Edge of Collapse

by Alex Gunwick

  “The hospitals are a mess,” Mary said. “I went past Memorial Hospital on the way to Walmart in Los Banos. They had triage set up in the parking lot.”

  “Why? Did a bomb hit near here?” Luke asked.

  “No. But last night a gang tore through town, burning down houses and shooting people,” she said.

  “And it hasn’t even been twenty-four hours,” Bob grumbled.

  “I wonder if it was the same guys from last night,” Luke said.

  “No. It was more than one group,” she said.

  “How were things at Walmart?” Luke asked.

  “Shelves were stripped bare. I managed to get some canned food, but it wasn’t much. We do a lot of canning ourselves, so we’ve got a good supply. You never know when you’ll have a bad crop and with the cost of water skyrocketing, well, we’ve had to stockpile food for the leaner times.”

  “I figure we can go about eight months on the stuff we got stored in the basement,” Bob said.

  “Don’t let anyone know you have extra food,” Luke said. “If the grid goes down, we might not get resupplied for months.”

  “My parents started a small Victory Garden during World War II. We’ve been canning from that land ever since. Never turned it over for commercial use,” Bob said with pride.

  “Everyone should have a garden. Even if it’s just a couple of tomato plants or some strawberries. It might not feed the family for months on end, but it helps cut down on the food bill,” Luke said.

  “If you’ve got extra, your family should be okay while you work your way home,” Bob said.

  “We’ve got a Bug Out Location too,” Luke said. “A cabin in the mountains. My family should be there already if they’re following the emergency plan.”

  “I’m sure they are,” Mary said. “Get some rest. We’ll see how you feel in the morning.”

  After the couple left the room, Luke lay back and closed his eyes. A wave of frustration tensed his muscles. A new wave of pain shot straight to his hand. Hopefully he didn’t have permanent nerve damage. He flexed his hand slightly, noting a low level of numbness. Not a good sign. If he lost use of his hand, it would make the trek home even harder, and he was already facing a torturous journey.

  Liz twisted to look back through the rear window of the van. An angry mob closed in on the sheriff’s deputies who stood guard at the front of the store. Gunshots rang out as Frank peeled out of the parking lot. Up ahead, the street signal turned yellow. He hit the gas. As they flew through the intersection, the light turned red.

  “We got out of there in the nick of time,” Frank said. “I knew they wouldn’t be able to hold the line for very long, I’m glad we got out of there when we did.”

  “Me too. Did you guys get everything you needed?” Liz asked.

  “Not everything,” Jennifer said. “We ran out of cash.”

  “Same here.”

  “I hope you have reserves stashed at home,” Frank said.

  Liz almost responded with the truth, but after seeing the chaos at the store, she didn’t want anyone to know how much cash she had on hand. Especially not her neighbors. Although they were as friendly as neighbors could be, they weren’t family. And protecting her family until Luke could get home was her number one priority.

  Frank was watching her in the rearview mirror.

  “I could probably scrounge up another twenty dollars if I searched the house,” she said.

  For a split second, his eyes narrowed as if he didn’t believe her, then his face relaxed.

  “We don’t have much at home either,” he said, probably lying too. Not that she blamed him.

  In truth, she had hid a total of three hundred dollars in secret compartments around the house. Hopefully she’d still be able to remember all the hiding places.

  “Do you have enough food and water to get you through a few weeks?” she asked.

  “Two weeks’ worth,” Jennifer said. “After the last big earthquake, we decided to store some food and water in case we had another earthquake.”

  “Us too,” she said. Again, lying about the extent of their supplies.

  They had stored a six-month supply of rice and beans in five-gallon buckets in the garage. The prep had cost about one hundred and twenty dollars total. They’d bought the beans and rice in bulk bags at the Asian market when they were running an especially good sale. They’d purchased five, five-gallon buckets from Home Depot. Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers for dried food and long-term storage had come from Amazon.

