by EE Isherwood
Mitsi reluctantly took a can, as did a girl from the opposite group.
“I’m sure you won’t need it,” Carmen added, “but Frank said he met some freaky people out there, so I want you to be prepared. Don’t worry, I bought a case of this stuff.”
“Nice job, Carmen,” I said, impressed she’d done it without being asked.
She smiled at me for a moment before being bear hugged by Mitsi.
“Thank you, ma’am,” the young woman gushed. “You’ve all been so nice to us, I almost wish I could stay here on this street with you. Not with Trevor, I mean.” She pulled back, wiping away a tear. “But with you all.”
“Us girls have to stick together,” Carmen beamed with pride.
“Alright, let’s saddle up!” I pointed the kids to the street.
“Would you mind coming with me?” I asked Luke. “I need your bike again, but I also want another man on the team, just in case Trevor gets any ideas.”
“You think that creep would try to hurt his own friends?”
I turned and shot a glance at Trevor’s place. A cokehead looking for his next fix was impossible to predict. However, he’d already shown a willingness to threaten violence, and he’d turned down what I thought was a fairly obvious face-saving solution. A man with such poor judgment was exactly the type who would take revenge on innocent people. If I could prevent such problems by spending a few extra minutes guarding the kids, it was worth it.
“Let’s make sure he doesn’t,” I replied.
Luke grabbed his wife’s hybrid bike, and I used the same one as before. Back on wheels, my legs ached at being asked to crank the pedals again, but it didn’t hurt as bad as I’d feared. I was easily able to keep up with my new riding partner, and we caught up with the walkers as they got onto the street.
Mitsi’s face lit up as we rolled up. “I have an old bike at home, but I haven’t ridden it in years. I guess we’ll need them now, huh?”
“At least until we get some cars working,” I replied.
“I guess we’ll all be buff from the exercise, right?” she asked. “At least there’s an upside.”
I pedaled for a few moments, not sure if I should reply with a dose of reality or fantasy. If society took a dump, no one would eat well, and proper nutrition would become a lost art. The days of exercise for fun would be over, and we’d need every ounce of food to survive. There might be no upside at all…
But that wasn’t how I thought about life. Reading stories about men and women in difficult times had given me insight on some of the most important drivers that kept them alive during dark times. They were mentally strong, with can-do attitudes, and they always believed things were eventually going to get better. Those were qualities I had to broadcast with everything I said and did.
Instead of destroying her hope, I resolved myself to be strong and maintain a positive outlook. “Yeah, I plan to be as ripped as Lance Armstrong.”
“I’m going to be Chris Froome,” Luke added.
Mitsi and I looked at him with what I’m sure were two blank faces.
“Lance Armstrong is literally the only cyclist you know, isn’t he?” He addressed his question to me.
“Maybe,” I offered.
“I haven’t heard of either guy,” Mitsi interjected, before chuckling.
It gave me hope to see her laugh.
We turned the corner onto Poseidon Pier and started along the length of the canal to our left. The guy on the far side of the waterway was gone, but the giant croc floated in almost the same spot as before, which was a relief. The way my day had been going, I expected it to be in the middle of our route.
It took about ten minutes to ride along with the group before we reached the stop sign and orange fish billboard at Bayside Road. The kids had talked quietly among themselves during the walk, but now they got more excited.
“You’re all going to be fine on your way home. It seems quiet out here again.” There was a faint plume of smoke over North Pointe. It looked as if the fires had died down, but not stopped. “So, everyone going south, head into the street. If you are going north, stay by the stop sign.”
Six of them went to the middle of the empty street, including Mitsi.
“Mitsi, do you want to be in charge of the map?” I offered it to her.
“I know where we’re going.” A young guy tried to grab it. “All of us live by the South Pointe High School, except for these two.” He pointed to a boy and girl standing close to each other. “They’re from farther south.”
The kid had bloodshot eyes and hadn’t said a peep since he’d come out from behind Trevor’s house. I wasn’t sure why he’d picked that moment to try to take charge, but I had a lot more faith in the young woman who’d left Trevor to his face, rather than the guy who’d snuck out the back door.
I purposefully held it out to Mitsi.
“Whatever,” the boy exhaled as if the word drained his energy.
“Thanks again,” Mitsi added. “I won’t let you down.”
“Promise to help each other,” I suggested, and everyone in the group nodded.
“Then good luck to you guys. Get home safe.” I brushed the air, to signal they should get moving.
They headed down Bayside Road, which had some activity to the south. A few other travelers walked both ways in the empty lanes or loitered around the abandoned vehicles. One man even jogged in our direction. I watched the youngsters walk about fifty yards, waiting to see if anything was going to jump out at them, but of course, nothing did.
I hoped I was being paranoid about their safety.
“Stick together!” I shouted as I noticed a couple of them dropping behind.
The pair sped up.
It didn’t feel like enough, but it was all I could realistically do for them.
I turned to the group heading north. “Who here is best at reading maps?”
No one responded.
“Anyone?”
