AFTER THE DUST SETTLED (Countdown to Armageddon Book 2)

by Darrell Maloney

  She looked down. That was when it was most noticeable. She could see the bump, and less of her feet than before. She also noticed that her belly button had started to distend.

  When she’d missed the first period, she wasn’t that concerned. They were still irregular for her sometimes. Especially when she was stressed. And God knew, there had been a lot of stressful days then.

  When almost a month went by, she tried to convince herself that it was somehow normal for a seventeen year old girl to occasionally skip a period for no reason. That must be it. She counted the days on a calendar, sure that the next one would come right on schedule and everything would be okay again.

  Now all pretense was gone. All the fairy tale logic and false hopes wouldn’t bring it back. And she was terrified. Terrified at what Jordan would say. And terrified that the family, which she’d grown to love, would send her away.

  There was a tap on the bathroom door. A very subtle, almost a secret tap.

  She went to the door and placed her face against it.

  She whispered, “Yes?”

  The response was another whisper.

  “It’s me.”

  She opened the door to Jordan, fully naked and unashamed. Jordan was somewhat taken aback, but not unpleased. He held her and complimented her, told her she was beautiful beyond description.

  She was half hoping he’d notice the bump. So she wouldn’t have to explain it. And also half hoping he wouldn’t, so she could carry on her charade a little bit longer.

  “How much time do we have?”

  “A little. But probably not much. They’re all downstairs playing cards. Except the twerp, and he’s watching the monitors. Probably half an hour or so. Want to sneak into the bedroom?”

  “No.”

  He looked crestfallen.

  “I mean, I don’t want to get caught. It would mess everything up. Wait until tonight, when they’re sleeping. It’s just safer that way.”

  They kissed, and he dejectedly headed for the door.

  “Jordan?”

  He turned and looked at her, once again unable to take his eyes off her body.

  “Yes?”

  “Tomorrow I’d like to take a walk. A long walk. Like down to the fishing pond, and maybe around it a couple of times. I have something important I want to talk to you about.”

  Jordan hated it when someone knew something he didn’t.

  “We have a few minutes now.”

  “No. I mean, I want to talk about something important. And I have to figure out exactly how I want to say it to you.”

  Jordan went to bed, but he couldn’t sleep. Left to his own thoughts, he considered the worst. That this girl he’d fallen so much in love with was trying to find a soft way to say she didn’t feel the same way.

  He looked at the clock on his bedside table. It would be at least two hours before everyone was settled in for the evening and asleep. Two more hours of wondering what in the world she wanted to say to him.

  And even then, in her room, they’d only be able to speak in whispers. Was she going to break up with him as the two lay entwined in her bed? Speaking in hushed tones so no one else could hear?

  And why break up with him? Why now? It wasn’t as though she had any other options. She didn’t exactly have a lot of guys their age coming to call.

  Jordan struggled with his thoughts.

  It seemed to take forever, but finally, a little after one in the morning he deemed it safe enough to tiptoe down the hall. But when he tried the knob, the door was locked.

  In the room, Sara watched as the knob twisted slightly back and forth. She saw the twin shadows his feet made beneath the door and knew he was there. Knew he was confused and didn’t know what to do. She felt bad about leaving him hanging. But she’d made a mistake by hinting to him that there was something serious to discuss. She knew him well enough to know that he wouldn’t wait for tomorrow. That he’d pressure her for answers tonight. And she didn’t want to tell him this way. Couldn’t tell him this way. She needed to see his face. So she would know if whatever reaction he had was genuine.

  She cried herself to sleep. He looked at the ceiling for a long time before he finally drifted off. And neither slept very well that night at all.

  -28-

  As it turned out, Jordan took the news better than expected. She hadn’t given him enough credit.

  He didn’t get angry and yell at her and insist that she leave the compound and walk back to San Antonio. He didn’t insist that they try somehow to abort the baby. If he’d done that, she’d have walked back to the city on her own accord.