  She’d helped Luke put the emergency food reserves together a few months earlier. Ever since they’d taken action, she’d felt a lot better about how they’d fare if the grid ever went down after a large earthquake. And if they ran out of food or had to bug out, they had a second supply at their cabin.

  Frank pulled into the driveway at his house.

  “Thanks for the ride,” she said.

  “Sure thing,” Frank said. “Do you need any help carrying anything in?”

  “No, I got it.”

  After they’d said their goodbyes, she carried the groceries into the house.

  “Kyle, can you lock the door behind me?” she asked.

  “Yeah. I think we should barricade it too.”

  He walked into the foyer from the living room to lock the door. He followed her into the kitchen.

  “Why would we need to barricade the door?” she asked.

  “The news came on.”

  “Oh!”

  She dropped the groceries on the counter and headed into the living room. She hadn’t bought anything perishable, so they could wait. Any news from the outside was better than no news.

  She picked up the remote and flipped through the usual news stations. All were still playing the red emergency broadcast message.

  “Which channel was it on?”

  “One of the cable channels,” Kyle said.

  She scrolled through the list until she found one broadcasting news.

  “You’re looking at the first photos out of Washington, D.C. The White House was hit sometime in the early morning hours. All that remains is a pile of rubble. The president has been moved to an undisclosed location. We’re not sure if he’s in Air Force One, or if he’s underground, but he plans on addressing the nation later tonight. In the meantime, we’ll stay on the air until the nuclear crisis is averted.

  “In other news, power has been out in San Francisco since a nuclear bomb destroyed several power stations. All citizens should consider storing water as soon as possible—”

  She clicked off the TV. Her legs went out from under her and she plopped down on the sofa. If San Francisco had been hit, could Luke have survived? He was thirty or so miles south of the city, but if the fallout blew in the right direction, he was as good as dead.

  “That’s bad, right? Mom?”

  “Yeah, it’s bad,” she said, unable to sugarcoat it.

  “Is Dad dead?”

  “What? No,” she said, more harshly than she’d intended. “Your dad is the smartest person I know. He’s probably going to walk in any minute now. He probably got stuck in traffic driving from San Jose.”

  If he’d managed to rent a car. If he’d been able to avoid the air blast. If he wasn’t already irradiated by fallout. So many “ifs.” So much could have gone wrong between San Jose and here. And even if he had a car and had made it to the Grapevine, how could he get through LA? The city had been devastated by the bomb.

  She pushed all the horrifying possibilities out of her mind. Freaking out wouldn’t do any good. She needed to think about what to do next.

  “Are we going to Bug Out now?” Kyle asked, as if privy to her thoughts.

  “Not yet. I still think we’re safer at home than we would be at the cabin. But we need to fill all of the water jugs in the garage. Just in case.”

  “What about the WaterBOB? Should we set it up in the guest bathroom?” Kyle asked.

  “I forgot we had it.”

  “Dad told me i
f we ever looked like we might run out of water, we should fill it up first.”

  “You’re right,” she said, impressed by his initiative. Normally it would take multiple tries and lots of squabbling to get him to do anything not on his usual chore list.

  “I’ll go fill it.”

  “While you do that, I’ll start filling the other five-gallon jugs in the garage.”

  After filling twenty, five-gallon jugs and capping them, she walked over to the outside pantry. Luke had built a great system so they could store a lot of food, but could still rotate it out so it wouldn’t go bad. He’d built several large cabinets which ran the length of one side of the garage. Inside the cabinets, he’d built angled shelves. The oldest cans would roll to the front, while the newest could be easily loaded from the back. They only stored food they already ate, so they never had to worry about food sitting around unused.

  It had taken her a year to stock the extra pantry. Instead of spending a fortune to buy everything at once, she’d wait until canned food went on sale. Each week, she’d spend an extra $5-10 on whatever happened to be the best deal. Using this method, she’d hadn’t needed to give up anything other than an overpriced latte or two.

