Dark Days Rough Roads dd-1

by Matthew D. Mark

  The bottoms had taken a bit more finesse. There was a base plate attached for strength and then a large hole drilled through. This was attached to eye bolts they had secured in the concrete floor. If someone wanted to push through the door it wouldn’t be that easy. They would meet a good amount of resistance.

  The windows and doors were now locked down and secured. They took another break and decided to go over the list that Dawn had made. She got up, walked over to a shelf and flipped on her ham. They had strung a wire antenna in the trees next to her house and ran it into the house next to the fireplace where the ham was plugged into a 12v source.

  She only had a couple of outlets running on a few batteries. It was nothing like Haliday’s set up. She would wait a bit and then try to reach him. She was told to wait until 24 hours, enough time to get home, secure the place and take care of any little things. To travel twelve to fifteen miles in one day was more than acceptable the first couple of days of an event.

  She looked down at the fireplace, which was natural gas. She saw the pilot flame flickering. That was great news. Haliday’s mom and dad had watched a video online about fuel sources and what to expect in SHTF scenarios. They had told him that natural gas was a constant source and would continue to provide fuel at a constant pressure unless it was turned off.

  He did a little more research and had passed the information on. Here in Michigan, they had a lot of wells, and it was possible they could have natural gas flow for 4 to 6 weeks if not longer. Of course there were a lot of factors that could change that, but they would use it as long as they could.

  She turned up the volume on the radio and listened. She double-checked the frequency list she had and it was set correctly. She waited. The voice was definitely his. “Kaybear and Bobily on track all safe, reply one word.” The replies came, “yes,” “yes,” and a “me, too.”

  “Who is this?”

  “It’s munch.” He called her munch, short for munchkin and she hated it. He was just like that big brother that made life hell.

  “Anything bad going on,” he asked. There was silence. “Anything bad,” he asked again.

  She said, “We are fine, but we had a problem.”

  He responded, “Ok, then move on, get busy and worry about it later. With everyone here now I’ll revert to more normal talk on the ham, but refer to my instruction sheet on keeping security on the net tight.” Of course everyone except Dawn wondered what had happened.

  Chapter 7

  Rich and Bev Haliday had been going over things all day long they were also checking the radio every couple of hours to make sure they had things ready and secure. Bev had gotten serious about prepping again about six months ago. Although she had stock from her Y2K preps, she wanted to build upon that.

  Over the years though, she kept a large amount of canned foods on hand and rotated through them constantly. She had also kept large supplies of toilet paper, paper towels, soap, deodorant and more on hand. You could go over there and shop in a pinch and be able to take home enough food or supplies to get you by until payday if you had too.

  Rich just went along with the program. He was not into being ready like Bev, but he was a good supporter of the cause and helped when he could. He would run out to the store to catch the sales, hit the gas station to fill up gas cans and help stock and inventory things. They had sectioned off a small part of their basement and dedicated it to preps. His reward was a trip to the casino every couple of weeks, which he enjoyed a lot.

  Often times, Haliday joined them for a little fun at the casino. There wouldn’t be any slot machines in the near future. Next to smoking, that was Rich’s only vice. He never really thought anything would happen, and now that it did, he found himself appreciating the readiness of the household.

  They had continued to stock enough food and were fully prepared to take in some immediate family members if they were able to make it there. At last count was a dozen more mouths to feed and they calculated they had enough food for about five months or maybe seven if they were religious on portion control. There were even pudding packs they bought at a warehouse club when they found out they lasted almost two years.

  These would be treats for the kids and Rich was fond of making sure these were sufficiently rotated. Bev had canned a couple hundred pounds of meats just in the three months before because she said she had that feeling. Rich kept telling her not to waste her feeling on the end of the world, instead tell him what the lottery numbers would be.

  They were just checking on their water supply, which was not the best, when they heard a knock on the door. They had two 55 gallon drums ready and a couple cases of bottled water. They also had the hot water heater but would be saving that for bathing and cleaning the next couple days.

  They knew it wouldn’t be hot, but warm enough to clean up with without having to boil any water. They both went upstairs. Haliday told them never to answer the door alone. Someone should always be at the ready, out of view, in case they needed to fire on an unwelcomed intruder.

  Bev asked who it was and heard a reply. It was her granddaughter Sarah with her 3-year-old great-granddaughter Elizabeth. They went through a little word game so Bev knew it was safe to open the door. She opened the door and let them in. They gave each other a quick hug and closed the door.

  Bev asked where her husband was and Sarah said he had not made it home, so this morning she packed up and they walked here. They had been walking all day, but mostly Sarah pulled Elizabeth in a little wagon. It had only taken them about four hours to make the 10 mile trip from their trailer park.

  Sarah said she was worried about her husband Erik, but Bev told her Erik knew where the house was and should know to come here. That didn’t seem to satisfy Sarah though, because Erik had only been about 15 miles from home when everything went down, and he should have been there when she left.

  Little did she know he was stuck in an elevator and didn’t know how to get out. He had been the only one in it when it stopped and he didn’t have any idea how to get the doors opened and he couldn’t reach the access hatch on the top of it.

