SURVIVING ABE: A Climate-Fiction Novel

by O'Brien, J. Z.

  "First, in the back of my rig there's a blue duffle bag with a bunch of zip-ties in it for handcuffs. Take those to Andy, have him cinch those down tight on their wrists, behind their backs, and then search them again for knives or any other weapons."

  Jennifer went back to Andy and relayed Sam's instructions, adding, "I'll cover you while you do it, okay?"

  She watched as Andy commanded the two unwounded men back onto their bellies. Once they were on the ground he approached them, again being careful to stay out of Jennifer's line of fire. First, he secured each man's hands, and then he put zip-ties around the men's ankles. After Andy had secured the wounded man in the same manner, the need to hurry and help Sam overcame Jennifer's patience and she said, "Please hurry. We need to help Sam."

  "Okay, I don't think we need to worry about these guys, but we still need to keep an eye on them; I didn't search them for anything other than obvious weapons."

  "Agreed, Sam is bleeding and we don't have time."

  When they got to Sam they decided to stop the bleeding and move him out of the wet conditions in the pool of antifreeze, before he went into shock or hypothermia.

  Andy removed Sam's duty belt, stripped the gear off of it, and wrapped it around a towel Jennifer found in the back of Sam's vehicle. With the belt and a handful of zip-ties, they bandaged the mid thigh entry and exit wounds on Sam's left leg. Sam's ragged breathing, forced through his clinched teeth, was the only indication of the pain it caused him.

  "Jennifer, how about you bring the flatbed over here while I help him up. Then we'll get him to the house to warm him up and treat his leg."

  "Okay."

  While she was gone Sam paled noticeably and started to shake from the cold, or shock, or both. Andy told him of their plan, and he just nodded with his jaw clamped as he dealt with the pain.

  "Back of my r-rig, cat litter-r for traction," Sam said, shivering. "Gather all the weapons, from my r-rig too, leave nothing."

  Andy could hear sounds of Jennifer maneuvering the one-ton. Soon she came rushing up, arms wide out for balance, "It's as close as I could get it. What's next?"

  "I'll help Sam up on the flatbed while you gather up all the weapons, including the ones in Sam's truck, anything that could be used against us. Then you drive us to the house."

  "Sam, put your arm around my neck and support your upper body. Ready on three: one, two, three. . . ." Slowly Sam's body rose, dripping green coolant and red blood, and together they moved across the ice to the side of the flatbed. Andy did his best to keep his movements as steady as possible, but the inevitable jerks evoked hisses of pent up breath from Sam. Spreading the cat litter had given traction to the slippery ice, and Andy got Sam to and on the flatbed without slipping or falling.

  Jennifer finished and climbed into the cab as Andy picked up the AR he'd dropped earlier, made sure the safety was on, and then put it next to Sam. He then climbed up to lay down beside Sam, telling Jennifer, "I'll try to keep him steady and warm, we're ready to go."

  On the way up the driveway to the farmhouse she started mashing the horn buttons. The old horn sounded like a sick cartoon roadrunner, but did the trick of alerting the household. Reb was first out the door holding Leo in her arms.

  When the truck stopped Andy jumped down with the bag of remaining cat litter and started spreading it on the walkway to the house. When Tye came up to him Andy briefed him on the situation.

  Tye called to Reb and asked her to get their medical case and prepare a spot for Sam. Then, together, he and Andy lifted Sam off the truck's bed and started for the house. Melissa, carrying Leo, hovered around them as they brought Sam into the house and put him on the floor near the wood-burning stove.

  Reb and Melissa cut away his uniform pant leg while Tye started heating water on the gas stove. Knowing they would need more water Tye grabbed two buckets and headed for the original, hand-pumped well in back of the farmhouse.

  Jennifer had her hands full with Leo. Even though the boy considered Jennifer to be his best "grownup" friend he wanted to be with his parents. He knew his dad was hurt and his mom was crying.

  Andy sat at the table and watched, feeling helpless, but not seeing anything he could do to help, other than staying out of everyone's way. Then he remembered he'd left the AR-15 on the bed of the truck and he went out to get it.

