by Lahey, Tyler
“Troy!” He cried. The bearded man turned with obvious fire in his blood. Bennett indicated the doors, “Meet us! At the dorm!” Troy nodded fiercely, and turned his efforts to ensuring he wasn’t trampled. The group shuffled outside amidst the growing panic, and abruptly, for no reason at all they were running. Everyone in the street was running.
…
Harley was shaking as she tried to catch her breath. Elvis moved to comfort her and she accepted his touch gratefully, burying her sweaty face in his t-shirt.
“What the hell were we even running from?!” Bennett threw up his arms.
“Nothing at all. Mob-mentality. Its guna be like this all up and down the east coast,” Troy’s eyes swept the starless sky above, looking for helicopters. Two of his friends in the ROTC program had joined him.
“They blew up those bridges,” a wiry looking one with a symmetrical and soft face said. “They’re sealing off the city, is what they’re doing.”
“Sealing it from what?!” Harley cried hysterically.
Adira turned her pitch black eyes on the weeping girl. They were glassed over, and almost shone in the soft yellow streetlight. “There has to be an infection of some kind in the city. The government is responsible for that blackout. Who else could have pulled off something like that?”
Harley looked incredulous, but she couldn’t muster a response.
“Adira’s right,” Jaxton croaked. Within a series of few moments Jaxton felt his shell of steely confidence crumble as he considered the safety of his mother and younger brother, trapped in some motel off the main artery of north-south traffic. “I need to call my family,” he mumbled, stumbling down the block to a dark alley. He felt his heart pounding as he considered them, helpless in the mayhem that was sure to come. His own mother was sixty now, and his brother was only sixteen- and a young sixteen at that. As the phone rang and rang, he imagined them flustered and panicked, watching the news and unable to use the packed highways that were sure to have traffic jams for miles and miles. His brother would be no help at all. Yet for all his vigor and strength, Jaxton knew he was stuck in the capital for now, at least fifty miles from them.
“Jax? Is that you?” His mother’s soft voice crackled over the phone.
“Mom! It’s me! Are you guys alright?”
“We’re ok, we’ve been watching the TV, it looks like something terrible is happening in New York. I don’t- the roads are totally blocked now. We can’t get out of here,” there was desperation in her voice. “Are you alright?”
“I’m alright. We’re safe down here. The president is a few blocks away, don’t forget that.” He attempted a laugh that fell immediately flat.
“Your brother thinks we should try and drive through the field behind to hotel to local roads….I don’t know Jax, I think if things get any worse we’re going to do just that and come get you.”
“Just stay put for now, ma. Things aren’t so bad yet here. No one really knows what’s going on.”
“Alright, you need to stay safe for me. Do you understand me son?”
“I do. I will. My friends are all here with me. Bennett, Liam, Troy, and Elvis. All of them.”
The voice on the other end sighed deeply. “They are. That makes me happy. Protect each other.”
Jaxton paused, deep in swirling thought. “Mom. Listen. If the cell service ever stops, meet me at home.”
“In Cold Spring?”
“Meet me at home. I can get there with the others.”
“How are you ever going to get back to Pennsylvania?”
“I’ll find a way,” Jaxton said, suddenly much more sure of himself. His voice had steadied.
“Can I talk to Danny? Mom?”
The call had dropped. Jaxton twisted his fist against the brick wall, feeling the grains cutting into his flesh. He fought a rising knot in his stomach, and breathed deeply, counting the seconds of each inhale and exhale.
As Jaxton returned he heard Bennett speaking quickly, “My parents were able to turn around. They went back to Cold Spring to wait this out.” He set his jaw and looked off into space dully. “They’ll wait in Pennsylvania till this blows over. I don’t think they think anything is really wrong.” He looked off into space.
Troy didn’t seem to notice. “Air service to all the big eastern cities is totally frozen. Nothing in or out. My dad thinks its some kind of military lockdown. My buddy’s heading back home to Maryland. Taking no chances. I’m guna see what the Army needs. Elvis where are your parents?”
