by Chris Bostic
While Dad went to listen in, Mom had the rest of us help with chores. Maddie swept out the dusty pews of the church and brought the rugs outside for Austin to beat, while I picked up sticks in the yard. It felt a lot like a Little House on the Prairie episode, including the ever-present drought.
Finally, Dad and the other two came back from the truck. Their faces told the whole story. He waved Mom over, and she immediately dropped what she was doing.
Marisol kept her voice low, so I edged a little closer to listen in on the circle of adults.
“It’s total chaos now…just like you’d predicted,” she said, looking at Mom. “They turned on the protestors in Gatlinburg yesterday. The peaceful demonstration turned into a full scale riot. From the sound of it, they called in an air strike. Must’ve killed hundreds.”
“Hundreds?” Mom grew quiet before adding, “My God, we saw that last night.”
“That probably wasn’t the National Guard your boy saw down by the road,” Mr. Clean said. “I’d say the full weight of the Army’s on the move.”
“Fort Bragg’s not far from here,” Dad said.
“Exactly,” Mr. Clean said. “Last I knew, Strategic Crisis Response Corps was based there.”
Dad tilted his head at Mr. Clean. “Say what?”
The giant of a man waved his hand dismissively. “I know some civilian contractors. Airborne and Special Ops command are based there.” He looked over the group with dark, deeply set eyes and a stone face. “It’s the perfect force for fast response pretty much anywhere in the world.”
“Only it just so happens to be our backyard,” Marisol added.
“But that’s kinda good, right?” I said. Four heads whipped around to stare at me. “I mean, uhm…they’re gonna kinda make everything alright again…maybe?”
Mr. Clean snorted. “Brainwashed, these young ones, huh?”
Mom stepped away from the group and wrapped an arm around me like I was five years old. I flashed back to the day Grandma died years before, when Mom sat me down and broke me the news. Though I didn’t understand it enough to feel the pain at the time, the meaning became crystal clear when I saw the casket.
“There’s nothing good about this, hon,” Mom whispered.
“I get that the Feds have been watching us for a while.” Screwing up my life.
“Just imagine the detectives bringing tanks to the house next time. Maybe shooting your father because of something he did, or didn’t, write.” She gave it a minute to sink in. “This is escalating, not easing.”
“But the soldiers protect us. Keep us free.”
“Not last night. Not from here on out.” She stared off into the woods for a moment while the thoughts simmered like filthy, boiling laundry. “All the generals have been replaced by the new regime, and most of the other officers too. No one’s waving flags for these guys. No yellow ribbons like there used to be. I mean there’s still a few good ones, but most are gonna do whatever they’re told. They have to.”
“They’re people just like us.”
“Not very many.” Mom shook her head. “Most are out there pushing the government’s agenda full speed ahead. For the new recruits, the few good ones, the sad reality is it’s better to have a job than nothing at all. And they’ll follow orders to keep it…as if they had a choice.”
I refused to believe that. Things were bad. Or worse than bad. But they couldn’t just turn on us. I wondered what really would’ve happened if they’d seen Austin. Would we have been sent to prison or shot on sight? There were so many questions. Somewhere along the way, fantasy had seemingly become reality, but I was having a hard time grasping it. The darkness was all around me, but I still tried to focus as hard as I could on the scattered, dwindling bits of light.
“What’s really going on?” I asked. “Without all the financial mumbo jumbo.”
“Well, I suppose it’s not too complicated. Uhm, I guess I’d say the other nations, China mostly, called in our debts, and there was no way we could pay. The new government wasn’t worried, so we defaulted…I mean quit paying them, thinking they could never make us cough up the money.” Her hands kneaded together furiously. “There was no way we could, the hole was too deep. So they found another way to get their revenge, and it played right into the government’s hands.”
“How?”
“Someone hacked the computer networks, killing pretty much all the banks and everyone’s credit cards. Remember when we couldn’t get anything at the grocery store, or anywhere really?”