  * * *

  Erik was moving some cleaning equipment from one floor to another in a very small three story office building that was under construction, when the elevator he was in suddenly stopped. As far as he knew, it was just a power failure. His phone was out in his car charging and when he had yelled for help, all he heard was another guy tell him the power was out, but he would try and get help. There had been only around 20 people in the building working on it and most of them had left. He sat there waiting and would shout for help every once in a while.

  * * *

  Sarah got settled and asked if she could rest for a bit. She and Elizabeth went into the guest bedroom and lay down on the bed to take a nap. Rich and Bev let her sleep because it was obvious she was up most of the night worrying, and the walk had taken all of the energy she had left. As she laid there trying to think about where her husband could be, she drifted off to sleep and wouldn’t wake up for another four hours.

  Elizabeth slept for only two. When she got up, she chased the cats around the house and played with them. Then she asked if she could watch TV. Bev said it was broken. Elizabeth said it was broken at her house too. Bev gave her some paper and crayons and she drew pictures. Bev had made sure there were things around to occupy their time instead of just sitting around.

  Rich came in from the garage, where he had been looking for something. “I found it Bev,” he said. “I’ll try it and see if it works.” He climbed down the stairs to the basement and went over to the sump pump. He dropped the end of a hose in the sump and pumped the handle of the water filter until water came out. He placed some in a plastic cup which he set aside.

  Next he put a small float in the sump and then measured how far down it was and made a note of the time and depth. They were not too sure how much water would seep into the sump, but they knew it would have to be monitored so the basement did not flood.

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nbsp; He took the cup upstairs and placed it on the kitchen table. “Here you go Bev.” Bev walked over and looked at it and held it as though it was a lab sample of some sort. She handed it to Rich and said, “Try it.” Rich said, “I’m not trying it. I’m not going to be your guinea pig.” He was very insistent that he would not be trying it.

  “Oh come on now,” she argued, “Roger said that filter would clean pee so it was good enough to drink.”

  “Well let Roger drink it when he gets back,” he quipped. “I’ll use it for flushing the toilet, but I’m not drinking that stuff.” He paused; he wondered how long the toilets would be able to be flushed. The water was gone for sure, but he didn’t know how long it would be before the sewer system was shot.

  Sitting around the kitchen table, Bev made a quick lunch. It was late in the afternoon, but they had been busy and had not eaten yet. She simply warmed up a big can of ravioli and pulled out some bread and butter. Bev, Rich and Elizabeth sat and ate lunch. They saved some for Sarah. When she got up, surely she would be hungry.

  Elizabeth asked for dessert and Bev handed her a pudding. Rich acted like he was going to steal it from her and she squealed in protest. “How about you just give me a little bite?”

  “Great-grandpa, you can lick the top,” she said. He laughed and said, “Ok, that’s a deal.” She handed him the foil lid and ran off with her treat.

  Bev walked over to the radio and turned it on. The call was received and she was starting to feel better about the trip Roger was making. She figured that he would be the one who could get the job done as fast as possible and as safe as possible. Her only concern was how Linda, her ex daughter in-law, and her new husband would react to him taking Kayla out of there. Although she knew if it became an issue, he would be able to get something worked out.

  Sarah had gotten up and walked into the kitchen and kissed Elizabeth. She sat down and Rich warmed up her ravioli and put the plate down in front of her. He buttered up a piece of bread and set it on a napkin, along with placing a glass of tea down next to her plate.

  She slowly ate and they could see she was deep in thought still. She finally just said it aloud. “I hope Erik is ok, I’m praying nothing bad happened. I thought he would have been home or been here by now.”

  Elizabeth said, “Mommy, where is Daddy?”

  “On his way here,” she said. On his way here, she hoped.

  * * *

  Erik was still in the elevator and was literally going crazy right now. He had no idea how long he had been in there, had taken several short naps and was thirsty and hungry. His voice was weak from yelling for help. He urinated and defecated in a corner of the elevator.

  What in the hell is going on out there, he thought. Why the hell hasn’t anyone rescued me? He had flipped the service cart on it’s side and tried to find a hatch in the ceiling and found it but it would not open. As time passed, he was thinking nuclear war, tornado, power outage or some other natural disaster, but wasn’t sure what it was that happened.

  He paid attention to sports and had watched a lot of horror movies, but he too was really just a sheeple who didn’t mock the preparedness society, but saw it as a waste. He never got into doomsday movies. He didn’t really know what an EMP was and he sure as hell didn’t know the effect it was going to have on him.

  The darkness of the car alone was really bearing heavy on his mind. He kept thinking he felt something touch him and he would jerk away. The slightest sounds were amplified and he would scream for help believing the noises were from rescuers. The air was stale and the odor was overwhelming from the urine and feces.

  * * *

  The evening was approaching and soon it would be time to light some candles. Sarah had stayed at the table and played a few games of dice with Rich and Bev. Elizabeth either ran around chasing the cats or played with a few toys kept around the house for the great-grandkids. They were waiting for six o’clock, which should be the next time that Roger checked in. In a normal world, he would have been there already, but that was taking highways and cutting through major cities, all of which would have been very dangerous.

