by Connor Mccoy
But just as he finally felt they had escaped immediate danger, a strong acrid smell caught his nostrils. He inhaled more deeply. Something was burning up ahead.
“Hey, Dad, do you smell that?” Liam asked.
“I do, and it’s getting stronger,” Conrad said.
A tower of smoke rose in the distance. A northern wind blew in to push some of it into the path of the three travelers. Conrad coughed. Not only was he inhaling more smoke, he could smell burnt metal.
Then, as they passed a small diner, they finally saw the source of the smoke—several cars in a large parking lot that were burning on the inside. A crowd of people were jamming in long sticks to catch some of the flame, and then taking that fire to the cars. They laughed and cheered as they ran to other abandoned vehicles and jammed their flaming sticks through the glass windows. The unruly mob was pretty much all young people, some bare-chested, some dressed in dirty clothes.
Unfortunately, they were getting very close. In fact, they were on the verge of passing by the lot.
Conrad quickly looked for another path, any path that quickly would take them away from this bunch. He spotted one avenue of escape—a small alley that cut between two small business buildings. But the path was so narrow that almost nothing on the other side beyond a street could be seen. They could emerge right in the middle of another mob for all they knew.
But it was either that or get caught by this mob of arsonists. Already they were pointing and yelling at Conrad’s party. If they had guns, they’d be dead in a few seconds.
So, Conrad turned hard left into the alley.
The nearest arsonists who still had their flaming sticks climbed up on benches or the nearest fence and flung their sticks hard at the three riders. Conrad already had reached the alley, while Liam and Carla were just seconds from it. One stick hit the glass window of the building and bounced off, hitting the pavement just below the window. Another stick, however, got close, very close to Liam. With a sudden turn, Liam just barely avoided the incoming fire. The flaming stick instead hit a park bench and came to a stop, where the flame quickly leapt onto the wood and started burning it.
As Liam and Carla sped into the alley, they and Conrad could smell something else, gasoline. These lunatics were dipping their sticks into gasoline to help them burn as hot as they could. Perfectly good gas that could be used in an old car to make it run, or any other machine that might have been spared the EMP’s wrath.
Conrad mentally swore at these cretins in particularly vulgar terms. With Carla present, he wouldn’t voice those sentiments in front of a lady.
Conrad, Liam and Carla all emerged out onto the next street. To their great relief, no one awaited them. The street was like much of the area they just had passed through, a mass of abandoned automobiles, dead street lights, and the horrid smells of the dead.
But they weren’t out of the woods. Conrad looked over his shoulder. Some of the arsonists were giving chase through the alley.
“C’mon, give it all you got!” Conrad called.
Liam poured on the speed, but he just couldn’t get up as fast as he could if he was the only rider on his bike. Conrad slowed up to get even with Liam and exchanged a look with his boy.
“Just keep it going, son. We’ll outrun them,” he said.
Sweat poured down Liam’s face. His son must be nearing exhaustion. Still, the young man nodded. “I know.”
Carla gave him an added squeeze. “You can do it, Liam.”
Three or four of the arsonists now were behind them, but they weren’t as fast as the man in black that Conrad had frightened off. Conrad thought about the gun in his holster. The next few seconds would tell if he had to take a life.
Chapter Ten
Conrad’s hand drew away from the gun and back to his handlebars. The last of the arsonists had given up and retreated. Once again, he was spared the agony of having to make a kill.
Liam huffed and puffed. Conrad had to bring this chase to a stop, yet he wasn’t ready to stop anywhere. This was a town of death. He had to think of somewhere where it wouldn’t be easy to get the jump on them, and preferably, a place they could ride out of easily.
A few tall buildings drew closer. Conrad spotted a ramp on the right side of the street. Once he saw where the ramp led, he knew where to go to get away from this horror. He jammed on his breaks ahead of Liam and made a quick right turn. His son followed his lead. Conrad pedaled into a parking garage about four stories high.
As Conrad pedaled up level after level, he was surprised and relieved that the floors weren’t filled with cars. Since the solar storm occurred at night, there must not have been a lot of cars parked here to begin with. It also decreased the likelihood that people with ill intent would be able to ambush them. By the time they got to the level just below the top, there were no vehicles parked at all.
Finally, Conrad emerged onto the topmost floor, taking them out into an open space where the city was visible below. Again, there were no vehicles parked up here. The space was as free and wide as it could be. Conrad stopped. After opening the kickstand and dismounting, he sat down on the concrete next to the bike and exhaled loudly.
Liam came to a stop. Carla quickly dismounted. Liam then swung his leg over the side of the seat. He got to his feet, but only for a moment. Then he sank to the pavement. Not bothering to park his bike, it nearly fell over until Carla caught it and pushed out the kickstand.
After dumping her back down, she squatted down besides Liam. “Are you okay?” She reached for her pack. “Here, let me get you some water.”
Carla fetched her lover a canteen. Liam gulped down the water. His thirst seemed to be the only thing driving him. Otherwise, he looked haunted, almost beaten.
Watching his boy, Conrad cleared his throat. The open air had dried it out somewhat. Conrad wondered what must be going through his son’s mind, to see his mother’s home ravaged and inhabited by a killer.
