by Lukens, Mark
How much earlier? And from where?
“What’s that mean, Dad?” Mike asked, tugging at Ray’s shirtsleeve. “What does the president mean by all that?”
“Hold on a minute, son,” Ray said. “Let me hear what he’s saying.”
Ray and his family stood in silence in the middle of their living room and listened to the President of the United States on their TV.
“My fellow Americans,” the president said, looking solemnly into the camera, looking into the homes of American citizens. “Because of the recent outbreaks of riots and violence against our citizens, outbreaks that could not be described in any other way besides domestic terrorism, I have no choice but to declare martial law for a short time until our country gets back to normalcy.”
The president paused with a practiced stern yet compassionate expression. “My fellow Americans, this is for our protection. For our safety. I urge everyone to cooperate and stand strong until these dark days in American history pass, and until the terrorists—foreign and domestic—are found and brought to justice. Each city and county in the United States has been notified of exact procedures, and authorities will be in touch with everyone. I urge you to wait inside your homes until you are contacted. Local authorities will have answers for you. I ask you to conserve your resources, remain patient, and to be calm. If we stand together, if we stand strong, we can get through this.”
“We’ve been attacked by terrorists?” Mike asked.
“I don’t know, son,” Ray muttered.
Ray watched as the tape of the president’s announcement started over again—an unending loop of the same brief message on every channel.
The government had shut down the TV stations, and now they were broadcasting the same vague message over and over again. The president basically told them that terror was happening outside every American’s front doors, but everyone should remain calm and stay patient, remain indoors until authorities reached out. But he hadn’t really explained what was happening.
“Mom, I’m scared,” Vanessa said and hugged Kim.
“I know,” Kim said and gave Vanessa a squeeze around her shoulders. Then she looked at Ray.
“Dad?” Mike asked.
Ray cleared his throat and turned down the volume on the TV with the remote control. “Uh, yeah. Martial law. That just means that there’s like a curfew for everyone. There are times when we’re not allowed outside at night.”
“Even adults?” Mike asked. He seemed shocked by the idea of it.
“Yes, even adults.”
“Is it because of the terrorists?”
“Yes,” Ray said even though he knew it wasn’t that simple. But he wasn’t going to put horrible thoughts of diseases and infected people attacking and eating each other into Mike’s mind until he was absolutely sure what was going on.
“We need more information,” Ray said, turning to Kim. “What about the internet?”
“It’s been down since this morning,” Kim told him. “Only the cable was working, and now . . .” She let her words trail off, nodding at the TV, indicating how well the cable was working now—the tape of the president’s speech was starting over again.
“Of course,” Ray muttered. All forms of communication had been shut off at the same time: internet, news, cell phones and landlines. Maybe they could find something on the radio.
“But we’re gonna get the bad guys, right?” Mike asked.
“I’m sure we will,” Ray told him. “But in the meantime, we need to listen to the president, and listen to the police.” And the military when they move in, he thought. “We need to stay inside the house and keep everything locked up tight.”
“That means no going down to your friend’s house,” Kim told Mike.
Mike just nodded.
“I thought you said you were hungry,” Ray said to Mike, trying to cheer him up and change the subject. “Let’s throw something together for dinner.”
Mike brightened up a little.
“Can I watch a movie?” Vanessa asked Kim.
“Yeah,” Kim said, brightening. “That’s a good idea.”
Vanessa ran over to the cabinet near the TV and opened the door where dozens of DVDs were stacked.
Ray was about to head to the kitchen. He wanted to make some dinner for everyone, but he also wanted to take a quick inventory of the food they had in the cabinets, refrigerator, and the freezer—do some quick calculations. His mind was already on the conservation of food.
And that’s when the electricity went out.
CHAPTER 8
When the lights went out, Vanessa screamed more out of surprise than fear.
Kim ran over to Vanessa, scooping her up in her arms. “It’s okay, baby. The power just went out, that’s all.”
It was cloudy outside, and even though it was only late afternoon now, the house was dark with all of the curtains and drapes closed. The house was eerily quiet now; there wasn’t even the humming of the refrigerator or the heat drifting out of the vents.
“Why is the power out?” Mike asked. “There’s no storm outside.”
“I don’t know,” Ray said. He went to the front window—the one Mike had waved at him from only a few minutes ago—and looked out at the street beyond their front yard. Everyone else’s houses were dark, no lights shining anywhere.
“Kim,” Ray said, turning away from the windows. “You want to find some flashlights? Maybe some candles?”
“Yeah,” she said and offered a hand to Vanessa. “You want to come with me?”
Vanessa nodded and followed Kim into the kitchen.
Mike walked over to Ray who was still by the windows.
Ray parted the drapes a little and looked back out at the street. “Looks like the power’s out everywhere,” he muttered. He hoped he sounded calm to his son even though he was more worried than ever now. That surreal feeling was back now. This couldn’t be happening. It felt like some kind of nightmare; they were trapped inside their home with no electricity, no contact with the outside world, and there was possibly some disease out there turning people into animals . . . turning them into rippers.
