by Hayden James
Regis obediently jumped into the trailer. Then William said, “Natasha, get in the trailer next to Regis.” She slowly crawled into the bike trailer, which was now cramped since she was sharing it with a large dog.
William pedaled as hard as he could, noticing the extra weight with the large dog. No wonder the twins were having a difficult time pulling him, he definitely has some weight to him.
Riding as far as he could before it grew late, and he grew tired, William set up camp next to other people who must have been traveling to other places in a grocery store parking lot in Edinburgh, Indiana.
Chapter Thirteen
Rachel Conner
Uniontown, IN
8:48 PM
“It’s getting very dark,” Gary said to both Vince and Rachel. “I think we should set up camp soon. It is not safe to travel at night.”
“I think you’re right,” Vince replied. “What do you think Rachel?”
Rachel became hesitant at the thought for stopping for the night. Something instinctual was telling her to keep going. She could not figure out what was driving her to keep going, but she felt she needed to. “I’d like to keep going as long as it is safe,” replied Rachel. She fell back silent, worried about something but she did not know what. It was as if she knew something was wrong. She chalked it up to just being anxiety from being separated from her family for so long during this disaster and not knowing if they were all right or not. She figured the not knowing part was wearing on her and she was just eager to get home.
Then her thoughts turned to Liam. She hoped he was all right. Perhaps he was headed to his grandfather’s house in Townsend, TN. She remembered all the times that he spent with his grandpa while he was on vacation at school. She assured herself that he had enough survival skills to get through this disaster.
Rachel’s body was restless, and despite having the safety and security of Gary and Vince by here, she was still very anxious.
Riding with Gary and Vince was much easier than making the journey on her own. The stress of being alone had taken a toll on Rachel, and they were making good time. The best time that she had made all trip. The notion that both Gary and Vince were carrying guns put Rachel’s mind at ease. Yet, Rachel was extremely worried about her family. A worry that she did not have until now.
“Guys, let’s stop here tonight. I don’t want to go passed Uniontown while it’s dark. It’s not the towns that I’m concerned about, it’s the emptiness between the towns that give me pause,” said Gary as he pointed to where a group of people was setting up camp in a strip mall parking lot.
Vince and Rachel slowed their bicycles down behind Gary and followed him to the strip mall parking lot. “That was a good ride,” announced Vince as he dismounted his bicycle.
Rachel agreed, “It was, we have been making excellent time since we have been traveling together.” Rachel could not help the gnawing feeling that she had in her gut. Something was spurring her to not stop here, but to go ahead. It seemed like it was some sort of anxiety that was pulling her home and to her family. She wanted to keep going. She almost needed to continue on the road home. Even if that meant leaving Gary and Vince behind. Rachel seemed silent, not wanting to set up her supplies for her camp.
Gary and Vice began setting up their camp by taking out blankets and freeze-dried food from their packs. Reluctantly, Rachel took out her solar blanket and freeze-dried food as well, making her place to sleep in between Vince and Gary. She did not want a confrontation of why she did not want to set up camp. Stopping for the night was logical, it was not safe out there. Rachel felt she had no choice, but to relent and stay the night. She is certain, she just was anxious to get home, and nothing was wrong. She found a way to subside her protective nature and to calm down and camp for the night.
As they ate their food, Gary asked Rachel, “Does your family have a safety plan?”
“Safety plan? What is that?” Rachel asked.
Vince chimed in, “You know, a place to meet if you and your family were separated during a disaster. Or if during the disaster, you lost each other and could not communicate, would you have a way to find each other?”
“Oh! Well, obviously not. Since I am praying that my family made it to our home in Indianapolis. When the disaster struck, my three daughters would have been at school, and my husband would be home from his graveyard shift. He works as a security guard. I assumed he went and got our daughters from school and took them home. I suspect they are there waiting for me to return,” explained Rachel.
“I hope that’s what they’re doing,” replied Gary. “But since you guys never talked about it, you don’t know.”
“Right,” replied Rachel.
“I hope your husband didn’t take his daughters with him to come searching for you,” interjected Vince. “That would be a stupid mistake. These roads are not safe. It is only going to get worse as people get more and more desperate as they run out of their stockpiles and supplies. I hope he is waiting for you at home with your girls.”
“I hope you’re right,” this notion just crossing Rachel’s mind for the first time. “You don’t think all of this will be fixed soon?” Rachel asked.
“Nah,” Gary said. “If it was something they were able to fix, it would have been fixed by now. This is something major.”
“Like a pulse?” Rachel asked, remembering what Paul, Mischa’s ex-husband said what he thought it was.
“Exactly like a pulse,” answered Vince. “Whether it’s a nuclear attack or a massive coronal mass ejection, I am not sure. Considering our cell phones and electronics are all down, it’s either a deliberate nuclear attack or a massive solar storm. Either way, it’s much larger than the Carrington event or the event that happened in the 80s in Quebec, Canada. This is the biggest electro-magnetic radiation explosion this world has ever seen. That’s the only thing I know for sure. Good thing Gary and I had a safety plan in place.”
