Alone (6 page)

While the meat was preserving, he got a yard tractor and cart from the garden center and began filling the cart with items that he couldn’t save. He propped the front doors open and drove the small tractor into the store and headed over to the coolers. Opening doors, he began to throw items into the cart. Into the cart went ice cream, frozen dinners, anything that would quickly spoil. When the cart was full, he drove to the far end of the parking lot and dumped everything. He kept this up the remainder of the afternoon. When he finally had the perishables out, he turned his attention to the fresh vegetables. He decided to dry as much of them as he could. When night fell, he sat several kerosene lanterns around and continued working. He made a diligent search thru the store and began sorting items there beside the entrance. Anything he could use he brought to the front. The store was, by this time, pitch black. He carried a large flashlight with him and had some propane lanterns placed throughout the store. It was creepy in the store and several times he was startled by Jason as he padded here and there. Once while walking around the toy section, he stepped on some toy and it squeaked. Ralph’s heart jumped into his throat. He leapt into the air and gave an involuntary shout. When he saw what it was that he had stepped on, he glanced around. Jason stood at the end of the aisle and Ralph could swear that the dog had seen him jump and thought it was hilarious. He kicked the toy down the isle and started walking again. When he looked back, Jason had gone.

When sleep threatened to overcome him, he grabbed a sleeping bag, threw it on a hammock and fell into it. He was so tired that within minutes he was asleep. He slept restlessly and woke several times through out the night. Once he awoke feeling the need to relieve himself. He grabbed a lantern and plodded across the store to the restrooms. Finished, he returned to the hammock. Turning down an isle, he thought he saw someone is the flickering light.

“Is someone there?” he called. The shadows danced and he would have sworn that someone stood near the end of the isle. He crept forward and realized that the “person” was simply a rack of shirts. Disgusted with himself, he turned away and saw his reflection in a full length mirror on a dressing room door. He jumped and gave a yell. Jason started barking and he could hear Jason running toward him. “It’s ok boy. I just saw myself in a mirror.”

Jason searched the area and found nothing. He kept glancing at Ralph as if to say “there’s nothing here. “Sorry buddy.” Ralph said. Together the two made their way back to the hammock. The sleeping bag was lying on the floor and Jason curled up on it. Ralph grabbed another and curled up on the hammock. Within a few minutes, they were both asleep. The soft sounds of Ralph’s snores drifted thru the empty store.

He awoke the next morning, and made a large breakfast on a camp stove in the grocery department. He set up a card table and chairs and was cooking on a propane camp stove. He fixed eggs and bacon and sausage and biscuits and gravy and fried apples. He made a large pot of coffee and poured himself a large orange juice. He dug into the food with relish but found that it was more than he could eat and gave the bulk of it to Jason. Jason attacked the food and within minutes had licked the plate clean.

Ralph continued to work at the superstore for the next 3 days. He had discovered that the walk in freezers had been loaded with more meat. It had taken three days of continuous work to preserve all of the meat and vegetables he could. When he finished, there was still a huge amount of meat left, but he had no more jars and no way to preserve it. He loaded this meat into the truck and hauled it several miles away. He dumped this into an empty field. Returning to the store, he brought several vacuum sealers over to his table and spent one whole day sealing the smoked and dried meat and vegetables. Each smoked or dried item he placed in a large plastic bag. He then put the open end of the bag into the machine, pressed the button and the air was removed and then the bag was sealed. He had a couple of small generators running and the fumes were overpowering. He finally found some large ventilation fans and set them up to blow the fumes from the building. This greatly helped the smell but the constant noise from the generators and fans soon gave him a headache. He took some pain reliever and continued working. Finally, he had preserved all the food he could, had moved any items that would spoil out of the store and had made several piles of stuff he thought he would need. He had cleared the items from the shelves at the front of the store and had filled the shelves with the preserved food. In the days spent at the store, he had read through several of the books and had a rough plan in his head of what to do next. With a satisfied smile, he pulled the doors closed and braced them with a shovel pushed between the handles. He and Jason climbed into the truck and Ralph surveyed the load. The bed was full of items he thought would prove helpful along with a large amount of the preserved meat and vegetables. He gave a contented sigh and they headed home. Jason seemed a little reluctant to leave the store, but once in the truck, he perked up and enjoyed the ride.