Kim came back a few minutes later with Vanessa. They both held flashlights, the beams knifing through the gloom inside the living room. Vanessa seemed much calmer now that she had a flashlight in her hand.
“I’ll go back and find some candles,” Kim said. She looked at Mike. “Why don’t you sit with your sister on the couch?” Keep her calm, her eyes said.
Mike rolled his eyes and let out an exaggerated sigh, but he went to the couch and sat down with Vanessa.
Ray and Kim went into the kitchen to look for candles, both of them rummaging through the drawers. Ray found two small candles in one of the “junk drawers.” He also pulled out three packs of matches and a long plastic lighter. He started a little collection of supplies right there on the countertop.
“Ray, I don’t like this.”
“I know,” Ray answered. She didn’t need to explain any further. He was feeling the same thing she was—the electricity going out right after the president’s taped speech was no coincidence. None of this was. It had been like a series of dominoes falling, one after the other. First the stock market crash, and then the businesses closing, and then the extreme price gouging and protests, which quickly turned into riots. And then the reports of mass murders and slaughter. And today all the schools and banks close, even the government shut down. People were panicking, all services were gone, everything dark. No electricity, no money, no cell phones, no internet. No information or communication.
“What are we going to do?”
They needed some kind of information. “The radio,” Ray said. There was one in the garage; he usually turned it on when he was working out. But it was plugged into the wall. “Let me see your flashlight,” he told Kim.
She handed it over and Ray used it to light his way into the garage. The garage was very dark, but the flashlight lit his way well enough. He found the radio
on top of the line of counters on the far side of the garage. He unplugged the radio from the cord and took it back into the kitchen. He opened the back, hoping that there were batteries inside. He thought there might be, remembering that they had taken the radio with them to a park not too long ago.
The batteries were in there, but were they still good? And how long would they last?
Ray turned the radio on and heard nothing but static. He spun the dial slowly. He found a few radio stations playing music, but the songs weren’t being interrupted by DJs, commercials, or news reports. Maybe the music had been pre-recorded. One station was playing It’s The End Of The World As We Know It by R.E.M. over and over again. But most of the stations were either off-air or were broadcasting various emergency signals.
Maybe he could find something on AM.
“What are we going to do?” Kim asked again.
Ray turned off the radio, wanting to save the batteries. He looked at Kim. “I think we need to get some stuff together. Maybe we should all go upstairs, stay the night together in our bedroom. We need a place where we can defend ourselves.”
Kim stared at Ray in the murky light, her eyes wide with fear. “You think someone will try to get in here?”
“I don’t know.” There were those three ineffectual words again; he wished he could stop saying them, but they kept slipping out. “It’s possible. There are some of those . . . those—”
“Crazy people,” Kim said. “Rippers.”
“Yeah, some infected people out there.” For some reason he didn’t want to say the word rippers.
“But what about us? Are we going to get infected?”
A sharp pang of fear seized Ray; it was his biggest fear, it was the thing he didn’t want to think about. Had he been infected already? Was the virus already taking over his body and his brain right now? Had he already infected his wife and kids? But what could they do about it now? If they were already infected, there was nothing they could do. If they weren’t, then what precautions could they take besides staying inside their home? Ray’s rational mind fought to take over. Even if these rumors about outbreaks were true, the disease couldn’t be everywhere all at the same time. There had to be areas that were infected, and he was sure that the government and military (and the CDC, his former employer) were already quarantining areas, getting the outbreak under control, working on drugs to battle the outbreak, or vaccines they would distribute soon.
“Our best bet is to just stay inside,” Ray told her. “I’m sure we’re not infected. This whole area may not even be infected. We just need to stay inside until we have more information. Until the authorities reach out to us and tell us what to do. In the meantime, we just need to protect ourselves as best we can.”
“We don’t have anything to protect ourselves with if someone gets inside,” Kim said. “No guns.”
“We’ll be okay,” Ray said, laying a hand on Kim’s shoulder. The gesture felt weird, like he was touching a stranger.
But Kim seemed to relax just from his touch. “Okay,” she said, breathing out a long breath. “I’ll get the kids upstairs while you get some stuff together. Unless you want me to help you.”
“No. You’re right. You go ahead and get them upstairs. Keep them calm.”
She nodded and went back out to the living room, leaving the flashlight with him.
“I’ve got a great idea,” Ray heard Kim say from the living room. “Let’s all go upstairs for tonight. We’ll pretend like we’re camping out. Maybe tell some stories.”
“What about Dad?” Mike asked.
Ray felt a pang of emotion inside of him at that moment.
“He’ll come up soon,” Kim promised. “He’s going to get some snacks together for us.”
“Can I have a juice box?” Vanessa asked.
“You hear that, Dad?”
“Got it,” Ray called back and then went to the archway to the living room, forcing a smile on his face. “One juice box coming up. Any other requests?”
“I want a Coke, please,” Mike said.
