Charges

by Stephen Knight

  “You guys take the lead,” Vincenzo said. “I’ll watch the back door.”

  Rob took off, and Jody followed. Vincenzo checked behind them every so often. He also looked at the houses. Other than a few people sitting or standing on their property and watching them hurry past, no one said or did anything. They came to another intersection with a DEAD END sign on the opposite corner.

  Rob indicated they had to turn right. “That’ll take us back to Essex. It’s either that, or go down to the end and try to cross through someone’s property.”

  “Let’s not do that,” Vincenzo said. “No one’s going to want strangers in their backyard.”

  “But is it safe to go back to the main street?” Jody asked.

  Vincenzo shrugged. “Safety’s probably a thing of the past. But we have someplace to get to, so let’s make the best of it. All right?”

  Rob nodded. “Fine by me.”

  Jody didn’t seem enthused by the prospect. “Maybe we should just detour,” she said, pointing to the left. The street sign read Rowland Avenue.

  “We can’t detour around everything,” Rob said with some irritation in his tone.

  “Excuse me for not wanting to walk into anything we might not be able to walk out of, Rob,” Jody snapped.

  “Guys, let’s head up to Essex and check it out,” Vincenzo said. “If we go down this way, we’re moving away from where we want to go. We need to start making some time, and I guarantee you, if anyone rolls up on us, I’ll make sure we’re the only ones left standing.”

  Jody eyed him. “Have you ever shot anyone before?”

  “No, but I’m pretty sure I might have to before my trip is over.”

  “That’s not very comforting. Were you a military guy or a police officer or something before?” she asked.

  Vincenzo only shook his head. He was pretty sure admitting he was a TV producer wouldn’t dampen her fear.

  “If we’re going to do something, let’s do it and not stand here on the corner,” Rob said.

  Vincenzo motioned toward Essex Street. “After you.”

  Rob grunted and set off, his walking stick clunking against the pavement. Jody followed him up the sidewalk, while Vincenzo stepped into the street. He checked behind them, saw nothing of import, then faced forward and scanned the upcoming intersection with Essex Street. There were no pedestrians and, of course, no moving vehicles. A stripped-down police cruiser sat in the middle of the intersection, apparently killed by the CMD . The vehicle looked as though it had been picked clean then basically destroyed. Okay, so I guess the cops don’t get high marks from the community.

  They crossed over to the parking lot of a nail salon. Opposite the street sat a quiet and empty dentist’s office. One window had been shattered, and judging by the lack of glass on the outside, it had been done by someone going in. Vincenzo suspected the intruders had been looking for drugs, though he didn’t know what kind of medications someone would want from a dentist. Then he remembered a dentist’s office seemed as likely as a pharmacy to have some oxycodone lying around.

  A row of apartment houses faced across the street had a lot of black and Latino faces hanging around outside. With expressionless eyes, they watched Vincenzo’s group cross the parking lot and mount the sidewalk. He wondered how long it would be until they turned into predators. The lights had only been out for a few days, so some veneer of civility still remained. He figured it wouldn’t take very much longer for that facade to begin to crack, especially when desperation began to take hold. Despite the two pistols, his little band was very vulnerable. While Rob looked formidable with his big walking stick and tree-trunk legs and arms, in a few more days it would take a lot more than looking like a badass to keep the goblins at bay.

  Gunshots rang out.

  As Vincenzo spun around, he saw Julio and his merry band of ne’er-do-wells running to hop on their bikes. They started pedaling away like mad. Another gunshot sounded, and one of the teens crashed to the street, rolling and writhing. He began to scream a moment later, his voice high and shrill.

  “Oh my God,” Jody gasped.

  “That kid just got gut shot,” Rob said.

  An older man emerged from the Shell gas station the kids had been trying to loot. He held a wicked-looking shotgun. Shouting in Spanish, he raised the weapon to fire again at the flock of boys retreating on their bikes. A startled oooh went through the crowd standing in front of the apartment block.

  “Yeah, what do you say we get the hell out of here,” Vincenzo said, pushing Rob and Jody ahead of him. “Come on. Let’s not stop and stare.”