  “Bathtub’s full,” Kyle announced as he strolled into the garage.

  “Jugs are full, and we’ve got plenty of food.”

  “Now what should we do?”

  “Wait, I guess. I don’t want to leave unless absolutely necessary. I’d hate to miss Dad and Sierra if we leave too soon.”

  “Are you sure Dad and Sierra aren’t at the cabin already?” he asked.

  “They would have used the Ham radio to call Kent.”

  “Has he been listening?”

  “Kent’s always listening to his radio. If he’d heard from Dad, he would have told us.”

  “We should go to the cabin and check,” he said.

  “If it seems safe enough, we can check tomorrow. When we were at the grocery store, things weren’t going well.”

  “But you got groceries.”

  “Some, but everything will be gone by tomorrow. Probably today, if people managed to get past the police.”

  “I should have gone with you,” he said.

  “I’m actually glad you didn’t. I don’t want you anywhere near a shootout. Which reminds me, until things get back to normal, I don’t want you wandering off. If we do need to bug out, I want to be ready to go in five minutes.”

  “Five minutes? We haven’t even packed anything.”

  “Good point. Go get Dad’s Bug Out checklist and let’s see what we need to do.”

  “Where is it?”

  “The red binder in his office.”

  “Okay.”

  As he opened the door to go into the house, Justice came flying out. The dog yipped once before trotting over to a plastic bin full of dog food.

  “I already fed you today,” she said.

  “Woof!”

  “You can’t have any more food until dinner.”

  The dog lay down with his front paws pointing forward and his rear legs splayed out. He flashed his most dejected puppy dog look.

  “You are such a con artist,” she said.

  Justice rolled onto his back and let out a pitiful moan.

  “Belly rubs, hmm?”

  As she moved to rub his tummy, he jumped to all fours and ran over to a small container of dog treats. He barked once then sat on his hind legs. He cocked his head to one side and stared at her until she couldn’t resist.

  “One cookie. That’s all you get.”

  He yipped and spun in a circle. She grabbed a peanut butter-flavored treat and waited. When Justice resumed his sitting position, she leaned down to give it to him. He gingerly took it from her hand before chomping on it.

  As he ate, she petted his furry head. She wasn’t sure how long they’d be able to stay at the house, but she wanted to retain as much normalcy as possible. She had a feeling things were going to get much worse before they got better. But for now, she’d wait it out at home. Hopefully she wasn’t making a huge mistake by staying.

  9

  Sierra teetered to one side as she exited her bedroom. Her Bug Out Bag weighed at least fifteen pounds, but she’d had plenty of time to adjust the straps across her hips and shoulders until the weight was evenly balanced.

  She headed toward the living room. Nina lay sleeping on the couch. Since she’d specifically told Sierra not to wake her, Sierra tried to be as quiet as possible. She moved past the couch toward the front door.

  “Are you going?” Nina asked in a groggy tone.

  “Yes. I’m heading out now. I should get there around midnight.”

  “Good luck. Watch out for the crazies.”

  “I will. Are you sure you don’t want to come?” Sierra asked.

  “I’m good here,” Nina said. “I’ll barricade the door if I need to.”

  “What will you do when you run out of food?”

  “We’ve got plenty of food in the cabinet. I can go down to Albertson’s if I need more.”

  “By the time you go, there might not be anything left,” Sierra said. “If people haven’t already made a run on the grocery stores, they will. Within a few hours, the shelves will probably be empty.”

  “Then I’ll be on the apocalypse diet.” Nina grinned. “Best diet ever. When the hot as hell Marines roll in to save us, I’ll be able to squeeze into my skinny jeans. I’m sure I’ll be saved first.”

  Sierra shook her head. Trying to reason with her was a pointless waste of time, so why bother?

  “See you around,” Sierra said.

  “Have fun in your secret bunker or whatever.”

  “Stay safe.”