Maybe I should have been shocked at their lack of geography skills, but I was familiar with young people’s overreliance on smartphones and GPS devices which held your hand as you went. I’d walked them through the routes on paper, but seeing it was always different. I was sure all they needed were some familiar landmarks.
“Okay, there’s nothing to it,” I said. “Stay on Bayside Road until you reach one of the cross streets written on this paper. That’s how you get home. You should recognize something when you get a few miles up that way.”
The young lady who carried the mace offered to take the sheet. “I’ll try.”
I handed it over.
After moving them to the road, I pointed in the direction they were heading. “I came from up there not long before I met you guys. Stay on the west side of town, if you can. There was a plane crash and other issues on the east side.”
The lone boy in the group held up his makeshift canteen and acknowledged me with a, “thanks, dude,” then he walked onto the shoulder of the road to start the journey. The four others trailed after him, keeping a tight formation.
“Well, Frank, I think you’re in the running for a citizen of the year award.” Luke patted me on the shoulder as the kids walked off. “You really did a solid for them, and you didn’t have to.”
“No, I did.” Since I’d grabbed the map from my garage, I’d been searching for the reason I wanted to help the strangers, and it wasn’t only because they were young people without skills of their own. “We have to think ten steps ahead of this disaster. It isn’t just us on our happy little street. Each of those kids comes from their own subdivisions, out there in greater Fort Myers. If Trevor had shot one of them, and word somehow got back to their parents, who do you think they’d blame for their kid’s death?”
“Trevor,” he said, without hesitation.
“As well they should. But if the law is gone, they could take their revenge a lot further than they would in normal times. They might know the street where their kid went to party last night, but not the hou
se. Those angry parents might burn us all out, just to send a message to Trevor. Who knows? My point is, while these kids are in our subdivision, it falls on us to make sure they stay alive. Now, when they get home, they’ll only have good things to say about us.”
“Kill ‘em with kindness,” Luke said.
“Yeah. Something like that.”
“This won’t be the end of it with Trevor.” Luke straddled his top tube as we spoke. “You know that, right?”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “There are still people in his house. His hockey friends, as he called them. Until they’re gone, a guy like Trevor is going to do everything he can to puff out his chest and piss on what we’re trying to keep dry.”
“You never did answer me,” Luke said, “when I asked why Trevor didn’t deserve to have a gun shoved back in his face.”
“Would you believe me if I said I didn’t want anyone to die today?”
“Of course,” Luke nodded.
“Trust me, I would have pulled it out if I thought he was really going to fire his gun at us. However, in doing so, it would have made negotiating with Trevor impossible, and it would have severely hindered getting those kids out of there. Instead of Trevor being the threat, he could rally his friends into thinking I was the armed bad guy. Besides, with as shaky as his hands were, it might have been you or Carmen or Penny who got shot. There were just too many risks.”
“So, you don’t like guns after all?”
“If this disaster is anything like what I read in my books, there’s going to be plenty of people dying, Luke. If we can push it off for one extra day, one extra week, even an additional hour, we’ll retain civilization for that much longer. I’d love to get through this without needing my gun at all, but I guarantee you that’s not going to happen.”
“So, if we aren’t going to shoot Trevor, what are we going to do about him?”
“Right now? Nothing. I’ve got a million other problems to deal with, like lists, water, and prepping more guns. I wasn’t kidding about beating the night time, either. This first night is going to be a fun one, I can promise you that.”
Luke wanted to say more. I read it on his face as he watched the group walking to the south.
“What is it?” I prodded.
“Well, I hate to be the guy to add to your problems, but I have one of my own I was hoping you could help me with. Two of them, if I’m being truthful.”
“Yeah, whatever it is you need, I’m in.” Luke had come through for me today, so I was ready to return whatever favor he needed.
We both watched the group getting smaller, and the lone jogger getting closer.
Luke finally turned toward me. “Frank, I know this is a huge imposition, but after what you did for Penny, and what I’ve watched you do for these strangers, I wonder if you’d be willing to go with me to get my son and daughter at their highschool?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but he kept talking.
“It’s just that after the plane crash and all I’ve seen today, I don’t think the buses are going to be running at 2:30, like they normally do. The highschool might dump my kids out onto those streets.” He pointed south toward the running man, who was now close to our intersection. “And, I’m willing to bet my whole 401k they aren’t going to have a guy like you on their end who’s willing to draw maps and provide water so each of them can get home. They’re going to be on their own…”
I chuckled at how nervous he’d suddenly turned. “Luke! Please stop talking for a minute so I can…”
Luke’s eyes lit up.
“Frank, that’s Levar!”
He pointed to the jogger turning onto our street. He was a tall black guy who I instantly recognized as the neighbor I’d seen a few times.
“Levar!” Luke shouted. “Over here!”
The runner saw us and changed course.
They met at the curb.
“Great to see you, Luke. I can’t believe I made it here.” Levar panted for several seconds, then bent at the waist as he caught his breath. “Please tell me my wife is safe at home.”
Luke snuck a glance at me.
His eyes said I’d picked up another problem.