Arriving home, Ralph discovered that the odor of spoiled food filled the house. He had completely forgotten about the food at home. With a grimace, Ralph cleaned out the fridge and threw the food out behind the house. He opened all the windows and let the house air out. The disgusting odor lingered. He found and lit every scented candle his wife had. A strange mix of odors filled the house. Finally Ralph got undressed and slid into bed. The soft drone of insects filled the night air. He was exhausted from all the work and it didn’t take long before he had dropped off into sleep.

He was awoken later that night by screams and growls from outside. He leapt from the bed as Jason began to bark.

“Be quiet boy.” He said.

Grabbing the flashlight he now kept by the bed, he walked thru the hall to the front door. Opening the door, he glanced out thru the storm door. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. At that moment, he heard the commotion again.

“It’s coming from the back!” he shouted as he turned and raced to the other end of the house. Jason was right behind him as they ran thru the house. They slowed as they approached the back door. Ralph walked over and opened the door. He kept the storm door closed and looked thru the window. It was hard to make anything out, but he did see some movement across the yard at the tree line. When he was sure that nothing lurked beside the door to grab him, he released the lock and opened the door. Jason struggled to get past him and he blocked the opening with his legs.

“No Jason! Stay inside. I don’t know what’s going on out there.” He closed the storm door screen in an effort to keep Jason inside. He pointed the flashlight into the back yard and drew a shocked breath when he saw what was out there. Several animals were fighting over the food he had thrown out. They were all dogs and cats. Among them he could see his wife’s cat, Princess Snowball. He had not seen her since the day it happened. He had called and called and she had never come. Now she was a sorry sight. Her fur was matted together and filthy. He softly called to her and she turned to face the house. The light from his flashlight lit her eyes and with a soft rustle of leaves, she turned and disappeared into the brush.

About half of the animals fighting over the scraps were cats and there were several dogs too. As the light splashed across the scene, some of the dogs turned toward Ralph and began inching their way across the yard. They all appeared to be starving and filthy. All of the dogs were large breeds. He could see no toy dogs at all. He assumed that all of the smaller ones had been killed and eaten or had been trapped inside homes where they slowly starved to death. Most of the dogs he could see had more than likely been kept outside by their owners. This had saved their lives, at least initially. Now they were roaming the town, fighting for food. Jason began barking furiously and they paused for a second and looked for the source of the barking. Then a large pit bull growled and raced toward the house. Ralph stood in shock for a split second. The animal raced across the back yard. With a shout, Ralph slid inside and slammed the door shut. The large dog smashed into the door and began clawing and tearing, trying to get in. The storm door shook and Ralph knew that it couldn’t hold up under the onslaught. Ralph stepped back and slammed the wooden back door closed. He threw the deadbolt and stood listening as the large dog continued to attack the storm door. Ralph glanced at Jason, who now stood cowering against him.

“Its ok buddy, they can’t get in.” Ralph said stroking Jason’s head.

Then it dawned on him that he had left the front door open and had just closed the screen. He raced through the house and slammed the front door shut just as the pack of dogs raced around the corner. He quickly went to all of the windows and double checked any that the dogs could reach. After an hour or so of circling, the pack of dogs left and Ralph wearily climbed back into bed. Jason leapt up and settled at the end. Within a few minutes, the room was filled with the sound of slow regular breathing as both man and dog slept.

Ralph struggled against the clinging webs of sleep. Winning the fight, he sat up and glanced at the bedside clock. Blank. He got out of bed and made his way to the bathroom. He flipped the switch upon entering but nothing happened.

“Power’s out, stupid.” he grumbled.

He stepped into the shower and turned it on. A small amount of cold water dribbled from the shower head.