I hadn’t forgotten that. People had panicked about food, and the lines were around the corner at every gas station for weeks, then they’d suddenly stood empty.
Mom took a deep breath before continuing. “When you’re this far in the hole and sinking fast, I reckon it was easier to wreck us than try to bail out a ship that was obviously gonna sink. Kinda like the renter who doesn’t pay his bills. Eventually the landlord cuts their losses and kicks ‘em out.” Mom looked over at Dad, who was still talking to the other two adults. “But mostly we wrecked ourselves. No matter the warnings, the calls to action, everyone was too greedy to make it stop. The politicians who spent it, and the people who kept clambering for more handouts. And that left a void for a strong new leader to step in and grab the reins, only he’s used them to choke his own people rather than fix the problems.”
I sighed, letting the weight of it all sink in. “You know, that makes a lot more sense than the way Dad explained it.”
“He’s a numbers guy. I have a hard time following him too sometimes.” She gave me the maternal smile, but thankfully skipped the pat on the head. “The easiest thing to remember is no credit cards and no money to lend killed the banks. The government tried to prop them up by printing useless paper money with nothing to back it up, so now everything costs a fortune, if you can even find what you need. When people dared complain, the new regime cried revolt and turned the military on us.”
The light bulb popped on. “And that’s why we don’t hardly use paper money…and why you’ve got all those gold coins hidden in-”
“Shhh, not so loud.” She pressed a finger to her lips and shot a glance at the others. “We don’t talk about that.”
“Sorry, Mom.”
“It’s alright. We just need to be careful about that kinda stuff,” she whispered. “Don’t trust anyone until they give you a good reason to trust them.”
I was definitely beginning to get the picture. With no cops, no soldiers, no strangers to turn to for help, pretty much everyone was off limits. Maybe even the other preppers like her, hiding out in a tent camp on a trail somewhere. Granted, she’d trusted Marisol and the bald guy with our location, but only them, and nothing about the gold—and they were supposedly her good friends.
I wondered how she’d feel about Katelyn, but knew the answer. She’s practically a stranger. Trust no one.
But for how long would that last? Forever?
CHAPTER 16
By the time lunch rolled around, I wasn’t sure I could survive out there a month, let alone a lifetime. I kept thinking the soldiers would help restore order and everything would eventually be all right. But my parents and the strangers spent lunchtime poking more holes in that dream than a corkboard.
The word anarchy kept coming up a lot. Dad seemed a little more certain that people would eventually band together and straighten things out, while Mom seemed to be more on the side of hiding in the mountains until the end of time. I hadn’t given much thought to death, but I knew enough that I really didn’t want a wooden cross marking our places one by one in the graveyard behind the church. And I wasn’t sure which would get me there sooner—armed resistance or hiding like rats.
I cracked the back door open and stood in the doorframe for a while, letting the midday sun beat down on me like the rest of my problems. The headstones were mere footsteps away. They were too old and moss-covered to reflect the sunlight like the shiny, fancy ones in the city cemetery. I couldn’t stand loo
king at them anymore, and turned my attention back to the mockingly clear, blue sky.
A white streak soared overhead looking like a cross between a kite and a remote controlled plane. I ducked back inside but kept my eyes glued to the sky. The object looped slowly over something not too far away, reminding me of a buzzard circling fresh road kill. I realized it was a lot larger than I’d originally thought, but still much smaller than a commercial airliner.
It was noiseless, but definitely some type of aircraft. Long sweptback wings stood in stark contrast to the stubby ones poking out from behind a bulbous cockpit, giving it a space alien look.
“Whatcha lookin’ at?” Mom joined me at the window. When I pointed to the UFO, her face quickly turned ashen. “Harold.”
He sat up on the pew in the front row. It was somewhere we never would’ve sat during an actual service. “Yeah?”
“The drones are out.”
“What? Armed?” He sprung from his seat to hurry to the doorway.
