by EE Isherwood
“Weeks?” Evelyn answered. “No. My Ben would have seen this coming. He reads the paper every day. He’s never mentioned an EPM before.”
“EMP,” I corrected gently.
“Whatever. You can’t be right about that.” Evelyn sucked in a deep breath, as if making a decision. “It’s been nice to meet you all. I hope I helped in some way, but I shouldn’t be out here talking without my husband. I’m heading back home to get dressed and wait for him.”
She strode off before any of us could even think of asking her to stay.
“See ya,” Penny said before she got too far away.
Evelyn briefly waved her hand without looking back.
Once I was left with Luke and Penny, I decided I could be a little more open about my lines of thought.
“I wish this had happened when folks were off work. So many people seem to be gone.” I pointed to the home of the retired police officer, to the left of my house as I looked at it from the street. “I haven’t seen either of them come out. I’m sure they’d be out here if they were home.”
The next house on that side was Luke’s. The third house down the line, just beyond the curve of the circle, belonged to a young black couple I’d seen a few times.
“Are they around?” I asked Luke as I pointed to the couple’s home.
“Nope. They always take off at about eight in the morning on weekdays. I think he said his wife was a social worker, but I know for sure he works for a security company installing video surveillance cameras. We’ve chatted a few times over the fence.”
I pointed to the fourth and last house on that side of the street. “And that one belongs to Evelyn and Ben, right?”
“Yep,” Luke replied.
I motioned to the three houses on the other side of my property, one after the other as I spoke. “Penny is here, we know Carmen is home, and we can guess the frat boys are sleeping one off if the sirens aren’t bringing them outside. Who lives in the last house on that side?”
“I can’t remember their names,” Penny replied, “but the mail lady has screwed up a few times and delivered the couple’s mail to me. His company paycheck shows he works for a construction outfit in downtown Fort Myers. Not sure about the wife, but I know she works all the time, probably at a decent job. I’ve seen her get out of her car a couple of times, and she always dresses very nice.”
“She’s right on all counts, Frank,” Luke went on. “I’ve never met them, but they’re definitely workaholics. They leave before the sun rises and don’t come back until it sets. I’d bet anything they aren’t home right now.”
Penny moved closer to me and spoke in a hushed voice.
“You’re acting like this is much worse than it looks. Taking inventory of our stuff. Asking who’s home. When I look around, I don’t see anything dangerous at all. It all seems so normal. What aren’t you telling us?”
“I worked for a trucking company. When trucks pull over to the side of the highway, it seems safer than rolling fast with traffic, but the danger of disaster rises ten-fold. The distracted driver of a four-wheeler could plow into the back, kicking off a chain reaction of mayhem. See it happen a time or two, and you learn not to take any hint of danger for granted. In our case, it would be a mistake to assume this is local or will be brief, although I didn’t want to say those words in front of Evelyn.”
“Thank you for being straight about it,” Penny replied, releasing some of her tension with a sigh. “So, you think this is worse than it appears?”
She emphasized ‘worse.’
“Yes,” I said.
“And an EMP means cars are out. Computers and so forth?”
“Everything with a microchip is toast,” I answered.
“I know this is going to sound crazy, but if what you say is true, I’d really like to go get Daisy from daycare. My husband isn’t going to be home anytime soon, and I have no one else in this town. I’m going with or without you, so don’t feel obligated, but you seem to really know what you’re doing. Would you be willing to go with me to get her? I can pay you.”
My snap reaction was to say yes, but I had to know more.
“Nah, don’t be silly about money. We’re neighbors. How far away is her daycare?” I didn’t want to commit myself to a trip to Orlando or Miami by accident.
“I’m not sure how far it is to walk, but it only takes a few minutes to get there by car. It’s close to the North Pointe Library, if you know where it is.”
I’d come from there less than an hour ago. The commercial area north of the sprawl of subdivisions was home to the library, a community pool, a golf course, and dozens of small fast-food and retail shops. As she said, it was less than a five-minute drive. Three in a ZR1. Walking there would take a bit of time, however.