“Right,” said Gary. “We will be headed to Columbus to make sure our grandmother is all right. We are brothers, raised by a single mother, so our mom and we always had a plan that Vince and I would ride from Sellersburg up to Columbus to check on her and to make sure she had enough supplies. If need be, we’d bring her down south to where our mom is sheltering in place.”
“I did not know you guys were brothers,” exclaimed Rachel.
“Yeah, we are brothers, Irish twins if you will. We never met out dad, from what we hear we are luckier that we don’t know him. In any case, we grew up in Sellersburg our entire lives. Our mom often worked two or three jobs to take care of us. That’s one of the reasons why we wanted to be firefighters. We wanted to take care of and help others,” explained Vince.
Gary reiterated, “But, we will make sure that we get you to where you need to go safely. We know grandma has at least three weeks of food and water stocked up, so she is not our biggest concern at the moment, you are.”
“Oh, wow! I feel so special,” Rachel said with sarcasm. Then she sincerely said, “It really means a lot to me that you two are helping me along this journey. I don’t know where I’d be if it wasn’t for you two.” Rachel started to cry. Tears streamed down her face. She continued, “It’s really meant so much.” Rachel was overcome with emotion at the thought of what would have happened to her if Gary and Vince did not follow her after lunch earlier today. She does know where’d she’d be. She’d be dead. Rachel’s tears had turned into full-blown sobs at the notion of this.
Gary and Vince both put their arms around Rachel. Gary said to Rachel as he rubbed her back “Rachel, it’s going to be fine. Your family is fine. We will get you there soon.”
Rachel’s sobs subsided, and she regained composure over her body. Vince asked," Do you know where your family is going to end up? Are you guys going to stay at your house in Indianapolis? Or do you have other families to check on once you guys are reunited?“
Rachel was mostly calm down by now. She replied, “I think we will make our way down to my fa
ther-in-law’s place in Tennessee.” The crying stopped, and Rachel began to laugh at the thought of her father-in-law. Holidays had been very tense, especially since Sarah, William’s mother past away. She could only imagine what life would be like if she and her family were to move in with him to ride out this disaster.
“What are you laughing about?” Gary asked.
“Nothing really. I was remembering the last time that I saw Dwight, my father-in-law.”
“Oh?” Vince said. “Do tell.”
“One day after Liam, my oldest, came back from visiting his grandpa in Townsend, Tennessee. He was about eight at the time. I received a call at work from the school. Back then, I worked at a corporate office as a marketing assistant. My son seemed to bring a Spyderco Bushcraft knife to school. He was showing it to some friends and one of them told the teacher. Thank goodness, because my son does not need to bring knives to school. Anyway, the school asked me to come to pick him and the knife up, that he was being sent home for the day.“
“Sounds like a great story,” Gary said. “Sounds like something I would do. Go on.”
“When I got to school and picked Liam up, I was furious. Beyond. On the way home I asked him why he brought a knife to school, I reminded him that he knew better. I was worried that he was going to try to fight a bully or something. I gave him a lecture on how fighting a bully just makes things worse and that he needed to tell an adult if he was being bullied at school. He told me that it wasn’t it at all. That he had a lot of friends and that he liked being at school. I then asked him again, why did he bring the knife to school. He said that his grandpa told him to in case there was a disaster on his way home from school or while he was at school, he could hunt with it and use it to clean fish. I was livid.”
Vince began laughing hysterically. He asked in between large belly laughs, “What did your husband do when you told him.”
Rachel continued, “Well, my husband was so mad that he nearly blew a gasket. My husband was working days at the time, so I waited until he got home. He called up Dwight and explained to him that he did not want him to spread fear to his son and that how dare he give our son a knife without us knowing about it. Dwight told William he gave it to him without us knowing about it because he knew we would disapprove. And the only thing that Dwight cared about was if they gave the knife back to us, so Liam could at least have it when he wasn’t at school. The whole thing was a big mess that we didn’t need at the time. My twins were toddlers then, and I had to pick them up from daycare along with a meeting with the school principal for Liam’s lack of judgment. I don’t blame him, however, he was indoctrinated with that sort of idea.”
Both Vince and Gary were laughing about the story of Liam and Dwight. “I’m guessing there’s animosity between your husband and his father?” Gary said.
“Yeah, William has always thought that Dwight chose prepping over having a relationship with him. It seemed, from what William has told me, that when William would try to include Dwight on something going on in his life, that the conversation would always circle back to the end of the world and that’s why he doesn’t go into big crowds, or that’s why he has a three-month stockpile of water. And often asked William where his stockpile was. After a while, William got burnt out of always having a stockpile and no disaster or emergency that we gave it all to a food bank. We grew tired of having our stockpile take up so much room in our small house with four kids.”
“You have four kids?” Vince asked.
