America's Sunset: A Post Apocalyptic Fight for Survival (17 page)

Chapter 32 ~ Lockdown

Jake took a lot of pride in the
cottage
in the backyard. A prepper’s paradise, he thought. He’d been building on it for years; an ongoing hobby. It was stocked to the rafters with all kinds of survival gear. Maggie wasn’t too sure about it at first, but with all the bad news these days, she didn’t mind when he decided to spend a few dollars adding to it. There was enough food and water stored in the place to last their family of four for a year. Even though the kids didn’t live with them now, Jake had made plans to allow for them to be part of an extended stay.

He bought both the kids matching 1973 Chevy Biscaynes as gifts. When they complained about the upkeep, he promised to totally take care of that. They were classics, he’d told them, and you never knew when you might need a second car. Especially if they ever decided to start families. Besides, he liked having the old Biscaynes there for when he came to visit. It was the car he’d learned to drive on, and he said having his favorite car to drive gave him a good excuse to visit. Not that he needed an excuse; he missed the kids quite a bit since they’d moved out and always enjoyed spending time with them. They didn’t need to know that he’d bought them because they’d be amongst the few cars that would still work in the event of a massive solar flare or EMP attack.

And when they were house shopping in the big city, of course Jake had to be part of it. “Just being a helpful dad,” he would say. “Sure, you can pick the house you really want, it’s your decision. But wouldn’t it be nice to have a house on the west side, so you’re at least closer to your mother. She misses you guys, you know. Plus, you don’t want to have your old dad having to drive through that big city traffic when he comes to visit.” Jake knew that getting out of the big city in a hurry was imperative when things went to shit. Being on the west side of Fort Worth improved their odds greatly if they had to get to Jake’s cottage in a hurry.

When Jake first built the cottage, there was underground work that took place that Maggie didn’t know about. She’d seen the workers digging with tanks and pipes going in before the above ground work started. Jake had told her it was for complying with building code and for the new septic tank. Which was true, but there was more to it. By the time the work was completed, there was more living space below the foundation of the cottage than above it. While most of the storage space was above ground, there was still a significant amount below. Jake figured that supplies stored in the main cottage served as a passive line of defense. If hostiles broke into the cottage, they’d think they’d hit the motherlode. Anyone desperate to attack another man’s property would likely be without food and water. Finding the stores in the cottage would slow them down long enough for Jake and the family to formulate a retaliation strike. That wasn’t to say that Jake was ready to sacrifice the stores in the upper level to the first raiders that showed up. The priority was keeping the underground portion of the bunker safe and secure from any invaders. That’s where the real challenge had been in the design of the place. As long as the people down below were secure, they could deal with any bandits that managed to find a way in to the upper level.

Jake had nearly a decade to plan for this. While the cottage looked like an inviting country resort in his backyard, he could turn it into Fort Knox virtually at the click of a button. The resourceful engineer inside his head couldn’t stop dreaming up solutions. His to-do list was big enough to fill the backyard, but for today he was confident that work already completed on the cottage would be sufficient.

The town had seemed to be doing OK, in spite of the effects from the CME, but this latest turn of events was too much. You need to know when to fight, and when to retreat to higher ground. Or in this case, lower ground. Jake, Maggie, Dawson and the kids would go into lockdown mode in the cottage. Dawson’s behavior had been reprehensible, especially considering the situation. Some might say understandable in spite of the situation, but Jake wasn’t one of those. There was nothing more important to Jake than family. He knew that it appeared at times that he was obsessed with details of a project or gadget. Anyone that really knew him knew those things were manifestations of his love and concern for family. He figured that was the only reason Maggie put up with the money and time he spent on the cottage.

The decision to take Dawson into the bunker or leave him on his own was one that could have gone either way for Jake. On one hand, the thought that Jake’s own kids were still hundreds of miles away—albeit hopefully on their way towards him—made it difficult for him to go into lockdown. It kept him awake at night, even though he believed they’d make it. He also knew they needed a safe haven to arrive at. It was his responsibility to keep the place safe and secure. They’d talked about it before, and he trusted in those decisions. They’d be counting on him to do his part, and that’s what he was going to do. The decision to take Dawson into the bunker—at least in Jake’s mind—had more to do with Veronica and Chase than it did with Dawson. When the kids returned, they needed to have a father to return to. They were the only reason Jake was getting a free pass into the cottage.

