by Lee West
“Yes! I’m fine. We need to go!” screamed Lea.
She couldn’t believe she was alive. It hurt to run, but she knew it was the only way they would survive. She wanted nothing more than to hold her mom and dad, but that could wait.
The five of them ran as quickly as possible through the neighborhood, grabbing backpacks and spare weapons from a pile behind the Cramers’ house before heading into the woods. The shadows from the trees and underbrush concealed them from the mayhem unfolding on the street.
“Where are we going?” asked Lea.
“To the storage unit on Michigan,” said Sam.
“We need to regroup, get supplies and then head out of town,” said Jane.
“No! We need to get as far away from here as possible. They’ll kill all of us. It isn’t safe here!” hissed Lea.
Her dad placed his warm hand on her shoulder, looking her straight in the eyes. “We’ll be okay. We’re together now, and that’s all that matters. Remember the storage unit? We have everything we need there, and we will be safe. Plus, we have two guardian angels to keep a close watch over us.”
Sam always calmed Lea.
“Who are they?” said Lea.
“You might remember Charlie from one of the police department picnics. He’s a good friend of your mother’s. The guy walking point is Mark Jordan, one of our neighbors. Just so happens he’s a Force Recon Marine.”
“What’s that?” asked Lea.
“A badass. Your dad used to patch them up when they exceeded their badass quotient,” said Jane.
“I heard that,” said a voice out of sight in front of them.
“Looks like all of you are badasses,” said Lea.
“Are you kidding me? You jumped out of a moving vehicle. I’d say you’re in the right club,” said her mother.
“Damn right,” said Lea.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Sam walked a few feet behind Lea. He’d checked her wounds during their last stop. The blood from the cuts had slowed to a trickle thanks to the gauze he had taped around her wrists. Beyond that, she didn’t show any permanent signs of damage. He’d feared a concussion, but she’d somehow escaped the fall from Tank’s pickup truck with nothing more than a few scratches and a lot of sore spots. She’d be bruised all over, but that appeared to be the extent of it. He greatly admired his daughter’s resilience and bravery. Not many people would have thrown themselves out of a moving truck.
Moving quickly down Michigan Road, Sam knew they needed to stay concealed, but wished they could get there faster. He wanted to clean his daughter’s wounds and get her fed. She’d been through a terrible ordeal. A few minutes later, Store-Right’s large sign came into sight. Unlit, it stood as a dark contrast to the night sky. Relief washed over Sam. He’d half expected the place to be burned to the ground. For the first time since they’d come out of the mountains, he started to believe they would make it.
“Jane, is this the place?” asked Mark over his shoulder to Jane.
“That’s it. We’re on the south side, unit 52L,” said Jane.
“It’s around the back side of the property. Once we get into the fenced area, we should be fine. No one will be able to see us from the street,” said Sam.
“Alright, let’s stop here. We need to conduct a little surveillance before we go in. Just to be sure no one sees us from the outside—or inside,” said Charlie.
The group huddled between two parked cars in the neighboring strip mall. The deserted mall, with its smashed-out windows and looted shadowy interiors, sat as a stark reminder of a past life, creepy and desolate. Sam wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.
“How long do you want to wait before we go in?” asked Sam.
“Not sure yet. It’s best to hang back—listen and look,” said Mark.
“Hopefully, not more than ten to fifteen minutes,” said Sam.
“How can we get in? The entire facility is surrounded by a high chain-link fence topped with barbed wire,” said Jane.
“I brought steel cutters. They can get through anything. I recommend we go to that spot, there.” Mark pointed. “Make a small cut and slip through. Nobody will notice it during the day.”
“Good call. It’s the perfect spot. Close enough to the forest if we need to leave in a hurry,” said Charlie.
“Let’s be ready to move in ten,” said Mark. “That should give us enough time.”
“You still okay, sweetie?” asked Jane, turning to Lea.
“I’m good, just super thirsty,” said Lea. “And hungry.”
