by Mark Mathews
“I stay in the house more often than not, and just rattle around like a penny in a jar. I think I’m the only one left in town, and if I’m not, they’re great at hiding because I haven’t seen anyone in six months.” Sarah’s eyes widened. How had he survived here by himself for six months? He was drinking himself into a stupor when she’d seen him for the first time. How could he have lived this long if all he did was drink to excess and pass out in dangerous places? Had there been others who had helped him?
“Why don’t you go get cleaned up a little, Tom?” Wade gave him a meaningful look, and he got up to go to the bathroom. As he passed Sarah, his eyes raked her body, and he got a little bit of a smirk on his face. It was an appreciative look, but Sarah couldn’t help but glower at him. There was no way this man was going to touch her without her knocking his head clean off his neck. While he was washing up, Sarah and Wade talked in hushed tones.
“I think he should come with us. I don’t think it would be smart to leave him behind with the way that he is. I’m absolutely amazed he’s lasted this long on his own.” Wade’s face was impassive, and Sarah knew that that this was going to be an argument.
“I don’t know. He doesn’t seem like he would be any use to us. Maybe for entertainment purposes, but I don’t think it would be smart to bring him with us. Yes, he’s given us a lot of information as to what has been going on, but I don’t think it would be best to bring him with us. Especially for Emily’s sake. What if he goes on a drunk binge and does something to scare or hurt her? I don’t know about this guy.” Tom came out of the bathroom, looking much better, and he grinned at them.
“So, I was wondering, maybe it would be time to get out of here. I’m not sure where you’re going, but can I go with you?” Wade and Sarah were both looking at him, but it was Sarah who answered first.
“I think that would be a great idea.” She told him yes without bothering to consult Wade, and she refused to look at him to see his reaction. It was better to ask forgiveness than permission anyway. He smiled at her.
“I’ve got some clean clothes at my place. If you want to wait here, I can go home and get them.” She nodded, and he left. Wade was glaring at her behind his back, and once Tom was out of earshot, he started in on her.
“Why didn’t you wait to talk to me before you invited him to come with us?” There wasn’t any real anger in his voice, just annoyance.
“I’ll take anyone with us who wants to go. I’m not going to let someone die because they can’t survive on their own. I’m willing to help them adapt to the way things are now, just to make sure we have some decent people left.” Wade rolled his eyes. That was an argument for another day. Wade decided to let it go.
“Maybe you should go with him. It doesn’t look like he can make a rational decision on his own.” Sarah stuck her nose in the air and pointedly ignored Wade.
“I’m not going too far away from Emily, in case she gets scared again.” To be honest, she was a little worried about Tom’s mental state. If he could stay here for months, waiting on someone who had left him, then maybe he shouldn’t be in charge of anything along the way. He could come, but maybe not have any responsibilities. About a half an hour later, Tom came back with a bag, and he had on clean clothes. He smelled a lot better, too. All in all, he cleaned up nicely.
“So, Tom, is there a bike shop around here? We were thinking it might be easier going if we could ride instead of walk.”
“Yes, there’s one right up the next street. If you follow me I can show you. Call me your regular tour guide.” He winked at Sarah, and Wade went upstairs to get a sleepy Emily out of bed. She gave Tom the once over, but he must have passed her inspection because she stepped forward and held out a shy hand. Tom shook it and grinned at her. “Hi, there. I’m Tom.” She blushed and giggled.
“I’m Emily. Nice to meet you.” The little group moved along the street, and though Sarah kept her eyes scanning every side street they passed for danger, no other dogs made an appearance. That was a relief to her, but in her experience, that only meant something worse was coming. Something much, much worse.
The bike shop still was pretty much intact, and it didn’t look as though anyone else had had the same idea they did about riding places. They must have been relying on their cars. Sarah huffed at the thought. Sometimes people just didn’t think things through. Wade and Sarah began looking around for bikes that they liked and that would stand up to the rough journey ahead. Emily was very excited and immediately drifted over to the children’s bicycles. She was looking at them all in awe, touching the tassels on the handlebars and the curve of a painted design here and there, almost as if she was trying to convince herself these were real. No one noticed Tom slipping outside through an employee entrance.
