by E S Richards
Justin seemed like a put-together, sensible man from what Harrison could tell. He didn’t talk much, which Harrison was once again pleased with, and yet it was obvious he knew what he was doing, pushing the truck when it needed to be tested and easing off when the road became more dangerous. Between them, fixing the old Dodge had been easy and while Harrison believed he could have done it by himself, he wasn’t averse to having two more passengers with them on their journey.
It was almost funny, that as Harrison continued to impart wisdom to Len through the vast survival skills he had learned Len was also teaching him important lessons as well. The further they traveled, the more Harrison found himself thinking about his daughter, a person who he had trained himself to keep from his thoughts over the years. As Nina crept into his mind, so did Sophia and the pain of losing his wife still cut through him like a thousand knives every time he thought of her. But finally, he was going to do something about it and try to rebuild his family. Once he was sure Len was safe in South Haven, he would continue his journey to Canada alone.
Harrison wondered as they drove what Justin and his son would do. They had exchanged a few words about stopping in South Haven when they arrived there, but Harrison was uncertain if the father and son really had a destination in mind. After all the various towns he and Len had passed through, Harrison was suspicious if there was a single place in the country which would have been unaffected by the EMP.
While Len had dozed against the trees last night and Harrison had kept watch on the pickup, he had fiddled with the ham radio he carried in his rucksack. Through his life he had rebuilt the radio many times, changing out the parts for older—yet what Harrison classed as more reliable—add-ons. As a result the radio was still in working order and Harrison listened to it every chance he got. Still, thus far he had only heard static.
It was standard practice for the government to send out an emergency broadcast when something like this happened and Harrison knew it would happen eventually. From his network of preppers and disaster enthusiasts alike Harrison was very clued up on what happened within government, but also knew it was unlikely they would have been prepared for a natural disaster on this scale. Coronal mass ejections happened more than everyone knew, he was unsurprised one of them had finally erupted in the direction of earth.
Back on the wall of his bunker Harrison had several old articles from newspapers dating back to the 1800s. Among them were a couple of pieces about the Carrington Event of 1859, the only other recorded episode of a coronal mass ejection hitting the planet. Of course, back then there had been very little electricity and so the world was affected in a different way, but it had still caused one of the largest geomagnetic storms ever on record. After this current episode was behind them, Harrison was certain it would surpass the Carrington Event.
“We’re gunna need to refuel soon.”
Justin’s voice broke Harrison’s moment of solitude and he swept any thoughts of his older bunker and the life he used to lead back under the carpet, turning his attention to the man in the driver’s seat.
“We’re burning through gas faster than I’d like with the constant change of pace.”
“How much is left?” Harrison asked, leaning across to check the fuel gauge. Justin was right; with the roads littered with abandoned cars, they had to constantly accelerate and decelerate to get around them, using up the precious fuel quicker than they normally would. The Dodge Fargo didn’t get very impressive mileage as a result of the truck’s age, but they still should’ve made better progress before being forced to stop.
“Let’s all keep an eye out for a gas station,” Justin spoke slightly louder, grabbing the attention of Len and Max in the backseat. “We need one in the next twenty minutes or so.”
After he had received nods from the two passengers behind him, Justin returned his eyes to the road and the conversation ceased. Harrison locked eyes with Len for a second in the rear view mirror and offered him what he hoped was a reassuring smile. It was obvious how much more optimism finding the truck and meeting a father-son duo had given Len; Harrison didn’t want the man to fall back into his older self if they had to return to the rest of their journey on foot.
“There!”
Max’s voice cut through the silence of the pickup truck about ten minutes later, the young boy leaning forward into the front of the truck and pointing to a sign in the distance. Harrison squinted at the lettering and saw it pointed off to a gas station down a slip road, a few miles off their route but close enough to be able to turn back.
“Nice one, kid,” Justin praised his son as Max settled back into his seat, a smile on his face after discovering the gas station. “We’ve got some tubing and a pump in the bag so we should be able to get the fuel out pretty easy.”
“Yeah,” Harrison nodded, “I’ve got some kit with me too.”
“Great stuff,” Justin glanced in his direction as he turned off the main road towards the gas station. “Should be back en route in no time.”
***
Len sat forward in his seat as they turned onto the slip road towards the gas station, eager to get the refueling over and done with as quickly as possible. He could tell they’d already covered more ground than he and Harrison could have walked in half a day and with every passing minute he felt he was personally getting closer to his son.
As Justin slowed the truck and turned into the gas station Len scanned the area, looking around for any signs of life or dangerous activity. Nothing. With the engine quickly switched off all four doors opened simultaneously and the group of them stepped out onto the asphalt, the overheard roof of the gas station providing them with some relief from the relentless midday sun.