  No, he took it quite well. He seemed happy. And he began to fawn over her and treat her with a tenderness that he hadn’t before. Like she’d suddenly become a fragile piece of porcelain.

  Yes, she sold him short. She expected him to take the news like a boy, and to try to escape the reality of the situation.

  Instead, he took it like a man, and dealt with it head on.

  She felt something new for him. Something besides the love she’d felt before. She felt proud of him. And she knew at that moment that he would make an excellent father.

  He still asked a lot of silly questions, though.

  “When is it coming?”

  “I’m not sure, exactly.”

  “How can you not be sure? I mean, don’t you have like, female schedules or stuff that tell you when it’s due?”

  She laughed.

  “Female schedules?”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Periods. They’re called periods, silly. And mine were pretty irregular. So I can guess, but I’m not sure. I think around late November or early December.”

  “December’s not good. We have too many birthdays in December already. How about January?”

  “Seriously?”

  “Is it going to be a boy or a girl?”

  “I don’t know. How would I know?”

  “Your friend, Ariana. The one who got pregnant her senior year. She knew it was a boy before it was born. They even had a name picked out. Julian. Who the hell names a baby Julian?”

  “Baby, we won’t know the sex until it gets here. And it’ll happen when it happens. And it’ll be beautiful, you just wait and see.”

  He reached out and held her close. He lifted her chin and kissed her, then wiped the hair from her eyes.

  “Of course it will. You’re beautiful. How could it not be?”

  The parents to be beamed, and held hands, as they walked back to the compound from the fishing pond. And it wasn’t until they were near the gate that another thought suddenly popped into his mind. And the expression on his face turned from one of content to one of sheer terror instantly.

  “What in heck are we going to tell my parents?”

  -29-

  Tom and Scott were dealing with their own problem, and it had nothing at all to do with babies.

  They were brainstorming, trying to figure out how to get three tons of wheat safely down to San Antonio, and how to get back without getting hijacked or shot.

  “Those two Walmart trucks out there on Highway 83, I noticed that the drivers left their keys on the visors before they walked away from them. I guess for the mobile mechanics to use when they came to fix them.”

  “Do you think you can get one of them running?”

  “Oh, yeah. I mean, in theory. I’ve worked on diesels all my life. Most farm equipment and generators run on diesel because diesel engines are more efficient and the fuel is safer to store. I should be able to get the parts I need at that same auto parts store.”

  “Do you think it’s safe to go back there, with those two bandits out there?”

  “I’m sure those bandits are long gone. I’m pretty sure they were just hunters out looking for game who happened to see me driving the Ford and decided they wanted to have it for themselves. They probably came back to my place and saw that I lit out. And I’ll bet they gave up at that point. They’ve probably gone elsewhere, wher
ever the game is leading them.”

  “Speaking of that, Tom, when was the last time you heard a gunshot?”

  “Shoot, now that you mention it, not for several days. A week, maybe. Do you think all the game’s been cleaned out of this area?”

  “I think it’s possible. I mean, we were hearing several shots a day for a long time. Now nothing. That’s the only thing that makes sense.”

  “That’s a good thing, don’t ya think? I mean, if the hunters know here’s nothing to shoot up here, they’ll go look somewhere else.”

  “Yeah, maybe. Or it might make ‘em look harder. And maybe do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do. Like climb up towers and such trying to see what’s out there besides woods.”

  “Well, as I see it, we’ll just stay vigilant, just like we always have. And if anyone does find out we’re here and tries something stupid, we make sure they don’t make it out alive to tell anybody else.”

  “Back to the Walmart trucks. How confident are you that you can get one going?”

  “Getting it going won’t be a problem. All the parts I need will be at the auto parts place except the batteries. You said your buddy in San Antonio grabbed all the dry cell batteries from all the auto parts places in the area. There were three or four I left behind when I got the parts for my Ford. Looking back, I should have grabbed them. But it’s probably too late now.”

