The End Boxset: Postapocalyptic Visions of an Unstoppable Collapse

by B. J. Knights

  “Mom,” Brian said. Alice didn’t respond.

  “Mom, we’re as good as dead without that car,” he continued.

  “I know, Brian!” she said, visibly upset.

  “What are we going to do?” he asked.

  “I’m thinking,” Alice said.

  Jeremy walked to the car satisfied. He walked by Kiya along the way.

  She looked up and spoke. “Who are you?” she asked.

  “Nobody, kid. Go to your mom,” Jeremy said walking past her. She didn’t take her eyes off him, as if trying to recognize him. “Hey, I know you,” she said.

  Jeremy stopped turned around. “What did you say?” he asked.

  “You work at my school. You’re the janitor,” she said excited.

  Jeremy stumbled and stuttered. He didn’t want anything to do with the conversation.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

  “Yeah, it’s you. I remember you. How can you not remember me? I said hello to you on the first day of school,” she said.

  Jeremy went silent. Before him stood a smiling girl—all but eleven or twelve years old—who actually recognized him.

  “You’re right,” he said. “I am a janitor. But those days are long gone. I wish you and your family the best.”

  “Where are you going? You could ride with us!” Kiya said, as her excitement grew.

  “I really—I really don’t think that would work,” he said looking at the ground.

  Kiya ran to him and grabbed his arm. “Of course it would work,” she said. Jeremy lowered his rifle and found himself being pulled back towards Alice and Brian by Kiya. He felt helpless to do anything.

  “Mom, this is a janitor from our school,” Kiya said.

  Jeremy was waiting for her to introduce him as GI Joke, the name he was known by at the school.

  “His name is Jeremy the Janitor,” she said.

  Alice nodded along carefully. “That’s great, Kiya, why don’t you come over here, okay honey?”

  Brian took a closer look at Jeremy. “Yeah, I remember you,” he said. “You were the janitor at my middle school.”

  Jeremy attempted to conceal his face with his boonie hat. He resolve was wavering and he didn’t understand it.

  “Where are we headed anyway?” Kiya asked Alice.

  “Tennessee,” Alice said with a hesitant tone.

  Kiya turned to Jeremy. “And where are you headed?” she asked.

  “Uh, Tennessee,” he replied.

  Kiya jumped up in excitement. “So why don’t you just come with us?” she asked.

  “Kiya,” Alice said.

  “No mom, for real. He should ride with us,” Kiya said.

  “Yeah, I don’t know about that,” Brian interjected.

  “Oh come on. Let’s help him,” Kiya said.

  Jeremy surveyed the area, looking back at the car. He rubbed his forehead, face, chest, and everything he could think for no other reason but to stall things. Kiya’s smile was infectious. Jeremy was capable of a lot of things, it seemed, but leaving Alice and her children stranded had nothing to do with survival. It would be cruel. And there was enough cruelty in the world for years to come. Jeremy came to a decision.

  “Why don’t your mom and I talk for a moment?” Jeremy said to Kiya.

  “Okay, whatever,” Kiya said. “Let’s get back on the road though. I can’t wait to go to Tennessee.”

  Jeremy placed his hands on Alice’s shoulders and led her towards the woods.

  “I’m going to only say this once,” he said, turning her around, “you drive where you gotta go, I’ll sit in the back. Once you get there, I’m going to take the car, and that will be that.”

  Alice nodded.

  “You understand?” he said.

  “Yes, yes I understand. Thank you,” Alice said.

  “Now you and your son had the right idea. We can push part of this tree out of the way here.”

  Jeremy led Alice to the tree and they pushed the rotted section off the tree and rolled it into the woods. They all filed in the car—family and captor—and shut the doors. Jeremy sat in the back with Kiya as she told and re-told the story of her daring escape from school. He didn’t know what parts to believe, but it was interesting enough. Alice, as promised, drove them through West Virginia and through Tennessee. Brian didn’t say much throughout the trip, as he didn’t feel quite right about Jeremy’s presence, but he wasn’t going to complain. Jeremy was surprised to find that after he accidentally nodded off, they never tried to abandon him. It was a long ride to Tennessee, a journey that resulted in several other store stops and gas runs. Jeremy helped them learn how to siphon gas from other vehicles along the road. No matter where they passed through, the situation seemed to be the same; abandoned vehicles, angry mobs, looted stores, fires, and all around chaos. Alice spoke to Jeremy only once during their trip, late at night while the kids were sleeping.

  “Have you seen any other vehicles on the road?” she asked.

  “Yeah, I’ve seen quite a few military vehicles,” he answered.

  “You have any family?” she asked.