“Right,” Justin spoke first, nodding to his son who reached into the back of the truck and pulled out one of their bags. “Thanks kid; should have enough tube in here to reach down to the underground tanks.”
“You got something to open them with?” Harrison asked as he continued to glance around the area, unwilling to take any chances now that the four of them were riding in such precious cargo.
“What’s that?”
“The tanks,” Harrison replied to Justin. “You normally need a key to get into them.”
“Ah yes,” Justin nodded, backpedaling and apparently pretending he had known what Harrison was referring to all along. “Max, why don’t you run inside and see if you can find it?”
“Sure thing, Dad.”
“It’s a long metal thing,” Harrison called after Max as the young boy started to jog towards the small shop attached to the gas station. “With two pipes coming off at either side, like the letter T.”
“Got it!” Max called back as he tugged open the door to the shop, disappearing from view from the three adults.
“He’ll find it,” Justin jumped in, “he knows what it looks like.”
Harrison furrowed his brow and walked to the bed of the pickup, reaching in and fiddling around in his rucksack. Justin started uncoiling his length of tube and walked it towards where Len assumed the gas tanks were underground, laying it down with the pump on the asphalt. The exchange between Justin and Harrison had seemed suddenly frosty and Len wasn’t sure what he should be doing. Rolling up his sleeves he moved to lean against the hood of the Dodge, only just folding his arms across his chest when a loud crash and a scream echoed out of the gas station shop. Justin immediately lifted his head in that direction, his mouth dropping open as he screamed his son’s name and started running towards the door.
Chapter 14
“Stay by the truck!”
Harrison shouted the words back at Len as he followed Justin towards the gas station shop door. Why hadn’t they scouted the area before sending the boy inside? Why had he allowed Justin to take control of the situation? It was already blatantly obvious he hadn’t known what he was doing with the refueling. Now something had happened to his son, Max, and Harrison would surely be left to pick up the pieces.
A few paces be
hind Justin, Harrison watched the father tug open the door of the shop and disappear inside. He was reckless. Acting on impulse when he should be judging the situation on instinct and tact. Harrison refused to make the same mistake. Stopping by the door he froze and listened, hearing scuffling sounds and a few muffled words coming from inside. He couldn’t tell how many people were in there but he was certain Justin and Max weren’t alone.
Leaning back on his heels, Harrison’s mind snapped back to his military days. He ran through the covert missions training he had received and remembered each and every step that was necessary to take in a potential hostage situation. He was all too aware of the asset he needed to protect—the Dodge—but he also knew he couldn’t abandon Justin and his son, even if they had put themselves in danger. Keeping one eye on the door to the shop, Harrison walked a few paces backwards and away from the duo, making sure to keep his footsteps as quiet as possible.
“Len,” Harrison spoke barely above a whisper, only once he was sure those hidden inside the shop wouldn’t be able to hear his voice. “Len, get over here.”
Harrison waited patiently for his long-standing partner on this journey to jog over to his side, his 9mm Beretta pistol gripped firmly in his right hand. Len had come a long way since Harrison had first dragged him away from his burning house; Harrison trusted him, but there was definitely still a long way to go.
“What is it?” Len whispered, glancing between Harrison and the gas station shop—the door still pulled closed and the windows blacked out. “Who’s in there?”
“I’m not sure,” Harrison replied seriously, running his tongue along his teeth as he thought about what to do. “But I think Justin and Max are being held hostage inside.”
“Hostage?” Len interrupted, slightly louder than Harrison would’ve liked. “Like what happened back at the zoo?”
“Not quite,” Harrison tried to calm Len, sensing the panic in his voice as he thought back to how the Latin Kings had kidnapped and trapped him in Washington Park Zoo just a few days ago. He needed Len to be level-headed and ready to help him this time and that wouldn’t work if the former businessman was distracted by his memories. “I definitely don’t think this is something as organized as that. My best guess is some people have been hiding out in there and when they heard our truck approaching they thought they should seize the opportunity. I don’t have to tell you how much a working truck like our Dodge is worth right now.”
“No,” Len shook his head, now looking back at the truck. “So what should we do? We’re not going to leave them in there, are we?”
“No,” Harrison responded immediately. He’d been reluctant to help people on their journey in the past, but he could feel something inside of him changing. He was desperate to reach his daughter, but when he did he wanted to be a man that she would be proud of. Harrison knew he had to change something about himself to become that man.
“I’m going to scope out the perimeter of the shop,” Harrison continued, relaying his minimal plan to Len. “We need to be sure there isn’t another entrance or exit, somewhere that they could escape through. Just having one route in or out will play massively in our favor.”
“And if there is?”
