Going Home (11 page)

As we approached the roadblock, I got a surprise. “Hey, Dale,” Jessica called out.

“Hey, Jess.” It was one of the Perry cops. “You decided to try and get home?”

“Yeah, I had to get the hell out of there. Dale, this is Morgan.” She did a quick introduction.

I stuck out my hand, and the officer shook it. “Morgan Carter,” I said.

“Dale Chattam,” he replied. “I know where Jess is going. Where you headed, Morgan?” He was casual and at ease, but I don’t want to give out too much info.

“Down near Orlando, long ways,” I said with a smile.

“Yeah, that’s a hell of a walk. Jess, you guys need anything?” He had turned his attention back to her.

“We could use some food, and I need a water bottle—something that will get me home.” She was holding the bottle by the cap, swishing it back and forth.

“I think I can help you out with that.” Dale reached in his pocket and took out a little pad. He made some notes on it and handed it to Jessica. “This’ll get you to Walmart; everything has been stockpiled there. Go to the registration tent and give ’em this; they’ll give you what you need.” He smiled as he handed her the slip of paper. She took it and looked it and gave him a little smile.

“Could I ask for something else I just thought of, maybe a sleeping bag and tarp?” She was giving him a look that only a girl can, and I knew it was gonna work. His reaching out and taking the slip back as he clicked his pen proved me right.

“Yer pushin’ yer luck, girl.” He smiled as he scribbled on the paper and handed it back with a smile. “Morgan, you take care of her and get her home, okay?” I nodded at him. He gave a word to the men behind him, and they let us through.
This
little
girl
is
pretty
sharp
, I thought.

After we cleared the barricade, I had to ask, “What’s that all about?” gesturing over my shoulder.

“Dale was one of the cops that came out to the rest area on the run. He was sweet on me. He always brought me something extra. He’s nice.” She smiled and looked at me with a squint.

“Whatever works. Got you a sleeping bag and canteen of some sort,” I said.

“And some food,” she added.

Walmart was off Jefferson Street in Perry. It took us a little over an hour to walk down there. Along the way, there was a lot of activity; a lot was going on in this little town. These folks seemed to have their shit together already. When we got to Walmart, I was shocked at what I saw. A number of tents were set up, and stuff was stacked everywhere. The fire department had a station set up; a couple of churches had tents, and there was even a vet. The vet made sense, as there were a number of people on horses. We found the registration tent, and Jessica walked up and handed the slip of paper to a young woman sitting there at a folding table.

She greeted us with, “How y’all doin’?”

“Good, thanks. Dale gave me this and told me to bring it here,” Jessica replied.

The lady looked the slip over. “Okay, give me a second here, and we’ll get you guys fixed up.” She turned to a young man and started giving him instructions. He took off on an ATV. “You guys need something to eat?”

“We could use a little something if it isn’t a problem,” Jessica replied.

The woman pointed down the line of tents, “There is a large white tent down there on the left. They are feeding everyone there. Just go on in and get’cha some lunch. When you get back, your stuff’ll be here.” With that, she smiled and turned to talk to some people behind her.

“Ma’am, is there a place to fill our water bottles?” I asked.

“Oh, sure, over toward the entrance to the store is a water tank. Go over there, and you can fill up.” She just seemed too damn cheery, considering all that was going on.

“Thanks, I appreciate it.” She smiled again, and we walked off.

“Let’s go get some food, if they’re willing to feed us, let’s take advantage of it.” I motioned down the row of tents.

“Sounds good to me. I’m starving.” Jessica patted her stomach.

We found the mess tent by following our noses! It smelled wonderful. I haven’t exactly gone hungry yet, but even I can’t resist good barbecue. The tent had a huge smoker out back and a large stack of wood, oak from the looks of it. The smell was truly incredible; inside the tent a series of long tables with trays of food was set up. They actually had people serving the food! We loaded our plates with barbecued pork, beans, corn on the cob, coleslaw, and a couple of slices of bread. At the end of the line, several five-gallon water kegs were set out. Some were water, or punches of some kind, but two had sweet tea—God bless these people.
I love sweet tea! It’s like crack to me.
I filled my cup with tea, and we looked for an open spot to sit amongst the knots of people.

