by Payne, T. L.
Raine wasn’t sure how to approach Sheena with what she’d learned that morning. She hoped that Sheena knew more now and could dispel the rumors.
“I didn’t want to say anything, but I’d heard something along those lines too. We have this girl in our pod. Her husband is one of the guards. When I asked her why she and her babies are in the shelter with the rest of us, she said that they didn’t have any food at their house. I asked her if she was on the list to get moved into a FEMA trailer.”
Raine leaned in. “What did she say?”
“She said there weren’t any FEMA trailers. That was the plan before they knew that it could be months, if not years, before things return to normal.”
“What?” Raine said, her voice raised now. She looked around. People were staring at them.
She placed her hand on Sheena’s arm.
“She said years? It could take years to recover from this?” Raine asked.
Raine leaned back against the wall. Her knees wanted to give out. Her head swam as she slowly slid to the floor.
Sheena tugged DeAndre’s arm, lowering him to the floor, then took a seat beside Raine.
“I’ve been trying to confirm that with my counselor. You know, the lady that told me about the trailers in the first place. Well, it seems she’s nowhere to be found now. I’ll tell you, I threw a fit on the man in the administration office about that. Tell me I’m getting out of here and then nothing happening.”
“I don’t think any of them know what they're doing. Antonio said the plan was to feed us until all the food is gone and then walk away.”
Sheena shook her head. “There’s this volunteer in my dayroom. I’ve been trying to get her to find out what’s going on. I told her what my roomie said. And, girl, she’s pissed.”
Raine pulled on her ponytail holder and ran her fingers down the length of her long, dark brown hair as she thought about the volunteers. They all seemed like nice, normal people. It didn’t seem that they were in on some scheme to lie to them.
“You think she’ll find out anything? It doesn’t sound like the powers-that-be want them to know anything either.”
“I don’t expect her to find out anything we don’t already know. But she said that if it were true, she wasn’t sticking around here waiting for this place to explode when people find out. I asked where she’d go,” Sheena said. She turned and looked around.
“And? Where is she going?” Raine asked.
“Her sister lives about an hour south of St. Louis on some farm. I’m going to ask her to take me and Dee with her. We’ll hang out there for a few days and then find a way to get to Kansas City.”
“You think she’ll take you with her?” Raine asked.
Sheena stroked DeAndre’s back as the boy played with his toy soldier in the floor.
“I can only ask. I don’t want to be here when it all goes to crap either. I gotta think of DeAndre.”
“How do you plan to get to Kansas City?” Raine asked.
“I’m not sure, but all my family is there. I gotta try,” Sheena said, her eyes glistening with tears.
“You don’t have anyone here locally?” Raine asked.
“No. DeAndre’s father got a job here, so we left all my family behind in KC.”
Raine tilted her head and nodded.
"Where is he now?”
“Who the hell knows,” Sheena said, wrinkling her nose.
“My daddy’s a soldier in the army.” DeAndre held his little toy soldier in the air.
“He was. He got out a couple of years ago,” Sheena said. “He had trouble readjusting to civilian life.”
Raine stared down at DeAndre.
“Kansas City is pretty far from here, right?”
Raine racked her brain but couldn’t think of a way to help Sheena get to her family. If she ever left the shelter, she was heading to Florida.
Antonio might know, though.
“Let me talk to Antonio. We’ll all come up with a plan to leave together. Sounds like we’ll have to come up with a way to get past the soldiers blocking people from leaving the city, though.”
Sheena nodded and stood. “I’ll see what I can find out and talk to you in the morning. Meet me here after breakfast.”
Raine nodded.
“Stay safe, Sheena,” Raine said, wrapping her arms around her and giving her a gentle squeeze. She kissed DeAndre on the cheek and turned toward her pod.
Her head was spinning from all the bad news she’d learned that day. She felt as if she’d had the rug pulled out from under her. How the hell were they going to escape the city? Even if they did, where could they go to survive this thing? Would it really take months—maybe even years?