CHAPTER 7
I let Levar ride my bike back to our street, and I jogged alongside, taking mental notes on how many different muscles were going to be sore when I finally went to bed. However, the newcomer fell over himself thanking me for not making him run the last half a mile to his house. It was a small price to pay to bring home another resident.
When we reached Levar’s home, a sprawling ranch surrounded by a few mature palm trees, he jumped off the bicycle and practically kicked in the front door.
“Hey,” I said to Luke, “I was trying to tell you earlier I’ll help you find your kids. You don’t have to explain your reasons. I get it. I’m in.”
“Thanks, Frank. I owe you big time.”
“No, you won’t,” I replied. “I’ll tell you the same thing I said to Penny when she tried to pay me to help her. We’re neighbors, and we have to help each other. It’s the only way we can get through a disaster.”
“I can get behind that,” he agreed. “Though no matter what you say, I’m going to be on the lookout for how I can help you in return.”
“Let’s take care of him first,” I nodded to Levar’s house, ”then we’ll make sure our fellow residents are properly armed so they can defend themselves. After that, you and I can take off. Sound good?”
“Right on,” he replied.
Levar wasn’t in his house for more than a minute before he burst back out.
“She’s not here!”
The young black man had obviously done well for himself, since he lived on Clownfish Cove with the rest of us. However, where it took me my whole life to be able to afford one of the big homes, Levar was only in his mid-twenties. He wore khaki long pants, leather work boots, and a bright green polo shirt with a company’s logo on the front. However, like stay-at-home worker Luke, he still maintained a hip hairstyle, which was a bunch of six-inch dreadlocks on top, with the sides and back of his head shaved down to bare skin.
“Well, she’s got to be on her way home,” I suggested.
“Yeah, you made it here,” Luke added. “She might be doing the same thing.”
“No! She’s not as strong as I am. She can’t run all the way from downtown. I’ve got to go get her.” Levar eyed Luke’s spare bicycle. “Can I ride that again?”
“Whoa!” I stepped in front of the bike. “You just got back. Take a minute to rest. Drink some water. There’s a lot going on here you need to know about.”
“Trust me, I know what’s going down out there,” he replied. “I’ve been in it all morning.”
Luke and I shared a quick glance. I could see in his eyes he wanted to prevent Levar from going back out, too.
“Hey, Levar, I’m Frank. I live in the last house down on the circle.” I pointed to my place.
“Oh, the dude with the nice Corvette,” he remarked. “I wouldn’t mind having one of them someday.”
My garage door was still open, revealing the orange supercar I’d purchased earlier in the day. I didn’t tell him it was currently a useless brick of steel and fused computer chips. In fact, I tried not to think about it.
“Why don’t we walk down there,” I suggested to keep him distracted, “and I’ll show it to you. If you still want to go out by the time we walk back here, we won’t try to stop you.”
“For real?” Levar wiped his brow and seemed to consider it.
“I’ll even lend you the bike,” Luke added to back me up.
I could tell the guy wanted to get on the bike to search for his wife that instant, and I would probably do the same if I had someone to search for. However, now that I saw him up close, his tan slacks and green shirt were almost soaked completely through with sweat. Even if I thought it was a good idea for him to go right back into the wild, he obviously needed a break to recharge.
“Yeah, just a quick wa
lk,” I confirmed and motioned for him to follow me. “I can’t make you stay, but what you learn now might help you out on the road…”
“Dammit, make this quick.” He easily caught up to me since his legs were longer.
Luke picked up both bikes and wheeled them behind us.
“When you and your wife are home safe,” I said while on the move, “we could really use your help gathering supplies for a long power outage. Everyone on the street is filling their tubs with water before it shuts off—”
“Who’s everyone?” he interjected.
I pointed to my house, then moved to the right. “That’s mine, the next one is Penny’s—”
“The milf?”
“What?” I asked with surprise.
“That’s the hot lady who lives alone with her kid, right?” He said it matter-of-factly, not as a joke, as I’d taken it at first. I couldn’t deny Penny was pretty attractive, though.
“She doesn’t live alone. She’s married.”
“Huh, never seen the dude,” Levar mused.
“Right, anyway, the next house belongs to Carmen, she does live alone, and the next one is—”
“I know him,” he interrupted again. “He’s the douchebag who has all the parties.”
They were almost the exact words used by Luke and Carmen to describe the frat house.
“Right again. And then you probably know who lives in the last house on that side?”
“They’re always gone,” he answered.
I gestured to my house again.
“So, on the other side of the street we have the old couple who live next door to me, but they’re not home. Obviously, you know Luke and Evelyn already.”
“Uh-huh,” he said dryly.
We cut across the island in the middle of the circle, where I found Penny and Carmen. They sat on the bench among the decorative bushes, talking to each other.
“Frank!” Penny exclaimed when she saw me.
The two women stood up. Carmen still wore her small dress, but Penny had changed out of her biking clothes. Now she wore a loose pair of capris jeans, a white tank top, and a gauzy long-sleeved denim shirt. She’d also put on a wide-brimmed sun hat that made her look a little like a tourist out for a day at the beach.