Three men and two women were at the table we chose. One was a cop; one was a fireman, or should I say firewoman; and another was in camo with a yellow bandana tied around his left bicep.

“How y’all doin’?” asked the cop with a mouthful of beans.

“We’re good. Food looks great,” Jessica replied.

“Yeah, Cooper, out there on that grill, does a damn fine job,” the female firefighter interjected.

“You know, always leave the cookin’ to a fat man,” the cop replied. The firefighter nudged him.

“Where you guys headed?” This was the guy with the armband.

“I’m trying to get to Gainesville,” Jessica answered. “He’s going south.” She nodded her head toward me.

“Well, be careful. I hear parts of Gville are pure T hell right now,” the cop managed to say while stuffing a slice of bread soaked in barbecue sauce into his mouth. “You should be okay in Chiefland. It’s a little rough, from what I hear, but they’re getting a handle on it.”

“How about Ocala?” I was curious how the larger spots on my route were looking.

“The west side is pretty bad. They’re holdin’ the cops off. At least that’s what a guy told us that came through this morning.” It was camo guy again.

“Thanks for the info. What’s with the armband?” I asked with a nod of my head.

“Means I’m in the militia. We’re part of the law now.”

“Looks like you guys are doing a hell of a job. Had any real trouble?” I was probing now.

The cop spoke up this time. “We had some on the second day. You’ll see ’em on your way out of town. After that, everyone just fell into line pretty well. All we’re doin’ is tryin’ to work together to get through this.”

“Who’s in charge of this operation?” I asked, stuffing a fork full of pork into my mouth.

“The mayor and the emergency operations staff. The police chief has the final say on all security issues, but the mayor handles the humanitarian stuff. Ya know, food, water—that kind of thing.” This time, it was the firefighter.

“Where did they get all this stuff? I mean there’s shit everywhere.” I gestured around.

“They declared a state of emergency real quick an’ seized all the stores, everything—grocery stores, hardware, gas stations, you name it,” the cop replied.

“Did they confiscate stuff from the folks in town?” If he was willing to talk, I was gonna get all I could.

“Hell, no! What’s yers, is yers. But if ya need something ya come down here, and we do what we can.” With that, the cop dropped a crumbled napkin on his paper plate.

“I hear you guys are going to put out anyone who doesn’t live here today.”
Pushing
your
luck
, I thought as I said it.

“Well, it ain’t really like that. We just can’t take in every Tom, Dick, ’n’ Harry that comes along. So we got to get folks movin’. We’re gonna help ’em out, but they got to get movin’ on.” With that, he stood up. “Good luck to you folks,” he said as he stepped over the bench we were sitting on and walked off; the others followed suit pretty quickly.

“Looks like things are going to get interesting,” Jessica piped up.

“Yeah, we should get out of here so we can find a place for the night. You done? I mean, eat all you can now. I’m gonna get some more tea. Damn, it’s good.” I stood up and picked up my plate.

“I’m good. Let’s go see what they got for us and hit the road. I just want to make one stop if you don’t mind.” She was standing too.

“Sure, where?” I asked.

“I saw a line of Porta-Potties. It might be a while, so I want the chance to pee like a lady, if you know what I mean.” She gave me a goofy look.

“That sounds good. I think I will too, but what I’m gonna do ain’t gonna be real ladylike.” I gave her a big cheesy grin.

“E
wwww
, you’re gross.” She was shaking her head.

“Oh, an’ I suppose your shit smells like rose petals?” I laughed out loud.

“You’re sick, and for your info, yes.” With that, she twirled away from me and walked off.

We hit the Porta-Potties and went back to the tent where they had a little pile of stuff waiting on us. The lady behind the table saw us coming and picked up a canvas tote bag and sleeping bag in a stuff sack.

“Here ya go. Good luck to you guys,” she said with a smile, a smile that just didn’t fit the reality of the situation.

Jessica took the bag. “Thank you so much.”

“Let’s head over to the water tank and fill up our canteens.” I motioned toward the front of Walmart.

We walked over, and there was a short line. Jessica took the canteen they gave her out of the box; it was one of those big round ones with the fake felt on the outside. We waited in the line. It was short, and we got our chance to fill up. I filled everything I had that held water.