“We have plenty of food in the locker,” said Jane.
After waiting longer than Sam thought possible, the group moved in a tight formation toward the spot picked by Mark. Mark quickly pulled out his steel cutters and cut a three-foot slit in the fence.
“I’ll cut just a little more; then we’ll need to bend it back. I want to keep it intact so we can bend it back in place once inside. That way, from the road, no one will know we breached the fence,” said Mark as he snipped a few more links. Each of them passed through the narrow opening, mindful of the fence’s jagged edges.
“Come on, this way, it’s just around back,” Sam said excitedly.
Finally arriving at unit 52L, Lea sat down heavily on the hard pavement, waiting for Sam to open the door.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Sam turned the padlock’s dial quickly, opening the lock within seconds. Instead of immediately lifting the heavy metal sliding door, Sam moved his hands along the seam between the door and the metal frame of the building.
“What are you doing?” asked Charlie.
“Do you need help lifting the door?” asked Mark.
“Nope. I’m removing the bolts I placed to keep the door from opening freely. I drilled a hole in each side. The bolts slide into the track on the inside, freezing the door in place. I figured that if this day came, others might try to break in and look for stuff. Cutting a padlock is one thing, but trying to fix a jammed door might make this locker not worth the trouble,” said Sam.
He pulled a flat-headed, five-inch-long bolt from each side of the door before heaving the door open. The door rolled open, revealing a floor-to-ceiling wall of used furniture, boxes, cabinets, old lamps and other assorted junk. To the casual observer, Sam wanted the locker to look like it was filled to the brim with old, used household goods. Useless stuff. Judging by the reactions he got from the group, he knew he’d accomplished that mission.
“Geez, Dad. What is all this crap?” asked Lea.
“Not to sound ungrateful, Sam,” started Charlie, “but I don’t think we can fit inside.”
“Ye of little faith,” said Sam. “Step inside, quickly. I’ll pull the door down behind us.”
The group stepped into the narrow space, against the seemingly impenetrable wall of discarded junk. As soon as everyone was just inside the locker, Sam quickly lowered the door, plunging them into darkness.
As though orchestrated, Sam, Jane, Charlie and Mark illuminated the dark space with their flashlights. Sam pulled out a small box hiding in the corner of the unit, near the door. The box contained a set of two blocks and clamps. Using a small step stool, Sam jammed the blocks into the top of the door’s tracks and then clamped them in place so the door was jammed shut from the inside.
“There, that’s better. Now let me move some of this out of the way so we can get into the real locker area,” said Sam.
Sam pushed against a shoulder-height metal filing cabinet on the left side of the wall of junk, moving it a few feet toward the back of the unit. The metal cabinet moved easily enough, as though it was empty. He crouched low and disappeared into the space left by the cabinet, easily shifting it to the right and clearing a pathway deeper into the unit.
“This is so cool!” said Lea.
“Ingenious, really,” said Mark. “Even if someone managed to break in, they’d be unlikely to figure this out.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty happy with how it came out
. I wanted it to be a sort of hideaway in case we needed to stay somewhere temporarily,” said Sam, with obvious pride.
“Why didn’t I know about all of this?” asked Lea.
“We told you, but I think this is the sort of thing that went in one ear and out the other,” said Jane. “Like a lot of our parenting advice.”
“Yeah, or barely in one ear,” added Sam with a chuckle.
“Wow. I really had no idea what you were doing out here with this locker. I knew you had stuff here, but not much else,” said Lea.
Sam hoped she’d never mentioned the storage locker to Tank. He didn’t want to bring it up right now, but eventually he’d have to ask. Tank would likely turn over the entire town looking for her. If there was any chance she had mentioned it to him, their time here would be limited.
“Is this the same unit we’ve always had? It seems bigger somehow,” said Jane.