Elvis shook his head. “We’re taking the car back home tomorrow morning at 6. I’m staying with you guys tonight. I told them that.”
“So everyone is stuck here for tonight, and their parents have either returned home or are waiting somewhere on the road south.”
The group murmured assent, suddenly taking comfort for the company they shared. No one was alone in their private trepidation. Sirens sounded in the distance. Shouting families and students moved briskly past them, as they stood unmoving in a tight knit circle.
Jaxton lead them back to the apartment he shared with Liam on the 9th floor of a massive brick apartment building. He had suggested they all try to get away from the panic sweeping the streets. Their harried faces were stricken with exhaustion as they started numbly at the television screen. His friends barely spoke. One by one the graduates drifted into a restless sleep in some corner of the tiny apartment, until the voices on the TV only spoke to Adira, who regarded it with a sinister fixation. She chewed unconsciously on her beautifully painted nails, and stared with red eyes.
“My mom hasn’t even called me. They’re not even trying to get me,” she whispered, tugging at her jet-black hair.
Bennett half-opened his eyes, sensing her emotion. “They had no chance, Adira. There was nothing they could even do.” He spoke the words, but knew in his own mind he would be cursing them too. They were cowards for not even attempting to make the trip. He looked at the girl seated next to him. Her previously intoxicating confidence has crumbled, and there were now only broken nerves. He sighed, putting his arm around her. She immediately responded to his touch, and began crying softly, as the others slept all around them.
Chapter Seven
8 hours after Outbreak. Washington, D.C
Liam awoke first, never having really slept at all. He was sprawled out on his own bed, and fought against delirium to open his eyes as faint light sifted through the blinds. Harley was lying on the bed opposite, with Elvis snoring next to her. She had his arm wrapped around her, but her eyes were red and wide open, looking straight at Liam. He tried to smile faintly at her, wondering if the girl had slept at all. She hardly looked comfortable. Suddenly, she rose breathlessly, extricating herself from Elvis’s clutches without waking him. Her face contorted in exhaustion and fear before she launched herself, wrapping Liam in a bear-hug and shuddering audibly as she did so. Liam jerked back at first, startled, before he too found comfort in an embrace. He had spent a few hours with the girl on the first night they met, and he had been able to tell immediately that she was drawn to him. There had been no intimate contact though, as Elvis was already entangled with her. He had known within minutes he and Harley shared the same crude, juvenile sense of humor.
He couldn’t deny it felt good to hold her, as he stared at her brown hair spilling over their arms. Elvis shifted in his slumber, and Liam froze, feeling guilty. Harley didn’t seem to notice. She looked up at him with bright hazel eyes, dotted with lighter specks and seemed to draw strength from his own gaze. Then she reached up on her toes and kissed him hungrily, her mouth hot and soft. Liam recoiled in his own mind, but couldn’t find it in himself to pull away. He found himself answering her before they both broke off after a breathless minute. She kept her arms locked around him, however, for a while longer. Liam sighed. He knew he was ensnared, and there would be no going back.
Jaxton awoke in his own bed to the sound of banging. He jumped out of bed in an anxious rage and ran to open the fr
ont door of the apartment, passing Bennett and Adira sleeping on top of each other on the couch. His neighbor stood at the door, her dull brown eyes alight with unnatural energy. He had been connected with her once before, but it had never panned out. Without the veil of makeup, she would never be called pretty, but it didn’t matter. She had always been kind to those who deserved it, and avoided the normal drama that plagued the dorms, strong in her own fashion “They blew the bridges,” she explained, her eyes staring at Jaxton’s own mouth.
He rubbed his eyes to clear his head. “What?”
“All the bridges on both rivers leading to Manhattan. Gone. And now people are putting cameras on little drones and flying them into the blackout zone. It’s crazy. They’re fight-“
“Tessa, slow down. Jesus Christ, slow down.”
Troy appeared behind Jaxton’s back, peering out with a face like death. “What’s going on?”
Tessa threw her tiny hands up in exasperation. “C’mon just look at your phones! Turn the TV on! Anything!” Her slight southern drawl awoke the rest of the apartment.
