Wipeout | Book 4 | Overdrawn

by Richards, E. S.

  Leaving them on the doorstep, the soldier who had been addressing Art walked away, leaving the other standing there silently. After waiting a few more seconds, Art realized that this second soldier was going to be guarding their house. With a shudder, he put his arms around his wife and children and led them inside.

  Crossing the threshold to their home felt strange. How many times over the last several weeks had they left with no idea if or when they would return? Now that they were back, Art was grateful to be in a safe place with the people he loved, but he was also fearful of what was to come. There was a Chinese soldier guarding their home and he was expected to report to General Xiao first thing in the morning. It didn’t fill Art with much hope for what was to come, but he was determined not to become weighed down by the terrifying possibilities and focus on what he did have. He and his family were safe for now and that was the most he could ever ask for.

  Chapter 20

  Waking up on a soft and comfortable bed was a welcome feeling for Samuel, the pull-out couch in Eduardo and Marlene’s home giving him the best night’s sleep he’d had in weeks. He felt relaxed and rejuvenated, the aches and pains he’d been carrying were dulled and far less nagging. He allowed himself a few more minutes of peace and quiet before rising from the couch bed and stretching. It was nice to be in a proper house again, but Samuel knew they wouldn’t be there for long.

  The night before had been incredibly insightful in terms of what had happened to the nearby towns and villages, as well as what was happening in New York City. Eduardo and Marlene had been gracious and kind toward Samuel and his group, welcoming them with open arms and passing on vital information. The pair of them had stayed in their home ever since the first news of the collapse was broadcast, not wanting to risk journeying further into the city despite their supplies of food and other resources running low.

  Over a shared meal from their packs, Samuel, Austin and the others learned that the elderly couple had two sons who both worked in New York, but that they hadn’t heard from either of them for weeks. They balanced their fear that something had happened to them with their lack of knowledge, almost telling themselves that if they didn’t go looking for their children, they could still convince themselves that they were alive. It was a shocking thing to hear two parents talk about so openly, but Samuel managed to understand why they were doing it and how it must be helping them feel less pain.

  Despite how little time Eduardo and Marlene had spent outside of the house, they did know some details about what was going on nearby. They had seen the burnt down houses for themselves, hearing several versions of the same story about what had happened along the main road.

  Eduardo told them gangs had taken control of New York City, fighting with one another for resources and territory. The most credible explanation they had heard was one gang was expecting reinforcements from further north. The way Eduardo spoke about the fighting made it sound like New York City had descended into madness. Samuel had never heard anything like it and he was afraid of what they might find when they returned.

  He was still determined to return. It didn’t matter to Samuel anymore what Eduardo warned them about. After everything they’d been through, Samuel couldn’t wait to get back and find his own family. He had witnessed the love Austin carried for his husband and son firsthand and been blown away by the power that relationship carried.

  Samuel had never felt that passionately about his family, but the distance and the time away from them had changed things. Now he was more desperate to see his mother and father than he’d ever been before and he refused to let the gang activity stand in his way. Samuel refused to entertain the idea that something might have happened to his parents. But he had to know for sure. He had to get back into the city and he just needed Austin and his family to be fully on board, too.

  “Morning,” Samuel greeted his old friend as he walked into the kitchen of the house, finding Austin refilling his water canister. “How’d you sleep?”

  “Good,” Austin replied with a smile, “and you?”

  “Best night’s sleep I’ve had in forever,” Samuel sighed happily. “I needed that.”

  Austin laughed and put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I’m glad. Is anyone else up yet?”

  “No,” Samuel shook his head. “I don’t think we should overstay our welcome here, though. I want to get back to the city as soon as possible. How about you?”

  “Yeah, about that,” Austin put a hand on the back of his neck and rubbed it awkwardly, dropping his gaze and looking at the wall behind Samuel instead of into his eyes. “I’m not sure how much Dante wants to go back into the city now.”

  “What? Why?”

  The shock and confusion were blatant in Samuel’s tone. Austin wasn’t surprised. “We need to talk it over a bit more,” Austin continued, “but he thinks it’ll be safer for Bowie if we avoid the city and I agree with him.”

  Samuel couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Before they had all gone to bed, the consensus amongst the group had been clear: they were all happy to go into New York the next morning despite what Eduardo had told them. For everyone it had been the only option, Samuel didn’t understand why all of that had suddenly changed.

  “Where do you plan to go instead?” Samuel asked, trying to hear his friend out. “You don’t plan to stay here, surely?”

  “Not here exactly,” Austin shook his head, “but nearby perhaps.”

  “How? Eduardo and Marlene have been here for weeks and they’re at the end of their supplies now. How long do you think you could last without needing to go into the city? Come on,” Samuel lowered his voice. “How much longer do you really think those two can survive here on their own? I’ve never seen a woman as thin as Marlene and Eduardo hasn’t got the strength to keep doing everything for her. Us stopping by was a blessing for them, but once they’re back on their own, how much longer do you think they’ve got? There just aren’t the resources here to keep fighting Austin, you know that. You haven’t done everything you’ve done to get Bowie back, just to doom him to a life of wanting, have you? We need to go back into the city, it’s the only option.”

