by Mark Gordon
Chapter 13
Sanctuary
Sally found what she was looking for as the sun began to dip toward the western horizon - a small hotel with balconies that faced onto the street. She entered the unlocked lobby and called out. There was no answer. This would be her home for the night. She went behind the counter and found the board that held the keys to the rooms. Most of the spaces were empty, which meant that those rooms had probably been occupied before the “event”. There were two keys for rooms on the ground floor, but she ruled those out immediately for safety reasons, before taking the key for Room 14, which was on the first floor. She needed it to be one of the balcony rooms she had seen from the street. After checking that the rear entrance to the building was locked, she secured the lobby doors and headed upstairs to her room. The stairwell was awfully gloomy in the late afternoon light, and Sally felt a strong sense of relief once she was safely in her room with the door locked. She threw her bag on the bed and collapsed beside it, suddenly realising how exhausted she was. “No fucking wonder’“ she thought to herself. She’d lived through a day that was probably unique in the history of humanity. She was still crying when she fell asleep.
When she woke, the last remnants of light were leeching from the room and the silence was overwhelming. She flicked the light switch but it was unresponsive. She went to the balcony and looked out at her new world - her new dark reality. The streetlights weren't work, but in a couple of places, light spilled onto the street, which meant that some electricity was still on. A cat strolled across the street toward her building, but apart from that, nothing moved. She turned away from the window, more depressed than she had ever felt in her life and sat on the bed. She removed the contents of her backpack, and spread them out on the quilt - candles, a dead phone, a handful of breakfast bars, a bottle of water, tampons, a purse, her journal, a collection of pens and pencils, and the novel she had been reading - “The Old Man and the Sea”. She lit one of the candles and ate two breakfast bars and drank half of her water, before resuming her vigil on the balcony. The breeze that had caused her problems with the fire earlier had died down completely, creating a bizarre silence which was a new experience for a girl who had lived in the big, noisy city her whole life.
Sally was in need of comfort. In those times when her mother let her down (like the time she forgot her birthday), Sally found solace in her own thoughts. By logically analysing a situation and writing about it, Sally found she could depersonalise it, taking away some of the pain brought on by her emotions. She needed to evaluate this crazy situation she had found herself in. She went back into the room, grabbed her journal and pen, and sat down at the small desk to make a list:
1. Everybody gone.
She crossed that out and started again.
1. Almost everybody gone (I saw that one crazy guy earlier today), therefore there are people left behind (of which I am one).
2. Is it possible to evacuate 2 million people overnight in silence? NO!
3. People must be somewhere. Where? Still in city? Yes. Where? ... Hiding? Ridiculous!!!
4. Mental illness. Am I crazy? Have to assume not! Only option.
5. Am I in danger? Yes. From illness, accident, crime, lack of water and food etc.
6. How long before all of the electricity goes off? Days? Hours? Minutes? Use it before it shuts down? Why? For information!!!! Internet may still be online. Find others!!
7. Short term strategy: get information, stay out of trouble, don’t get sick, don’t get into dangerous situations, and wait.
7. Wait for what? Wait for things to return to normal! Where should I wait? In the city. Why? Because that’s all I know. How long will I wait? Until I can’t stand it any more!
8. Then what???????
Sally read her list and realised that it hadn’t answered any of the big questions, but it certainly made her feel a little better seeing her situation written down in black and white. It felt as if she owned the problem now and could somehow cultivate some small measure of control. She reread number six in her list. She couldn’t believe that she hadn’t thought of the Internet before! She decided to make a list of rules to help her get through the next few days. If nothing changed she would develop something more long-term. She started a new page in her journal.
Sally's Rules
1. Make this room my base (it feels pretty secure).
2. Assume there is danger (until proven otherwise).
3. Don’t go out at night, if possible.
4. Gather supplies (food, water, medical).
5. Get information (find Internet somewhere).
6. Hide until safety is guaranteed (I am rescued?)
Sally read her new list. Not much of a plan at all really, but if she stuck to it, she felt that she might increase her chances of survival until 'normal service was resumed'. She went back out onto the balcony and peered up and down the deserted street. She wondered about the lights. There was possibility that one of those lit-up shops had a computer with Internet access. She thought she had read somewhere that the Internet was established by the US Defence Department to have reliable communications in the event of a major electricity disruption or in times of war. That’s why telephone lines were used; they didn’t require very much electricity to send data. A computer, however, did require electricity, and Sally would only be able to access the Internet with a computer while the electricity was still on. She became furious with herself that she hadn’t thought of electricity before she decided to stay in this hotel. Why didn’t she pick somewhere with power? It didn’t matter now. She had made her choice based on safety, and she was going to stick with it. She did need to try to find information, however, by going down to the street, and trying to find a computer that might still be online. But then she thought of the rule she had just written, about not going out at night. On the surface that rule made sense, but what would happen if the electricity went out while she slept? The Internet would be lost to her forever. She looked down into the street and analysed her choices. She had only seen one person all day (almost eight hours ago) so a short trip to find a working computer was a chance worth taking, especially if she was vigilant. The street looked deserted and harmless. She made her decision. She let herself out of the room and headed downstairs.
She stood at the locked lobby doors and surveyed the street outside. Nothing moved. She unlocked the door and stepped outside before pulling it closed behind her in case she needed to get back inside quickly. She thought about relocking it, but decided not too in case she needed to get back inside in a hurry. She had noticed a real estate office earlier, and now she kept to the shadows and tried to make as little noise as possible, as she headed towards it. It was funny how the night made you feel so much more vulnerable, she thought.
