Survivors of the Sun

by Kingslie, Mia

  Shafts of silvery moon light filtered down through the gaps in the roof creating twisted shadows, which became frightening forms in Georgia’s sleep deprived mind. Once, she half convinced herself that someone was standing just outside; she lay frozen in fear, wondering if she should wake the others, stealthy putting her hand out to touch the butt of the shotgun, but then realized that Millie seemed less than interested and eventually Georgia fell into a fitful sleep.

  She was dreaming that she was back home, making the bed and Nathan was standing behind her, asking her if she knew where his bandana was. ‘But you never wear a bandana,’ she had answered, turning to look at him, but he wasn’t there. In her dream she ran from room to room, calling his name, searching for him, but she could not find him anywhere, and then she became aware that all the furniture had gone, leaving only the white washed walls and polished honey colored floors.

  She woke, gasping for air, covered with a cold sweat and trembling uncontrollably. Until now, she had manage to cope, half convincing herself that Nathan would turn up, that he would instinctively know where to find her, however ridiculous that seemed. But, now as she lay beneath a thin blanket, staring up at the cold twinkling stars, she was overcome with a terrible emptiness, brought on by the knowledge that she might never see him again. Never see his easy smile and his laughing eyes. A stab of anguish cut through her. Was he lying somewhere in a ditch? What if he was dead?

  And what if he was with another woman? For the first time she let the suspicion creep into her thoughts. He had strayed once before, very early on in their marriage. She had heard him come in and had leapt out of bed to greet him, but he was already in the shower, his back to her, lost in a cloud of steam.

  She had picked up his clothes from the bathroom floor and that is when she smelt the truth of where he had been. The perfume of another woman, and the unmistakable smell of raw unadulterated sex. With shaking hands she had thrust the clothes into the washing machine, dialing up the hottest wash and tipping in some bleach for good measure and all the while her heart was breaking.

  She had kept the knowledge to herself, partially denying the truth, but mostly just to stay married. He never knew that he had been caught out, and perhaps he had felt remorse for what he had done, for that, had been about the time that he had started drinking.

  And as far as she knew, he had never crossed that line again. Unbidden tears sprung from her eyes. But perhaps he had. And perhaps that is why he hadn’t come home. As hard as the thought was it was preferable to him lying dead in a ditch somewhere. He was her husband and she still loved him. ‘Nathan, please be safe,’ she whispered. Finally she fell back into an exhausted sleep.

  Georgia was woken up at first light by the loud invasive cawing of a large black bird sitting on the sill of the glassless window above her head. It seemed to glare at her with intense silver eyes, feathers ruffled, wings not quite folded.

  She sat up, startling the bird. There was a loud flapping sound and the bird was gone. Georgia was relieved to be awake. It had quite possibly been the worst night’s sleep ever and finally the night from hell was over; the watery light of dawn successfully chasing away all her irrational thoughts, and sending the nocturnal creatures scuttling to their lairs.

  By six thirty, they were all up, looking exactly as if they had slept badly, out in the ruins of a barn. They shared the last of the pecan pie and Georgia, in vain, searched through all the bags in the hope of uncovering extra food.

  They had no clean clothes to wear either, and even though Lola had assured her that she didn’t smell, Georgia was not convinced. She felt dirty and unwashed. The children seemed to have taken the night in their stride and were bubbly, almost excited.

  Round the back of the barn, they discovered a rain barrel, it was less than a quarter full, and as she peered in to see whether it was usable she noticed tiny larvae dart down away from the surface. One thing for certain, was that the water did not have anything poisonous in it, because if it did the larvae would not have survived, but even so, the water was stagnant, and they were not that desperate yet. Still, it was a good thing to remember, that barns could be a source of water.

  They began walking, Georgia hoping they would come upon a stream, both to supplement their own water stores and to wash with.

  They had been walking about an hour when Georgia noticed that there was something different about Rebecca, but she could not put her finger on it, she studied her intently, and then suddenly bam, she had it.