  “But what about the gangs?” Austin argued back. “What if the city is no better? Eduardo and Marlene said themselves they haven’t been anywhere near it for weeks. What if there’s nothing there either?”

  “Well, then we’re equally as screwed,” Samuel sighed. “But you can’t deny if there’s hope for us, it’ll be within the city limits, not out here.”

  Austin slumped his shoulders forward and blew out a long breath. “Maybe you’re right,” he lamented. “I just don’t want to walk Bowie into even more danger, not after how things ended in Poughkeepsie.”

  “I get that,” Samuel replied as he saw the worry and apprehension in Austin’s eyes. “I do. But if we stay here, then we’re not even taking the chance. You haven’t come this far and done this much just to call it a day at the last corner and not cross the finish line. We’ve got to go back Austin.”

  “Alright,” Austin nodded eventually. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Let me go and talk to Dante again. I’ll see what he thinks.”

  “Okay,” Samuel smiled at his friend, patting him on the back as he walked past and made his way back upstairs. “You got this,” he said, leaning back against the kitchen counter. He needed Austin and his family to be on the same page here – yes going back into the city would be dangerous, but it would be even more dangerous if they weren’t all in it together. Samuel was worried about the gangs and the threat they might pose, but after the journey he had already been on, there was no way he was just going to stop when he could practically see the end.

  “Everything alright dear? Did you need something?” Marlene asked from the hallway.

  He was so concerned about Austin and what his friend was going to do next, that Samuel hadn’t noticed Marlene emerge from her room downstairs. The woman stood looking at him, her weight supported by a walking stick which Samuel
hadn’t noticed her using the night before.

  “My back always troubles me in the morning,” Marlene said with a smile as she noticed Samuel’s expression. “I know, it makes me look twice my age.”

  “You don’t,” he replied with a smile. They laughed together but, Samuel was unable to stop himself from feeling sorry for her. With her body hunched over a cane, Marlene looked even more frail. She was perhaps in her late sixties at most, but with the lack of nutrition she’d been getting in recent weeks and her hunched frame she looked closer to eighty. The woman’s skin was pale and taut. Samuel felt bad to have to leave her behind, but knew there was nothing else he could do.

  “Are you hungry?” He offered, walking over to where he’d left his backpack. “We’ve got some oatmeal or something in here somewhere. I can make breakfast if you’d like?”

  “That would be lovely,” Marlene said, hobbling over to one of the chairs which stood at her dining table and planting herself down. “Thank you.”

  “No problem at all,” Samuel replied. “Is Eduardo up? Would he like some too?”

  “I know he would,” Marlene nodded. “But only if you’ve enough to spare, I’m sure he can manage without.”

  “Nonsense,” Samuel exclaimed. “It’s the least I can do after you let us all stay here last night. I’ll leave some more behind when we head off, as a thank you.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to do that!”

  “I insist,” Samuel replied with a smile. He felt guilty about what he had said to Austin about Marlene and her husband, whether those feelings be true or not. It was a strange sensation to know you were talking to someone that was unlikely to be alive in a month’s time unless things changed. Samuel felt like he should be doing something more but at the same time was painfully aware that this was the way things were now. A few months ago, someone dying from starvation in a place like this would be unheard of, now it was just another normal result of the collapse.

  Eduardo came through into the kitchen not long after Samuel had started making up bowls of oatmeal and as their conversation grew louder, Meghan joined them too. They talked about the journey that Samuel and Austin had made from New York City to Poughkeepsie and back again, the three older people marveling at what the two men had been through. Samuel was happy to recall the tale, looking back on it now and detaching himself from the story, speaking about being chased through the woods by a bear or crossing the Hudson River like it had happened to someone else entirely.

  “I can’t believe you went through all of that,” Meghan sighed when Samuel was near the end of the story, Dante’s mother not yet hearing it in its entirety. “I had no idea.”

  “There was no stopping Austin,” Samuel replied with a grin and a shake of his head. “The lengths he’ll go to for that little boy are something else.”

  Austin’s laugh carried over from the stairs into the kitchen as he emerged again at last, accompanied by Dante and Bowie. “They sure are, aren’t they little man?” He teased his son, tickling Bowie as he carried him downstairs and flew him into the kitchen in his arms, carrying him like an airplane. “Morning all.”

  “How’s my little rockstar?” Meghan asked, getting up from her feet and fawning over Bowie as soon as Austin put him down.

  “Are you hungry?” Samuel asked, reaching over to get the last remaining bowls. “There’s still some oatmeal left.”

  “Thanks,” Austin nodded. “Suppose we better get fueled up before our big day.”

  “Big day?”

  “Yeah,” Austin looked up at Samuel and grinned. “Time to head back to where it all started.”

  Chapter 21

  Driving away from Eduardo and Marlene, everyone in the car couldn’t help but feel a bit downcast by what they were doing. They’d left behind what food they could, giving the old couple enough to last them a few more days without putting themselves too far out of pocket. There was no way to know how easy food would be to come by once they were back in New York City and Dante was strict in reminding the group of that. It was fair enough looking out for other people, but with their lives also potentially on the line, they had to remember not to be martyrs.