“I think I found mine!” Emily squealed. It was a beautiful little girl’s bike with purple handlebars and a green body that sparkled with glitter. There was a little basket between the handlebars with the face of Ariel the Little Mermaid painted on it. Wade frowned as he looked up from the heavy duty mountain bikes that he’d been comparing.
“I’m sorry, Emily, but you’re going to have to ride with an adult. Children’s bikes aren’t quite powerful enough for the trip that we have ahead of us, and I don’t want you to fall behind. It would be better if you were on one of our bikes.” Crestfallen, Emily went to find Sarah.
“Why can’t she have her own bike? She’s more fit than any of us. I don’t see why she wouldn’t be able to keep up.” Sarah, who had been listening in, tried making a case for Emily, but Wade just shook his head sternly. With him not giving her his reasons as to why Emily couldn’t have a bike, she had nothing to argue or rebut. She shrugged at Emily, who looked close to tears now.
“I’m sorry, princess. I tried.” No one else could argue the matter, however, because a loud noise from outside startled them. It sounded like a car, but one that didn’t work very well. When they went outside, they saw what looked like a semi-modified Model T. It was the original Model T, but the parts looked like they were brand new. The engine was sputtering, sounding as though it would backfire any second. Wade was impressed. He was a car buff, and he loved looking under the hood of old cars to see how they worked and clean up the rusted pieces. It parked, and Tom got out, grinning.
“How did you…” Wade trailed off. He really didn’t know what to ask, so he left it at that.
“Well, this was part of the Auto Parts Museum a couple of blocks down. The owner and I were pretty good friends. This type of car didn’t use any electricity, so I thought it would be safe to use. It doesn’t sound so great, but I promise she runs great. All the parts were custom-made and I can tune it up if we run into problems. What do you think?” Sarah was impressed. Maybe he could be trusted with some responsibility.
“It’s a great idea. The only problem we really will have is cars abandoned in the middle of the road.” Wade was trying to hide the fact he was more than a little impressed and that he was itching to touch the Model T. “We can put the bikes on the roof for now and see how far we can get with the car. It’ll save our legs a little of the work.”
“There are some spare gas cans in the trunk, and I’m sure we could pick up some from people’s garages as we go.” Sarah could see Tom just had gone up in Wade’s judgment, and she silently congratulated herself for saying he could come with them. She was going to consider some of the credit hers.
“We’ll need to make a roof rack of some kind. I don’t think any modern ones will fit.”
“About that. I have an idea.” Tom winked and beckoned for Wade to follow him.
The two men disappeared for a few minutes, leaving the girls to get the bikes outside and ready to be loaded. Tom led Wade to a garage almost directly behind the bike shop. The two of them got to work with a saw, some Guerilla Glue, and a stack of PVC pipes. Twenty minutes later, they came back with what looked like a set of ribs made of PVC pipe. The men set to work tying the roof rack to the top of the car, then
Wade threw all of his weight on it to see if it would budge. It didn’t. They loaded up the bikes with more rope, wedging the front wheels of the bikes into notches cut into one of the pipes, then tying the back wheels down to more notches in another pipe. The three bikes now were secured. They piled into the car and headed off on the next leg of their journey.
Chapter Six
After about an hour or so on the road, Wade decided it might behoove him to check the map. After all, he wanted to make sure they stayed on course. He’d been reading the little road signs, and had a pretty good idea where they were. Pulling open the map, he looked for a few minutes, then his brow wrinkled in concern. It looked as though Tom was heading toward a main road, one that would lead them to a large city. Wade didn’t want to head to any large cities, but he got the feeling Tom was headed there to find his Christina. If that was the case, then he would have to tell him to pull over and let them out. There was no way he and his group were going to a city where humanity had lost all its empathy.