I rubbed my chin and weighed the risks and benefits. Nothing was going to stop me from helping a mother in distress, but there were some larger issues to at least acknowledge. If the total power outage went on for more than a day or two, society was destined to break down into violence, as every book I’d ever read on the apocalypse would attest, but it never happened in the first five minutes. There would be a window of time, possibly several days, we could safely travel through the community. In fact, as I thought it through, if trouble did go on for an extended period, there would never be a safer time to go out than right now. So, not only was helping the mom get her child the right thing to do, it would be foolish not to use these first hours to see what was happening beyond our street.
“I know exactly where that place is.” I stole a glance toward Penny’s house. Her garage door was already open, exposing the back end of her silver Mercedes Benz SUV. She’d probably tried starting it, as I’d done with my Vette. “I’ll go with you to get your girl, but I don’t suppose you have a bike in your garage? Riding would make better time than walking.”
She clapped her hands with enthusiasm. “Thank you so much! I do have a bike. Let me change my clothes, and I’ll bring it out. We can get started right away… if that’s good with you?” Her lip quivered in a cute way, as if she was really worried I’d say no.
“We can leave whenever you’re ready. Do you by chance have two bikes? Does your husband have one I could use?” Unlike feeling weird about borrowing food or water, I felt fine asking about the bicycle. I’d never owned a bike or thought about owning one. Not since I was a kid, anyway.
The woman clenched her jaw momentarily, as if it were a sore topic for her. “I only have mine. My husband bought the bike for me when I suggested it would be a good source of exercise after the baby, but he never had the time or inclination to get his own.”
“I have a ton of bikes,” Luke interjected.
“Really?” I replied.
“Oh, yeah. What do you need? I have three carbon-fiber road bikes and a his-and-hers set of hybrids. My son even has a mountain bike. He never rides it, but he’d probably still call me an evil troll if he knew I’d loaned it out.” He laughed in a funny way, suggesting he wasn’t too serious.
“The hybrid is the one in the middle, right? Not the skinny tires, but not the fat ones, either?” I could name every part of a truck engine, but I’d revealed the limit of my bike knowledge in one sentence.
“That’s the one I would recommend,” Luke replied.
“Can I go get my stuff?” Penny edged toward her house.
“Of course, go ahead. It looks like I have a bike, after all.”
Penny hurried away, leaving me and Luke on the circle. Of all the people I’d met on the street, he seemed to be the one I could trust with a little extra preparation. I took a step closer, deciding how I wanted to lay it out.
“You want me to get the bike?” he asked.
“Not yet. Listen, bud, you’ve heard me go back and forth about how bad an EMP can be. Keep in mind I have no special talent beyond what I’ve read. No one will be happier than me if I’m wrong. However, having said all that, if this is as bad as I think, you’re going to want to prepare like yo
ur family’s lives depend on you. Go fill your bathtubs with water before the municipal supply loses water pressure. Use duct tape over the sealed stoppers and overfill tubs so you can fill them to the brim. If you can, also start filling empty containers. Double up trash bags and make big water balloons. Fill up everything you can think of.”
“I have a shower hose I use for our dog, so filling things will be easy, but do we really have to worry about water? Didn’t you say the canals will provide water for us?”
“Sure, but we’ll have to boil that nasty shit before drinking it. It’s full of bird droppings, grease and oil from the streets, fertilizer runoff from crops, and probably a few of your dog’s turds floating around in there. The stuff you collect now will be fresh. We might not have running water for long, and, once it’s gone, it may be a while before we get any more. Trust me, it’s an easy thing to fill those tubs. You’ll want to get it while you can.”
“I’ll do that, Frank.”
“And, if I could ask for another favor, I’ll start filling my tubs, too. Would you mind going into my house to check on them, so they don’t flood my living room? I’ll leave all the doors open.”
