Enduring the Crisis (3 page)

Ben sent his small crew home and had a difficult time figuring out what he needed to do first. He tossed his suitcase on the bed before he went through the small rental house, claiming his piles of belongings that he had been neglecting while he worked all the daylight hours he could.

He stopped long enough to try calling his wife again. He tried each of his girls’ cell phones. Calling every family member in the lower forty-eight that he had on his phone. Nothing. He resisted the urge to chuck his phone against the wall. The helplessness was overwhelming. He still needed the phone though. Even if he couldn’t get a hold of Tammy, it was his lifeline out of there.

Thousands of miles were between him and the people he loved most in the world. Leaving them home alone to cope with the kind of crisis they’d been preparing for for years was not the kind of sacrifice he wanted to make when he accepted the high paying job up north.

He called his boss again. “You gotta plan to get me out of here yet?”

“We’re working on it. Unfortunately, it looks like it might be the long way to Anchorage. By land just isn’t an option with how far west you are. At least you’re on the coast because the only thing we’ve come up with so far are a few fishing boats. That will take a few days for you to get here as long as the weather holds up.”

“It has to hold up. I need to get going. You’re sure all flights are grounded?”

“Yes. Everything. Not going to change anytime soon. I don’t know how soon we can arrange a boat. So be ready. We need to try and grab Nate further up north from you. His family is in Montana and he’s just as desperate as you are to get home.”

“I’ll be ready in five minutes if you can arrange it.”

“You might have to sit tight for a few days.”

“If that’s the case, I’ll find myself my own boat and start out on my own.”

“Now don’t go all senseless now. You won’t make it.”

“I’m going to be stupid. Don’t worry.I just can’t sit around here for long, though.” Ben paced the small living room. “It’s my wife and daughters. If it’s an E.M.P., who knows how bad it will get for them. We’ve been preparing but a woman on her own with all those girls, I’m scared for them.”

“I’m trying, Ben. I really am. I won’t make you wait any longer than you have to. Alaska is a huge state, though. Other than planes, nothing can move nearly as fast.”

Ben flopped down on the couch and covered his eyes. They were burning something awful and a lump in his throat was about to make it impossible to talk. “I know.”

“Hang tight, do what you can to get ready and I’ll call you back when I know something.”

“Thanks.” Ben tossed his phone on the cushions and continued to throw things on his bed that he needed to pack and he started the washer. He kept checking the phone to make sure it was working and to see if he missed any calls. There was nothing. He decided he needed some air once he had about made himself dizzy pacing through the house.

He walked down the streets he had been building with his crew all summer long. He could take some pride in how well things had gone. There were finishing up the last road and were about to clean up, put in one last guard rail before he was able to return home for the winter.

He was aggravated with himself. What was all that for anyway? They’d been preparing for an event like the one that just happened for years. Construction had slowed down so much at home that he felt he needed to work out of state so they could keep building their food storage and maintain their bug out shelter in the mountains. They already hit the food storage for a few months after Christmas while he had no work. With five daughters and all the extra expenses they had, it was demanding to keep up with all of that. However, now he wished he’d found a regular job much closer to home even if it was a serious pay cut. Because what was the point of earning big bucks when the world actually did go to hell? It just meant that he wasn’t home to take care of his own family and now he was the ill-prepared idiot.

“Hey, boss.” Johnny walked up beside him. “You don’t look so good.”

“I don’t feel so good, Johnny. It sounds like everything is awful at home and it looks as if I’m heading out of here by boat as soon as they can find one.”

“Really? That’s a long ride.”

“That’s what I heard.”

“You can’t go without saying goodbye.”

“Of course not. I’ll be sure to.”

“I could make it easier for you. Come to the dance tonight. We will have a proper sendoff.”

Ben nodded the best he could. The last thing he wanted to do was be social and watch one of the Yupik dances. He actually enjoyed them. It just didn’t sound appealing when the world back home was in chaos. If only he could hear Tammy’s voice. He desperately wanted to know if she and the girls were okay.

Tammy finally made it home. She was stopped by a few concerned neighbors that were wondering if her husband was going to make back. How was she going to find out news about her husband if they couldn’t even contact their family members on the other side of town? She stifled her frustration and let them know she appreciated their concern.

As she walked up the grass to her front door, she noticed some men she’d never seen before were eyeing her suburban in the driveway as they walked down the middle of the street in front of her house.