Ray and Kim tried to limit the amount of sugary drinks they let Mike and Vanessa have, but he decided that this was a special occasion.
“I’ll bring it all up in a minute,” Ray said. “Just go and help your mom.”
“Can we build a fort?” Vanessa asked.
“I don’t see why not,” Kim said.
“You’re so lame,” Mike told his little sister, and then he looked at Ray in the archway. “I could help you, Dad.”
Again, Ray felt that pang of emotion inside of him. For the last few days Mike seemed to want to be around him all the time, like he sensed that something was wrong between him and Mom. Maybe he had even overheard some of their arguments—God knew Kim had been yelling a little too loudly a few times.
“Thanks,” Ray told Mike. “But I got it. I want you to go up there and watch over your mother and sister.”
Mike smiled, knowing that Ray was patronizing him, but accepting the job anyway. He followed Kim and Vanessa up the carpeted stairs to the second floor.
Ray went back into the kitchen and looked at his meager pile of supplies on the countertop next to the radio.
Where to start? He suddenly felt overwhelmed. He needed to calm down and think rationally. What was the first thing they needed?
Coolers. There were a few of them in the garage.
He grabbed the flashlight and went back into the garage. He found two large coolers and one small one. He took them back into the kitchen and lined them up on the floor near the refrigerator. He needed ice for the coolers, but all they had was what the icemaker had made and what was in the ice trays. Luckily there was still half a bag of ice they had bought to take with them on their last trip to the park. That was in the refrigerator’s freezer in the garage. It was now a big chunk of ice, but he busted it up on the concrete floor of the garage. It still wasn’t enough ice, but it would be enough to keep their food cool for at least a few days.
But he wasn’t going to use the ice yet. He wanted to wait one more day; the refrigerator and freezer would keep their food cold that long. He just wanted to get the coolers ready and take an inventory of what they had. He looked for a cardboard box in the garage and found a medium-sized one. He brought the box back into the kitchen and filled it up with a few drinks and snacks, mostly from the refrigerator; they would have to eat that food first, saving all the canned and boxed foods for later.
And then what?
But he didn’t want to think about that.
He added the pile of candles, batteries, lighters, and matches to the food in the cardboard box. Then he went back out to the garage and grabbed a baseball bat and one of his golf clubs from a used set his wife had bought him at a garage sale, a set he’d never used. They weren’t the greatest weapons, but they were better than nothing. He also added a few kitchen knives to the box of food and supplies.
Normally he would not be panicking like this just because the electricity had gone out, but he had a feeling that this power outage was going to last a lot longer than a few hours—he was sure this was going to last for a long time.
After taking a quick stock of what they had in the pantry, which he guessed might last a month if they carefully rationed the food, he took his box of food and supplies with him. He carried the box and left the golf club, knives, and baseball bat down by the foot of the stairs; he would come back for those in a minute.
He headed upstairs to wait until night came.
PART TWO
CHAPTER 9
It was very late at night. Ray wasn’t sure how late, but probably almost morning. With the electricity out and his cell phone finally dying, he had no way to tell what time it was. He had slept fitfully off and on throughout the night next to Kim in the bed. He’d had some weird dreams that kept waking him up. He’d seen a beautiful woman in one of his dreams; she might have been in her late twenties. She had blond hair and pale skin. And she wore dark glasses. Was she blind? He knew it
hadn’t been a sexual dream, but he couldn’t really remember what the dream of the woman had been about. He remembered another one of the dreams—it had been a nightmare. In the dream he’d seen a man hiding in the shadows, coming out of the darkness like he was materializing from it. But now that he was fully awake, he couldn’t remember either one of the dreams too well, all of the dreams breaking up into fragments.
They had come up here to their bedroom yesterday afternoon with the kids after the power had gone out. Ray had collected a box of supplies, snacks, and drinks and brought it up with him. He also brought up a golf club, baseball bat, and three kitchen knives (which he hid from Mike and Vanessa) for protection. He had locked the bedroom door once they were all inside and then pushed a large antique dresser in front of it. He left the golf club next to the dresser. He had also filled up the bathtub in their master bathroom with water just in case the water got shut off—something his mother used to do down in Mobile if a hurricane was coming. He didn’t know if the water was going to be shut off, but every other utility had been cut off so far, so he didn’t want to take any chances with the water.
They had eaten a meal of junk food earlier in the evening—not the normal dinner they usually ate, but tonight was not a normal night. And he didn’t think they were going to have normal nights for a while. After they had finished eating, as promised, Ray and Kim helped the kids build a fort before it got too dark to see.
Ray lay in bed next to Vanessa in the dark now. He was surprised at how dark it was with all of their lights out and the streetlights out. When he had looked out their bedroom windows earlier there was nothing but darkness in every direction.
Mike and Vanessa were asleep right now underneath the stretched-out sheet that served as their tent at the foot of his and his wife’s bed. Mike and Vanessa had left two of the flashlights on, but Ray had turned them off after they’d fallen asleep.