  Walking to the truck he noticed red icicles on the underside of the flatbed. Taking a second look he realized it was Sam's blood that had seeped between the planks on the flatbed and dripped off to color the icicles. Inside the cab he saw the pile of captured weapons, Jennifer's shotgun, and Sam's gear; all bejeweled with shards of ice and miniature chunks of shattered safety glass.

  Seeing the aftermath of frozen blood, captured firearms, and broken glass reminded him that he had shot—and probably killed—two men today. Andy knew in his heart that this day would forever leave a mark on him. In some way it helped to see this evidence of mayhem; it reinforced the reasons he'd been forced to kill another human, and it helped him adjust to the horror he felt after taking another's life.

  He picked up Jennifer's shotgun, the weapon he'd just used on two men, and cleared it, putting the round back in the magazine before slinging the shotgun over his shoulder. As he felt the physical weight of the gun he thought how light it felt compared to the mental weight of responsibility he now carried, in knowing that he might have to use it again.

  Earlier Jennifer had asked him if he was ready to shoot a man; he could assure her, now, that he wasn't. His ears were ringing from gunshots, his mind churning with video replays, and his second-guesses were piling up. He needed a distraction, something to do. He decided that the guns needed to be checked, made safe, and moved to a more secure place than the cab of the one-ton.

  Aside from the AR, the pile of captured weapons consisted of two semi-automatic pistols and a bolt-action rifle. He made sure each one had an empty chamber before carrying them to the house to a place he found in the coat closet. He assumed the Deputies would want them when things got back to normal, if normal existed anymore.

  He found Reb and Melissa still tending to Sam, with Tye providing hot water and a pile of clean towels. He watched as Reb used a turkey baster to irrigate the wound with clean water, which started the bleeding again in the exit channel. Sam lost consciousness at some point, due to the pain of cleaning the wound, enabling the two women to finish soon after he stopped moving.

  The women were starting to re-bandage the wound when Tye stopped them. Some discussion on treatment between Tye and the women ensued with intense voices and waving of hands before a decision could be reached. Tye, who had successfully taken care of wounded farm animals for years, was determined to douse the wounds with antiseptic from the veterinary clinic. The argument started when he claimed the bovine medicine worked great on cattle, and was near magical on his own cuts and scrapes. Reb claimed his experience wasn't proof enough the medicine would work on normal human beings, just because it worked on fossilized farmers. Since the women didn't have any viable alternatives, soon Sam's leg was treated and bandaged with the elixir Tye recommended.

  In the kitchen Andy watched Jennifer holding the backdoor open and assisting Leo inside with another bucket of water. She told him how important the water was for his dad and how much he was helping. That Jennifer and Leo were close was evident in how he paid attention to her and tried to do everything she asked of him. Since Andy considered kids to be unsurpassed in their ability to see the good and/or bad in adults, witnessing the love and respect Leo had for Jennifer, endeared her to him on a new and unexplored level; he caught himself thinking of her as the mother of his children. Tingly feelings on his neck confirmed that the thought had made him blush.

  When Tye came into the kitchen a moment later it broke the spell, and to cover his embarrassment Andy asked, "I'm looking for things to do, I put the guns we captured in the front closet; the shotgun you brought Jennifer is in there too. I'm sure the cops will want those guns, and they'll
probably want to talk to me, since I shot those two men."

  "My advice is to keep your mouth closed about that. Sam will handle that when the time comes. Go wash up and change your clothes, you look like a butcher. Then come back and start a pot of coffee, or fix something hot for all of us to eat, if you still want something to keep busy with. Besides, Jen says she likes the way you look in the kitchen much better than seeing me in there."

  "Any clothes around here that might fit me?" Andy asked.

  Tye looked Andy up and down and then answered, "That will fit you, probably not, but I'll see what I can find while you're washing up."