  It was odd for Samuel to have so many other opinions in the group, so used to it being just him and Austin. He wasn’t foolish and he’d always known it wasn’t going to be like that forever, but the time they’d spent together had bonded the two men and for Samuel, Austin was definitely the closest friend he’d ever had. It was a friendship he never wanted to lose, no matter what happened in the city.

  Austin was behind the wheel this time as they drove the final stretch of their journey, concentrating firmly on the road. He was more nervous now than he’d been at any part of the trip up to Poughkeepsie. Now that he had his son with him, it made everything seem twice as dangerous. It was one thing considering how decisions might affect him personally, it was a whole other ball park trying to calculate how it might affect his son, husband and mother-in-law.

  Austin and Dante had agreed it would be best to head back to their apartment in Queens. Austin knew that would work for Samuel, too. He was aiming to reach his parents in Long Island and they would be heading in the same direction. He doubted whether they could drive all the way there, based on what the city was like when they left. But, it was something to aim for. As they entered through Westchester and The Bronx, memories of fleeing the area flooded back to both Austin and Samuel.

  Austin felt his anxiety rising as they drove through Westchester and toward the city limits. There was the occasional obstruction in the road that he needed to swerve around, but for the most part the road was clear of other vehicles. The fact they were driving actually brought them a lot of unwanted attention, everyone who they passed by turned and narrowed their eyes at the moving vehicle.

  Austin was able to see what had happened to Westchester since he had last been there. It wasn’t burned to the ground, a good sign which led him to believe Eduardo had perhaps been mistaken about the level of gang activity in the city. If gangs were so desperate to keep people away, then surely suburbs like this would’ve been destroyed.

  However, while the place might not have been burned down, it wasn’t in very good condition. The few people that lined the street rifled through bins and dumpsters in what Austin could only assume was a search for food. They looked dirty and desperate, like they hadn’t eaten a proper meal in days. It was poverty like Austin had never seen before and if it was this bad outside the city, he was terrified to discover what had happened further in.

  “Are we sure this is a good idea?” Meghan whispered from the backseat, cuddling her grandson against her side. “Things seem to be getting worse.”

  “It might be different in the city,” Samuel replied from the front, riding in the passenger seat next to Austin this time rather than being crammed in the back. “I imagine everyone who lived this close has moved further in by now.”

  “What about these people? They’re clearly still here.”

  Samuel cast his eyes out of the window again and lowered his head, not wanting to watch the suffering people who remained in Westchester. They looked so out of place amongst the big houses and neatly arranged gardens. It was normally a wealthy suburb of the city but seemed to have fallen a long way since the collapse.

  “They’ll have their reasons,” Austin replied for his friend. “It might get better, let’s just wait and see.”

  After the short exchange, tensions were high in everyone. Samuel feared what might have happened to his parents if Westchester looked like this – Long Island was a similarly wealthy place made up of elderly couples and young families. They weren’t equipped to deal with disaster and famine. The thought of his parents rifling through dumpsters searching for scraps of food made him feel physically sick. Surely, it wouldn’t have come to that. Surely, they would’ve found some other way.

  Trying to keep a hold on his thoughts, Samuel distracted himself by looking out of the window and concentrating on the passing stre
ets. Very soon they would be entering The Bronx, the change in their surroundings noticeable even following the deterioration of the city.

  The Bronx was nothing like Westchester. When Samuel and Austin had fled the city several weeks ago, it had been entirely overrun by riots and gangs, forcing them to go west into New Jersey to avoid it. Austin slowed the car down and Samuel looked over at his friend with a concerned expression.

  “Maybe we should walk from here,” Austin spoke up after sharing a quiet moment with his friend. “I think the car might raise a bit too much suspicion and we don’t want to draw all that attention to ourselves.”

  “From here?” Dante asked from behind Austin, “It’s a bit far don’t you think?”

  “I know,” Austin nodded as he slowed down the car and brought it to a halt on the side of the road. “But I really think it’ll be safer. We’ll only make ourselves a target if we drive through the center of New York in this.”

  “Austin’s right,” Samuel supported his friend. “If we keep our heads down and stick to ourselves, we shouldn’t have any trouble walking through the city right now.”

  It was the middle of the morning so other people were out and about and it was true that they were already a target in the car. Eyes drifted in their direction, attracted by the sound and also the potential of resources – if someone was able to fuel and drive a car then to many people across the city that meant they might have food and water too. Samuel had already seen a few people eyeing them up rather suspiciously and he much preferred their chances continuing on foot.

  “Make sure we bring everything we have with us,” Austin commented as they were packing up their gear inside the car. “There won’t be anything left here for us to come back to.”

  The remark didn’t fill Dante with much hope, but he reminded himself of the conversation he and Austin had shared earlier that morning and the agreement they had come to. Being in the city was something they needed to do in order to gather resources to survive and he had promised Austin he would trust him completely when they got there. Austin – and Samuel technically – were the experts on New York and the rest of them needed to do as they said. At least Dante knew Austin would always be looking out for Bowie, that brought him some peace and reminded him that they wouldn’t be walking willingly into any unnecessary danger.