  They broke into a fast jog and kept it up for three blocks, finally winding down near a Chase Bank. An armed security officer stared at them from the bank’s lobby, his eyes unreadable behind his sunglasses. Set back from the street was a Home Depot, which seemed to still be open. Several men were gathered near the open entrance. On the opposite side of the street, a car wash sat vacant and idle. Now there’s a business that’s going to take it hard. A lot like, say, cable television.

  “Well, that was exciting,” Rob said, breathing heavily. Sweat glistened in his beard. “You know, all this running around is really starting to get old.”

  “You can hike, but you can’t run?” Vincenzo was breathing hard, too, and he didn’t have nearly as much weight on his back as Rob did.

  “Hey, you want to trade packs, guy?” Rob asked.

  Vincenzo shook his head. “Not on your life, guy.”

  “I can’t believe that man shot that boy,” Jody said. She had a vague, shell-shocked look in her eyes.

  Vincenzo was certain his eyes had looked the same when the riot broke out in Central Park South, right along billionaire row. There was no need for the people of New York to react the way they did, but they felt they were getting the short shrift, and they just exploded. It had been terrifying for him then, and he knew that Jody—and perhaps Rob, though the man hid it well—felt the same kind of creeping panic circling around them. It was inescapable, like a great white shark cruising just beneath the water’s surface as it tried to decide if a lone swimmer was worth its time. If it hit, it would hit, and there was no way to stop it.

  “They were trying to rob his place,” Rob said. “No cops, no one pitching in to stop it, he did what he had to do.”

  “They were robbing a gas station, not someone’s house!” Jody said.

  “Welcome to the new normal,” Vincenzo said. “The world’s changed. This is how it’s going to be for a while.”

  Jody frowned. “And how long do you figure a while is going to be?”

  Vincenzo sighed. “Until late winter, I guess.”

  “What is it about then that’s going to change things?”

  Vincenzo gave her a direct stare. “Because that’s when a lot of people will die, Jody.”

  15

  The walk to Essex County Airport took over seven hours. Progress was slow because Vincenzo and the Ackermans needed to maintain a degree of stealth, even while going through residential neighborhoods. While no overt danger presented itself, they weren’t willing to place a bet on chance. As they progressed through the suburbs surrounding Hackensack, they saw more and more people out walking, just as they were. They avoided others, not wanting to become entangled in any drama, but Vincenzo examined them discreetly. Many looked tired and haggard, but he saw no signs of major injury or trauma, which told him that things were likely still relatively safe outside of major cities. That raised his spirits a bit, but not by much.

  The heat and humidity served to sap their strength, and Jody had to stop and rest often. Vincenzo didn’t complain; he could use the breaks, as well. They were drinking a lot of water, which was good, but at that rate, it wouldn’t take more than a few days to exhaust their supply. They had to cut back on their consumption, but there wasn’t much of a chance of that happening. For Jody, it was impossible. She was pregnant, and denying her incubating infant water and nutrition just wasn’t going to happen. And t
he humid heat was making them sweat like crazy. Vincenzo had read once that the human body could only digest a gallon of water an hour, but it could sweat two gallons in that same span of time. God, that wasn’t a very practical design. Just in case you’re listening.

  By the time they made it to the airport fence, the sun was already on the horizon. Passaic Avenue was full of motionless traffic, and several people moved around the vehicles. Across from the airport, a sign outside a Petlovers Outlet proudly declared the business had AKC puppies for sale. The building was set back from the street, so Vincenzo couldn’t hear any barking, and he wondered how the pups were faring in the heat and if anyone was still taking care of them.

  Down the street was a delicatessen named the Skylite Deli. It was dark and lifeless, and as they walked past it, Vincenzo saw a handwritten sign that read CLOSED INDEFINITELY, SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE.

  Rob pointed at the building with his walking stick. “Think we should check it out?”

  “Don’t think it’s going to be of much use,” Vincenzo said. He gestured at the empty bags and packages on the street. “At this point, it’s probably been picked over pretty well.”