* * *

Dawson was nowhere near sober as the three of them made their way to the cottage. Dawson stumbled and tripped over his own two feet, falling multiple times. Maggie reached down to help him up, but Jake pulled her back.

Jake spoke up. “It’s bad enough we’re going in here without the kids.” Maggie looked sternly at Jake. “Yes, I mean his kids and our kids. There are consequences. If he’s got the gumption to go out and get himself loaded while his kids are God knows where, then he can drag his sorry ass across this backyard. If he really wants it, then he’ll fight for it. Neither I nor you can carry him there.”

Maggie reluctantly stepped back, and nodded in agreement. She tried wondering what her reaction would be if Jake had done what Dawson did. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t imagine Jake falling apart like that. And when it came right down to it, these were similar circumstances for Jake. Perhaps his kids hadn’t been taken, but at the moment he didn’t know where they were. Neither one of them did, and neither one of them fell onto a bottle to deal with it.

Maggie pleaded. “Dawson! This is your last chance. It’s your kids’ last chance. They’re counting on you to do this. If you care at all for them, or have even a smidgen of regret, then you haul your ass up and follow us into the cottage.” Thoughts of her own kids, even though they were fully capable adults, moistened Maggie’s eyes. “Otherwise, you can lie there and wait for that bastard with a rifle to come back and finish the job.” Dawson barely moved.

Jake shook his head. “I’ve never hated being so right about someone in my entire life. It’s time to go, Maggie.” Jake held his hand out to her.

“Dawson, damn you! Stop thinking about yourself just this once. This isn’t about you and your problems. Right now, I could care less if you ever got up. But for reasons beyond their control, your children will. They will care when we get them back. They will want to know what their father did. They will want to hear that their father did everything in his power to save them. What story do you want us to tell them? What story do you want them to hear, and who do you want them to hear it from?” Maggie leaned over, practically on top of Dawson. “Are you going to be the one to tell them that story?” Maggie’s voice cracked as she asked her last question.

Jake put his arm around Maggie’s shoulder and led her reluctantly to the cottage. His mind was already running through the next steps. Beyond just securing the cottage, was the search for the children. This wasn’t something he’d ever prepared for. He built the cottage for Maggie and his kids. Leaving Dawson sprawled on the ground created massive knots in his stomach, but it had to be done. Times had changed. The upcoming days or weeks or months were not the time to be taking on liabilities. Everyone had to carry their own weight. Everyone had to be able to make a difference. If they couldn’t, then they were a danger to everyone else. Dawson had to want this for himself, that’s the only way this could work.

“I’m coming,” Dawson whispered, barely loud enough for Maggie to hear. “Wait, I’m coming.”

Maggie and Jake turned to watch Dawson stumble his way across the lawn towards them. Maggie smiled, and Jake shook his head. He had to admit though, the knots in his stomach loosened just a little. Dawson stumbled and fell twice more before he made it to the cottage steps, but every time he picked himself up without hesitation or prompting.

Inside the entrance foyer of the cottage, Dawson plunked himself down on an unopened crate, like he’d just finished a marathon. Jake locked the deadbolts on the front door. Maggie closed the curtains on the window overlooking the porch.

“There’s no need to do that,” he said.

“Oh, I just thought it might be a good idea if people couldn’t see inside. Why did you put in such big windows? We shouldn’t just leave these open. Are these windows at least bulletproof?”

“The glass isn’t exactly bulletproof, but it is industrial grade reinforced that will stand up to a Louisville slugger.” Jake walked over to a picture framed on the wall, and slid it aside.

Maggie watched him, and asked, “What’s that? You don’t have a safe hidden behind that picture, do you? Kind of clichéd, don’t you think?”

Jack smiled. “Not exactly. But I think you’re going to like it. This place has a few features you don’t know about.”

“Really now?” Maggie said with an inquisitive tone in her voice. “Why doesn’t that surprise me.”

Behind the picture was a seemingly plain control panel door, the kind you’d expect to find fuses and power breakers behind. When Jake open the door there was a digital touchscreen. The screen displayed one word,
Hello
, and nothing else. Jake held his thumb up to the screen and the welcome message disappeared, revealing an array of menu options.

