by Schow, Ryan
Now there was nothing.
She slid the key into the ignition. When she turned it, nothing happened.
“No,” she whispered to herself, but feeling every bit of the concern that preceded that single, tortured word.
When she got out of the car, she saw Chandra talking to a couple of guys. At first, she bristled, but then she saw Chandra wasn’t worried about them. Leighton walked up to them but kept her distance. She watched the lips of the kid talking to see what he was saying.
…it was crazy how fast things turned. But it’s not normal folks doing this, it’s those idiot rioters.
Chandra started to say something, but she didn’t want to take her eyes off the boys. She didn’t know who they were, so she didn’t trust them. When Chandra was done speaking, the boy who had done most of the talking said, You don’t want to be out there alone. Her either.
The boy then looked at Leighton and said, Are you okay?
“Yeah, a little spooked, but…I’m fine.”
The sky was darkening again, the cool air becoming chilly. Moments later, a light rain began to fall.
“Does anyone know what the weather’s supposed to be like?” she asked with a hand over her eyes to shield them from the raindrops.
I heard someone say last night was the first of several storms. But that almost tornado…did you see it start to drop down?
Ignoring the question, she said, “Are any of these storms supposed to be as bad as the one yesterday and last night?”
The three guys looked at each other, then one of them turned to her and said, Last night was just the beginning.
The rain intensified, chasing them back inside.
She and Chandra went inside the cold dorm room, then sat down with almost no idea what to do next. Leighton stared at Chandra’s mouth, waiting for her roomie to tell her what the guys were talking about.
So apparently, people are already trying to loot the Walgreens and Kroger Express.
She understood folks being scared about last night’s storm, but until she heard that there were more storms on the way, she couldn’t understand looting the grocery stores.
We should get some food before the shelves are bare.
“I’m going to my boyfriend’s house in Melbourne,” Leighton announced. She’d never introduced Chandra to Niles, not because she didn’t want to, but because she almost always went to his parents’ house. On the few times that Niles picked Leighton up at the dorm, Chandra wasn’t there.
Oh, okay, I guess.
“What are you going to do?” Leighton asked. “Because if you don’t have a plan, I was thinking you could come with me.”
She wanted Chandra with her because she wanted her roomie to be safe, but Leighton also knew that she couldn’t hear anything without her. Being deaf would create a huge problem if things got out of hand. Having Chandra by her side would be a relief.
I’m going to stay here, she said. I think you should stay, too.
“I can’t. It’s not safe here.” She thought about the note from her uncle, the Glock he gave her, the backpack full of supplies, the paint gun. She also felt herself starting to panic at the idea of leaving school alone.
I don’t know if you missed it, but those guys we met out in the parking lot? They said people are looting. Did you see that? LOOTING. Do you know what comes with looting?
“Violence, if things get out of hand.”
Yes.
She lifted her shirt, showed the Californian her gun, then watched her eyes go wide.
Do you even know how to shoot that thing?
“My uncle was a war hero. He was a Green Beret. He taught me how to shoot when I was younger.”
How much younger?
“Thirteen.”
What’s in the backpack? Certainly not underwear and makeup.
“I don’t know yet,” she said, partially true because she hadn’t unloaded it fully. “But I’m about to find out.”
And this? Chandra lifted the paintball gun by the two-point strap like it was diseased.
“Paintball. In case there are too many people for the Glock.”
Are you actually going to shoot someone?
That was the real question she’d been pondering since she first picked up the Glock. “I hope I don’t have to, but you know how some people can get.”
Chandra nodded in agreement. They’d all seen the pictures of people being beaten to death in so many of the cities during the 2020 riots. It didn’t matter if you were conservative or liberal, right-wing or left-wing, black, brown or white…if you got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time before the wrong people, you were in real trouble.
Being pretty, blond, and fit made her a target. Being deaf and alone made her an easy target.
“Please come with me,” Leighton said to Chandra. The California girl looked sheepish, but when she crossed her arms and shook her head, Leighton felt herself shrinking inside.
“What do you mean, no?”
Chandra said nothing. She just looked at Leighton. At that moment, Leighton suddenly felt very small. Could she do this alone? Was it even smart to try?
Niles will come for you.
“His truck is probably dead. It’s a 2008 model. His parents have a newer truck, too. 2016, I think. Or a year or two older.”
What about his horses?
She opened the backpack, started pulling things out. “I can’t see him taking a horse into this. Not if there are looters out.”
Why?
“These looters will kill anything. They’ll even kill a horse, just because they can.”
You’re assuming the worst of these people. Although I tend to agree with you, it’s better to be overly cautious. But there may still be some good people out there.
“I don’t want to, but I have to. There’s limited police in this area, to begin with. The campus patrol cars will have died in the EMP blast, meaning they’re not on patrol, and if this is a real disaster—an EMP attack—then there are emergency service protocols in place. But how efficient and unified will the first responders be in mobilizing without computers, phones, or cars? Good, I’m sure, but not good enough. At this point, I think I need to assume the worst of people and prepare for far worse than that.”