“How do you tell?” she whispered.
It looked harmless to me. I was more fascinated at actually seeing a drone than anything else. We’d heard stories on the news about drones over the cities for surveillance, drones in the wars taking out terrorists. This was definitely the airplane type, not one of those cheap mini-helicopter ones that kids might get for Christmas gifts. It was pretty cool to actually see one in flight.
Mom pulled the door tighter, leaving just a crack. Dad had to stand on his tiptoes to see over her, while I crouched in front of them watching the plane ride the thermals like an eagle.
“Is everything covered?” Mom asked.
“Yeah, the Jeep and their truck are back in the woods now…tarped.”
“Good.”
“Don’t worry.” He rested a hand on her shoulder. “See, it’s flying off…probably just checking out Gatlinburg from a distance.”
Dad returned to the pew and stretched out on the hard wood. I couldn’t have slept there ten minutes, but he looked like he could stay there all day. Mom finally left me to my thoughts. She went back over to the kitchen area, and resumed humming to herself as she put things away.
I stood at the back door a while longer, even though the drone was long gone. Not a cloud marred the sky. I could imagine families talking about going to the ocean. Maybe taking a road trip to Myrtle Beach to catch some rays for a while like Katelyn. To do anything other than staying home in the summertime, if they could actually line up the travel permits or whatever else might’ve been required. Life had gotten so much more complicated, making home exactly where I wanted to be.
Seeing how I couldn’t get away, I decided to at least get away with my own thoughts for a while. I needed a walk.
“Where you going?” Mom looked up as the steps squeaked.
“Down to the road again.” She raised an eyebrow, so I added, “We never did make it to the creek. Gotta find some freshwater.”
She hesitated before finally relenting. “Just take someone with you, okay?”
I looked at my options. Dad was already sawing logs on the pew. He’d be out for a while. Maddie was either asleep or faking. I would’ve thought the latter, but she’d been unaffected by the drone earlier.
“I think they’re all busy.”
Mom walked over to the door, leaving our two guests sitting on the carpet by the pulpit. “What about your brother?”
I pointed to the woods, where he sat in the shade whittling sharp points onto a pile of sticks. “He’s busy coming up with plans to turn this into an armed compound.” I could only hope I didn’t step in one of his traps on my way back.
“You could fall and bust your head. I’ll go with you.”
“No way.” I stepped onto the grass before she could protest, and took off down the driveway at a jog, but not without confirming that the sky was still empty first. “You can stay with your friends.”
“There’s soldiers out there,” she pleaded as she trailed me across the clearing.
Over my shoulder, I said, “Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon.”
I didn’t look back until I was halfway down the hill. Thankfully, she hadn’t followed, since I needed to stop to catch my breath. I found the same log as last time to sit and massage my shins for a minute.
The longer I sat there, the more I wondered about what Mom had said earlier. I wasn’t about to walk in front of a convoy to see if the soldiers would shoot me, but I also didn’t feel like I was the problem in this messed up world. Surely they could see the difference between some vandal breaking windows for fun and a harmless someone else just trying to survive.
Then I remembered the road signs.
Park Closed
Keep Out
Mandatory Curfew
We were breaking the law too, and eyes were everywhere. I stood to kick a pebble down the driveway.
“If only Dad hadn’t been so vocal,” I thought out loud. “The Feds never would’ve been on to us.”
We could’ve stayed in our comfortable home in the big subdivision, eight blocks away from Katelyn. I could’ve run over to her house every day, and watched movies on her couch. We would’ve hung out all summer, bonding thick as glue in a matter of days, if not hours.
Her laugh, that perfect smile; they tortured me. Everything with her had been going surprisingly well, and it had evaporated as quickly as a Jeep ride—much like my memories would if I couldn’t get back to see her again.
I decided it was Dad’s fault, plain and simple. Maybe Mom’s too. As far as I knew, no one else had to run away except for kooks and criminals. If only we were more normal.
