America's Sunset: A Post Apocalyptic Fight for Survival (9 page)

Chapter 18 ~ Outage

Julie explained her theory once again to Jim. “It’s the kind of thing that everyone knows and hears about, but no one ever believes it. It’s the sort of thing that happens to other people, in other cities, in other countries, in another galaxy. The stuff of science fiction—in a land/galaxy/universe far far away. Everything turns off, then everything is turned on its head. Life as you know it … etc., etc., etc. Except for today. For today, normalcy comes to an end, and it’s happening to you and your family and your friends and your next door neighbor. It’s about to get far more real than you would have expected. It starts off small and innocent, seemingly just another normal inconvenience. Then …”

Jim nodded with polite agreement, but was clearly focused on his last patron, who was in no hurry to leave. Dawson teetered on his bar stool, closer to closing time than he wanted it to be. He didn’t believe in closing times when he got this drunk. Like a computer in an endless loop, that never ends. Julie, got tired of asking him to leave, and eventually went through her regular closing routines. Everything except for taking Dawson’s empty glass and turning off the TV he was glued to trance-like. She left that to the bartender.

Jim watched her get in her car from the front door of the bar. As she drove away, he waved and locked the door. It was a pretty safe neighborhood, especially given how cheap the rent was, but it gave him peace of mind to see her drive off safely.

“How’s it going, Dawson? You bout ready to call it a night?”

Dawson nodded in agreement, like he’d been doing for the last hour, but kept his eyes glued to the screen.

“I’m gonna turn off the TV, alright?”

If everyone stayed sober, he’d be out of a job. Jim learned to be patient with his bread-and-butter heavy drinkers. The TV played some nature channel show. It showed wild horses running across a vast plain, with snow-capped mountains in the background. Jim had turned down the volume as the last few stragglers complained about some damn nature show messing up their round of pool. Dawson didn’t seem to mind. He was mesmerized by the horses running and fighting and eating and mating on the wild plains of somewhere.

Jim reached for the power button, but Dawson grunted angrily at him.

“Alright. Five more minutes, then I’m turning it off.” He held up five fingers in front of Dawson’s face and repeated himself “Five minutes! That’s it, Dawson, then the TV is off, and you’re going home. Me too. We’re closed.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Dawson managed to grunt.

Jim walked to the back, and double checked that the washrooms were empty and the back door was locked. As he started back towards the bar, every light in the place went off, and the television died. Dawson complained vehemently.

“Damn it,” Jim said.

There was a loud crash from the bar as Dawson fell off his stool in the dark.

“Dawson, you alright? The emergency lights should come on in a second, just hang on.”

It was pitch black inside and outside the bar. Jim pulled his phone from his pocket to use as a flashlight. The phone didn’t respond.

“Really? The battery died on this thing too. I thought I just recharged it. I really do need to get a new phone. Just stay where you are, Dawson. Our eyes should adjust soon. Power must be out everywhere.”

Jim started making his way to Dawson, bumping against tables and chairs as he went. Dawson wasn’t saying anything intelligible from his position on the floor when Jim got to him. He was flat out on his back, with a bar stool lying across him.

“Dawson, you alright?” Jim pulled the bar stool off him and leaned in closer to get a better look at his face in the pitch black. Dawson just moaned. “Alright, buddy, I’m gonna just roll you over on your side and leave you here for a minute. I want you to just stay here—OK? The emergency lights aren’t coming on, and I want to see if I can find a flashlight, or candle or something.” He managed to get Dawson’s dead weight on his side, with his back propped up against the base of the bar. “There, that should stop you from rolling onto your back.”

Just as Jim made his way behind the door and started rummaging around through all the junk drawers, a loud, glass-rattling banging came from the front door. Jim startled and dropped the one flashlight he had found, which immediately rolled under the ice maker.

“Damn it!” He got down on all fours, and tried stretching his arm under the ice maker. He could see the light shining from underneath, but couldn’t quite reach it. A louder banging sounded from the door. Dawson moaned from his spot on the floor every time the banging broke the silence. “Jesus. All right. All right.”