“Go inside and help Charlie and Mae with finding all the flashlights and battery lights.” She looked at the girls briefly as she kept an eye on the men. They slowed even more as one of them approached the sidewalk.

Charlie opened the door. “Mom, come here a minute. I need you like right now.”

Tammy hesitated before she looked back at Charlie. Her eyes were wide with fear and she waved for her to come inside in a hurry. Tammy’s gut tightened and she knew she needed to listen to her daughter.

“What do you need?” She went inside and slammed the door before the guy on the sidewalk got any closer.

Charlie locked the door and pulled Tammy away from it. “They knocked on the door earlier and wanted to know if the suburban was working. They remembered it from when we were coming home. I said I didn’t know and that you and dad were coming back any minute.”

“Seriously? Oh geez.” Tammy wrung her hands. “Why didn’t you say no?”

“I don’t know. Because it was a lie?”

“You don’t have a problem lying to me about your homework.” Tammy pulled the curtain away from the window just enough so she could see her car. “We really need Betsy so we can get out of here if things go crazy.” They circled the suburban before one of the men headed for the front door. “No, no, no.”

It was terrible timing when all four girls came into the living room at once. Tammy held up a hand for them to stop and whispered, “Go downstairs. Just be ready. Charlie, get Buddy from outside and all of you stay there until I say it’s okay to come up.”

They stood beside each other with squinty eyes and a quizzical look as if she was speaking a foreign language. “Go!” She waved her hands at them.

Charlie was the first to grab Mae’s hand and head for the stairs. “You guys head down. I’ll get Buddy. He’s barking like mad at something out back.”

“Do not open the door if anyone is in the backyard. Lock it instead.”

“Yes, mom.” She didn’t sound as snarky as she usually did when she was told what to do.

When there was a knock on the door, Tammy jumped. She could not even bring herself to reach for the door handle. They might try to take the suburban anyway if she didn’t answer. She needed to scare them off. Perhaps the stun stick would come in handy after all. After the scene on the street on the way home, she wasn’t ready to get out their guns. It was an awful feeling to know it wouldn’t be long before she would need them.

She stuffed the key to the front door in her pocket and grabbed the stun stick before she opened the door. As she held the handle, she twisted the lock on the back as she stepped outside.

Her heart raced as she closed the locked door behind her and two of the four men were standing on her front step. “Can I help you?” She gripped the stun stick tighter.

The skinny tall guy standing in front of her seemed awful fidgety. “So I was wondering, I thought I saw that vehicle on the road earlier. We want to know if we could pay you something to sell it to us.”

“I’m sorry. I think you were mistaken.” Tammy struggled to contain her nervousness as her hands trembled. She rested her thumb on the button of the stun stick, ready to use it. The men were too intense and the one in front of her too bouncy for them to be nice people wanting a ride. “Perhaps it was another vehicle that looked a lot like mine. There’s another one over there.” She pointed to an old white suburban down the road with a smashed headlight. There was a thick layer of dust on the windshield though so it was obvious it hadn’t been used in some time.

“There aren’t very many blue and silver ones like yours.” Skinny man wasn’t going to believe her lie.

“I’m sure you were mistaken. Even if it did run, there are too many disabled cars on the street in the way. Besides, I don’t think any money you can give me right now is going to do me any good. Can’t exactly buy any gas right now and also, it has none.” There were a few lies mixed in with the facts.

Skinny took a step closer to her and she was not comfortable. “Look, we have a long way to go and you’re obviously safe at home. The nice thing to do would be give us your car. That flashlight you have in your hand might be helpful to us as well.”

“No. And if you step any closer I will use this flashlight on you and will scream for help and my neighbors won’t hesitate to come out and help me.” She pressed the button on the stun stick. The electricity snapped so loud on the end that Skinny jumped back.

“Whoa, now. No need to overreact.”

“I think you all should leave.” She activated the stun stick once more and waved it at them to go.

They casually meandered back to the sidewalk into their tight-knit group again.

“If I were you, I’d keep a close eye on everything. Especially your pretty girl in there,” Skinny shouted.

“Is that a threat? Because this stun stick is not what I’d use if someone enters my house making those kinds of threats. Everyone in my family has their own gun and they know how to use it.” Tammy wasn’t sure how she found the courage to stand even taller as she crossed the lawn, ready to see what a stun stick could do to tall skinny guys that liked to make threats.