From the corner of her eye, she saw a brilliant flash outside. She went and put her hand on the window. It was cold to the touch. A moment later, she felt the rumble of thunder through the glass. It felt like it was loud. When she looked outside, she saw the dark clouds were high. She turned to Chandra.
You can’t go out there, Leighton. Not with everything like this, especially the tornado warnings.
“Do you know how rare it is that we get a tornado here? We’re not going to get one right on top of the other.”
It won’t be pretty out there, tornado or not.
Startled, Chandra suddenly jumped. Leighton stared at her, wide-eyed and concerned. Her roommate was waving her hands to get down. She slowly put her hand on the wall, felt a slight tremor, like someone was at the door, banging on it.
Scared, she turned and stared at the door…
Chapter Eight
Leighton McDaniel
Leighton held her breath as she watched her roomie stare at the door. Chandra then turned back around looking extra pale, but with big, scared eyes.
There are a bunch of guys out there banging on doors and making noise.
Slowly, Leighton lifted her shirt, slipped her Glock out of her holster, racked the slide. Chandra saw the gun in her hand, then seemed to cycle through a myriad of different emotions. Was she trying to decide how to feel about the guys outside, Leighton’s gun, or the idea that the power might not be restored for a while? It was all too much to consider at once.
I think they’re gone.
Cautiously, Leighton went back to her backpack on the bed. It was time to go. If guys were already freaking out girls, and opportunists were capitalizing on the vulnerabilities of others, then her window of opportunity was limi
ted and closing fast. She had to see what her uncle packed for her so she could at least inventory anything she might need or have use for.
Inside the pack, the first thing she saw was a dark blue water bladder. She took it out, filled it from the Alhambra water jug she and Chandra shared, then looked it over. It held about three liters, which was a lot, but even that might not be enough depending on the situation she found herself in.
She pulled out several granola bars, a few packets of Cup-O-Soup noodles, a collapsible camp cup. There was also a Swiss Army multi-tool with literally everything the company could pack into a pocket knife.
Farther down, she found a small tactical blade with a belt sheath that she pocketed. She found other things, too—small things—like a plastic bag with folded toilet paper, bug-spray wipes, a suture kit, a fire-starter rod and key, a folded poncho—which would come in handy—a balaclava to cover her neck, mouth and nose, a small bottle of bleach and water purification tablets.
Chandra tapped her shoulder. Startled, she looked up. Her roomie was holding what looked like a woven bracelet of heavy-duty shoelaces. Her uncle called it paracord. “Like a parachute, but cord instead of a chute,” he’d said.
What is this?
“Bracelet of paracord.” She took it, unclasped the bracelet, but instead of a simple locking mechanism, what released was a one and a half inch stainless steel blade. The paracord firmed out and suddenly she had another survival knife. She looked up at Chandra with a grin.
Cool!
Slipping the bracelet around her wrist, she locked the blade again and it went back to looking like a normal woven bracelet.
There were more goodies inside the backpack’s other pockets. One such treat was a baggie that was stuffed with a handful of dried pine needles and small sticks for kindling. There was also a folded section of newspaper lining along the back of the pack. She assumed this was for starting fires. Plus, folded up small, was a camping pan, in case she needed to heat her meals on the fly.
She looked outside and saw a break in the weather.
It was time to go.
“Last chance to come with me,” Leighton said watching Chandra’s mouth for a reply. The girl stood there, unmoving, like she couldn’t believe Leighton was actually leaving.
If you can, come back for me, but otherwise be safe. She moved forward, gave Leighton a hug, then pulled back, and said, How far is it to Niles’s house?
“About ten miles I think.”
Rural or city miles?
“About nine and a half rural miles,” she replied, knowing what her friend was saying.
Before she left, Leighton repacked the backpack, slipped the drinking spout from the water bladder over her shoulder, then shouldered the pack, trying not to groan at the weight of it.
She slid it off of her back, unloaded a few of the paintball rounds, tried to decide on the extra ammo for the Glock, but decided to keep it. There was nothing else she could get rid of.
Looking down, she realized the best shoes she had were her new cross-trainers. She could have used some hiking boots, but it was just ten miles.
She’d be okay.
She slung the paintball rifle over her shoulder, adjusted the straps so it was tight on the left side of her backpack. This gave her easy access to both her Glock and her knife, should she need either one. But getting to these things in an emergency situation would not be easy.
At that moment, she pretty much felt like she was carrying everything she owned on her back. This would make her a target for opportunists. But sometimes the trade-off between preparation and being what her uncle called a Gray Man, was that you were exposed.
The great equalizer, she thought, is the Glock.
Walker would say, “Try to take my stuff, see what I do to your hand.” She blew out a breath and smiled at the memory of him. Dear God, she hoped he was just looking out for her and not dead.
She looked at her roomie one last time and said, “Are you sure?”
As much as I can be, Chandra said, giving Leighton one last hug. Please be safe.
“I’ll come back for you,” Leighton said, “I promise.”
