Have Hope: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller (The Pulse Book 1)

by Hayden James

  Chapter Five

  William Conner

  Conner Residence

  Indianapolis, IN

  7:03 AM

  “Shit,” William muttered under his breath as he peeked through the window blinds watching the night wear off as the daylight emerged. He looked over at his three daughters all sleeping in the front living room along with him and their dog, Regis. Except he did not sleep. He was waiting for Rachel to come home, and when she didn’t he knew he would have to go out and search for her.

  Anxiously pacing, he decided he needed to wake his daughters and to get a move on to find Rachel. “Girls,” he said in a stern tone. “It’s time. We have fifteen minutes, and then we need to be on our way.”

  William’s military background gave him the necessary training to deal out orders. When William dealt out an order, he expected it to be carried out to completion. Maddy and Addy were used to this type of treatment. They knew he was a protective man who loved his family. However, he had a difficult time communicating with his children, especially his twin girls. Natasha seemed to bring the warmth out of him as she melted his heart nearly every moment of every day. It was his relationship with his twins that was strained from his detached nature with his emotions.

  The three girls did as they were told. They got up from their makeshift beds, went to their rooms and packed up supplies. The twins helped Natasha with packer her backpack. Maddy and Addy leashed Regis up, and Natasha used that time to pack up her school backpack with some of her favorite toys after Maddy and Addy got her enough clothes. The twin girls also packed up some clothes for the trip. They did not know how much they would need, so they brought mostly sweaters and jackets with them. “Girls, three more minutes, then I will meet you in the garage,” William commanded. His military nature taking over as they were in crisis mode.

  The girls finished up their packing and met their dad in the garage in under three minutes. They were trained to obey orders when their dad belted out orders. As they arrived, William disseminated more commands while he paced in front of his daughters, “Maddy, Addy, each of you get your bike. Natasha, can’t keep up with us yet, so I need to find the old bike trailer for her. Maddy and Addy, you two are going to need to have Regis on a leash and following one of you.” William went back into the garage to find the rusty bike trailer to attach to his bike for Natasha.

  Maddy whispered to Addy, “I hope Regis can keep up. How far do you think we’ll be riding for?”

  “Until we find mom. We’ll just peddle slowly so he can keep up with us,” replied Addy.

  Natasha did not want to burden her father anymore, so she said, “Daddy, I can ride a big girl bike.”

  “No, honey. There’s no way you could make it all the way. I found the trailer. Let me attach it to my bike,” William replied, carrying the rusty bike trailer he dug out from the back of the garage.

  “No, daddy. I want to ride a big girl bike like Maddy and Addy.”

  William attached the trailer to the back of his bike, “All right, Natasha. Get in it.”

  “No, I don’t want to. I want to ride a big girl bike.”

  “OK, OK. You can start off on the big girl bike and when you get tired, you can ride in the trailer. How does that sound?” William reasoned. He could not waste any more time.

  Natasha shouted, “Yes!” She went and retrieved the bike that she used for family bike rides.

  The four of them started out on their journey with Regis trailing behind Maddy and William pulling an empty bike trailer reserved for Natasha. They rode through the neighborhood and into the busy area of the city, noting the abandoned cars and people walking in the middle of the streets. “Everyone, be careful. There are no rules on the road right now. Keep close together,” commanded William as they turned the corner and were now riding down the main highway, weaving in and out of stopped cars.

  They rode further down the street, William spotting a big box store, yelled to his daughters, “Girls, we are going to stop at the Warwick's Warehouse and see if we can get some supplies. I see people going in there, so I hope it’s open.” The girls followed William up to the entrance of Warwick's Warehouse where they dismounted their bikes and walked them inside the store.

  William found the store greeter and asked, “Are you guys open?”

  “Yes, we are,” the store greeter replied.

  “Are you guys taking credit cards?” William asked. William quickly looked around the store. They had on lights, and people were coming in and making purchases.

  “Yes, we are!”

  “You have power?” William exclaimed with excitement that perhaps this disaster was not as bad as he thought.

  “No, sir. We are on back up generators. Some employees stayed here the night for safety reasons, and we decided to open for a few hours on our backup generators to help out the public with getting supplies. We will only be open for maybe two hours more, if that,” explained the store greeter.

  “That’s good enough, thank you,” replied William. As he walked back to his three daughters, he noticed there were hundreds of people in the store buying bottled water and canned foods. The people were rushing to get in and out of the store, but people were considerate of others. They did not seem to be panicked, they wanted to get what they needed and to get back to their families. The tension in the store was heightened with the concern of what was going on, but no one seemed to be too alarmed.

  After pulling a cart out of the row, William and his daughters needed to get supplies. Bypassing the produce, William headed straight for the sports drinks and bottled water. He took a few sports drinks, knowing whatever they took would not be enough. William moved aisle after aisle not instinctively certain on what to buy. He noticed the people in the store, the aisles had few people in them. However, no one was freaking out. Based on the rhetoric his father fed him, he was sure that this was a doomsday scenario, and people were simply not aware of how dire the situation really was.