  Bev asked Rich to start the generator and run it for a couple hours. He went into the attached garage and opened the garage door a crack and started the generator. He wasn’t going to screw around with back fed circuits so he had a transfer switch installed and he switched it over. The door from the garage to the house was well sealed, but he still had a fan by the muffler to act as an exhaust to vent as much as he could to the outside. He stood there for a bit and smoked a cigarette. He went back inside and heard the ham radio crackling.

  * * *

  Erik had finally managed to get the handle off the floor buffer and was using it to pry open the doors of the elevator, but they wouldn’t budge. Next he started jabbing at the ceiling where he had found the hatch. He actually managed to get it to pop open. He got up on the service cart and tried to lift himself up.

  It took him quite a few attempts, but he managed to get up on top of the car. He rested there; the task was too much for him and he needed a break. The one thing he noticed was the air seemed quite a bit better now with enough flow to help overcome the rankness he left on the elevator floor. Covering it with rags didn’t help keep the odor down much.

  After resting, he lifted himself up and felt around on the door mechanism. He was on the third floor when he got on the elevator and was only halfway down to the second when it stopped. He tried to pry the doors open that led to the hallway and these too did not give very much. He would catch a glimpse of daylight when he did this. He wasn’t sure how long he had been in here. He thought it might have been only hours, but couldn’t tell for certain. All he knew was he was hungry, very thirsty and starting to get cold. He was going crazy in all literal senses.

  * * *

  Haliday had checked in and everything was going ok. He told them quickly of his encounter and said he might be delayed in checking in every couple of hours, so they should wait until 15 minutes past the hour before turning the ham off. He didn’t want anybody’s radio overheating. They were too valuable and the handhelds they had didn’t have the range for clear enough communication at that distance. This was going to have to work for now and he assured them he would be ok.

  Rich liked playing dice games. He had put his time in for the “Big Three” in skilled trades and usually on breaks or during down time, they would either play dice, dominoes or some cards. This would amount to hours sometimes as he would program his machine and let it run its cycle. He occupied himself with this and crossword puzzles to keep busy. After a few more games, he excused himself to go turn off the generator and use the bathroom.

  Sarah and Bev sat at the table alone. Bev told Sarah not to worry just yet, that there was a lot going on out there and things were not that easy to do these days. She reminded her that she was still waiting for her own children to make it in. She had six total, five boys and one girl and what a handful they were. One son and the daughter lived out of state. Another son had forsaken the family and the family had forsaken him for reasons they never really talked about. That left Roger, David and Alan in the state.

  Bev had worked in a variety of jobs as waitress, packing boxes in a warehouse and ultimately put herself through school and became a substance abuse counselor. She had the ability to help people think through problems clearly and this experience came in handy right now with Sarah. She was able to keep her calm for now.

  * * *

  He got up one more time to see about prying the doors open. He was shouldering one of the doors when it started to slide open. He moved his feet to brace himself for leverage and stepped into the open hatch, causing him to tumble down into the car. He landed and snapped his leg just above the ankle.

  There was no way possible he was going to get out of this by himself now. He sat there in pain and straightened his leg out a bit. His pant leg was damp and he knew he was bleeding. He grabbed the service cart and latched onto some rags which he
tied around his leg.

  All the while he was thinking about Sarah and Elizabeth and hoping they made it to her grandma’s house. He thought about how cute Elizabeth was during her ballet recitals and how good of a cook Sarah had become. He reminisced about all of the good times they had had over the years. He was tired now and drifted off to sleep with these thoughts on his mind. Erik would never wake up.

  Chapter 8

  Haliday had just checked in again with everyone and had pretty much figured out that everyone would be doing ok. With just about a day and a half after the country went dark, things would still be fairly civil. In another couple of days, the people would start to panic.

  The realization that their food would be running out would hit. This is when things would start to go Wild West as he used to say. Rule of law would become rule of gun. He wanted to be as close to home as he could be at that point. He would prefer to be back in Michigan period.

  He was well clear of Bryan and now into Indiana heading west just about 15 miles above Fort Wayne. He would start to head south and run through another small town called Warsaw. Hopefully there wouldn’t be any problems. He had noticed a lot of old tractors and ATV’s on the road, but very few cars.

  What cars he did see you would expect to see in a museum or better yet, the Woodward Dream Cruise. Detroit’s only saving grace these days. One day dedicated to cruising Woodward Avenue with vintage autos. One thing he did not see yet was the sign of any military vehicles. Of course he was trying to avoid any installation of any kind. There would be far too much explaining to do if he got caught.

  With dusk here, he flipped on the headlights and continued his trek. He was making pretty good time. A lot of the vehicles had been pushed out of the way, making travel easier. It was much different than up in the Detroit area. People up there had no respect for anything and just left cars where they were. Hell, they did that when one broke down in normal times. Civilization turned for the worse years ago and just kept turning as far as he was concerned.