Jim stood and looked in the direction of the front door and yelled. “We’re closed. Go away.” He could barely make out the shape of a woman in the moonlight, but couldn’t see her face. She was yelling something, but he couldn’t hear a thing through the glass. He grabbed the baseball bat from behind the bar, and walked over to the door. As he got closer, he realized who it was.

“Ah shit. Sorry, Julie,” he said as he let her in. “I didn’t realize it was you. The power’s out, and I was just trying to find something to light the place. I dropped a flashlight under the ice maker, but couldn’t get to it.”

“Gee, Jim, you are a mess. You actually got down on the floor behind the bar. You’re a lot braver than I thought. One little power outage, and you’re all kinds of desperate.” Dawson moaned again. “Who’s that? Is Dawson still here? I thought you were gonna call him a cab or something.”

“I was working on it when everything went out. What are you doing back here, everything all right?”

“No, it’s not. My piece of crap car died just a couple of blocks from here. I was hoping someone would come by to help, but there’s nobody around, and all the lights are out too. My phone died, so I walked back hoping you’d still be here.”

“Where else would I be?” Jim held his arms out in a ‘whatever’ stance. “Your phone is dead too? That’s odd. Maybe I should check if Dawson has one. At least we’d have something to give us some light.”

“There are some candles and a lighter in the bottom drawer with the blue handle behind the bar. Don’t you know where anything is around here?” She gave him that
what’s wrong with you
look, which he couldn’t see in the dark anyways. “How long exactly have you worked here?”

The bar took on an eerily deserted glow with the candles flickering on it. At least one of the candles was a scented candle which Jim thought stunk the place up, but Julie said made the place smell nice for a change, so they let it burn.

“Well, at least I can see enough not to kill myself walking around,” Jim said.

“I think you spend too much time hanging out behind the bar, boss. I could navigate my way around these tables in the dark with a tray full of pitchers in one hand and a tray full of chicken wings in the other,” Julie joked.

“There are some benefits to being the boss, you know. Someone’s got to hang out in command central here, and make sure things run smoothly.”

“Right, because figuring out how to switch kegs on the taps is far too complicated to trust to a pretty waitress.”

“Now, you know I know you’re far more than just a pretty face.” Jim paused, holding the punchline for just long enough. “You’re also a great ass. I know, because the view from command central here behind the bar lets me see everything going on in this place.”

Julie slapped Jim’s shoulder. “I kind of figured that was the case. You dirty old men are all the same.”

“Oh, that hurt. You know how sensitive I am about my age.”

“Sensitive now, are we? That’s something new. We should kill the power here more often. Think of all the things I could learn about you.”

“Funny girl. Now, speaking of power outages, we need a plan. I feel like we’re kinda stuck with getting Dawson home. I think he lives at the Banner place, just outside of town. We could drive him in my car, and I could drop you off at home as well. Or, we could stop and see if I can get your car going.”

“You really think yours will run?”

“Sure, why wouldn’t it? Just because you drive that Japanese piece of crap, doesn’t mean my
made in the Motor City
machine shouldn’t run. Nothing like good old American know-how.”

“I don’t know, Jim. Not only did nobody come by to help me, but I didn’t see any cars on the road the whole walk back here. I know it’s late and all, but it seems strange that I didn’t see anyone.”

“This is a bit of a ghost town, you know, once this place closes. I mean, what else is there to do after the best bar in town with the best waitress closes for the night?”

Julie ignored his attempt to lighten the mood. “And both our cell phones are dead, at the same time. Doesn’t that seem weird to you?” Jim shrugged it off. “It just feels odd. Maybe it’s like some sort of terrorist attack or—”

“Now, c’mon, don’t go down that path. You’ve been watching too many of those crappy television shows. Those things just feed off everyone’s fear. There’s no way it’s some terrorist attack or zombie apocalypse. That’s just your over-active imagination getting the best of you.”

“You’re probably right,” Julie said with barely enough enthusiasm in her voice to sound convincing.