  After passing by the boxed cereal aisle, he became nostalgic of the cereals his four children often had for breakfast. They were not able to carry large boxes of cereal on them. Plus, they needed the food to be more nutrient-dense than empty calories.

  Realizing that his family would be on the move, William did not want to be carrying too many canned goods while he was searching for Rachel. They needed to pack strategically for being mobile, yet getting the proper nourishment. While moving down another aisle, William finally got his head in gear. William then turned to Maddy, Addy, and Natasha and said, “Let’s get supplies. We are going to need water, Maddy and Addy get five one-liter bottles of water, peanut butter, wheat crackers, nuts and trail mix, dried fruit, and four packs of oil-packed sardines. I am going to look for another bike trailer for Regis, I don’t want to leave him behind,” William commanded. “Natasha, you come with me.”

  Maddy and Addy nodded their heads in agreement and went to get the supplies, walking their bikes with them and leading Regis on the leash. They dodged people moving through the store aisles carrying as much water as they possibly could. Maddy whispered to Addy, “I don’t want to eat canned sardines for dinner tonight.”

  “I don’t either, but food is food. Perhaps we should buy more peanut butter and crackers,” replied Addy.

  “Good idea.” The twins gathered the items rattled off by their dad and met Natasha and William at the checkout registers.

  “Girls, let’s go. We can’t waste any time,” William said as he waved the girls through the checkout line. He looked at the few items he was going to buy. He wished he could buy a million more things, but he and his daughters would be traveling and they could not be weighed down while they biked to Louisville, Kentucky.

  The cashier rang up the bike trailer and then rang up the groceries. As the cashier was ringing up the bottles of water and the cans of peanut butter, William shouted, “Maddy, Addy, attach the trailer to one of your bikes. You two will trade off towing Regis. Get him in there. I don’t care what i
t takes to get him in there, just do it. We have to get back out on the road. I’ll finish up paying with Natasha.”

  The girls nodded and walked their bikes, the bike trailer, and Regis outside of the store to complete their tasks. William finished checking out and paying for the supplies. “Money well spent,” he muttered to himself. “All right Natasha, let’s go outside and help the girls, OK?”

  “OK!”

  William and Natasha met Maddy and Addy outside. As William came through the sliding glass doors he saw Regis already inside the bike trailer. He remarked, “You two did well! Regis went right in the bike trailer?”

  Maddy replied, “He got in without any fear.”

  “That’s a relief,” William said. “Let’s split up these supplies into our packs.” William handed out a bottle of water, to each of the girls, putting two bottles in his pack. Then a can of peanut butter to each girl and a sports drink. Cans of sardines were all distributed along with the crackers. “All right, let’s go,” said William as he went to mount his bike.

  “Daddy, I don’t want to ride anymore,” cried Natasha.

  “You don’t? Would you rather ride in the bike trailer like Regis?” William asked.

  Natasha nodded as she climbed into the bike trailer. William added, “Let’s leave your bike in the front of the store in case someone needs it.” He parked Natasha’s bicycle right outside of the store and the three bikes and two bike trailers were off.

  They rode through the remainder of the city and William guided them to the freeway. He explained, “I think your mom should be coming down the freeway up from Louisville. If we head south on it, we should run into her.”

  The three bikes took an on-ramp up to the freeway. Addy shouted, “Dad! I can’t get through here. Especially while I’m towing Regis.” They could barely fit any of the bikes through the pile-up of stalled out vehicles left abandoned on the freeway.

  Realizing that this was an impossible feat, William yelled at his girls. “Let’s get off at the next off ramp,” ordered William.

  The three bikes weaved in and out of the congested freeway where everyone left their vehicle and walked to where they were going. This sight was only a reminder of the gravity of the situation as only an enormously large pulse would cause cars not to be able to run, shorting out the computers inside the cars.

  They pulled off on the off-ramp, descending downward back to the street and stopping. William thought out loud since he was not expecting this. He said to the girls, “I was certain your mother would be using the freeway to get back to us. After seeing this, there is no way anyone can use this to travel. Route 31 runs parallel to the freeway. She could be on that.”

  “Let’s go!” Addy chimed in. “It’s our best shot.”

  The bikes were off once again, heading under the freeway underpass and to Route 31. They were heading in the direction of Louisville, hoping to run into Rachel making her way up.

  Chapter Six

  Liam Conner

  Liam’s Apartment

  Nashville, TN

  7:38 AM

  “What? The power is still not on,” Liam said as he looked around his room, expecting to see a blinking digital clock that needed to be reset with the correct time. Liam woke up on the floor of his bedroom, hardly able to sleep through the night at what he witnessed on his way home and what the DJ claimed what was happening on the radio. He slept on the floor because he let Prue sleep in his bed. The bedroom to his apartment was bare as he was just starting his career as a musician, furnished only with a bed lamp, dresser, and a modest amount of studio recording equipment. Most of the studio recording equipment he bought secondhand or were hand-me-downs from other artists. He’d been waiting tables for a year while in Nashville before he began booking gigs.

  Prue Dint already built a name for herself and typically performed two to three nights a week at various venues. Liam felt quite accomplished to even be in the lineup with her, and he was disappointed that he didn’t get to perform at his biggest venue to date because of the disaster. He was certain that gig would only lead to bigger venues and perhaps, even a record deal.