“I upgraded to the biggest unit they have. Once I started moving stuff in here, it seemed to shrink. This one has the most floor space of any of the options offered by the facility. I even thought about claiming the one next to it for overflow,” said Sam. “Just waiting for it to become available.”
The unit was stuffed floor to ceiling with neatly labeled, clear waterproof supply bins. Boxes containing clothing, medical supplies, shoes, and foul-weather gear sat piled high against one of the walls. Large plastic jerry cans of water lined the opposite side wall. The entire back wall of the unit was stocked floor to ceiling with containers of dried foods and industrial-sized cans of beans, vegetables and fruit. The locker easily held a few years of food and enough water to hide out for a few weeks before venturing out to one of the nearby retention ponds.
Three mountain bikes fitted with side packs and tow trailers hung from the grated ceiling. Other supplies, like batteries, camping gear, cooking pots and a cooking stove sat neatly stacked on shelving units in the middle of the space. Sam pushed the filing cabinet back into place and slid a heavy dumbbell into place behind it.
Two long shower curtains hung from the grated ceiling in the back left corner of the storage unit, touching the floor and forming a square privacy area.
“What’s behind the curtain?” said Mark.
“Compost toilet with stacks of organic material,” said Sam. “Even supplied it with some old issues of Popular Mechanics.”
“Nobody is spending enough time behind that curtain to read an article,” said Jane, eliciting a round of laughter.
“Well, I’ll be the first to say it. This place is amazing,” announced Mark.
“Incredible,” said Charlie. “What can we do to help?”
“We can start by setting up some cots. We could all use a little break.”
Sam and Charlie started breaking out the camping cots, unfolding them next to the fake wall of junk at the front of the unit.
When they finished, he turned to Lea. “Lie down right there, Lea. I want to clean and re-dress your wounds.”
“I’m fine, Dad. I’m not even bleeding anymore.”
“Nice try. No way we’re going to risk an infection. We don’t have the luxury of taking you to the emergency room. Let me put new bandages and a nice thick coating of antibacterial gel on it,” said Sam.
Sam retrieved a large medical supply bin, looking for the right combination of items to help his daughter.
“I’ll put together a quick meal while you take care of Lea,” said Jane, turning her attention to the wall of food. “Help yourself to some fresh water, or sort of fresh water. I’m not sure how long it has been in here.”
“It’s fresh. I have a rotation system that I loosely follow for the water, food and medical supplies,” said Sam.
“How long have you been working on this place?” asked Charlie.
“I started stocking up at home several years ago, but then it occurred to me that putting all of our eggs in one basket might not be the best idea. I figured that if something bad enough happened that we truly needed to live off our supplies, we might need to do it quietly, away from home. That’s when I decided to move the bulk of our stuff here and purchase the bikes and trailers for mobility,” said Sam, finishing Lea’s dressing. “If our house was still an option, we could transfer stuff back and forth, or just take off for a safer location.”
“You were right about that. All this stuff would have been taken by the New Order if you had kept it at your house,” said Mark.
“Who were those guys? Why are there so many of them?” asked Lea. “Some of the guys at the house were not part of Tank’s original crew.”
“They’re escaped prisoners from the PrisCorp penitentiary about ten miles east of Evansville,” said Charlie.
“Once the power failed, they just walked out, straight toward our towns. Porter was hit the worst. Things are very desperate over there,” said Jane.
“I had no idea either until your parents told me. When things started getting crazy, I just retreated to my attic and kept a low profile. It has been hard to know who to trust,” said Mark. “I wonder if anyone really knows what happened.”
“I stayed put too, hoping for the best and waiting for you guys to come home. When Tank showed up, I knew that was a mistake,” said Lea.
Lea’s mention of Tank caused Sam to bristle. He saw that his wife had stiffened at the name, too. Their daughter had been through so much at his hands both before and after the lights went out.
“I’m so relieved we got you out of there,” said Jane, sitting on the concrete floor next to Lea.
“Not more relieved than I am. Believe me,” said Lea, turning to Mark. “You live in our neighborhood?”