Jaxton took a step forward, gripping her on the shoulder. “Show me.”
Tessa burst in the room, her unshapely body moving with force to the kitchen table. The others gathered around as she drew out her own phone. “Somebody posted this an hour ago.”
The tiny screen showed amateur footage from an airborne drone, spinning blades slightly visible at the top of the frame. It whirled over a highway completely clogged with cars. Jaxton peered for movement but the drone was flying too high and too fast. The camera moved up a hair, revealing the same highway extending far into the distance, clogged in both directions. They could see where dozens of cars had attempted to cross the barriers and drive outbound in the opposite lane, often with disastrous results. Finally the sluggish Hudson River came into view, with the city of skyscrapers beyond. Adira’s jaw became slack. Where the George Washington Bridge had been was now a smoking wreck. The center pillars still stood, but the horizontal pieces had been blown away violently. Twisted metal stuck out of the brown waters, singed with black from the explosion the night before. Everyone wanted to fill the air with words, but they were too shocked to speak.
“They tried to contain it,” Adira’s voice was harsh and husky from exhaustion.
“My god.” Adira touched Bennett on the arm, prodding him. “They’re starting an evacuation. New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey. Non-compliance will be akin to treason.” Bennett exclaimed, haltingly. “My Dad just sent me this.” He stuck out his phone for the others to see. Armed soldiers argued with screaming citizens in their pajamas on a bright green front lawn somewhere in suburbia. The sprinklers continued to operate, happily spraying the two parties with frigid well-water. In the background, families in casual Sunday wear were being herded into green trucks. The father was roughly tackled to the ground, and his hands were ziptied impatiently by a young soldier with shaking hands. They loaded him onto the truck with harsh faces. They could all hear the wife shouting as she was dragged, asking what was even going on.
Bennett slammed his fist on the table. “We want some damn answers! What the hell is going on?!”
“Bennett, please,” Adira pleaded, her eyes red.
“I’ve been up since dawn this morning. People are leaving. They’re getting in their cars and driving south,” Tessa said as if under sedation. Jaxton thought her drawl became more pronounced the slower she tried to speak.
The room erupted in chatter as everyone tried to speak at once. Jaxton joined in, knowing a plan had to formulated. Indecision was not acceptable in a situation like this.
“ENOUGH!” Liam’s voice boomed, silencing them all. They all looked to him to speak, but he clearly didn’t know what to say.
“We need supplies. We should get supplies, in case anything happens.” Troy stared at the table as he spoke.
“Yes. Supplies and canned food. Just in case,” Bennett agreed heartily, relived as the rest of them to have a course of action to follow.
Jaxton felt his indecision evaporate and spoke before finishing his thought. “Bennett. Adira. Get to the CVS right now. Get anything you might think useful. Toiletries, over the counter medicines…I don’t know. Go!”
Adira nodded fiercely, meeting Jaxton’s eyes with a flicker of admiration. She clasped Bennett by the hand and they ran out.
“Let’s spread out. I’m going to the Rite-Aid.” Elvis said, leaving without another word. Harley looked to Liam momentarily, who moved his head a fraction. She took off after Elvis.
“Tessa. Liam. Come with me. We’re going to need a lot of food. The supermarket might already be swamped. We’re stealing a cart, I don’t give a shit.”
Jaxton looked to the fiercest among them. “Troy?”
Troy had a feisty glint in his eyes, impressed at the quick action of the group. For a second he grinned manically. “I’m going to get us some answers.”
Troy burst out onto the street, and started running hard. He felt an explosion of joy rise within him as his legs pumped furiously. He was going to run until it hurt. White spittle flew from his mouth as he blew past other people. There was a visible tension in the air. Groups of people walked hurriedly with their heads down, speaking in whispers or not at all. Sirens were always blaring and Troy thought he heard several helicopters passing overhead. The streets that ran through campus were almost totally dead for the first time in his life, except for the occasional police cruiser. He sprinted past people loading supplies into cars. Several, overloaded with survivalist gear, were already starting down the road, heading south.