“Don’t worry, it works with your thumbprint too, and the menu options are really easy once you go through them a couple of times.”

“Wow. That’s good to know, given that I’m so technically challenged,” Maggie said jokingly. “What I do wonder about, is how the hell did you get my thumbprints?” Maggie said in a less jovial voice.

“Oh, that was easy.” Jake spoke enthusiastically now. “I just waited till you were …” He paused when he noticed the bug-eyed stare he was getting from Maggie.

“You waited till I what?”

“Oh, mmm, I just used this kit I have and lifted your thumbprint off of a coffee mug. Really simple. Not intrusive or anything creepy.” Maggie just stared at him without a word. “Honestly,” Jake added. “Now watch this, it’s really cool.”

Jake turned his attention back to the panel, and tapped on the icon that looked like a bank vault. Jake pointed to the window behind Maggie, and she turned to see steel shutters slide down, completely covering the window. She could hear other shutters sliding shut throughout the cottage.

“Now those.” Jake smiled as he spoke. “Those are bulletproof.”

“Yep.” Maggie nodded her head in agreement. “That is cool.”

“There’s more,” Jake said enthusiastically, motioning back towards the panel.

“Oh, of that I have no doubt.” Maggie smiled.

Chapter 33 ~ Nickle Tour

Maggie and Jake watched Dawson’s labored slumber as he snored and drooled over the crates he was lying across.

Maggie shook her head. “Part of me just wants to put a pillow over his head and put an end to his misery.” Jake looked at her with his eyes wide open. “Don’t look at me like that, Jake Banner. I know the same thought crossed your mind, so don’t blame me for saying it out loud.” Maggie walked away, then turned back to Jake. “It’s horrible, I know, but at least I know I wouldn’t do it. You I’m not so sure about. I feel so bad for his kids. Part of me so much wants to believe that he can turn this thing around.”

I don’t know, Maggie,” Jake said. “I love you for thinking the way you do, but this boy couldn’t get his act together when things were normal. What makes you think he has any chance to rebuild his life and give his family what they need in the middle of the damned apocalypse?”

“This is not the apocalypse. It’s just a big rough patch. Apocalypse means the world is ending. The United States of America is not the whole world. There are plenty of other people out there, and other countries.”

“We’ll come back from this, we always do. Good old American know-how. Sure, we’ve been going to shit for a long time, but there are plenty of good people here who know how to rebuild. We’ll bounce back. Plenty of people here are direct descendants of our founding fathers. There’s a resilience built into our DNA. We’re fighters, and we know how to build a country. It may take a while, but we’ll make it back.”

“Those are pretty optimistic statements coming from a man who doesn’t believe one drunk fool can rebuild his own future. If an entire country can rebuild itself, I have to believe Dawson can do it as well. That’s the beginning of it all, isn’t it? With one man?”

“I don’t know what it is you see in him, Maggie. I still think you read too many cowboy novels. This is the real world, Dawson can’t just ride off into the sunset, not at this point. He needs to work for his redemption.”

Jake opened the door leading to the rest of the cottage. “While we’re on the topic of rebuilding the world, how about you take a little tour with me and see the rebuilding your man’s been doing. I’m pretty sure you’ll be impressed.”

Maggie looked at Dawson lying on the hard crates. “You think it’s okay just to leave him here?”

“Something tells me that boy has spent a few nights sleeping in worse places. He might be a little confused when he wakes, but that’s OK. Might shock a little sense into him.”

Jake led Maggie through a number of rooms that zigzagged through the cottage. There were plenty of shelves full of canned goods, medical supplies, dry fruits, and more barrels of water than Maggie could keep track of.

Jake stopped in one of the rooms and pointed upwards toward the skylights.

“Right here, we’re standing smack dab in the middle of the cottage. It probably seems a lot bigger than it is, but that’s just because of the way I organized things. It’s meant to be somewhat confusing. Remember the story about the Minotaur and the maze? If someone got in here who wasn’t supposed to, they’d be lost for a while. Once you’ve been through it a dozen times you start to get the hang of it.”

“I’m not sure I even want to think about that possibility,” Maggie said. “You don’t really think that anyone could get past those steel shutters, do you?”