“Yeah. One street over on Sequoya.”
Jane set out a few battery-powered lanterns, creating a warm glow in the otherwise cold, industrial storage unit. She also handed out MREs to the hungry, tired group. Sam approved. Normally, they’d save the conveniently packaged MREs for travel, but they were far more satisfying than the freeze-dried stuff, and they didn’t require boiled water. Each MRE came with a self-heating pack.
“You are both welcome to stay as long as you need. We have plenty of supplies, as you can see,” said Sam.
“I’m with Sam. We really owe you guys. There is no way we would have been able to get Lea out of there without your help,” added Jane.
“We have to stick together,” said Charlie. “That’s the only way we’re going to survive this mess and put everything right again.”
Sam could sense the gears turning in Jane’s mind. Charlie was right. If everyone went their own way, groups like the New Order would come and go as they please, tearing what little remained of civil society apart. They all had to make a stand at some point—the sooner the better. He just wanted some time to let their daughter recover. A few weeks. Maybe several days. Somehow, he didn’t think they had that much time before the situation spiraled beyond the point of no return.
~ ~ ~
After they finished eating, a quiet, food-induced haze descended on the group. Lea stretched out on one of the camp cots. Under the wool blanket Sam stretched over her, she quickly fell fast asleep. Jane moved closer to their daughter, sitting by the cot, gently rubbing Lea’s head as she slept. When she was sure Lea was sound asleep, she joined her husband at a folding table at the back of the unit. Charlie and Mark were busy stuffing their backpacks with food. Jane had insisted that Charlie bring as much food as possible to the Marshes.
“What’s the plan, guys?” said Jane. “Looks like you’re getting ready to shove off.”
“I need to get back to Scott Marsh’s house. I left Mike and Jenny Sparr there. They’ll be worried about me if I don’t get back sooner rather than later,” said Charlie.
“How soon?” asked Jane. “You could use a little more rest.”
“Within the hour. I don’t want Mike thinking he needs to put together a rescue team on my behalf. The sooner I get there, the better.”
“How far away is Scott’s house?” asked Mark.
&n
bsp; “About a three-hour, fast-paced hike—if all goes well,” said Charlie.
“You shouldn’t go alone, not tonight, after everything that happened. The New Order could be out actively looking for us. It’s too dangerous,” said Jane.
“I agree, but tomorrow will be worse. At least I can use the night for cover. Once I get into the woods, I can head east. It’s almost a straight shot,” said Charlie.
“I’ll go. That is, if you’ll have me,” offered Mark.
“Really? You don’t have to. I got here and can get back, no problem,” said Charlie.
“True. But I don’t intend to sit on the sidelines anymore. I want to be a part of whatever is happening,” said Mark. “If there’s a war coming, count me in.”
“I’d be glad to have you, Mark. Let’s rest for an hour or so, then head out. It will be around midnight when we leave. As we get closer, I can use the radio to let them know we’re coming.”
“What happens at Scott’s house?” asked Mark.
“Ideally, we grab Mike and Jenny and head out to the HQ at daybreak. We’re assembling in Clark, just over the Grant line to the northeast,” said Charlie.
“The HQ is in that area? If I recall correctly, there isn’t much but forest and Lake Sparrow,” said Mike.
“You’re right—the area is pretty desolate except for Camp Hemlock,” said Charlie.
“Camp Hemlock?” said Jane.
“It’s a summer camp for rich kids. They have about two hundred acres on the lake. It’s all fenced in. Chief Carlisle thought it would make the perfect HQ for Porter and Evansville to regroup,” said Charlie.
“Sounds like an amazing place. What are the facilities like?” asked Sam.
“The camp has several lodges, about twenty cabins, flush toilets and outhouses, plus all the camping gear and food anyone could ever dream of. The kids who went there were definitely not roughing it, from what I could tell,” said Charlie.
“Weren’t kids staying there when all of this went down?” asked Jane.