When she made it back to her pod, another fight was in progress. She felt like she was back in middle school with all the bickering and physical altercations taking place among these so-called women. Raine did her best to stay out of their squabbles. She didn’t have a dog in their fight. Theft was rampant throughout the shelter. They stole stupid things like tiny packs of facial tissue or nail clippers. Raine didn’t own anything. Everything she owned burned in the fire or was lost back when they’d been held hostage in the golf pro shop. She sure wasn’t fighting over a bar of soap.
Raine pushed past the crowd chanting around the two women wrestling on the floor and stretched out on her mat. Her pillow was missing. At least they’d left her a blanket. She curled her arm up and rested her head on it as she watched the show. The guards didn’t come break up the fight this time. After a few minutes, a short, stocky woman in her mid-fifties shoved her way through the throng of onlookers and yanked one woman up by her hair.
“Stop this shit. I’m trying to relax over there. I’m sick of listening to your whining and fighting. Go sit down over there and keep your mouths shut,” she said and shoved the woman onto a mat in the corner.
Raine was surprised that the two mouthy younger women obeyed the older woman. She wondered what they saw in her that convinced them not to cross her.
“Thank you,” Raine said as the middle-aged woman walked past her back to her own mat. The woman just grunted and kept walking.
I wouldn’t want to be the staff here when she learns the truth.
Raine watched the woman the rest of the evening. She appeared to have the respect of everyone in the room. Raine hadn’t spent enough time there to know what her relationship with the others was.
Maybe they're related somehow.
Soon, boredom set in and Raine’s eyelids grew heavy. She’d just drifted off when she felt a hand on her shoulder shaking her. She jerked and sat up.
“Someone outside wants to talk to you,” a pretty teenage girl said, backing out of Raine’s reach.
Raine wiped sleep from her eyes and asked, “Did they say who they were?”
“Anthony or something that starts like that. He was whispering. Guys aren’t supposed to be down here, you know. You could get in trouble,” the girl said as she walked away.
Raine stood and walked over to the doorway. She eased her head around the corner just to be sure it was indeed Antonio. It was. A wide grin spread across his face when he saw her.
“You shouldn’t be down here. You could—” she said as she gave him a hug.
“This couldn’t wait,” he said, taking her hand and pulling her away from the door. “I saw Tom,” he said.
Raine couldn’t read his face. It was dim in the corridor of the mall, but his tone didn’t sound excited or pleased.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, dreading more bad news.
“He and Gage got caught in the flames. He’s burned pretty badly. He’s in the medical area.”
Raine covered her mouth. She fought back horrid images of charred bodies. She took a step back.
“And Gage?”
“He’s okay. He has some burns, but not like Tom’s.”
Raine lowered her hand and pushed a wayward strand of hair behind her ear.
“They hid out inside a tra
sh dumpster.”
“Is Tom going to make it?” Raine asked.
“Gage said he thought he would, but his hands are bad. His coat caught on fire and he fought the flames with his hands.”
“I’m glad they're alive, though. I spoke to Sheena. She learned some things.” Raine looked behind her to see if anyone was listening.
Raine filled Antonio in on what she’d learned from Sheena and their plan to meet up after breakfast the next day to come up with a plan.
“You should come with me. We need to stick together,” Raine said.
“Okay. I agree,” Antonio said, nodding. “What about Gage and Tom?”
Raine thought for a moment. While she’d been upset with them about taking the drugs off that kid and putting all their lives at more risk, she knew them and they could use all the help they could get if there was any hope of surviving this thing.
“Yeah. Bring them if you can.”
Chapter 7
Interstate 44 & Route 141
St. Louis, Missouri
February 18th
A large “road closed” sign blocked one lane of the road into St. Louis. To the right of the sign, two military vehicles blocked the northbound lane. Soldiers with rifles raised stood beside them. Scott was shocked to see armed National Guard soldiers blocking the way into the city.