Yeah?
“Pinkie swear.”
She nodded while trying not to tear up at the thought of never seeing her again. It was a strange thought, the idea of not coming back. But if the grid was truly down, if this was some kind of an EMP attack—and it likely was considering the tensions the U.S. had with the less polite regimes like China, North Korea, and Iran—then a military strike of this magnitude was entirely possible.
Her brain actually hurt thinking about how bad things could get. The world they knew—the glossy world with expensive cars, overpriced colleges, movie theaters, and malls—was destined to devolve into a wasteland, the fading memory of what was once the most prosperous, most free nation in the world.
“Bye,” she finally said.
Bye.
The second she opened the dorm room door, she startled. Standing before her was Aaron Westbrook. The good-looking kid stood back, raised his hands and said, Whoa, I was just about to knock.
“Move please,” she said, breathless.
Where are you going? he asked. It’s not safe to be outside.
“It’s not safe to stand in my way,” she said. “Move.”
He moved and she started walking. She wasn’t sure if Chandra followed her, or if she even knew Aaron personally, but Leighton couldn’t hear anything behind her and that was beyond worrisome. If this was the start of her journey and she hadn’t even made it out of the dorms without drawing a threat, then she was in more trouble than she thought.
At the dormitory’s main door, she turned around and saw Aaron walking just behind her. She already had her hand in her pocket, her fingers curling first around the new blade, but then around the pepper spray canister.
“Stop following me,” she said.
Where are you going?
“I’m leaving,” she said as he stepped in front of her, blocking her path. “And you’re stopping me.”
I’m just talking to you, not stopping you. But I could walk with you. Make sure you’re safe. You know there are rumors that emergency services will be here first. You know, to protect the kids. Apparently, we’re the kids.
She huffed, then walked around him, her hand firmly on the pepper spray. She walked to the edge of the parking lot not hearing a thing, especially him. When she turned around, she was sure she wouldn’t see him, but she did. He’d been following her all along, not two feet away.
“You’re like a beaten dog following his master,” she scowled.
Someone like you isn’t safe out here by yourself.
That whole time he’d been behind her and she hadn’t heard a thing. Was he looking at her gun? Her pack? Her butt? She felt her frown deepen. Was he an opportunist disguised as a good Samaritan? She was afraid of so many things that to have him tailing so close was dangerous. She hadn’t even entertained the idea of her and Aaron being alone where there were no witnesses to see whatever it was he’d try to do to her. With all her things, it would be easy to take her down, pin her to the ground, tear her pants and underwear down around her ankles and have his way.
“Aaron, your chivalry is heartwarming, but right now I’m not feeling very good about you walking behind me this whole time.”
I can lead if you want. You just have to say where we’re going.
She started off again, walking twenty feet before stopping dead in her tracks. A hard chill had raced up her spine. Yesterday, when she cut him off, he’d been so angry. That was because she interrupted him, dismissed him, didn’t let him speak. She couldn’t hear him now. And she didn’t want him around. Would that qualify as another dismissal? When would this turn ugly again? She could already feel it heading that way as she turned around to face him.
But he wasn’t there.
“What the…?”
There were enough places to hide along the roadside that she didn’t see him. Was
he out there, slinking around? Waiting for her to resume her walking again? He knew she was deaf. Was he taking advantage of that to scare her? Or prove a point? The thing she feared most in turning around and facing him was retaliation for her behavior. But now…oh, this was infinitely worse!
She continued walking down Sunset Drive, approaching the Highland Ridge Apartments. Her neck broke into goosebumps, so she turned around. That’s when she saw him. He had to come out into the open to keep up with her, and he’d done just that…kept up with her.
“I see you,” she said as he tried to duck into some heavy roadside foliage.
He stepped out, sheepishly.
The weather was starting to turn again, which concerned her, especially if another storm was coming. But enough was enough. She couldn’t keep playing this game! Then again, maybe this was the kind of game guys like Aaron liked.
“If you want to come with me, you can,” she said. “But I want to lay some ground rules.”
He sauntered over to her, smiling, seemingly forgiven. In the back of her mind, however, her thoughts were fully on her uncle Walker and all of his warnings.
He caught up with her and she said, “First and foremost, I move pretty quickly so you have to keep up.”
I can do that, he said.
Probably because she wasn’t moving quickly at all.
She glanced down at his shoes, then looked up and said, “An untied shoelace is going to be a problem.” She nodded toward his shoe.
He followed her gaze, saw both laces tied, then looked up right as she blasted him in the face with a stream of pepper spray. He started screaming, but to someone deaf, the world was a soundless void.
Wasting no time, she kicked him in the uprights. A rock-solid shot right into the baby maker’s two best friends, Grape and Olive.
He hunched over, his eyes burning, his hands shaking as he brought them trembling to his face. She felt bad for doing that, but he wasn’t listening. She needed to cement that lesson into his head, not because he needed to learn from this, but because she had to be sure he’d never follow her again. So she kicked him again, another clean shot in the same place as before.