“So, Tom. Where exactly are you headed? It looks to me like you’re going towards a major city.” Tom had been off in his own little world, but he suddenly shook his head like he was snapping out of it.
“Oh, yeah. I thought we’d go into the city to look for some…uh…supplies.” That sounded suspiciously like he wanted to find his girl, and Wade was not on board with that.
“We don’t want to go to any cities. We’re going toward the Great Lakes region. I thought that you’d be coming with us.” It was more of a statement than a question, and Tom stayed silent for a moment or two.
“I think it would be better to head to the city.” His tone of voice was firm, and Wade could tell he was gearing up to fight if he had to do so. Wade shook his head. That wasn’t going to work. By this time, Sarah was listening in, and when she saw Wade’s face, she instantly understood his concerns. She put her two cents in.
“Tom, I really think you need to get off the main road. A lot of bad people will be looking for unsuspecting people along the main roads, and we don’t have the numbers to protect ourselves against marauders, okay?” Tom didn’t say anything, just tightened his grip on the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. Sarah and Wade exchanged a worried glance. Would they have to make Tom do what they wanted? They weren’t that type of group, but if they had to do that to survive, then they would. Sarah personally hated that she had to do things against her nature just to keep Emily and herself safe, but it was a necessary evil, and she was sure that one day Emily would understand. At least, she hoped. Tom was still silent, and Wade made another attempt at conversation before force had to be used.
“Tom, why don’t you drop us off and we’ll go the rest of the way by bicycle? You can head into the city, but we would rather not go anywhere like that.” Finally, Tom’s eyes flickered and he came back to the real world.
“No, it’s fine. I’ll pull over up here and leave you guys the car. I’ll take the bike and head into the city by myself.” Sarah and Wade were glad that they didn’t have to get physical with Tom just to get what they wanted. “Just out of curiosity, why wouldn’t you want to come to the city with me and look for supplies?” Tom kept his eyes on the road and didn’t pick up on the look that Wade exchanged with Sarah.
“It might be dangerous to take the little girl there. In the big cities is where the most pampered people live. When their comforts disappear, they start turning into people who would do anything to get them back. I just don’t want to take the little girl somewhere where she might be hurt because she crossed paths with some amoral person like that.” Tom was nodding in understanding, and Sarah was glad that Wade could think on his feet the way he did. That was a skill that Sarah had let slip into a state of uselessness. She made a mental note that she needed to step up her game in that aspect. Tom was silent, pondering what Wade just had said. While he did this, he followed the directions that Wade gave him to take them to the secondary roads.
“So, what kind of people do you think the city will have?” There was a nervous tinge to his voice, and he was thinking about all the things that could happen, not just to Emily, but to him as well. Like Wade had said, people had become amoral, and that meant they would kill on sight just to get what they wanted. His knees began shaking, and fear flooded him.
“Well, let’s just say it probably won’t be pretty. The big cities also have jails and some prisons, and the convicts are probably loose in the streets. Their cells are powered by electric locks, and now that there’s no electricity, they are out on the streets doing what they must to survive. Unfortunately, their means to an end might be a little more dangerous than most.”
“I’m not exactly that great in a fight, and I don’t have many resourceful skills that would help me now. Maybe you’re right. Maybe the city isn’t that great of place to be. I think I will take the car, just so I can have some extra protection. You don’t mind, right?” The question wasn’t exactly a request, but Wade really didn’t care. If they could get out and use the bicycles, they still were doing well and heading in the direction that they needed to be.
“I’ll find Christina and come pick you guys up on my way out of the city.” Wade didn’t know if that was going to be such a good idea, but at least he’d been right to think that Tom wanted to find his girl.