  ‘Where are your glasses Rebecca?’

  ‘I lost them,’ Rebecca’s voice was very small.

  ‘You lost… when? Are they back at the barn?’

  ‘No. I lost them before that.’

  Georgia shut her eyes in total frustration, how had she not noticed? It was her role to be on top of things, to notice if one of the kids was limping, or looking too hot, or if Rebecca wasn’t wearing her glasses.

  ‘Why didn’t you say anything? We could have gone back and looked for them.’

  ‘No, we couldn’t.’

  Surely, she hadn’t left them at home, surely she hadn’t been without them for … no, she had been wearing them since then. Georgia suddenly remembered her looking out the window of the Goodwill store, she had pushed them up onto the bridge of her nose.

  ‘I left them at Grandpa’s, under the pillow and I was scared that you would want to go back and get them, and I knew…,’ her voice tailed off.

  She was right; it would have been out of the question to go back there.

  ‘It’s okay Rebecca, we will just have to somehow get you another pair.’ She smiled brightly, ‘Can’t have you stumbling around the countryside.’

  Just have to get her another pair, easy to say and how exactly am I meant to do that? Just twitch my nose and conjure up a pair I guess. If only it were that easy. Not as if we can just go to an optician and order another pair. Or…, maybe they could.

  She stopped walking. ‘Does anyone know if there is an optician anywhere around here?’

  Rebecca and Jamie shrugged their shoulders.

  ‘The only one I know is near Dad’s house,’ Deedee said, but I think that might be too far to walk.’

  ‘Just a bit,’ Jamie said with a touch of sarcasm in his voice.

  ‘Well it’s the only one I know…,’ Deedee began when Lola stopped her.

  ‘There is a Wal-Mart Supercenter back the way we came, about two miles east of where the railway station wasn’t, on Foxwood Drive I think. I was there when the power went out, had to leave my groceries behind when they couldn’t take my card. My car as well, that was when I met Douglas, he invited me to come back to his house, but I didn’t want to leave my vehicle, and I thought the power would come back on anytime, so I declined his offer. He gave me his address just in case I changed my mind and…,’

  ‘Do you know if they have an optician,’ Georgia interrupted. Still trying to process the fact that they had been right near a Wal-Mart superstore and no one had thought to mention it.

  Lola paused, looking a little surprised at Georgia’s abruptness. ‘Well, I don’t know if there is an optician or not, but I guess there would be.’

  ‘I thought you said you were Grandpa’s cousin,’ Rebecca asked, her voice filled with suspicion, her eyes narrowed to slits.

  Lola looked somewhat taken aback. ‘His cousin?’

  ‘Yeah, yesterday at the library, Georgia said you were his cousin, so how come you didn’t know where he lived?’

  There was a momentary silence; Georgia was shocked by Rebecca’s rudeness, but also impressed that she had picked up on the apparent discrepancy. It meant she was thinking. She was on the verge of stepping in, when Lola stared at Rebecca and said, ‘so, do you know the address of your cousins?’

  Rebecca thought about this for a short moment and then admitted that she didn’t.

  ‘Okay so now that is sorted,’ Georgia said, ‘perhaps we can get back to the burning question of whether or not Wal-Mart has a
n optician.’

  Lola did not know; chances were that the store had more than likely been looted and burnt to the ground. On the other hand, Belton had, so far, been untouched by that insanity, perhaps…, either way, it was definitely worth the time to go back and find out, and even if there wasn’t an optician, there might be other useful things, namely food.

  They turned around and began walking back towards Belton.

  Chapter Twenty One

  July 16, Day 6

  They reached Wal-Mart shortly after eleven o’clock. The building had not been burned down, and at first glance it looked just as it would on a normal shopping day. The carparks full of cars, shopping carts scattered here and there. But then, on closer examination they could see that the obvious difference, aside from a lack of people, was that efforts had been made to board up the store. No doubt in an attempt to prevent looting.