  “I did at one time. Not anymore,” he said.

  “I know what you mean,” she said.

  At one point Jeremy offered to drive so Alice could get some sleep. She reluctantly accepted, but felt her road exhaustion was putting her children at risk. She wrote the directions down for Jeremy and rested in the backseat with Kiya. She was out in no time. She slept for hours. In her dreams Randall was lying next to her. They were back at the house and nothing had happened. The dreams would always go bad though, as maniacs broke into her house, over and over again, jolting Alice awake. As she awoke for the twentieth time, she looked around the car. Jeremy was at the wheel; Brian was asleep in the front seat, and Kiya sleeping next to her. Alice looked out the window and was ecstatic to recognize the town they were in. It was her parent’s town.

  “We’re here already?” she asked Jeremy.

  “Yep, looks like it,” he said.

  “Jeremy,” she said.

  “Yeah,” he mumbled.

  “Thanks for not leaving us,” she said.

  Jeremy didn’t say anything, but the thank you felt reciprocated nonetheless.

  “I think it’s this turn up here,” she pointed out.

  They turned up a steep hill ahead into a rural wonderland. After a few back roads, alongside acres of land, they were at her parent’s house. It was more or less a farm, but, Alice never thought of it that way. She never wanted to tell anyone that she was raised on a farm. “This is where I should have gone all along,” Alice thought. For her, it was perfect. But what could she expect beyond the front door? More misery and suffering? She had no way to find out until they arrived. It was late Friday night when they pulled into the front of her parent’s house. The lights were off, and it didn’t seem as if anyone was home.

  “Just park here,” she told Jeremy.

  Jeremy parked the car and turned to face her. “Like I said, this is where we split up. I took you where you needed to go. Now I’m going to take this car with me.”

  “Fair enough,” Alice said. She wasn’t going with him. There was nothing to argue about. “Just let me see if anyone is here first, then I’ll get my kids,” she added.

  Alice walked up the cobblestone walkway to the front door and knocked on the door, loudly.

  At first there was no answer. She knocked again. Suddenly, a light came on.

  “Who is it?” an old woman’s voice said from the door.

  Alice’s heart raced with excitement. They had power and they were home. She couldn’t ask for anything more. “It’s your daughter!” she shouted.

  Her mother opened the door in disbelief. She was wearing a bathrobe, and her silver hair was tied up in a bun. “Alice? Is that really you?” she asked.

  Alice grabbed and hugged her mother like she never had before in her life.

  “My!” her mother said. “What’s got int
o you?”

  “Nothing,” Alice said squeezing her. “I’m just glad to see you. Do you guys have power?”

  “No, but we’re running off the generator. The power’s been out for days. So what are you doing here?”

  “I need to stay with you guys. Well, we need to stay with you guys for a while. Me, Kiya, and Brian.”

  Her mother was stunned and unsure what to say. “I don’t understand. What are you talking about?”

  “I’ll be right back,” Alice said. She ran back to the car and banged on the hood.

  “Brian, Kiya, wake up,” she said. They rose from their slumber disoriented and unsure of their surroundings.

  “Where are we?” Brian asked.

  “We’re at your grandparent’s house, let’s go,” she said.

  Kiya was less responsive as Alice pulled her from the car. Brian followed them to the house.

  “Oh, well look at this,” her mother said with wide eyes. “I haven’t seen you children in years!”

  Both Brian and Kiya were too tired to respond or care at the time. Alice pushed them in the house.

  “Just sit somewhere while I get your stuff,” she said.

  “Is Jeremy going to stay with us?” Kiya asked.

  “No Kiya, he’s got somewhere else to go,” Alice said. She looked at her mother.

  “Put them on the couch or something. I have to grab their stuff.” And then she was off.

  Alice took their belongings from the car. She thanked Jeremy again, as he waited patiently for her to get everything. It was weird for her to thank a man who had previously held them at gunpoint. But she grew to understand and relate to his desperation. She wanted to believe there was still a healthy dose of humanity left in him. A humanity made apparent when he and Kiya had their conversations. Something Kiya saw in him that Alice couldn’t. Jeremy was uncomfortable with accepting any gratitude. He knew all too well that he was prepared to leave Alice and her family out there to die. She closed the doors and Jeremy drove away, hoping that he could find his way to Gatlinburg without issue.

  Alice walked up to her old house; the house she had been raised in and fled from so many years ago. She felt a sense of awakening, but also deep sadness. She didn’t know what the future held for her or her children. So far, she had kept them safe, as she promised herself she would do. As long as she was around, she would continue to do so.

  Jeremy drove that night for hours. The cabin wasn’t much further. With any luck, he would find his safe place too.