“I wouldn’t presume to imagine what a desperate person might bring themselves to do. Honestly, I don’t ever want to be in the position where I have to think like that.”

“What about those skylights up there?” Maggie asked. “There are no shutters over those. Someone could break through those if they were desperate enough.”

“That’s a possibility for sure,” Jake said. “Those skylights are stronger glass than the windows surrounding the cottage. They were expensive, but I wanted the sunlight for the plants.”

“What plants? I don’t think you left much space for tomato plants.” Maggie motioned to all the shelves.

“So I guess you didn’t notice then did, you?” Maggie looked confused. “Take a closer look above you.” Maggie surveyed the top shelves. “It’s hard to tell in this room, because the plantings are new, but yes, there are tomato plants growing on the top shelf. Those look like storage buckets up there, but they’re actually filled with soil and plantings. If you look closely, you’ll see those small pipes running across the ceiling. They blend into the structure of the ceiling, so it’s hard to tell, but they drip water into those buckets on a timer. Rainwater comes off the roof and goes into a cistern that drip-feeds water throughout the whole cottage in the evening. That way, the moisture doesn’t just evaporate with the bright sun. I’ve get some herbs and greens going in the other rooms as well as some cucumbers and those radishes you like so much. It’s nowhere near enough to feed us completely from the garden, but it should be a nice supplement to the canned and dry goods.”

“You have been a pretty busy boy, haven’t you, Jake. That is impressive. How do we get up there?”

Jake was beaming. “There’s a rolling ladder folded up in the other room. It’s a little tricky to maneuver around all the corners, but we shouldn’t have to go up very often. Mainly planting and harvesting. It’s not like we’ll get many weeds or pests in here. Now if you think that’s impressive, you haven’t seen anything yet. Follow me.”

Jake led Maggie towards the end of the cottage. This had to be the man-cave wing. They walked past hardware, tools, electronics and other gadgets still in their original packaging. At the very end was an entire wall full of car batteries; over a hundred batteries stacked in systematic order on shelves.

“Why Jake Banner, you sly old fox, you really know how to show a girl a good time. It’s not every guy that could get his favorite girl so excited over this much hardware.”

Jake smiled. “If I didn’t know you better, Maggie Banner, I’d think you were talking dirty to me.”

Maggie gave him a coy look. “I almost wish I was. That really is a lot of batteries. Do you have enough solar panels to keep that many going? Didn’t you say something the other day about how solar technology couldn’t keep up with all your ideas?”

Jake angled his head slightly. “You really do listen to me when I talk about all my crazy projects. I’m shocked.”

“Now, now, don’t get too ahead of yourself there, hon. They’re just batteries.”

“Well now, that’s not quite true. I’ll have to swear you to secrecy, but there’s more to this than meets the eye. You can’t tell anyone else, not even Dawson or his kids. Especially not the kids. At least not for a while.” Maggie looked at him, trying to decide if he was serious or joking. “I’m dead serious, Maggie, this is not a joke. It’s important.”

“Okay, I believe you. It’s just between you and me. I promise.”

Jake walked to the fourth column of batteries. He counted two rows down, then paced off another four columns, then counted two more rows down. He placed his right hand on the negative terminal and his left hand on the positive terminal of the battery directly in front of him.

Maggie nearly jumped out of her shoes to pull him back, but stopped when Jake looked at her, smiling, both hands on the terminals.

“It’s okay, Maggie, this one isn’t live. Neither are the surrounding ones. They’re old batteries that I pulled the guts out of.”

He depressed both terminals, and a loud click sounded as locks behind the battery shelf released. He pulled the lower section of the shelf, and a space big enough for one person to crawl through swung open. It led to a hidden door beyond the wall of batteries.

“This is where things get really interesting,” Jake said as he waved his hand, motioning for Maggie to go through first.

Maggie stood up in a darkened hallway. The only light came through the narrow passage. Jake followed Maggie in with a small flashlight.

“Follow me,” he said. “I haven’t gotten around to installing lights down this hallway yet, and I’m not sure if I will. I kind of like that it’s disorienting for any intruders that might get this far. On first impression, it seems like a space between walls. A space that doesn’t go anywhere. If you didn’t know better, you might just go back the way you came. I suppose I could set up some sort of biometric sensor that knows when it’s you or me and automatically turns on lights just for us.”