Maybe it finally had sunk in that she had left him to go off on her own. Wade felt bad about that, but it wasn’t something he could fix, or spend a lot of time thinking about. He had other responsibilities. Tom pulled over to top off the gas tank. He got out, looking around at the little bit of forest he could see. The world was strangely silent. No birds sang, no little animals scurried through the undergrowth, and no cars went by. Goosebumps rose on Tom’s skin, and he felt uneasy. The silence grated on his nerves, making him feel like he was in a soundproof room. Maybe he wasn’t cut out for this kind of world after all.
After about another dozen miles or so, Wade saw a cloud of dust on the road ahead of them. A cold chill raced down his spine. Someone was on the road with them, but they were too far ahead for Wade to be able to tell who or what was making the dust, and in which direction they were heading. Either way, though, it was bad news. This was exactly why Wade had wanted to stick to secondary roads.
“You need to pull over.” Wade’s voice was harsh, but Tom ignored it.
“It’s just people like us. They’re trying to get somewhere, and so are we. We might even be trying to get to the same places, so there’s nothing to worry about.” From the back seat, Sarah just picked up on the conversation, and it made her squint into the distance until she found the cloud of dust, too. She took back every nice thing that she’d said to or thought about Tom. He was extremely naïve if he thought these people on the road were just trying to move to a new location. Yes, it was possible, but that was the absolute best case scenario, and the chances of that happening were slim to none.
“I think you should pull over, Tom. Let’s just sit here for a few minutes and observe, okay? It could be people just like us looking for help, and it could be something completely different. Just pull over and get behind these trees.” Sarah pointed to a clump of low trees, and Tom was in the process of turning off the road when Wade swore under his breath.
Sarah looked up at the cloud and saw that it was headed in their direction. At the last second, Tom swerved back onto the road, ignoring what Sarah said completely. He gunned it as fast as the old car could go, and as the Model T ate up the road, the group could see that the cloud of dust was a group of five men on old fashioned motorcycles that still seemed to be working just fine. The machines were sleek, like they’d been lovingly polished every day since the EMP attack. The men on the bikes looked rugged and dangerous, and Sarah clutched Emily tighter to her unconsciously. These bikes didn’t purr like the smoother, electric ones, they seemed to roar out a warning as the monsters drew nearer.
The men looked half-crazed, almost like the feral dogs that had chased them before they had me
t up with Tom, and suddenly, Tom’s hands were shaking on the wheel. It was easy to see that now he wished he’d listened to Wade and Sarah. Sarah, in the meantime, wanted to strangle the young man, thinking that this was mostly his fault because he didn’t listen to them. Wade calmly clicked the safety off his gun and cocked it. Reaching his hand out the window, he fired at the lead bike. Whether it was his excellent aim, or an accident, the bullet hit the front tire of the bike, puncturing it, and the bike spun crazily out of control. The rider screamed as he leaped off the bike and rolled a few times from the momentum. The gunshot frightened Emily, and she hunkered down as low as she could get in the back of the car. Wade fired again, and Tom gunned it as much as the Model T would allow. They screeched away down a side road that was barely more than a dirt path. The remaining men gave chase, one trying to knock in the windows with a crowbar. Near the back of the pack, a man pulled a gun out of his vest and started to fire back at Wade.
Tom was glad he’d just topped off the car, because it looked as though this chase would end only when one or both of them ran out of gas. Luckily, no one had been hit inside the car, but unfortunately, other than the one man whose bike Wade had felled, they all still were doing their best to run them down. A bullet skittered off the roof rack on top of the car, and Sarah clutched Emily tighter as she watched it ricochet off into the woods. Sarah angled her body so it was lying over Emily’s and did her best not to leave a single inch of Emily exposed for a bullet to find. The motorcycles finally ran out of gas, and the men on them were shaking their fists angrily in the escaping car’s direction as they yelled obscenities after it. The man with the crowbar even launched it as far as he could, but it fell harmlessly short of the back bumper. They just had breathed a sigh of relief that they had made it out alive when they saw two women walking along the side of the road.