“Of course. That won’t be a problem at all.” Luke stood there looking at me for a few seconds before continuing. “This is insane. I was just on a conference call with my remote team in New Orleans, and now we’re talking about filling bathtubs at the end of the world. It doesn’t seem possible.”
“Tell me about it. I was doing… oh, it doesn’t matter. You better get me that bike so we can get this over with. We’ll have a lot more things to discuss when I return, I promise you.”
“Thanks for the tips, Frank. I honestly didn’t think you’d turn out to be such a cool dude.”
“You’re welcome, but what the hell?” I laughed. “Why would you think that? I’m a super cool dude. My nephew tells me so all the time.”
“Ah, you know. You’re the new old single guy at the end of the street. Doesn’t talk to anyone. Is hardly seen. Me and my wife thought the worst, I’ll admit.”
“Nah, I’m not like that. I just retired. All I wanted to do was get to the good part, you know? For the past three weeks, I’ve been painting inside my custom-built house, dealing with the sale of my company up in Chicago, and sleeping on an uncomfortable mattress on my floor. None of it has put me in the mood to socialize.”
“Me and Melanie painted our house, too. You don’t need to explain yourself.”
“No, I do,” I replied. “What’s happening now is totally different. This could be a disaster of Biblical proportions, and no one can survive on their own when the shit hits the fan. The best defense is to stick together as neighbors. Help each other survive until relief arrives. Keep each other from freaking out. I know you’re worried you don’t have enough food and all that, but I’ll share what I have with you and yours, so you can rest easy.”
Luke held out his hand again, coaxing another shake from me.
“Thank you, Frank, you are really making me feel better. I can’t wait until my family is back, so I only have to worry about the less important things.” He laughed it off.
“Where are they, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Not at all. Tyler and Rainey are my teens. They’re in classes down at South Pointe High School. I’m hoping the busses are still running and can bring them home at the end of the day. My wife, Melanie, works in IT for a deep-sea fishing company in downtown Fort Myers. I worry more about her since she’s so far away. I figure she can get a ride home with someone in the company, or the police.”
“I see,” I replied. I doubted busses or the police would be up and running, but it wasn’t the time to squash his hopes.
“Okay, I’ll be right back.” Luke ran off to get the loaner bike, leaving me momentarily by myself.
In my head, I’d been treating Penny differently because she had a kid to worry about. What I failed to notice was Luke was a family man, too. All the people he loved were out in the city, and I’d let it slip a few times how dangerous things might become out there. It taught me again to try to keep things positive and upbeat with my neighbors, but it also made me appreciate what a stand-up guy Luke appeared to be. Penny also seemed to have a solid head on her shoulders, volunteering for a trip to help her family. If the rest of my cul-de-sac was filled with Lukes and Pennys, we might be in good shape.
I ran inside my house, anxious to enact my water conservation plan. It took me about ten minutes to seal off the drains of my two garden tubs and start filling each of them. I planned to fill up more containers at the kitchen sink, but Luke shouted from my garage before I could do more than pull out some big pitchers.
“Frank, I’ve got your bike ready to go. Penny is ready, too.”
I hustled out, but immediately looked past Luke. I was shocked to see my pretty neighbor riding her bike around the circle, dressed like one of those guys from the Tour de France. The black bike shorts hugged her hips and graced the contours of her thighs. Her red jersey was similarly tight; it advertised for some charity I didn’t recognize. Her loud outfit was topped with a bright pink helmet.
“I’d say she’s got you beat on style, Frank.” Luke pinched the fabric of my colorful shirt. “She looks like a pro. I hope you can keep up with her.”
She pedaled on a white road bike that appeared expensive to my untrained eyes. A bright-colored child’s trailer with two big tires was hitched behind the bike’s frame, which made sense in the context of getting exercise after having a baby. The husband had intended for her to take the kid with her.
“You’re going to want something besides flip-flops, too.” He pointed down.
“Shit. What am I getting myself into here?”
“Spin the cranks and you’ll be fine,” he chuckled. “I aired up Penny’s tires, checked over your ride, and I also stuck a full water bottle in your cage, so you guys are good to go.”