“I’ll go check my car right now, just to make you feel better. Keep an eye on our patient here.” Jim hooked his thumb at Dawson, now snoring peacefully on the floor. “Make sure he doesn’t turn into a zombie or anything, and lock the door behind me.”

“Be nice,” Julie scolded him. “Or I may not let you back in. You’ll have to fend off the zombies on your own with nothing but a tire iron and your wits.”

“Ha!” Jim laughed. “Those freaks won’t stand a chance.

Chapter 19 ~ Life's A Game

Dawson tried to lighten the mood. “So, Chase, what could be so entertaining that it keeps you in your room for hours at a time? A girl? Is that it? C’mon, Chase, don’t tell me you’ve got some girl hidden under your bed now?” Dawson got down on all fours, lifted the sheets, and looked under the bed. Chase paid him no attention. “OK, so you don’t have her under your bed. Hang on now, just give me a second. Wait—your closet. That’s it, she’s got to be in the closet.” Dawson flung open the closet door and looked inside. He pulled the switch-cord on the overhead light which did nothing, and flipped through the hanging clothes one at a time.

Chase lay on the bed and looking through a magazine, with his back turned to the closet.

Dawson stopped his imaginary girl search and leaned against the closet door frame with crossed arms. “Alright, so there’s no girl in here.” He paused for a moment. “Guess you’re probably too shy to talk about girls these days, right? Don’t know where to start. That’s OK, I remember those days. Look, I may seem like an old guy who doesn’t have all the answers, but if you just want to talk about girls or anything—anything at all—you can talk to me. I’m not the bad guy here.”

Chase sat up on the bed and tossed the magazine onto the pile on the floor. “Alright, Dad. You want to talk? Let’s talk.” Dawson didn’t say anything, just stared at Chase. Chase stared back. “OK, I’ll start. Let’s talk about last weekend. You remember, right? Last weekend. That was the weekend fishing trip we’d been planning. Remember? No? Well, I do. You had this great idea that we’d go on this big family fishing trip. You said you’d found the perfect spot to go. Your boss, Bert, had recommended it. Bert’s been living here all his life, and loves spending time outdoors. He’s a farmer after all, that’s what he does for a living, and he’s really good at it. You said that it would be fun. I said I hate fishing, and Veronica can’t swim, so it would be a bad idea. You said, no problem, we’d put a life jacket on Veronica. Then you added that no, we’d all wear life jackets, because we didn’t want Veronica to feel like she was standing out, and that it’d be safer anyways. Remember that? Do you?”

Dawson interrupted. “Yes, of course I remember. I’ll make it up to you. Work things just came up, we’ll do it another time. I can’t believe you’re that upset about this. I thought you weren’t that keen on it anyways.”

“You’re right, Dad, I wasn’t that keen on it. I’m still not that keen on it—actually, forget that. I think it’s a damn stupid idea now. That’s what I think. I agreed to it because it seemed like you really wanted to spend time with us. Veronica thought so too. She was so excited about it, and a little scared about being out on the water, but mostly excited. I tried to tell you not to say anything to her, that it would be better to make it a surprise, that she likes surprises. You didn’t listen. I should have said what I was really thinking.”

Dawson’s stared at the floor. “And what was it that you were really thinking, Chase?”

Chase took a deep breath. “What I was thinking was that you would get her hopes up, and then do something stupid and let us both down again, especially her. I’m used to it, but she still thinks you’re the most amazing person on the planet. She thinks you can do anything. She actually still thinks that you want to be our father.”

“Now wait just a minute. I told you I had to work at the last minute. I told you that Bert needed—”

“I know where you were, and I know what you were doing. I’m not stupid. Stop lying about it.”

Dawson never took his eyes off the floor, and shook his head. “I didn’t mean to—”

“It doesn’t matter what you meant to do or say. It just matters what happened. I saw them bring you home last night … that guy and that girl. It was two-thirty in the morning when they carried you in and plunked you on the sofa. I thought someone was breaking in. I had the baseball bat in my hand. I almost clocked that guy when he opened the door. Then I saw you, lying on the porch. He just handed me your keys, said 'sorry', and took off. I tried to wake you, but you were really out of it.”