  “You too. Hopefully things get back to normal soon.”

  “I hope so too.”

  Sierra’s phone buzzed, scaring her half to death. She pulled it out of her back pocket and a text message from her dad appeared.

  “Get to the BOL. Don’t stop. Don’t tell anyone about the location. I love you.”

  She quickly pounded a message into the phone.

  “On my way. Won’t stop. Won’t tell. Love U.”

  “Who was it?” Nina asked.

  “My dad. He’s alive.” Her throat constricted. “I have to go.”

  She hurried downstairs to the parking garage to unlock her bicycle. Her first year at UCI was going to cost a fortune, so she hadn’t wanted to pressure her parents into buying a car. She hadn’t needed one because everything she needed was within walking distance. But sometimes she wished she had one. Now was one of those times.

  After unlocking the bike, she swung her leg over and climbed on. Outside, a golden twilight hung over the city. The hills at the base of Saddleback Mountain gleamed in the fading light. She’d have to bike to the mountain, then find the trail that led to the cabin. It was about twenty-five miles, give or take, depending on which route she took. If she took Campus Drive to the university bike trail, followed the trail along the 405 freeway, and crossed to Sand Canyon Avenue, she could avoid a lot of traffic and get to the foothills in a couple of hours max. Maybe an hour if she didn’t have to slow down for anything.

  She adjusted the straps on her backpack to secure the bag against her body. At five feet three and one hundred and twenty pounds, her fifteen-pound bag wasn’t light by any means, but it wasn’t so heavy that she’d consider leaving it. Her dad had drilled it into her head that if she ever had to leave during an emergency, she had to bring the bag no matter what.

  As she pulled out into the parking lot, she passed several students who were standing around with beer cans in their hands.

  “Where you headed?” one of them called.

  She ignored them and continued pedaling to get momentum. The sooner she got back to her family the better. Her dad would have things completely under control. She had absolutely nothing to worry about.

  The ride to Campus Drive took less than a minute. She continued past the Albertson’s shopping center a
nd briefly considered stopping for Starbucks. Who knew how long it would be before she could get another Frappuccino?

  As she coasted past the entrance to the parking lot, a car nearly hit her. It blared its horn. She skidded to a stop on the sidewalk and turned to glare at the occupant. A young Asian man yelled obscenities at her. Jerk.

  Another car turned immediately after his and then another. She frowned as more cars formed a line. The parking lot was almost full, but people kept honking. Near the entrance to the grocery store, two men argued loud enough for their conversation to carry across the parking lot.

  “I got here first. It’s my cart.”

  “I don’t give a shit.”

  The second man shoved past the first and pushed his way through a throng of people streaming into the store. A woman carrying a baby yelled as someone running past knocked her shoulder. The crowd surged forward, pushing and vying for a closer space to the entrance. A man in a store uniform approached the seething group and tried to maintain order. It lasted about ten seconds before the group stampeded into the store.

  Sierra shivered. Things were already getting bad. Getting coffee fell off of her priority list the second someone came barreling out of the store with a cart full of water.

  “You have to pay for that,” a man screamed from inside the store.

  A gunshot rang out. The crowd screamed and ran in every direction. Sierra peddled furiously to get away. The sooner she got onto the bike trail the better. People were already losing their minds and only a couple of days had passed. What would they be like once darkness fell?

  As a dusky sky blanketed the farm, Luke joined Mary and Bob at the dinner table. Green beans, smashed potatoes, and a roasted chicken sat in matching white and blue cornflower Corningware dishes. Mary had offered to bring his dinner up, but he needed to get on his feet sooner than later. He settled into a cushion-covered, wickerback chair.

  Steam wafted up from basket of fresh-baked rolls to ignite his taste buds. It looked and smelled exactly like his mother’s cooking. She’d been gone for three years now and not a day went by that he didn’t think of her. He couldn’t have asked for a better mother, or a better wife. He’d truly been blessed by the women in his life.