I ran inside and changed into a pair of walking shoes. When I came out, Penny had rolled up to the bumper of my dead Corvette.
“You ready?” she inquired, adjusting a pair of clear protective glasses.
“Almost,” I replied.
“Hey, I could come with you guys,” Luke added as he rolled his bike over to me, “if you think it would help?”
“We appreciate it, Luke, but I’ve already got my tubs started. You’ve got to manage yours, too. You should also tell Evelyn and Carmen to start collecting water if you see them. Plus, you should be home in case your kids are let out early.”
“Oh, good points. I’ll keep things going here. Good luck out there, guys.”
“Thanks,” Penny replied as she backed the trailer out of my garage.
I threw my leg over the hybrid bike and got it rolling, but I only went to the end of my driveway before stopping. While straddling the top tube, I rang the little bell on my handlebar to test it out. The brrrring-brrrring sounded like a lost baby bird after the deafening cries of the earlier sirens.
Penny wheeled up next to me, her brakes squealing on the rims as she slowed. “You ready for this?” she asked, sounding nervous.
“I’m ready for anything,” I said with confidence. “Let’s go get your daughter.”
CHAPTER 3
Penny stood up and mashed the pedals as she left my driveway, obviously pumped to get to her daughter. She also looked the part, with her skin-tight uniform, pro helmet, and special biking shoes which snapped onto the pedals. However, her burst of speed only lasted to the empty lot next to Evelyn’s house, then she seemingly flamed out.
“Are you okay?” I asked, easily catching up.
“I haven’t been on my bike since before Daisy was born. It’s also the first time I’ve ridden outdoors since I was a little girl. It felt good to pedal fast, but we’ve got a long way to go, so I need to pace myself.”
I must have had a dumbfounded expression.
“What is it?” she challenged me as we coasted along the street. The tick-tick-tick noise o
f her rear wheel seemed extremely loud compared to mine.
“You serious?” I asked. “You’ve never ridden outside?”
“That’s right. I basically didn’t touch a bicycle until I met my husband. When we lived in Denver, he got me this bike and put it on a trainer in our basement. I had one of those TV systems where you pretend you’re riding with others. It got me exercise, but it wasn’t really my thing.”
“You could have fooled me. Your bike seems top-notch, you have the trailer, and you work the gears like a master.” I hoped she wasn’t judging me on style since my shifting was still a work in progress.
She sat up in her saddle.
“Looks can be deceiving, huh? My husband said this is how bikers dress, and he bought me all these clothes, so I always wore these to train. I guess I was on autopilot when you told me to get my bike. I probably shouldn’t be dressed like this just to get my daughter.”
“Nah, you pull it off just fine,” I chuckled. “Me, however, I’m a different story. If I had to wear form-fitting clothes like yours, I might have made you go with Luke.”
I tried to keep the mood light, but there was a grain of truth to my claim. Besides wanting to avoid looking ridiculous, I wouldn’t go on such a journey without having a way to hide my pistol. Looking at her, there wasn’t a place on her body where the imprint of a firearm wouldn’t be obvious.
“I’m just lucky the trailer was already hooked up because I’ve never used it. My husband at least did that for me…”
Her lingering tone of voice seemed like an invitation to ask about her spouse, but I didn’t know her well enough to press, so I picked out the other thing she’d said. “Why didn’t you ever take your daughter in it? I know they call Florida America’s basement, but it’s got to be nicer out here than your indoor trainer.”
Our neighborhood was surrounded by woods that were part of a forest that stretched for miles to the east, north, and south. It was left there by the state to offset the suburban hellscape sprawl along the Florida coast. My realtor said I was extremely lucky to score an empty lot on the border of the preserve, since no other houses would ever be built back there. I wasn’t sure if his statement was true since I assumed he’d say anything to get me to sign on the dotted line. However, as far as places to ride bikes, the nature preserve around our subdivision made the area quite beautiful.