  “Yeah,” Rob said listlessly. He turned and looked back at the airport. “Well, it’s only a wrought-iron fence. If we can’t get in through the entrance, we won’t have much problem climbing over.” He pointed at a fire hydrant a foot or so away from the black barrier surrounding the airfield. “Could use that as a step up.”

  “You want to do that or keep walking to the gate?” Vincenzo asked.

  “The gate,” Jody said. “Please. I’m not sure I can even climb up the fire hydrant.”

  “Heh, look who’s getting run down,” Rob said. “Guess you should have played more Xbox, huh?”

  “Maybe you should get pregnant,” Jody shot back.

  “Ouch.”

  “Keep cool, crew,” Vincenzo said. “We’re all worn out. I agree with Jody. Let’s try the gate first.”

  “Thank you,” Jody said.

  “Free of charge.”

  When they resumed walking, Rob kept casting glances toward the airfield, which was silent and motionless. Apparently, no one had any interest in airplanes at the moment. As far as Vincenzo was concerned, the fewer people around, the better. Though full-on night was still well over an hour away, he still feared that was going to be a problem.

  “Rob, can you fly at night?” he asked.

  “Well, yeah, but that was back when the lights were still on,” Rob said. “Flying at night is risky business, and I only have VFR certification.”

  “Okay. I’ll assume that’s important.”

  “Huh? Oh, sorry. VFR is the lowest rating. It means visual flight rules. Flying at night is a lot different than flying in the daytime. You can roll inverted and never know it unless you have a good eye on the instruments.”

  “So that means...?”

  “It means we’re spending the night,” Jody said. “There’s no way we’re going to be able to leave before the sun goes down. Right, babe?”

  “Well, first thing we need to do is find a plane,” Rob said, peering at the airfield. “I see lots of Cirruses, Cessnas, Beeches. Most of them are newer. We won’t be able to get anywhere in those.”

  “So you’re looking for something like a biplane? A Piper Cub?” Vincenzo asked with a mirthless snort.

  “Yeah. Yeah, exactly,” Rob said.

  “Okay. I’m not sure I know what to look for, so I’ll just follow your lead.” Vincenzo knew that those were small planes—very small planes—and he wondered how the hell one of those could get to Ohio.

  “Well, let’s not get our hopes up just yet,” Rob said. “We still have to get inside, then we have to find a plane that’ll do the job.”

  Office buildings lined the drive that led to the airport, but the front gate was open. A few vehicles were in the parking lot, likely as dead as every other vehicle they’d seen during their travels. Rob walked up to the main entrance and pulled on the glass door’s handle. It was locked. He pounded on the glass and peered inside, but there was no response. The airport was vacant, which seemed logical enough. If the airfield was full of dead planes, then there was no need to have anyone onsite.

  “So what now?” Vincenzo asked.

  Rob looked at the gate that separated the airfield from the parking lot. “I guess we go shopping.”

  The entry gate was locked via a card system. The card reader was useless, even if they had a card for it. It wasn’t that difficult for Vincenzo to climb over the six-foot-tall wrought-iron fence, and once he was on the other side, he found a lever that unlocked the gate.

  Rob pulled it aside and waved Jody in with a flourish. “No climbing necessary, m’lady,” he said.

  Vincenzo and Jody followed Rob down the apron toward a slew of parked airplanes.

  “Some of these look like they’re from the seventies,” Vincenzo said, pointing at an old Cessna with faded paint and an equally faded interior.

  “They are, but if I need a key to start them, that’s no good,” Rob said. “We need something that’s a bit easier.”

  “Define ‘easier,’” Jody said.

  “I’ll know it when I find it.”

  Rob discounted several right off the bat. Sleek low-wings like a Cirrus or a Cessna TTx were scratched off the list, despite their rather comfortable-looking interiors. Some of the more battered trainers were removed as well. Even though a couple of them didn’t seem to need keys to unlock the ignitions, Rob said he wouldn’t want to take a training aircraft on a long-range flight. By the time they had walked the airfield, only three candidates had made the short list.