“That seems like a lot of work. Wouldn’t it be easier to just carry a flashlight?” Maggie said as she followed Jake’s flashlight.

“C’mon now, Maggie, you should know by now that
easier
is not part of my vocabulary.”

“Yes of course, how silly of me.”

Almost at the end of the hallway, Jake knelt down and lifted the recessed handle from the floor. He opened up a hatch big enough for one person to fit through, and proceeded to make his way down the rungs below. “I have plans, of course, to camouflage the handle, but just hadn’t gotten there yet.”

“I don’t normally follow strange men down dark hallways and into dungeons,” Maggie said. “But since you insist this is the apocalypse, I suppose I can make an exception.”

“You really think I’m strange?”

“If you have to ask that question, hon, we really need to work on our communication skills. Either I’m not being direct enough these days, or we should start shopping for hearing aids.”

Jake stepped off the ladder onto the floor below, then offered Maggie a hand as she stepped off. “I can hear ants crawling at a hundred paces, my hearing’s just fine.”

“Well then, I guess I’m going to have to be a little more direct from here on.” Maggie smiled in the dimly lit room. “Prepare yourself.”

“Actually, I’m thinking that maybe you should be the one to prepare yourself.”

Jake flipped on a bank of switches, and an array of LED lights lit the cavernous room. In spite of Jake's warning, Maggie was taken aback. The over-sized room held all the modern conveniences anyone would want. Everything in one room, like a luxurious resort suite. There was a kitchen area with a small fridge and stove, surrounded by an entire wall of oak cupboards and drawers. Beside it was a small dining area, with a table big enough for four that could convert to a desk, or fold up flat along the wall. Adjacent to that was a large sectional seating area that faced an entertainment center complete with a large screen TV and an array of digital boxes. The walls were painted in muted shades of blue and had pictures of various landscapes hung from them; mountainscapes, deserts, ocean views, and fields of multi-colored flowers.

“I may have gone overboard on the artwork,” Jake said. “But, I figure just because you're living underground, doesn’t mean that you should feel like you’re buried.

“This picture looks really familiar,” Maggie said, pointing to one of the seascapes. “Have we been there before? That’s not from Sanibel Island, is it? Where we rented that place with the kids.”

“No, I’m not exactly sure where it’s from, but you saw it in Dallas last year. Remember, you dragged me through that art gallery and I kept complaining that we were going to be late for the ballgame?”

Maggie smiled, remembering. “Yes, I do remember that. It is a nice picture.” She stared at it for a minute, looking from different angles. “I was thinking it would look great over the headboard in our bedroom. It doesn’t look so bad down here though.”

“Really?” Jake looked surprised. “You’re standing in the middle of the most awesome bunker in the entire state, and the best you can do is to comment on the artwork?”

Maggie surveyed the room once more. “Umm yeah, I guess I’m just in shock. I don’t really know where to start, and this picture drew me in.”

Maggie moved into the kitchen area. She started opening cupboards, and found them filled with cans of fruits and vegetables and assorted dry goods. One whole section of cupboards was filled with nothing but water jugs. She opened a fully stocked fridge with an entire shelf dedicated to Jake’s favorite beer. Jake shrugged when she looked at him and motioned towards the beer.

“You’ve got your artwork, I’ve got my beer. Everybody gets what they want, right?”

Maggie moved to the seating area. She sat in a couple of different spots on the sectional as if searching for her favorite chair like Goldilocks.

“This sectional is huge. It’s bigger than the one in the house. How did I not notice you bringing it in?” She paused for a moment, thinking. “There’s no way you could have got this through that hatchway, or half these other things for that matter. What did you do? Put all the stuff down here and then build around it?”

“Well, not exactly. The hatchway used to be bigger, before I put the flooring into the cottage. A lot of stuff I just took apart and moved down here in pieces. Some of it came delivered that way. The sectional I actually built myself from scratch, so it was just a matter of getting the materials down here. Not bad, hey?”

“Wow! That’s a ton of work. However did you get it done so quickly?”

“I think you forget sometimes how long it’s been since I started this project. I started laying out the plans for this almost ten years ago. Remember, when that CME in 2012 just missed the planet?”

“Oh, I remember. I guess it’s true what they say about time moving faster as you get older. It really has been that long?”