Liam now looked up at his father. “So, what do we do know?” he asked, sounding slightly defeated but not squeezed dry of hope.
Conrad folded his arms. “If she’s alive, there’s no way she’s back there.” He sighed. “But unless you have a lead, we’re out of luck. We can’t turn this whole city upside down to find her. We’ll be killed before long. You’ve seen how they look at you. They have murder in their eyes. This world’s become their playground.”
Liam put his face in his hands. “We can’t give up now.”
“I didn’t say give up. I just said we need a lead,” Conrad said.
Liam straightened himself out so he sat near his dad. “Mom’s boyfriend. She would have gone there! He has a summer house. It’s west of Redmond. It might be better there, it’s not as packed with people. She might have ridden it out there.”
“West of Redmond?” Conrad shook his head. “And we’re up here on the north side. Not gonna be easy to get there. If I remember the map right, we could pull out of the city and go around to the west, but that would take days. Or we could cut right through the center of the city, and deal with whatever’s waiting for us there.”
Liam looked away. “But we are going to try, aren’t we?”
Conrad didn’t answer. He wasn’t sure what to say. He had left his homestead to come all this way here, and now the person they were looking for very well could be dead, rendering this whole endeavor a fool’s errand.
“How about we fill our bellies? Riding too long on an empty stomach will make you dizzy as hell,” Conrad said, “Plus, it’ll help us think.”
“Thank God.” Carla put down her pack and started digging through it. “Remember, I’m eating for two here.”
Liam seemed ready to protest, but Carla’s positive attitude quelled his anger. He joined in and helped set up a lunch for the three of them.
Though the parking garage remained quiet, Conrad forbade any cooking. Entrails of smoke could draw some unwanted attention. Of course, those arsonists might see the smoke and be sick enough to assume s
omeone else was having fun and want to join in.
“Oh.” Carla took out a small zippered plastic bag and dug out two pills. “B12 vitamins. Makes your brain go a mile a minute.”
Liam chuckled. “Carla is a health encyclopedia.” He took one of the pills, then downed it with a chug of water from his thermos. “I think I know every vitamin known to man by now.”
Carla offered the pill to Conrad. “Thanks, darling.” The older man took it and drank it down with his water.
An hour had passed by. So far no one had showed up to confront them up here. It was as though they had found a patch of serenity in a world of madness. They took their time eating. Soon they were just looking out into the city, munching on the last bits of bread or fruit.
“It’s strange,” Liam said, “The city doesn’t look as bad from here. Even the air doesn’t smell so bad.”
“It’s only bad when you’re actually down in it.” Carla pointed down to the concrete.
Liam pushed a last bit of bread into his mouth. “Yeah,” he said.
Carla lay back and looked at the clouds rolling by. “My favorite places were always up high. I’d climb to the tops of trees. Sometimes second-story balconies. And then I even climbed up on rooftops until my guardian told me to stop.” She laughed.
“Guardian?” Conrad asked.
“Yeah.” Carla blew a strand of hair out of her face. “I’ve had a few. That’s the bureaucracy for you. It took me a while to get my feet on the ground when I moved in to the Emmets. Before that…” She shook her head.
Conrad was beginning to understand this lady a lot more. Her early years must not have been pleasant ones, not if she had had to move in with different guardians. Perhaps it also explained her proficiency with picking door locks.
“Being up here makes me feel like I can soar above my troubles,” Carla said, almost dreamily. “Mister Conrad’s ranch reminded me of a dream I had when I was little. I thought if I wished hard enough, I would vanish and appear in a big castle in a green land with all the horses I could ride.”
Conrad turned his head to look directly at her. “Can you settle for riding a goat?”
Liam sat up. “Never had any horses?”
“You can’t milk them, they can’t make any wool and they don’t make eggs,” Conrad replied drolly.
“Well it’s a little girl’s fantasy. I don’t think I was worried about what horses can make,” Carla said with laughter.
Above, the clouds grew thicker and grayer. For the moment, Conrad didn’t care. He took another look at his son and his love. Then he realized how special it was to see his son as a man. Before the solar event, he thought he might never see Liam again. And now here he was, and with his own child on the way. It was astonishing.
Maybe I won’t make it through this, Conrad thought. Or maybe Liam won’t end up staying with me. But God knows these past few days have been better than the whole of the past twenty-eight years, just for Liam being here.
Conrad could have lived out his remaining days in the homestead. Maybe he still would. But now he recognized to have this family with him made the risks of leaving his sanctuary worth it.
And if this journey was indeed worth it, then he couldn’t give up. It would be as if he failed his son, and that was not acceptable. He had been out of the boy’s life for almost twenty-eight years since the separation from Sarah. He also had to admit that his curiosity about Sarah was stirred. Would she, after all these years, be any bit repentant for what she had done to him?
“So, the west side of Redmond.” Conrad reached for his sack and pulled out his street map of Redmond. “All right, kids, how about you help an old man chart a course to Sarah’s boyfriend’s home? Hell if I know where it is.”
Liam looked at Conrad with wide eyes. “So, we’re going?”