“Yes, I have Liam, my oldest who lives in Nashville. He’s trying to make it big as a country musician. He’s very talented, I think he has a shot. Then I have twin girls, who are just about to finish high school. They are gorgeous. And then I thought I was done having kids until I got a little surprise. I have a five-year-old little girl who is named Natasha. I didn’t think I would have liked starting all over again, but she has been so much fun. I work from home now, so I am there for anything she needs. It’s easier having them later on in life. Especially since we are more established financially. With the first three, Will and I were strained, our finances were strained, we were barely keeping it together. Keep that in mind for when you two have kids.”
“We will,” replied Vince. “So, your father-in-law is sounding like he’s a bit of a prepper nut?.”
“I’d say so,” answered Rachel.
Gary interrupted the discussion, “We do need to rest or we will not make it as far tomorrow. Guys, let’s get to sleep.”
Rachel enjoyed talking about her family. Doing so made her miss them more. Then the gnawing feeling crept back into Rachel’s gut. She could not relax enough to fall asleep. She was certain that talking about her family would put her in good spirits, but there was something deep inside making her feel uneasy. What it was, she had no idea.
Day Four
Chapter Fourteen
Rachel Conner
Uniontown, IN
5:48 AM
“What is it?” Gary asked, squinting his eyes open.
Dawn broke over the horizon, and Rachel was already awake. She did not want to wake up Gary and Vince before the sun was up, but now that it was she shook Gary’s shoulder as she sat up, her solar blanket folded over her legs.
“I think we should get started back on the road,” replied Rachel.
“It’s early,” argued Gary. “We can afford to sleep a little longer.”
Rachel countered, “I really think we need to get started now. It might be tough getting started but when we are underway and making good time, it will be worth it in the end.”
“You know, you’re right,” replied Gary as he became more conscious. “It might be painful now, but it won’t be as we are flying down the road with no one around. I’ll get Vince up. You can start packing up.” Gary went and shook Vince’s shoulders to get him up. Vince reluctantly woke up but was compliant with the plan as he drowsily packed up his supplies.
Within minutes, the three of them were back on the road, taking off from the strip mall parking lot, they made it back on Route 31. Rachel’s idea was a good one since nearly no one was on the road at this early hour. All three knew that the road would be packed later on with people walking on foot and others riding bikes, with the occasional vehicle or motorbike going through, making the herd of people scurry to the side of the road, and slowing everyone down.
The first part of the day, they flew down Route 31 without incident. As they were approaching Columbus, Rachel asked Gary and Vince, “Do you two want to stop in Columbus to check on your grandma. Then we could continue to Indianapolis and William and I could come back down with you on our way to Tennessee?”
“What a good idea?” Gary replied. “Yes, let’s do that. That way everyone is traveling with numbers.”
Vince shouted from his bicycle, “When we hit Columbus we will take the fourth exit. She lives in the northern part of Columbus.”
“All right, sounds good,” replied Rachel.
The three kept riding down Route 31, and they kept track of the exits. They were about to exit the fourth one from the start of the town when Rachel screamed, “Oh my goodness! That’s William!”
“William!” Gary shouted. “There’s no way!”
Rachel shouted to the man riding on the opposite side of Route 31 with a bike trailer attached to his bike, towing a dog and child, “William! William! Hey! Over here.” Rachel started waving to catch his eyes. He seemed focused as he barreled down Route 31.
Her screams and waves worked as she caught Williams' eyes. He came to a complete stop and shouted, “Rachel! Is that really you?”
“Yes!” Rachel shouted back.
Tears formed in his eyes, “Goodness! Take the next exit, I’ll meet you in the parking lot East from here.”
Gary, Vince, and Rachel took the next exit since there was a center divider on this stretch of Route 31. William did the same, and they met in the nearby parking lot. Rachel threw her arms around William as she was ecstatic to see him. She scream
ed, “I can’t believe it’s you! I’ve waited so long to finally see you!”
William knew he had to deliver some troubling news, and he was not sure how to break it to her. He pulled his arms off of him from around his neck. “William, what is it?” Rachel asked as she saw the long face he had. Not the reception she thought she would have gotten after she’d been reunited with her husband.
William was still stoic and it broke his heart to deliver this news. “Rachel,” he said.
“Will, what is it? I can’t take this anymore. Is it Liam? Did you get any word if he’s all right?”
“It’s not Liam. I don’t know where he is.”
“Then what is it?”
“Madison and Addison.”
“Maddy and Addy? What happened to them?”
“They were kidnapped yesterday afternoon by three men.”
“What?” Rachel screamed before falling to her knees. “Not my babies!” Wails came from Rachel as she felt helpless at the news. Panic overcame her body.
Gary and Vince decided to jump in to help Rachel. “Where did you last see the twins?” Gary asked.
“We were in Amity, Indiana when they were taken from me. The same people tried to take them in Franklin. I stupidly stopped to see if this guy needed help. I didn’t realize that he was in on the kidnap with these two men who wore masks and tried to take Maddy and Addy while we were camped in Franklin. That guy, Ron, was in on it to the entire time. I feel so stupid.”
Vince reasoned, “Don’t feel guilty. You did the best you could with the information given to you. Where were they headed, do you know?”