“If there is, then you’ve just gotta hope that we get lucky.” Harrison grinned at Len, attempting to make a light joke in the midst of their situation. The cold stare he received from his companion was response enough for Harrison and he ran a hand through his hair with a sheepish look on his face before continuing. “I need you to watch that door while I’m out of sight. Set yourself up with your pistol—or the bow if you feel more comfortable with that. I’d say use the A3, but I don’t think you’ve had enough training with it yet.”
Len shook his head at the mention of Harrison’s sniper rifle. When they’d had time, the prepper had being trying to teach Len how to use it but he hadn’t quite got a hang of the magnification range and always managed to mess up his aim.
“I’ll use the bow,” Len replied, holstering his pistol and reaching around his back to grab the weapon. “What do you need me to do?”
“If I were you,” Harrison paused for a moment to look between where they’d parked the Dodge and the door to the shop. “Yeah, I’d set up on the hood of the truck; you should have a good line of sight to the door there and it’s definitely within range. Plus it’ll provide you with cover should you need it. Though I’m sure you won’t.” Harrison added the last sentence after he saw a lump form in Len’s throat, the other man still not used to these confrontational situations.
“I’ll be as quick as I can checking the area,” Harrison continued, checking the magazine of his Glock for a final time. “If you need me, shout. If not, I’ll be back soon.”
Harrison waited for Len to offer him a confident nod before he turned and started moving at a low jog around the side of the shop, noting as he went that each and every window had been purposefully blacked out. He was really only guessing at what had gone on inside with Justin and Max, but it seemed the logical explanation to Harrison. Regardless of what had happened, he knew he needed to get them out of there quickly. In the new world people’s minds were easily frayed and he had no way of guessing how the people inside the shop would take to their arrival.
He kept low and crouched as he jogged around the perimeter, his eyes constantly darting from side to side searching for any sign of movement. Harrison had trained for conditions like this for many years; it felt almost natural to be back out in the open with a gun in his hand. Perhaps he had spent too many years cramped up in his underground bunker, and although that had trained him for many other events, he couldn’t deny he had missed the feeling of wind on his face and the pleasant taste of fresh air, rather than the musty oxygen that lingered in his underground home.
After almost completing his reconnaissance mission around the shop, Harrison reached the wall that faced out into the main refuelling area. Like most gas stations, this had a long window that ran all along the wall, as opposed to the few smaller ones he had passed, which Harrison assumed looked into the internal office or toilet.
Peeking around the corner he could see that an attempt had been made to cover the long window here as well. It looked like black trash bags had been the material of choice, stretched across the Perspex glass and secured around the edges with tape. There were points along this longer window, however, where the plastic of the trash bags had been stretched too thinly, leaving them ripped and torn. This gave Harrison an idea and he dropped even lower in his crouch, making sure his figure was below the base of the window.
Shuffling forward on the balls of his feet, being conscious not to make a sound, Harrison turned the corner and moved along the once transparent wall until he reached a tear in the covering. Holding his breath he gradually raised his head to peek through the opening, remaining perfectly still once he had a good view inside. He reminded himself not to move; a stationary object was less likely to be noticed than one that was constantly appearing and disappearing from view.
It took a few seconds for his vision to focus in the gloomy darkness of the shop, but when he did Harrison quickly found both Justin and Max, sitting huddled together on the floor. Three other men and a young girl also occupied the shop, two of the men pointing guns at Justin and Max while the other man spoke to the young girl. It was a strange group, but Harrison didn’t need to ask questions about how they’d ended up together. He’d gathered the information that he needed and slowly withdrew his head from the window and jogged quietly back toward Len.
“What’s the verdict?” Len asked when the prepper appeared in view, not a scratch on him from his trip around the building.
“Four people inside,” Harrison replied, “plus Justin and Max. There isn’t another way out which is good news; bad news is they’re armed and don’t look very friendly.”
“Right,” Len nodded and paused, hoping Harrison would continue to speak. He didn’t have a plan and doubted he would be able to think of one. These
were the exact situations in which he was more than happy to defer to his companion. After the prepper delayed his reply, Len was forced to speak again. “Should we go inside then, or…?”
“I think we should wait,” Harrison replied after a moment, the gears turning in his head as he tried to best plan what to do. “Max is in there and there’s a little girl as well. I don’t want to burst in and start a shootout that could potentially harm one of the children.”
“A girl?” Len placed a hand over his mouth at Harrison’s words. “How old?”
“I don’t know,” Harrison shrugged slightly. “But I saw three men; two of them pointing guns at Justin and Max, and the other was talking to this little girl. She looked like she had been crying, but I couldn’t be sure through the darkness.”
“Do you think she’s a hostage too?”