When they realized she was prepared to use it on Skinny, they did more than just walk away. They jogged off shouting obscenities at her as they did.

They were finally out of sight when Tammy crossed the lawn, heading for the door and she was a trembling, nervous wreck. Her heart had never pounded so hard.

It had only been a few hours since the power went out. Already she witnessed a shoot-out and had to defend her home. Swallowing hard as she unlocked the door, she knew she had lots to do before they would be prepared and safe before night fell.

“Girls, I need your help,” she yelled.

Tammy put her girls to work. Zoe and Holly brought the generator out of the shed. Charlie and Mae helped her reorganize the two-car garage so they could park Old Betsy in it. They usually parked the smaller cars inside and Betsy was one over-sized beast. She sure didn’t want another confrontation or want to make it easy for someone desperate to steal it.

Once it was inside, Charlie helped her nail two by fours above the garage doors so they couldn’t be opened.

“Do you think Amanda is going to make it home?” Charlie finished hammering her last nail in.

“I sure hope so. I really hope she didn’t wait too long to start walking. If it took her some time before she realized what’s going on, that this blackout isn’t ending today, I hope she waits to walk home and stays with a friend on campus.”

“I hope she makes it home tonight.” Charlie’s sentiment was surprising. She always acted as if she couldn’t stand her older sister.

“Me too. I won’t be able to sleep until all of you girls are here at home.” Tammy blinked back tears again. If only she could hear his voice to find out if
he
was okay.

“I wish dad was here. Or at least not so far away.” Charlie wiped her eyes.

“Of all of you girls…” She trailed off and opened her arms to give her daughter a hug.

She squeezed her mother tight. “I know I’ve been awful to him. He drives me nuts. I would much rather he was home to drive me nuts though than to never see him again.”

“I would actually miss hearing the two of you banter. Just don’t give up hope.” Tammy was only clinging to the little hope she had left by a thread. If it was an attack, he was much closer to being invaded than they were in Idaho. “I need help moving the fridge out here to the generator.”

“Now I really wish Amanda was here.” She slumped her shoulders as they made their way back into the house.

“When you are the only one in the neighborhood with a cold glass of milk that isn’t spoiled, you’ll take a little pride in those muscles it took to make it happen.”

They pulled the fridge out from the wall.

“Do you think people will try to take our food?” Zoe asked.

“I hope not but we are going to do everything we can to make sure we are safe and no one takes our stuff. That’s why we have the safe room and also why we’ve been preparing and practicing for so long.” Tammy pulled out the milk and juices and set them on the table. “When we get it out there, bring me that stuff.”

“But we didn’t practice for jerks like those guys that wanted Betsy,” Charlie said.

Tammy gasped. “You heard all that? I told you to wait downstairs.” She stopped moving the fridge to glare at her daughter.

“I was scared they were going to hurt you. I listened through the window just in case I needed to help protect you.” Charlie’s face flushed.

“She was getting one of the rifles ready, Mom.” Mae was always good at ratting out her sisters.

Tammy sighed and shook her head. “It’s very, very important that you follow my instructions right now.”

“What if they did hurt you? Then what? I knew to be careful. I wasn’t going to do anything unless they tried to do something to you. You didn’t see it, but one of those jerks was getting ready to jump you. When you showed them what the shock thing could do, you scared him off.”

Tammy rested her head against the side of the fridge. “All right. I’ll admit I might need a little help at some point while this is going on. At least you know to be careful. We don’t know who we can trust right now. I also don’t want to be hasty not trusting anyone either. If we can work on protecting ourselves without shooting someone, that is what I’d prefer.” She met Charlie’s gaze before she looked at each one of her daughters. They all nodded in agreement. “We need to finish getting this house ready.”

All the years of reading blogs and websites about preparing for a crisis was about to be put to the test. She had a binder full of lists. What Tammy wasn’t prepared for was the stress.

Ben had made shutters to hang on the inside of the windows. They were easy to put up, strong enough to prevent easy access from an intruder even if they broke a window, and easy to take down if they found another way in. Ben had made them for all the windows. She had the girls help her put them all up. About every half hour, Tammy stepped outside to the front porch looking for her oldest. Once she returned inside, she busied herself once more so she wouldn’t think so much about where Amanda might be and if she was going to make it home safe.

They had the strong floor locks set up and ready on all the doors so no one could kick the doors in. Tammy hesitated to use them all in case Amanda showed up.