  ‘That could be a good thing, it might mean there is still stuff in there to loot,’ Lola commented.

  Georgia nodded in agreement. They had paused in the pathetic shade of a spindly looking tree, surveying the mass of plywood sheets that entirely covered the entrance way, and plate glass windows.

  But now that they were here, she was feeling less confident about the wisdom of just waltzing in and looking for an optician. The boarding that had been erected, was sending a very clear message to stay out. It had been one thing imagining just walking in through unlocked doors, but tearing down a plywood sheet to get in, that was another thing altogether and it just seemed wrong.

  But then it was also wrong to expect Rebecca to have to virtually feel her way across the countryside because she couldn’t see clearly. The others stood silently, sweat glistening on their faces, waiting for her to come to a decision. The dogs lay panting at her feet.

  In the end it was Lola who spoke. ‘Just do it,’ she said, ‘just nip in on your own and grab what we need, you can be out again in no time, it would be much safer that way, less chance of getting caught, and we can hide out here somewhere.’

  Georgia agreed, Lola was right, it would be easier for just one of them to sneak into the building. If they all went in, it would be pandemonium if they had to get out in a hurry.

  She left Lola with the children and the dogs, with strict instructions to stay low and out of sight. Once she was sure that they were as safe as possible, Georgia took the axe which she planned to use to somehow break through the barrier. As it happened, she did not need her axe, perfect as it was. Someone had already done that for her.

  Of course they had, had she really thought that the store, with its tempting array of food and other necessities of life would be untouched?

  She slipped the shotgun from her shoulder and held it before her as she crawled through the jagged opening and found herself in the entrance foyer.

  An unnerving hush wrapped her in its shroud, putting her on edge, her stomach tight as a ball. It was so quiet, dim and gloomy, without the familiar succession of lights blazing overhead. There was the occasional shaft of brightness pouring down through skylights, but this just added to the surreal feel of the place, making it difficult for her eyes to adjust to the shadows. She paused, carefully listening around her, amazed that no one else was apparently here. She gave an involuntary shiver.

  Usually Wal-Mart was bustling with activity. People rushing up and down aisles with overflowing shopping trolleys, grocery lists clutched in hand as they shopped. And in the background, the endless stream of muffled announcements and music piped over the loudspeaker system all adding to the general buzz and hum of activity. Now, there was just that unnerving silence.

  She walked soundlessly down the unpopulated aisles, an occasional abandoned shopping trolley, with fruit and vegetables slowly decomposing, creating an unsettling tic, tic, tic as the resulting liquefaction leaked down through the wire frames and dripped onto the floor.

  The disquieting stillness started to affect her and she could feel hysteria mounting within her. She began to feel as though she was the only person left on earth, which was completely irrational; Lola and the children were just outside.

  She stopped and took a long deep breath, fighting the panic within her. Breathe in, breath out. Feeling a little calmer, a thought occurred to her. She was alone in Wal-Mart, and there was no one at the checkout counters. No one was waiting, or expecting to be paid for anything.

  This realization evolved into an exalted liberated feeling. She had the sudden urge to run down the aisles and get all those wonderful things she had always wanted, but could never afford. Fill her trolley to overflowing with expensive perfumes, and beautiful jewelry, and makeup, and shoes and…. Woah, stop right there. Get it together, just find the glasses, get some food and get out.

  She put the need for food temporarily out of her mind, one thing at a time; first the glasses and then the food. She had never been to this particular Wal-Mart before, but several Wal-Mart’s had a chemist as well as an optician, must check that too. She at least knew Rebecca prescription.

  If only it was not so damn dark in here. She peered up over the shelves, trying to read the signs…, Kitchenware, Drapery…, They could do with more blankets and…, stop it, concentrate on the job in hand.