  Tess & Eric - Corsica River, Chesapeake Bay, MD

  When the tornado's roar penetrated her sleep, Tess came awake and running for the companionway, simultaneously. She didn’t get far before crashing into the wardrobe door when the violent winds tipped Robin over 90 degrees, far enough to dip Robin's mast into the river. Tess controlled her panic and concentrated on getting to the hatch by grabbing the teak handholds, strategically placed for rough sea conditions, and pulling herself from one to the next. Seconds later she slid the hatch open just in time to see a debris cloud around the vortex of a tornado that angled toward the ground, near where she thought Eric's house stood—or once stood. Tess was braced in the companionway as Robin began to right herself from the winds of the tornado. Awe and curiosity diverted Tess's attention from her own predicament, as she watched one of the atmosphere's most violent meteorological events unfolding, terrifyingly close by.

  After the sailboat righted itself Tess noticed that Robin spun in the water; they were no longer aground. That joy would be short-lived if Tess didn't quickly do something to prevent Robin from going aground again. But first, she had to retrieve the secondary anchor she had tossed out of the dinghy and into the river last night.

  Going forward on deck she pulled in the rode, hand over hand, until she saw the anchor's shank break the water's surface—far enough for the moment. She wrapped the rode around a deck cleat, leaving the anchor hanging over the side, and ran to the cockpit. When the diesel engine started at the first turn of the key, she uttered heartfelt appreciation to everything she held dear, jerked the transmission lever, and cranked the throttle. Shortly thereafter Robin powered into the wind, side slipping downriver, fighting to keep from being blown ashore. Tess stood tensely at the helm using both throttle and rudder to stay in navigable water.

  Minutes later the wind died down to a gusty breeze, allowing Tess to throttle back and take stock of the situation. When she remembered the anchor hanging over the side, she stopped the boat in the middle of the channel and rushed on deck to bring it aboard and secure it. That done she hurried back to the helm to steer Robin away from shallow water and to continue on her journey.

  ~~~

  A blasting roar awoke Eric as his bedroom imploded around him. Total blackness, weight, and water enveloped him; along with a din so loud his mind could deal with little else. After the roar's crescendo, far in the distance, he sensed something vital. In his mind’s eye it resembled the water's surface reflection to a diver coming up for air. He tried to reach for the surface, but he couldn't move, weight pressed on him, suffocating him. Panic swept through his mind like a storm surge washing through him. Every muscle in his body strained to move, and fought to push against the pinning weight, so he could gain enough room to expand his lungs and inhale.

  A clatter of something falling accompanied an easing of the weight, just enough to allow him to take small breaths without struggling for each one. His panic subsided some when he took the first breath and realized he could breathe. Eric quit moving and listened intently, irrationally hoping to hear sirens.

  Howling wind and occasional rumblings of thunder were the loudest sounds he heard; beneath those in volume, he could hear water steadily dripping. He inventoried his body parts, checking for any pain, as he tried to move each extremity. During this process he became convinced that he lay face down on the floor with his bed mattress on top of him.

  He struggled to crawl, shouted for help, and then cried and screamed at the frustration of not being able to move. After the wave of emotional panic had drained him of oxygen, he felt dizzy and close to passing out. This time, as his panic for oxygen returned, he responded by shutting down everything that distracted him from taking small, steady breaths.

  After a time he accepted being physically immobilized and quit trying to move, and thinking of new ways of trying to move. He wondered what would ultimately kill him. Even though he wasn't dead yet, he knew the final appointment he would ever have had been moved up on his agenda.

  From the sound of the roar and his house falling in on him he figured a tornado had come close to suffocating him, and still might if more weight shifted onto him. Drowning, or hypothermia, now looked more likely. The carpet beneath him felt wet and cold, he knew he would be the same temperature soon. Of the front-runners for the final cause of death, he hoped for hypothermia. Just giving into sleep and not waking up sounded like an okay way to die, considering how the other two would feel.

  He wondered if the tornado had hit Tess and her boat. Thinking back he couldn’t recall any statistics of tornados hitting boats, or how they faired, but he didn't think her chances were as good as his; which sucked at the moment.

  Being literally under his deathbed—while figuratively on it—he thought about the singularity, which he had always believed would happen in his lifetime. It damn sure needed to hurry up.

  Andy, Jennifer, Tye & Reb - East Texas

  Andy emerged from the bathroom dressed in a pair of bib overalls, with the straps let out all the way, worn over a skin-tight sweatshirt. Trading his clothes, saturated with the mix of blood and coolant, for clean and dry clothing felt great; and he had no complaints about the fit.

  As Andy approached the family room he saw that Reb and Melissa were still at Sam's side. Deciding not to intrude on their vigil, he detoured into the kitchen and got a pot of coffee brewing while he looked at what ingredients were available to put together a meal. To his surprise he found two frozen pizzas in the freezer, and he figured everyone would like pizza and coffee on an exceptionally cold day. In the pantry he found some chips and cookies to add to the offerings.

  Startled at first when a pair of small, feminine hands encircled his waist, and then started digging into the box of cookies he held, Andy felt the warmth of Jennifer's body on his back and relaxed a little. "Stealing cookies, I see," she whispered conspiratorially.

  "Aiding and abetting, as it turns out," he said and turned to face her.

  "You look a little worried," she said between bites of a cookie.

  "I'm fine, just thinking about what happened."

  "Please, don't make it bigger than it is. You defended yourself and others when fired upon, while trying to stop a crime in progress. Everyone is proud of what you did, so quit hiding in here with the comfort food," Jennifer said.

  "Easier said than done. Things are happening that I never imagined would happen to a nerd like me."

  "Nerd? Since the day you rode into my life it's been one adrenalin rush after another, it's becoming addictive."

  "Here, feed your cravings with another chocolate chip cookie, there's fresh coffee to go with it." Andy put a cookie in her mouth and stepped out of the pantry.

  Reb came into the kitchen, "Thought I smelled fresh coffee, and what is that in the oven?"

  "The pizza!" Andy rushed to the oven to look in and then stood up wiping his brow. "I put that in for everyone to snack on and then got distracted and forgot about it."

  "What on Earth could be distracting around here?" Reb asked as she poured a cup of coffee.