“Turn around,” a voice boomed through a bullhorn. “Travel into the city is restricted by order of the governor.”
“What?” JJ asked. “They can do that?”
“I guess so,” Scott replied as he brought the Jeep to a stop.
“Now what do we do?” JJ asked.
Scott looked at Mrs. Ward in the rearview mirror.
“I promised to get you to your sister’s. I’m going to do my best to keep that promise,” Scott said.
“I don’t want to get anyone in trouble. You can just take me back home,” Mrs. Ward said.
Scott tried to read JJ’s facial expression. He knew he could likely get them through the blockade, and it was a risk he was willing to take, but would JJ feel the same way?
“I think I know a way in. They can’t have guards on every street into the city.”
JJ looked over her shoulder then back to Scott.
“Why are they not letting people into the city?” JJ asked.
Scott raised his eyebrows.
“My guess? They don’t have enough police to keep things under control,” Scott replied.
It was risky. If the government had been concerned enough to post soldiers at the city limits, it could be more dangerous in St. Louis than he’d anticipated. If they made it through, they could get caught getting back out and be stuck behind the barricades. It could take days to find a way out and get back on the road. Did Lily have that kind of time? Were soldiers locking down Tallahassee?
“I think we should at least try. What are they going to do? Arrest us?”
Scott smiled and put the Jeep into reverse. He glanced back over at JJ. He hadn’t cared much for her in the beginning, but she’d proven herself tough but compassionate. She could have thrown a fit about his plan. Her willingness to see through their obligation to Mrs. Ward brought him a new respect for her.
After backing halfway down the block to find a good place to turn around, Scott put the Jeep into drive and drove back to Valley Park Road and turned left. At South Highway Drive, Scott made a right turn heading east. A moment later, Scott stopped the Jeep.
“What’s wrong?” JJ asked.
“They’re on that bridge too,” Scott said, pointing ahead.
“What now?”
Scott didn’t answer her. He put the Jeep into reverse and backed up. He stopped at the intersection, staring at the road ahead. He accelerated and turned right, heading west on Majestic Drive.
“Where are we going now?” JJ asked.
“I’m looking for a way onto an outer road that parallels the interstate,” Scott said as he slowly navigated the Jeep on the snow-covered side street, eventually finding what he’d been looking for. Scott turned the Jeep down a narrow drive and across the grassy divide that separated a field from the interstate. The Jeep bumped up onto the pavement of Interstate 44.
“Whew! We made it,” Mrs. Ward said, leaning forward and patting Scott on the shoulder.
“We aren’t there yet. Hold on. I have to find a way to cross over to the westbound lanes now,” Scott said.
He stopped in the middle of the interstate, studying the concrete center divider that separated the eastbound and westbound lanes. Scott turned the wheel to the left and drove along it, looking for an opening.
“There,” JJ said, pointing.
Scott squinted and then saw the break in the divider. He turned the Jeep to the left and pulled onto the westbound lane.
“Look.” JJ pointed again, this time to an outer road just beyond another grass divide. “You think we can make that?"
Scott looked into the rearview mirror at Mrs. Ward.
“I think so,” he said, then cautiously drove the Jeep onto the grass. At least he thought it was grass under all that snow.
Scott exhaled loudly as the wheels reached the pavement of the outer road. He stopped and looked both ways.
“Any idea where this leads?” JJ asked.
“Nope. But I guess we’ll find out.”
An hour later, after backtracking several times, Scott finally took a gravel drive and turned onto a street that meandered through an industrial area. The road eventually emptied back onto Route 141 on the opposite side of Interstate 44. They’d managed to bypass the soldiers without detection.
Scott drove the Jeep across the bridge over the Meramec River and into the town of Manchester, Missouri. He was surprised at how few abandoned cars were on that stretch of Route 141. Of what few were there, most had been able to coast their vehicles onto the shoulders.