As we were walking off, I said, “Let’s get out of here, and we’ll sort your gear.”

“Okay.”

Once we made it back to the highway, we stopped on the sidewalk and sorted through what was in the bag. There were several cans of ravioli and different varieties of the same kind of thing—several pouches of tuna, one of salmon, a bunch of ramen noodles, and a few of the Cup O’ Noodles. They had also tossed in a box of granola bars and about six pouches of instant oatmeal. There was also a six-by-eight green nylon tarp, a pack of WallyWorld grade cordage, and an Ozark Trail sleeping bag—at least it was black—and the canteen.

After getting her new gear sorted out and spreading the extra food between the two packs, we headed south. It was getting late, and there was no way we could make it far before dark. Closing in on the edge of town, we found the “problem” people old Dale told us about. There was a truck stop on the way out with a huge-ass flagpole. The flag was still there, and below the flag hung the bodies of four people—one woman and three men. There was a huge poorly painted sign underneath them, leaning against the pole; it read: “Looters will not be shot, they will be HUNG!!!!!!!!” I guess that kinda got the point across.

I spotted the corpses from way off. I just assumed Jessica saw them too; apparently I was wrong.

“What the fuck!” she screamed, jumping back and covering her mouth.

“Sign pretty much sums it up,” I said.

“What? The death penalty for looting? What the hell’s wrong with these fucking people?” She was quite animated, not hysterical but highly pissed.

“Chill out there, chica. It’s not you hangin’ up there. As the old saying goes, times, they are a-changing,” I replied.

“But that is insane! I mean, what are people doing?” She was still staring at the bodies.

I pulled her by her arm. “Come on; let’s go. We need to find a place to camp for the night. You remember me asking you if you were ready for this?” I had us moving again and was trying to keep her focused on walking.

“Yeah, I’m ready to walk home, to shit in the woods, and to pee behind a tree. I’m not ready for Mad Max!” She sounded confused.

“Well, you remember when I asked you why you wanted to walk with me?” I didn’t even look up, just stared at the road.

“Yeah, why?”

“Do I look like Mad Max to you?” I wasn’t sure if this was the right way to do this or not, but we were about to find out.

She looked at me for a second. “What?”

“Since this thing started, I’ve killed three men.” I looked over at her; she stopped in her tracks, looking at me.

“I told you things were different. People are going to behave differently. There is no law. You can’t call 911 anymore, and some people are going to take advantage of the situation. If you want to live through this, you have to be willing to do things that you would not normally do. Understand?” She was still standing there, looking at me. I snapped my fingers. “Hey, do you understand?”

“Uh, yeah. But—”

“Come on, let’s keep moving.” I wanted to try and get her moving again.

We walked along for a while, neither of us speaking. I could imagine what was coming and was trying to form the answer the best way I could.

“Who, I mean why? What caused it?” She was staring at the road, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open.

“If someone was trying to hurt you, would you fight back? Or would you just give up and let them do whatever they wanted to you?”

“I’d fight, of course. Who wouldn’t?” she replied.

“What if it meant you had to kill someone?” I asked.

She thought about that for a minute. “I don’t want to have to kill anyone. I don’t know if I could.”

“Well, you need to figure that out for yourself and soon. It’s a different world out here now.”

“What happened?” she asked; she was keeping up on her own now, so I gave her a quick rundown of what happened.

“So you had to. I guess you could have walked by the girl’s house, but you didn’t. You helped her.” She was still running it all through her head.

“I hope I don’t have to make the choice ever again. I don’t know if I would make the same choice,” I said, shaking my head.

“Yeah, you would. I think you would.”

We kept walking for a while. In a bit, we came to a bridge over a small creek, something or another “Holloway.” The brush on either side of the road was thicker, and I started looking for a place to camp. I decided to head off into the bush to find a place.

“Let’s head off into the woods here and see if we can find a place to stay tonight.” I checked down the road to make sure no one was within sight. Jessica followed me into the woods. Walking off into the scrub, I decided this wasn’t an ideal place. It was only a couple of hundred yards wide; a planted field was on the other side. Turning back, I moved toward the creek. There was a spot of thicker brush there, and I found a place big enough to set up camp.