  ~~~

  During the day Sam drifted in and out of sleep, each time he came around a cup of lukewarm chicken broth appeared under his nose, accompanied with encouragements to drink. With warmth, rest, and what liquids he got down while awake, his color had improved by midafternoon. Tye assured everyone Sam was on the
mend and would soon be issuing orders, so everyone should get some rest while they could. Reb told him to go clean corrals, but they all wanted to believe his prognosis.

  A short while later a Deputy that everyone, except Andy, personally knew drove up to the house. As soon as he stopped and got out of his vehicle Melissa came out of the house to meet him, "Ben, I'm so glad you came. Sam's been shot, he's awake right now, but hurry before he drifts off."

  On the way in the Deputy said hello to everyone, and told Andy he knew of him by reputation from the night Jeff had attacked him, then he went over to Sam.

  "Hey Buddy, how you doing?" Ben asked.

  "Other than being doctored by a wannabe veterinarian daubing me with cow dope, I'm fine," Sam said with a weak smile.

  "Come to think of it you do smell like my dog did when I got him back from the vet for getting his balls chopped off . . . same look on your face too. They do that to you?"

  "I know it's hard to believe the bastards missed such big targets, but they did. They shot me in the leg before I was even out of the vehicle, just opened fire as soon as I pulled up."

  "You get those two guys Andy and Jen left handcuffed?" Tye asked.

  "I found two dead bodies with gang tattoos by a shot up pickup in the intersection. Other than Sam's patrol unit, that's all I found. If you left two others there, they're gone now," Ben said.

  "Yesterday morning the flatbed ran out of gas near the intersection and was broken into and robbed before we could go back to get it. Then Sam gets attacked near the same spot. I suspect those guys weren't alone, and their buddies rescued them," Tye said.

  "As far as we know this is the work of a gang from Dallas/Fort Worth that's been capitalizing on the power outage, and this damned ice storm, to raid small rural towns. Opportunistic bastards know that with the power grid and communications not working, laws are harder to enforce. They've been robbing businesses, homes, vehicles, and anything else they want. Sam most likely ran into part of the gang as they were regrouping for another raid. They could be anywhere by now," Ben said.