  While Liam tossed and turned on the floor with a blanket and pillow, Prue slept soundly in the bed. She did not believe the DJ’s rhetoric that they found on the amateur AM station that they ran across with the wind-up radio given to Liam from his grandpa, Dwight was a Christmas gift. Instead, she believed that everything would be back to normal when she woke up and she had another performance tonight to prepare for.

  Liam noticed that Prue was starting to wake up, “Hey there. How’d you sleep?”

  Prue seemed disoriented as she opened her eyes and as the events from the night before came crashing back to her mind, she replied, “Good. Is the power back on?”

  “Not yet,” Liam replied.

  “Thought it would be back up by now,” she said as she sat up and placed her feet on the floor. “I’ve got to get back to my place. I need to check on Chewy and feed him.”

  “I’ll come with you. Melrose should take us around an hour to get to,” Liam replied.

  Prue didn’t have the wherewithal to understand that it might not be a good idea for her to be walking the streets alone, she was focused on getting to Chewy and making sure he was all right. “Sure, that sounds good,” she replied.

  Liam cleaned up his pillow and blanket from the floor, returning them to his bed as he tidied up his bedroom. Prue gathered her jacket and made her long blonde hair appear to be presentable and the pair headed out of the apartment and started down the street.

  Liam and Prue took in their surrounds as a look of shock came across their faces. “What in the world went on here last night?” Liam asked.

  “I have no idea,” replied Prue. Remnants of burned out bonfires were scattered throughout the street. Last night, Nashville was ablaze and Liam and Prue were seeing what remained from a horrific night. The main fires that they had seen on their way home were larger and spread to the surrounding buildings.

  “I mean, Nashville looks crazy this morning. Did everything go up in smoke, or what?” Liam said. “I’m surprised our apartment building did not catch on fire.” The pair walked to the end of the street where they were met with more destruction. Some buildings had burned to the ground and garbage can fire littered the street they used to walk home the night before. “Prue,” Liam said as he grabbed her arm pulling her closer to himself. “We have got to get out of here. We cannot stay in Nashville this is not safe.”

  “It will all be fine,” argued Prue. “The power will come on and all of this will stop. We just have to ride it out.”

  “Prue, this is serious, look around,” Liam understanding her denial, considerately attempted to have her see what was happening.

  Prue looked around at the street they walked down and saw smoke coming from all sides, buildings burning, the charred remains falling to the ground. It looked like fire and brimstone had descended upon them. The recent destruction of the city that she called home was hard for her to accept. She relented to Liam, “I guess the fires are going to keep burning unless the National Guard shows up, but there is no sign of them.”

  “Let’s go back to my apartment and get the backpack that my grandma gave me. At least then we will have supplies,” explained Liam.

  The pair headed back, not saying a word to each other, both in shock at the level of rubble Nashville was left in. Liam unlocked the apartment door and let Prue in. Kenny was back on the couch, ready to get high again since he would not be going into work.

  Liam interrupted his smoke out session when he said, “Kenny, you’ve got to get out of Nashville now! There are fires all down the street. It’s only a matter of time before this building burns to the ground. Come on, let’s go. We are going to head to my grandpa’s in Townsend. You can come with us if you want, but you need to get out of Nashville for sure!”

  Kenny looked at him while he inhaled the joint he just rolled, “Nah man. Everything will be fine. The power
will come back on and everything will be back to normal soon. Except, I’ll have to go into work. I’d rather just spend all day getting high.”

  “Come on, Prue, let’s go back to my room. Reasoning with him is useless,” Liam said with frustration as he led the way down the hall to his room.

  Liam picked up the pack from the floor and slung it on his back. Prue looked down and tears came to her eyes, “I have to get Chewy. I’m not leaving Nashville without him,” she said.

  “Let’s go get Chewy, and then we will head to Townsend,” Liam said.

  Excitement filled Prue’s eyes as she would be reunited with her dear chihuahua. Liam led the way, “Quick, let’s get out of here and over to Melrose as fast as we can.” The two walked at a brisk place down Music Row and over to Melrose. They walked so fast, they did not make eye contact with any person they encountered, nor did they spare anytime to look at the burning buildings. They were on a mission.

  “I hope my roommates are all OK,” Prue said, hoping that they were all safe. “They were all at work, since their are waitresses around Nashville.”

  “I hope they are all safe as well,” shared Liam. He grew concerned over his own roommate, but he could not help people who did not want to be helped.

  After an hour of walking, Prue and Liam made it to Melrose and Prue led the way to her apartment. As she unlocked the door, a bundle of short, brown fur came running toward her, “Chewy!” she shouted. The small dog affectionately licking her face. When the dog looked at Liam he wrinkled the top of his muzzle, pulling his lips vertically, barring his teeth and giving a low growl sending a message that he did not like Liam in the apartment. “Chewy, calm down. He’s a friend,” explained Prue.

  “He’s vicious for his small size,” concluded Liam.

  “Only to strangers. Once he gets to know you, he will be your biggest fan.”