  “So, what’s your plan, then?”

  “Oh, I’m still going to try it. Maybe they didn’t want to drive a hundred miles just to get batteries. But I’ll assume they’re already gone. And if that’s the case, I’ll go back the other direction. There’s a farm implement place about three miles in the other direction. The front of the place is covered with attachments. Plows, sprayers, irrigation sprinkler parts. No powered equipment. So any policeman that drove up from San Antonio probably wouldn’t know that even though they don’t sell tractors, they do service them. Only area farmers would know that. And I’ll bet they’ve got at least four there.”

  “You need four batteries?”

  “Yes. And, well, not really.”

  Scott gave him a puzzled look and he explained.

  “Well, if you look inside a truck’s battery box, you’ll see at least three, and sometimes four batteries. And it does take a lot more battery power to crank a diesel engine. But another reason there are so many batteries is because truckers sometimes park on the shoulder of the highway to sleep. They like to leave their trailer’s running lights and parking lights on while they’re sleeping so they don’t get rear ended or sideswiped by passing trucks. But they don’t want to run the engine and burn a lot of diesel while they’re sleeping either. So part of the reason for the extra batteries is so they can run their lights with the engine off, and still be able to start it again when they wake up.

  “Here’s the thing. We won’t be doing that. We won’t be using lights at all, not even when we’re moving. We’ll go down the same way you said you all came up here. Blacked out and using night vision goggles.”

  “So, that being the case, we won’t need as many batteries.”

  “Exactly. We can probably get by with two. But if we can find a third, we’ll hook it in line just to be safe.”

  “Okay, next question. Have you ever driven a tractor trailer?”

  “No. But I’ve towed a twenty five foot horse trailer behind a pickup many a time. The braking system is completely different, but I know about air brakes. And the Walmart rigs have sleeper cabs and 53 foot trailers. So I’ll have to take the turns wider. But the basic principal is the same.”

  “Sounds good. We’ve got what, two months to go before harvest?”

  “Less than that now. Figure five weeks.”

  “Can you get the truck running and over here by then?”

  “Does a dog have fleas?”

  Scott laughed.

  “Okay, then. Sounds like we’re all set.”

  Two days later Tom Haskins got up early, packed his weapons and gear, and saddled up his horse Bonnie. Scott came out of the house just as he was mounting up.

  “Hey, Tom. Where you going? Was it something I said?”

  Tom chuckled.

  “No, not this time. I’m heading over to the parts store to get what I need for that rig.”

  “How come you’re not taking your Ford? Or one of the Gators?”

  “Well, a couple of reasons. If we see something or somebody out there we don’t like, Bonnie and I can cut out and duck into the brush. Then we can follow the highway from a hundred yards off of it until we get past the ugly part. You can’t do that in a vehicle. There’s too many arroyos and thickets.

  “And also, the vehicles are our backup plan. If I can’t find any batteries and come back empty handed, we’ll pull the batteries from the Gators and the Ford and use them. But if I take a vehicle on my parts hunt, and if the wrong person sees me, there’s a chance I’ll lose not only the vehicle but the battery as well.”

  “Okay. Makes sense. Are you sure you don’t want me to go along?”

  “Scott, I like you, man. We’re good friends now. So I feel that I can be honest with you without hurting your feelings. Am I right about that?”

  Scott hesitated. Then he said, “Yes. Go on…”

  “Scott, I’ve been a cowboy a long time. This mission I’m going on is easy, because I know what I’m doing. But if I took along a wet-eared tenderfoot, there’s a good chance we’d both get killed.”

  Scott couldn’t argue the logic.

  “Okay, then. Good luck, then. And be careful.”

  “Will do, good buddy.”

  And with that, Tom gave Bonnie a slight kick and rode off in a cloud of dust.