  “Looks like all of these are two-seaters,” Vincenzo said after they had identified the last of the potential planes.

  “Yeah,” Rob said. He tried to keep a noncommittal tone to his voice, but Vincenzo saw through it.

  “So someone’s going to get left behind,” Vincenzo said.

  Jody and Rob exchanged uncomfortable glances. “Well, let’s not get that far ahead of ourselves just yet,” Rob said. “We don’t know if any of them will fly, right?”

  Vincenzo nodded. “True.”

  “So we’ll go through all the steps tomorrow, when there’s more light. Lots of things to inspect, and I need to be able to see what I’m doing. There’s no need to get worked up over anything just yet. For all we know, we’ll be back on the road tomorrow morning.”

  “Okay.”

  They camped out in the airfield in a flat area some distance from the runway. The neighborhood that surrounded them was mostly dark and quiet, save for where dim candlelight seeped out from the windows of a few houses. Distant cracks of gunfire punctuated the night. None were at all close, but the noise made Vincenzo uneasy.

  “Maybe we should sit watches,” Rob suggested as they ate.

  Vincenzo nodded then realized Rob and Jody probably couldn’t see him in the dark. “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” he said.

  Vincenzo checked his watch. It was just after nine-thirty, and the western horizon still held a pale trace of twilight. Dawn would arrive in less than eight hours, and that was fine with him. He didn’t feel comfortable sleeping out in the open. He had considered breaking into one of the empty office buildings, but he feared running afoul of whatever law might still be operating in the area.

  “How do we do it?” Jody asked in a tired voice.

  “You guys get some sleep,” Vincenzo said. “I’ll sit up for three hours. If I can’t make it, I’ll wake up Rob. Rob, you take the next three hours then wake up your wife. I’m sorry, Jody, but there’s only three of us, and we’ll need you to take a turn. Is that all right?”

  “Sure,” Jody said. “I’m willing to do my part.”

  “Babe, you need your sleep,” Rob said.

  “And so do you. You’re going to try and fly an airplane tomorrow. It won’t do me and the baby any good if you fall asleep at the wheel.”

  “Then it’s settl
ed,” Vincenzo said. “Thanks, Jody. I’ll go dig a latrine while you guys finish up here. We’ll probably be needing it.”

  “I, uh, could use it right about now,” Jody said.

  Vincenzo snorted. “Okay. I’ll be quick about it. You might want to bring a blanket or something to cover up with. Just in case someone comes walking up.”

  “Wow, a guy who’s still worried about female modesty at the end of the world,” Jody said. “Maybe I married the wrong guy.”

  “Hey, now,” Rob protested in a good-natured tone. He started to stand. “Let me help you with digging that hole, Tony.”

  “I’m good, brother. You just sit and take it easy. Like Jody said, you’re flying tomorrow, so you get the VIP treatment.”

  “Ah. Okay. Thanks,” Rob said in a heavier voice.

  Tony knew why Rob was more sober. The chances of all three of them taking wing tomorrow were extremely low, and there wasn’t any doubt about who was going to be left behind. Deal with it. Suck it up, be a man, and deal with it.

  “I’ll be right back,” Vincenzo said, grabbing his entrenching tool. He’d only used it twice before, once while on an overnight turkey hunt, and earlier that morning. He figured it would become one of his most trusted implements over the coming weeks, provided he didn’t break it. He found a spongy patch of earth a hundred feet from the runway and quickly dug a trench.

  He returned to the makeshift campsite. “Okay, let me show you guys where it is. Probably better not to use any flashlights or anything, so easy does it. The ground is pretty flat and level, but watch your step.”

  Rob and Jody got up and followed him back to the trench.

  “It’s not terribly deep,” Jody said, casting about with her foot to feel out the trench’s dimensions.

  “Well, it’s not like we’re going to be building an outhouse,” Rob said.

  “Yeah, I get that,” Jody replied.

  “It’ll be perfectly sanitary,” Vincenzo said. “I’ll fill it back in tomorrow before we leave. Anyway, I’m going to head back. Feel free to break it in.”