I stared down the driveway, but couldn’t see the road. The road that split through the narrow gap between two peaks. The road that could take me back home. I knew it would take days to get there, but I had the time. A few days of walking beat a lifetime of hiding in the mountains.
My feet moved without being told. I continued planning my future.
Katelyn would take me in; she’d have to. If I couldn’t get back into my house, I knew she’d let me stay. She had a giant house and only one older brother. Of course, I realized her folks might not allow it, though. Parents were always funny about letting boyfriends stay the night, or so I’d heard. Assuming I was actually her boyfriend and not a friend who’s a boy. If I didn’t get back home, I wouldn’t be either one.
If not her, one of my other buddies would help me out. Naturally, I didn’t have a lot of close friends; my parents’ weirdness made sure of that. But Joe was well aware of my situation and wasn’t too judgmental. No doubt he would let me crash with him. Either way, I decided my first stop was Katelyn’s house—after a shower at mine. She’d never let me stay over smelling the way I did.
Trickling water pulled me back to the present. I looked up to find myself in the middle of the main road.
“Oh, crap,” I muttered, and jerked my head around, certain someone had to be following me. I was all the way down by the bridge, a football field away from the driveway. To my left, water tumbled off the mountainside, dripping over boulder ledges. The stream rushed under the road into a wide, fast-running creek on the other side. The creek that the road seemingly followed all the way through the mountain range.
Seeing no one trailing me, I dove off into a shoulder-high ditch on the roadside. I pressed my body up against the slope, letting only my head show from the nose up.
Still marveling at how I’d gotten so far down the road without noticing, I muttered, “Wow, how’d that happen?” I shook my head to clear the cobwebs and got a better sense of where I was, but little about where I was going. With a deep exhale, I thought again about leaving. Are you seriously gonna do this?
The counterpoints came fast like a never-ending tennis volley.
Why not?
Mom will lose it.
One less mouth to feed. Just leave a note.
How? Besides, it’s not fair to bail.
Don’t look back, it’s better to go.
They’ll look for me.
Then they should’ve come with you. Or never brought you out here.
I can’t do it.
You can’t live this way.
Maybe, I finally admitted. Not for months. I couldn’t last that long in the middle of nowhere. I couldn’t live without groceries, no matter how much I hated shopping. I couldn’t live without showers, and I wasn’t a huge fan of those either. If it hadn’t been so serious, I might’ve chuckled thinking about all the things I disliked yet somehow couldn’t live without.
I knew there was a definite right and wrong answer when it came to running away, but an awful lot of gray too. It came down to two pivotal points: either wait and see what was really going to happen with the world, or go back and find out for myself. I wasn’t someone who liked being told what to do. I preferred to find things out for myself.
I’d never be happy hiding. But I might stay alive that way. Maybe.
I wanted to beat my head against the rocks. Maybe knock myself unconscious for twenty years like a modern-day Rip Van Winkle. Waking up to find out what happened would be preferable to living in the dark, even if it came with a flowing, foot long beard. Especially to miss out on the hardships of a new American revolution, just like Rip.
Right when it sounded too good to be true, I remembered some of his loved ones were dead when he came back from the mountains, and I cursed Mrs. Dohrmann for making me read that story in English class. I should’ve skipped the end rather than skipping to the end.
“Always looking for a short cut,” I murmured. “That’ll teach me.”
Before I had time to dwell on that, the sound of tires squealing around a curve straightened me up. Flashing lights suddenly appeared in the distance, zipping toward the bridge. I buried my head in my hands and shrank deeper into the ditch, wondering if death was coming in twenty minutes rather than years.
CHAPTER 17
I curled up in a ball, pressing my back up against the exposed rock poking through the ditch slope. Multiple sets of tires hummed on the straightaway. The longer grass along the edge of the road whipped in the tailwind of each vehicle, helping me guess how many streaked past. It was either four or five. Somewhere in the rush of blood to the head, I lost count.