  -30-

  “Hey, Scott, this is John in San Antonio. Are you listening today?”

  Joyce was sitting at the security console when the call came in on the ham radio. She picked up the mike.

  “Hello, John. This is Joyce, his girlfriend. How are things in San Antonio? Any light at the end of the tunnel yet?”

  “Well, if you mean have we hit our sustainability number yet, I don’t know. FEMA’s not visiting us anymore. Haven’t been here in a couple of weeks. They said they’re focusing on other cities now, that are worse off than we are. I guess that’s a good thing. I mean, if anybody’s worse off that we are, then logic says we must be doing some things right. Or they’re in really bad shape.”

  “Scott’s out working in the field, by the way. I’ve sent his son to go fetch him. He should be inside in just a minute.”

  “Okay, your turn, Joyce. How are things on your end?”

  “Well, I hesitate to tell you, John. Anything I say will be like rubbing salt into your wounds. I mean, we’re having to learn a whole new way of life. And a lot of things are damn hard. But at the end of the day, we go to bed with full bellies, and we don’t much have to worry about anybody shooting us over a box of food. So I’d say we’re doing a lot better than you guys are.”

  “Yes, I suppose so. But I’m glad you were able to get away. It reminds me that there are still places where people get enough to eat and are safe at night. And we’re working hard to make San Antonio that way again. And it’ll get there. We’ve come a hell of a long way, after all, in just a few short months. We’ve got a long way to go, but we’ll get there.”

  “You sound like a good man, John. Do you have a family?”

  “Oh, yes. My wife, Hannah, is the light of my life. Still is even after all these years and all we’ve been through. She’s the glue that holds the family together. And we’ve got two wonderful little girls, Rachel and Misty. My little angels.”

  “Is Hannah a policewoman too? I’ve always heard that cops marry cops a lot.”

  “No. She works at a hospital. At least she did. When the lights went out we were afraid to leave our girls at home alone, so she stopped going in. She felt real bad about that at first, because there were so many shot and injured that the medical people were being run ragged. But she had to
put her priority on people she knew and loved, instead of on strangers she’d never see again. So she stays at home with a loaded gun and watches out for bandits. And she makes damn sure that Rachel and Misty stay safe.”

  “Scott’s here now, so I’m going to step aside. He’s talked about you and the situation in San Antonio a lot lately. It’s nice to finally get a chance to talk to you.”

  “Same here, Joyce. You take good care of everybody there, okay?”

  “Okay, John. And we’ll continue to pray for you all.”

  “Thank you.”

  “John, this is Scott. I heard you tell Joyce that the hospitals were run ragged. It sounded like you meant past tense. Does that mean things are getting better?”

  “Yes, I think so. At least from that perspective. I mean, it’s still a very hard life. And people are continuing to commit suicide. But the violence against others has gotten a lot better over the last few weeks. I don’t know if it’s because the bad guys have given up stealing, or have moved on to other cities, or have realized there’s not much left to steal. One of the guys I work with thinks that once the pickings got slim, they started shooting themselves. That the reason they stole their food from others was because they were too lazy to scavenge for it themselves. And that when they started going through ten people just to find a single meal, it was too much work for them. And the same laziness that drove them to steal drove them to just give up and end it all. It’s as good a theory as any, I guess. But I’m still skeptical.”

  “Are people still leaving the city in search of easier places? We haven’t seen any sign of them where we’re at. Maybe we’ve just been lucky. Or they’re not here yet.”

  “Well, they’re still leaving. I know because the trucks are still collecting bodies by the hundreds, on all the outbound highways. I think most of them don’t get very far before they collapse and die. That may be why you haven’t seen any. You have to remember that nobody wants to have to walk fifty or a hundred miles to look for food unless they’re really desperate. And by desperate I mean really hungry. And when people are starving they have no strength. I’ve seen estimates that as many as ninety percent of the people who leave the city on foot won’t make it twenty miles.”