“I was just really tired I guess.” Dawson lied.

“You weren't tired Dad, you were fall-down drunk. You couldn't even stand up. I've never seen you like that before” Chase closed his eyes in thought. “I thought you didn't drink anymore. You said you'd quit after the army … that you'd learned your lesson.”

Dawson shook his head as he sat next to Chase. “I don’t suppose that we’ve ever really talked about this, have we?” Dawson put his hand on Chase’s shoulder, but Chase shrugged it off. Dawson hesitated, then crossed his arms. “You’re just a kid, so it’s hard to understand, but adults look at the world differently. We worry more about things, and have a lot more responsibility. It’s not easy to be a grownup, but sometimes if we’re lucky we get help along the way. Having someone close that we can rely on to help us through the difficult decisions and troubled times helps. That’s why it’s important to pick the right person to be with.”

Chase grimaced. “Ah c’mon, Dad. We’re not going to have
that
talk now, are we?”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant. I’m talking about just regular day to day adult stuff, like jobs and money, and having kids. It’s important that adults have other adults they can talk to and share their burden with. Someone they can trust. That’s why it’s so important to have two parents in every family. Your mom and I kept it together by helping each other out.”

“Yeah, that didn’t work out so great now, did it?”

“Hey! A little—” Dawson raised his voice, then paused for a moment. “Life is complicated, Chase. You’ll see that someday. I know it seems pretty simple when you’re a kid, but it’s not. You’ll see. How you feel about people and things changes as you get older. It’s constant change. It may not look like it, but adults are growing and changing just like kids. It’s all on the inside, so others don’t see it. You understand?”

Chase gave a forced nod, with a little shoulder shrug for good measure.

“I know it seems complicated,” Dawson said. “Sometimes, I just need to get away, to be with other adults. When your mom left me, I lost a lot. My whole life changed, and I had to take on everything on my own. The world, and you kids.”

Chase broke his silence. “She didn’t leave
you
, Dad, she left
us.
” He looked straight at Dawson with conviction. “She left all of us. You talk about how hard things are when you’re an adult, but it’s hard for kids as well. We’re all alone most of the time too. We have feelings and stuff that we don’t know what to do with, and Mom was just as important to us as to you. You’ve had other friends and adults in your life. Veronica and I have only ever had you and Mom.” Chase’s voice cracked as his eyes misted over. “You may have lost a wife, but Veronica and I lost two people. We lost you and Mom. Mom left, and you wanted to, but you couldn’t. You act like you’re a prisoner. Like we’re your jail cell.” A tear trickled down Chase’s cheek. “Even the little bit you’re here, you’re never really here. You don’t listen. You don’t care. You just pretend like you do.” Chase wiped his eyes. “We’re just kids. We don’t know how to do this either. You’re supposed to be here to help us understand. Can’t you just do that?”

Dawson was silent for a moment. He hadn’t seen Chase cry in years. The last time he could remember was when he fell trying to learn how to ride his bicycle. He was more scared than hurt then. Actually, Dawson was more scared when that happened. There was a car backing quickly out of a driveway, and the driver never took the time to look where he was going. Either that, or he couldn’t see a small boy on a bike with training wheels behind him. Chase saw him coming though. The kid had quick reflexes. Most people do, when they think their life is in peril. He sped up in a hurry, but lost control on the other side, and crashed into a fire hydrant. Dawson was more scared because he couldn’t see Chase with the car blocking his view. All he could hear were the screams. The fire hydrant hurt, but the shock of nearly being crushed under the wheels of a big pickup scared Chase the most.

This was different though. These were grownup tears. Chase was still only a teen, but these were real tears and emotions. It took everything Dawson had to keep his emotions in check. His heart ached, but he didn’t want to feel weak in front of Chase. Maybe he should have, but his instincts got the better of him, and he held it back, barely. He couldn’t stop the ache he felt in his chest though.

“Chase, buddy. I didn’t realize how bad this made you feel. I am so sorry.”

Chase tried to hide, wiping away the tears. “It’s not that bad,” Chase said. He shook his head as if it were nothing. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine.”