She already missed the microwave when she needed to defrost the meat she needed for dinner. It would have helped if she planned ahead hours earlier but she had been too busy running all over town. She heated some water on the side burner of the barbeque.

If someone had come to visit, they wouldn’t have thought much was amiss as the girls sat outside. The temperature dropped and it was rather pleasant out. However, it was abnormally quiet with none of the usual city noises. The constant drone from cars must have been like a white noise machine because they could hear their neighbors in their houses. The people that were still trying to find their way home on the main streets would occasionally yell. Now and then they’d hear a gun shot. That made them all uneasy. Tammy checked outside the front door again for Amanda. Still nothing. She wanted to check more often as the sun started to set. She focused on cooking dinner on the barbecue instead.

As they ate, Charlie, Holly, and Zoe would check their phones as if they somehow would miraculously work even though nothing else had even given them the slightest hint that things would change.

Tammy was having a harder time dealing with the absence of her oldest daughter. She was exhausted from the events of the day and turning her house into a fortress. She reclined in the lawn chair so she could rest her aching body. Unfortunately, her mind wasn’t going to settle down. The little bit of light the candles placed around the patio were putting off was somewhat comforting as she realized how dark it was going to get without power across the city.

“Can you build a fire, mom?” Zoe asked.

“No, please don’t,” Holly begged. “Look how dark it is. It’s like camping. We can actually see the stars in town. I want to bring my telescope out.” Holly ran into the house. Moments later, something crashed on the floor inside.

“Be careful you don’t hurt yourself. It’s dark in there,” Tammy yelled, settling her shoulders against the back of her chair.

It was the fastest Holly had found anything in her life and she was back outside setting up the telescope. “I can already see the Big Dipper. I want to see what else I can find. I’ve been studying.” Holly rattled off an endless list of odd names of stars and constellations that didn’t look like the things she said they were. She also pointed out Jupiter and Mars, which were the two planets Tammy could recognize on her own.

They all jumped when they heard a woman scream nearby. A man shouted, a group of people yelled at once and suddenly a man jumped their fence and ran across their backyard.

All the girls and Tammy jumped to their feet. She grabbed Mae and pushed her youngest daughter behind her.

Charlie had been bouncing a tennis ball on her racket. She held the racket over her shoulder ready to give him her best two-handed backhand swing.

At least Zoe was thinking ahead when she brought her dad’s bat out of the shed with the generator. Tammy grabbed it and held it over her shoulder.

He seemed a little crazy and was about to head for their back door.

Buddy barked and lunged at the stranger. He kicked the dog. That was all it took for Tammy and Charlie to confront him. Buddy didn’t back down and was ready to attack. Zoe grabbed his collar.

“Get out of here.” Tammy used the end of the bat to thump the man’s chest to shove him away from the house. “Get out of my yard before you can’t leave on your own two feet.” She held the bat over her shoulder again.

He must have been on something because he lunged for Tammy. She was getting ready to swing when Charlie smacked his face with the tennis racket.

He fell back on his rear. “Why you…” He tried to scramble to his feet when Tammy swung her bat and hit his arm. He cried out.

“I didn’t even swing it as hard as I could have. Now go.” She pointed at the gate.

He was stunned and rubbed his arm until Charlie was getting ready to swing at him again. He scrambled across the yard and left.

There was shouting on the street again. They heard the man that had been in their yard yelp in pain.

“Everyone inside now.” Tammy ushered Mae through the door. Holly grumbled but complied willingly when the screaming and carrying on in the street intensified.

“What do you think they’re doing to him out there?” Zoe asked.

“It’s best we probably don’t know,” Charlie said, grabbing the leftovers from the table outside.

Once they were inside with the backdoor shut, locked, and shuttered, she was able to look over Buddy, their Yellow Lab, to make sure he wasn’t hurt by the stranger in their backyard.

Mae held his head and nuzzled his face. “That bad man tried to hurt you. I’m so sorry.” She gave him a couple of dog treats.

“Don’t give him too many at once. What we have is going to have to last as long as it can.”

“Do you really think this is going to last that long?” Charlie asked.

“I do. We’re all sleeping in the safe room tonight. Well, you all are. I don’t think I’m going to sleep until Amanda is home.” She listened at the front door before she opened it to check for her one more time. Whatever had happened moments ago must have been resolved because the street was empty and quiet again. She sighed. Still no sign of her daughter.