“Crap I forgot.” he said as he got back out of the shower and dressed. He made a quick breakfast and fed Jason. He looked around but couldn’t find her majesty anywhere. All of the spoiled food was gone.

The front and rear storm doors had been destroyed. After finishing the breakfast, Ralph went out to the generator. He connected the main output leads to the breaker box and turned off all of the breakers except the refrigerator. He started the generator and found the refrigerator humming along. He turned on a couple of other breakers for lighting and everything seemed fine.

He removed the broken storm doors and tossed them into the garage. He walked around the house and checked for damage. Jason inspected the entire property and determined that there were no intruders present.

They went back inside and Ralph sat at the kitchen table with a notebook and pen.

“We need a list of stuff.” he said to Jason.

He didn’t know how long the generator would run on a tank of gas, so he needed fuel. He also had no water. The front and rear storm doors would have to be replaced with something a little more substantial. The more he thought about it, the more he felt like he should find another place to stay. Some place outside of town, maybe some land to plant a garden, a good supply of water. He decided that would be his next item to do, find a new place to hold out until things got back to normal, if they ever got back to normal. He started for the truck and then stopped. After the incident with the dogs last night, he decided it would be prudent to arm himself. He grabbed the pistol he had taken from the Sheriff’s office and belted it on. As he walked out, he also picked up the riot gun and cradled it in his arms.

“Come on Jason, let’s ride!”

CHAPTER SIX

For the next few days, Ralph and Jason drove around the countryside. They stopped at several places, but none of them suited Ralph. He did search each one and made a list of items he found that may be useful in the future. After a few days, he stopped going in to the houses for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the power had now been off for a while and the houses reeked of rotting food. The second reason was it was becoming too painful, each house told the story of a family. A family that was no longer there. The empty rooms just brought the thoughts of his wife and kids to his mind and the pain of not knowing if they were alright overloaded him. As long as he didn’t see reminders of what he had lost, he was able to struggle through the days, the nights at home were another story and the pain washed over him when he entered their empty rooms. In frustration, he threw away his notebook and decided he would keep no more lists. On the fifth day of looking, Ralph drove past a secluded driveway on the northern side of town. Jason gave a woof and Ralph looked around.

“Missed one did I?” he said.

“That’s why you’re my navigator.” he looked fondly at Jason as the dog sat looking around.

He backed the truck up and peered down the drive. Trees lined both sides and the drive took a turn about midway down. He couldn’t see any buildings from the road.

“Let’s take a look.” he said as he started down the drive. The truck bounced down the gravel drive and dust filled the air. It drifted into the truck and Ralph sneezed. The sudden noise caused Jason to jump and he looked sheepishly at Ralph. “Sorry buddy.” Ralph said.

The drive made a lazy “S” curve and the trees fell away. There before him was a modern ranch house. He stopped the truck and got out. Dust swirled around him and settled on his clothes. His greasy hair was quickly coated and he slapped at his shirt hoping to dislodge any dust that had landed there. Sponge baths were just not keeping him clean. He decided that when he got back home, he was going to find a swimming pool and take a bath. The weather was warm and hopefully any pool would have had a chance to heat up during the day. Even if it wasn’t warm, he had to get the dirt off of him.

He looked around at the small house as the dust settled. A large windmill turned in the distance. He could hear it creaking from here. Numerous cattle and horses were trotting toward the house from the outlying fields. Several chickens pecked across the yard. Jason bounded out of the truck, took one look at the chickens which had stopped pecking and stood watching him. With a loud bark he took off to investigate. With tremendous squawks, the chickens scattered. This brought another cloud of dust into the air and Ralph sneezed again. The chickens next to him had squawked and flapped as Jason went by and then huddled around Ralph’s ankles as Jason had ran around the barn. When Ralph sneezed, they again took fright and went squawking and flapping across the yard. This noise in turn brought Jason back around the barn. He saw the noisy, bunch of flapping birds and again gave chase. The dust rose into the air.