He took a hard right turn at the next block, flying past the row of dilapidated town houses occupied by local fraternities. He spotted a group of men lounging on a leather couch outside, drinking cans of cheap beer that he knew from experience tasted like watery piss. He hung another hard right. Troy knew he was on his own. His own parents had died in a car accident when he was only 6, and his aunt and uncle were living in Appalachia. They were almost 70 themselves, and he had already let them know not to even think about coming down. His heart had swelled with emotion hearing about how his uncle had already loaded down their 2004 Honda Civic with supplies with the intent of heading north to reach him. But was certain he had made the right decision. Up north, the military had moved the media farther and farther back from the Hudson River, as they stepped up the evacuations.
Troy eased to a quick stop in front of the wardroom, with his lungs calmly asking for just a little more air. He was hardly out of breath, and sprung up the steps, past the little flagpole. He entered without knocking, and burst into the main room. The same squat, salty sergeant he was familiar with sat behind a cheap wooden desk. Troy saw he had interrupted a conversation. The head of the ROTC program, an active duty Army Major, stood hunched over the desk. At Troy’s arrival he straightened noticeably, though it did little to fill out his baggy summer dress uniform.
Troy clicked his heels together and snapped out a quick salute, his eyes forward. The major returned it lazily. “Who’s this?”
“Cadet Troy McAdams, sir. I had a question for the sergeant, sir.”
Graciously, the sergeant nodded in approval. Perhaps he wasn’t such a dick after all, Troy mused. “Troy’s one of the toughest kids in the unit, sir. He’s going for Ranger school after he collects his commission.”
Troy felt the major’s eyes appraising him for a brief second, before he looked back to the sergeant. “Remember what I told you,” he snapped. The major walked briskly out of the room, and slammed the door as he exited.
Both men relaxed visibly. The sergeant eyed Troy ruefully. “What are you doing here?”
“What the hell is going on?”
The seated man bristled. “Check your tone. We’re not buddies.”
Troy leaned closer, softening his eyes and meeting the man’s gaze without faltering. “Jim, c’mon we are buddies. You know me. Help me out here. Give me something, anything. I haven’t heard a
nything since the program was frozen last night.”
The sergeant relaxed slightly, and then sighed deeply. “Look, Troy. You should get out of the city.” He spoke carefully and slowly. His steely gaze never left Troy’s own.
Troy didn’t speak, but continued to stare, willing the man for more information. “Lord. Alright, look. You need to start thinking hard and fast about moving south. You think this evacuation is going to be contained to those three states? It’s far beyond that. They’re calling up all reserves and the Guard. Even the battalions from the West Coast. This is no fucking joke.”
Troy whistled appreciatively, and grinned brazenly. “A little action closer to home. About damn time. I coul-“ He stopped midsentence as the sergeant’s hand gripped his collar in an iron vise. He drew close enough to smell the coffee on his breath, staring at him with furious eyes.
“Listen here you arrogant prick. There’s some kind of infection in New York. Turns people mad, into animals. The Army is there, right now, trying to put it down with the ruthless application of measured violence. If they fail, we could lose the seaboard.” Troy felt himself withering under that relentless gaze. He could see the beads of sweat forming on the man’s forehead, and traveling down his nose.
The sergeant released him. “And if you didn’t know that already, everyone here is about to find out within the hour anyways. Get outta here cadet.” The sergeant plopped back into his seat, all the fire gone. Once again, he looked exhausted and harmless.
When Troy emerged to the sounds of spring outside, he realized his heart had been pounding inside. He took a series of deep breaths, mulling over the words. The ruthless application of measured violence. He was scared. Anyone who wasn’t, was a fool. But he also felt unconditionally alive. With a jump, he sprinted down the block.
The girl behind the counter was bagging her items with painful ambivalence. Her beady little eyes were fixed on the TV monitor above the cash register, and her mouth opened and closed. “Hi! Can we speed this up please!?” To her own disappointment, Harley’s voice rang out shrill.
