—male, female, and children alike. It was a relatively small number but nonetheless astonishing. Looking down they saw that one main road went through the town. Most striking was that no guards or security were visible.
“Are these people insane, or did they make a deal with the Devil?” Chris asked.
A Town Called America Page 15