“No, son. It’s not alright. I’m going to make this up to you.” Dawson thought he saw a bit of a smile on Chase’s face; a very little smile, and then it disappeared. “Really,” Dawson continued. “I am going to make this better. Starting today. Right now actually.” They both just sort of stared at each other in silence for a second. It was like they were somewhere they’d never been before, and were caught breathless by the view. “How about that game you like to play. What’s it called?” Dawson asked.

“You mean Apocalypse Fallout?” Chase held up the game cover from his nightstand.

“Yeah, that’s the one. How ‘bout you show me how to play it?” They both looked around at the lack of lighting in the place. “Well, not right now, but once the power comes back on.”

Chase smiled for real. “Alright, Newbie, but don’t expect me to go easy on you, it’s a dark, cold world out there in the Apocalypse.”

“Hey, no special treatment for this guy. Just because I’m your dad, and at least partially responsible for giving you life and all. No need to play favorites with this guy.”

Chase smirked. “Not that funny, Dad.”

Dawson couldn’t help smiling a little bit. “So, maybe just to get me a little prepared, tell me a little bit about how this game works.” Chase raised an eyebrow. “It’s not that I’m worried or anything. I’m sure I’ll catch on quick. It’s just that competitive rodeo cowboy in me. I do hate losing at anything.”

“All right, sounds fair enough.” Chase flipped the game case over in his hands. “Well, it’s the end of the world … or more like the end of civilization as we know it. There’s still a world obviously, or there wouldn’t be much to do. There was this atomic bomb that went off in the Middle East somewhere. No one is really sure quite where, but it got all the other superpowers worked up and they started firing their atomic missiles at each other. A preemptive strike scenario. You know what that is, right?”

“Yes, yes of course. I do read the occasional paper, you know, and I did pass history back in my school days. Not by much, mind you. Who can remember all those dates?”

“You passed classes in high school, Dad?” Chase teased. “I had no idea. I thought you just spent all your time falling off horses.”

“Hey now, you know what your grandparents are like. Do you really think your grandpa would let his son get away with doing anything halfway?”

“Yeah, no. Grandpa can be a real hard-ass sometimes.”

“Hey, hey. Watch the language there. That’s my father you’re talking about. So, OK, what happens next? When do the zombies show up? We get to kill zombies in this game, right?”

“Dad. Really? Zombies are, like, so old school. Nobody cares about that stuff anymore. This is the real deal. It’s like what would you do, and how you would survive in the real world with whatever is left.”

“Real world? Right, OK.” Dawson rolled his eyes, and leaned in towards Chase.

“C’mon, Dad, I know it’s a game, but they make it seem so real. That’s the fun of it. You need to let your imagination take over. Don’t be so serious all the time. And don’t worry, there are monsters to fight, just not zombies.”

“Yes, of course. Zombies are old school; I got it. What happens next?”

“Well, it really depends on what you want to do next. It’s open ended, you know.”

“Open ended?”

“Well yeah, you get to make all the choices and decisions about where you go and what you do. Not like the old games they had when you were a kid.” Dawson raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, you know, where you just run down some hallway shooting at everything or crawl through some vents where you come out into another hallway and shoot a bunch of monsters till you find some crates and climb up into another vent and repeat it over and over till you beat the boss monster.”

“Boss monster? Remember now Chase, I was too busy falling off horses to be playing video games.”

“Right, right.” Chase held his hand up in pause. “Don’t worry about that. We’re getting a bit ahead of ourselves. All you need to know to get started is that the whole world is kind of new. Broken and really messed up, but new, and then you get to imagine it the way you want it to be, with the choices you make. You collect all this cool stuff and salvage things from the wreckage. You can build your own place, and start your own tribe. You have to learn skills, like how to survive without power or water or grocery stores. You really get to make the world the way you want it. That’s the fun of it all.”

“Ah, I get it. Kind of like right now.” Dawson held up his hands, indicating their current power outage.

“Yeah, exactly, Dad. But a lot worse, and for keeps. You’ll see when the power comes back on. The game is a lot more fun than this. This is just boring.”