  She found the optician, and in a very short time, she found a cabinet with drawers, almost identical to the cabinets at her own optician. She slipped the shotgun back over her shoulder and then pulled open the nearest drawer. Joy of joy, there were glasses, waiting to be collected. Not in brown envelopes as she had imagined, but clipped to A4 sheets of card, identification tags.

  She flipped through the cards; Joshua Simmons, Dave Smythe, Lu Sprigley…, she paused, realizing she was reading the names, when she should have been checking the prescription. She was struck by the notion that each one of the cards represented a person, someone who was ‘out there’, who right now, was probably really needing their glasses. It was unfortunate for them, but hopefully it meant there would be a pair here for Rebecca.

  She went back to the first one, scanning down the page for the prescription. After a few moments she dragged up a chair and sat down, this was going to take forever. At first she carefully flipped through them, how many different prescriptions were there? Then after a while, she just pulled out handfuls of the cards at a time, piling them up on the desk as she hurriedly flipped through them.

  She found a pair with the right lens matching. ‘Oh thank God,’ she breathed, thinking she had it, but then disappointment hit her hard. The left lens was completely different. She dumped it with the others and continued searching, becoming more and more frantic, then suddenly stopped, what had she done with that pair? One lens with the correct prescription was at least a start. Ready to scream in frustration she searched through the jumbled pile, finally found it and put it to one side.

  Desperately aware of the time she was taking she yanked open another drawer. Pulling out an armful and dumping them onto her lap. Still nothing suitable, not even a single lens with Rebecca’s left eye prescription. She was down to the last handful, and she knew the odds were against her now. There was no way she was going to find a pair of glasses for Rebecca. Totally, disheartened, she very nearly gave up, very nearly shoved the last of them back in the drawer. Come this far, may as well check them all.

  Four to go, then three to go…, unbelievably the second to last pair was so very close as to be perfect. The prescription was slightly weaker, but Georgia was certain that wouldn’t matter a damn. She double checked that she had read it correctly. She had. Whether they fitted was another thing, but right now, she did not care.

  She snatched up the glasses, placed them inside one of the many spectacle cases laying nearby and as she rushed back out into the aisle, she shoved them into the back pocket of her jeans.

  She grabbed a nearby trolley and emptied out its contents (Barbie dolls, a hair dryer and some DVD’s), onto the floor. Feeling much braver now, not caring about the racket she made. She turned it round and raced back to the healthcare
aisle.

  It would seem that the same kind person, who had made entering Wal-Mart so easy, had also spent some time getting through the drop down mesh barrier of the chemist. Georgia wriggled her way in through the gaping hole, antibiotics…, that is what she would look for, antibiotic powder, painkillers, and anything else she found that could come in handy.

  Obviously the person who had been in here before her had been in a terrible hurry, stuff was strewn all over the place, dispenser trays tipped up, bottles and canisters all over the floor, pills scattered, crunching beneath her shoes as she moved across the small area.

  She began pulling drawers open, unsure if she would recognize any drug names. She glanced around the room, wondering if there would be any charts, anything to help her work out, what was what, when her eyes rested on a stack of boxes along the back wall. There were about two dozen boxes in all, piled four feet high.

  She looked closer, something appeared strange about those boxes and then she realized what it was, they were all marked in exactly the same way. It seemed odd that so many of one single item, had been delivered here.

  As she got close enough to read the labels, she was puzzled, for the cartons contained Potassium Iodide tablets, thousands upon thousands of Potassium Iodide tablets. Wasn’t this something used for Radiation Illness?

  Why were these here, and why so many? Were there cartons like this all over America? Had they just been delivered prior to ‘it’, or was this just a bizarre coincidence. Was there any connection to what had happened?

  Her hands shaking, she tore open the top carton and removed one of the boxes inside. She ripped the box trying to open it, and pulled out a leaflet within, squinting in the half-darkness as she scanned the page. One box contained 12 doses, the requirements for one person. She grabbed five boxes, wondering if she should take more, in case they met up with other people then decided against it. She had enough on her hands, worrying about her own group.