Conrad offered him the map. “As sure as I’m sitting here, you bet.”
I’ve been so spooked by this world, Conrad thought. But a man should be ready to give his all for his children. For almost thirty years, I’ve never had the chance to give anything for my boy. I’ve been spending all my time building my refuge from the world. Perhaps soon he would return there, but he would not return there alone.
The sunlight started to fade. The cloud cover was increasing. Conrad stood up. “I think we should make our plans in a hurry. If it starts pouring, we’ll have to take cover, and that could delay our progress quite a bit.”
“But it could also get rid of those arsonists,” Liam said. “With all this water, it’s going to make it almost impossible to burn anything, and they may take cover.”
Conrad smiled. “Yeah. Perhaps God is lending us a hand here.” Then he opened his map of Redmond. “Now, let’s get going on this route before it starts pouring.”
Chapter Eleven
The streets were quiet as Conrad and Liam pedaled their way through the city. Conrad raised his head to get a good look at the thick gray cloud cover that hovered above. Looks like he was right. The arsonists must have seen the growing spate of storm clouds, decided getting drenched wasn’t their idea of a fun time, and fled for shelter. But right now, shelter was of paramount concern for Conrad and his party as well. They had been lucky so far not to run into any rain, but unless these clouds moved on quickly, that was almost certain to change.
“Keep an eye out for something that’s hidden, a building that won’t stand out,” Conrad told them. “We also don’t want anything that can catch fire easily. So, stay away from anything that has chemicals, oil, gas, things like that. And also, anything with a lot of exposed wood. Remember, there’s no functioning water system and definitely no fire engines coming to our rescue.”
Liam looked to the darkening skies. Carla, hanging on his back, looked up as well, commenting, “We may not have to worry about that if this gets any worse.”
“Don’t be so sure.” Conrad looked at Liam and Carla. “Rain can come and go quickly. This system may even pass by us altogether.”
Conrad thought about their situation as he studied the buildings surrounding them. The city had been quiet in the morning hours, but in the late afternoon, activity started to pick up. Assuming the arsonists operated like the rioters in Wynwood, they must do a lot of their rampaging during the night.
“Once we find shelter, we’ll rest up, then get an early start in the morning, just when the sun comes up,” Conrad said. “I figure our friends out here probably will catch some z’s when dawn breaks. That should give us time to get over to the west side of the city.”
This part of Redmond still was in the business district, so Conrad and his companions hadn’t run into any houses since they had left the parking garage. That had made it less likely they would run into anyone roaming the streets, and indeed thus far they hadn’t run into any people.
Conrad looked to the left side of the street and grimaced at what he spotted there. No, scratch that. There were people around. Just dead ones. The man lying on his back was just the latest victim. The trail of dead citizens began when they crossed an intersection onto this street. Up until now, the streets were mostly littered with the aftermath of property destruction and, of course, stalled-out vehicles, but it wasn’t until recently that they ran into the dead. Conrad wondered if the band of survivors burning the dead outside of the city had something to do with it.
Were those the same nutjobs we ran into earlier? Conrad puzzled over the people who were burning the bodies. No, if those were the same arsonists we stumbled upon earlier, they’d just burn the bodies on the spot. Why go through the effort of hauling the bodies outside of the city? If you’re aiming to have fun, why exert yourself?
Conrad slowed his pedaling to keep close with Liam. “Hey,” he said softly, “Keep an eye out for animals. This place is going to attract more of them.” He then nodded in the direction of the latest corpse on the ground. A gaggle of flies buzzed over the deceased person’s head.
Liam’s face turned a little green. “Right. Yeah, sure.” Carla simply
looked away with a sad expression.
Conrad returned his gaze to the road. He wished he hadn’t. Two fresh bodies lay across the sidewalk in front of a small twenty-four-hour medical clinic.
But then something about them caused him to stop almost immediately.
“Dad?” Liam put on the brakes.
After quickly parking his bike, Conrad hurried to the two bodies. “Take a look here,” he said.
These two were indeed different from the other corpses they had encountered thus far. They wore blue buttoned up shirts, dark blue pants and black shoes. One of the men possessed a hard, leathery face, while the other was skinnier with a short moustache. Conrad knelt over one of them and looked at the dull bronze badge on his chest. These were policemen.
“I think these two got shot maybe a day or two ago,” Conrad said. “Look at their bodies. Decay hasn’t set in.”
Carla stepped back a little. Liam took hold of her arms. Conrad’s jaw clenched. He wondered if either of these two youngsters had ever viewed corpses up close before. It was a damn shame to expose these two to such horror, but sadly the world wasn’t going to give them a choice.
Conrad glanced at the name on the badge. “Simon,” he read. “Well, Officer Simon, I wonder what you were doing out here. I can imagine the city government had well broken down by the time you two got here.”
The three of them conducted a quick check inside the clinic. It was almost stripped bare, with just heavy furniture left. That was hardly a surprise. The medical supplies obviously would have been ransacked first. But that wasn’t what caught their attention. The inside was riddled with bullet holes and more dead bodies, a few men, including two more policemen. The back door out of the clinic was also broken open. In fact, the door was hanging limply off one hinge.