“You’re going to take a right up at Carman Road,” Mrs. Ward said.
Scott glanced at her in the rearview mirror. The broad grin on her face warmed his heart and made the detour from his journey to Florida and Lily worth it.
After a few turns on the side streets, Scott pulled up in front of a white brick ranch-style home. The driveway was bound on the left side by a short concrete wall. Tall drifts of snow blocked the drive, so they parked in front and left the motor running.
Mrs. Ward’s sister was ecstatic to see her. Scott and JJ declined her invitation to come in for coffee—both eager to get on their way to their destinations. It would be getting dark long before they reached Marble Hill, but Scott wanted to at least put Missouri in his rearview mirror before midnight.
Their good-byes to Mrs. Ward were short and sweet.
“You come back and visit me when all this is over, okay?” Mrs. Ward made them promise they would. Scott knew it was unlikely he’d ever be back in Missouri. Once he made it to Florida, he planned to stay right there, near his daughter.
Scott turned back onto Carman Road and approached Route 141. Movement near the intersection caught his attention.
“What are they doing?” JJ asked, leaning forward to get a better look.
Scott slowed the Jeep.
“I’m not sure. Maybe we should—”
His words were interrupted by a crashing sound against the back glass and then another against JJ’s door.
“Let’s get out of here!” JJ yelled as Scott stomped on the gas.
As they approached the intersection, three men stood in the road, rifles pointing at the Jeep. Scott slammed on the brakes. With a concrete wall on their right and trees and shrubs to their left, they were trapped.
A young man dressed in a skull mask appeared in the driver’s side window and pointed a pistol at Scott’s head.
“Out of the car!”
Scott’s mouth flew open. He couldn’t believe what was happening. He had known their luck likely wouldn’t hold. It all just seemed too easy, but he’d gotten his hopes up.
“I said, get out of the car,” the man sa
id, gesturing with the weapon for him to open the car door.
“Scott?” JJ said, gripping the rifle in her lap.
“Get your hands in the air, lady or I’ll splatter your boyfriend’s brains all over this car,” the man said.
“I think we should do as he says, JJ,” Scott said as he lowered his hand to open the door.
The door jerked open and Scott felt hands grabbing at his coat. He was thrown to the ground. His face dug into the snow, and a boot landed against his ribcage followed by a blow to the back of his head. He instinctually raised his arms and cradled his head, curling into a ball trying to protect his skull and vital organs. Scott lost count of the number of kicks that the man landed to his back, each sending a thunderous jolt of pain through his spine and ribs. All Scott could think about was his daughter and how she’d never know how hard he’d tried to get to her.
Scott heard JJ scream followed by the sound of rifle fire. He wasn’t alone in this. They had JJ. What these animals would do to her would be a hundred times worse than anything they’d do to him.
“Scott!” JJ screamed.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Scott rolled quickly to his right and caught the man’s foot just as he was about to land another blow to his back. With all his might, Scott sat up, pushing back and knocking the man off balance before giving his foot a final shove. The man fell back, hitting his head on the bumper of the Jeep. He was temporarily out of the fight.
After scrambling to his knees, Scott quickly crawled over to the man. His attacker’s pistol lay buried in the snow by the back tire. Scott felt around until he felt the cold steel of the gun. He grabbed it and scanned the driver’s side of the Jeep for the men. It appeared that all the action was on the passenger side. Scott heard JJ in a fight for her life. He didn’t know how many of them there were. He’d seen the three men in the roadway and the one at his driver’s door. If that was all there were, then three men could be attacking JJ right now.
While crouching by the back tire, Scott slowly stood until he could look through the glass of the back passenger door. He saw two men standing, looking at the ground. It was likely that JJ was fighting with the other attacker. They were stupid. They’d left one guy to subdue him but thought it would take three for a tiny woman. Why were they so concerned about her?
