The Switch (5 page)

Chapter 7

For the first couple of hours
the only ones talking were the kids. Cameron was his usual ball of energy. He
pedaled as strongly as anyone and continuously asked questions.

When he saw all of the
abandoned cars he asked, “Where are all of the people who own these cars? Can
we keep one? Why didn’t they park them on the edge of the road? Why are they in
the middle of the road?”

Megan looked over her
shoulder at the basket and asked, “Why are we leaving home and leaving all of the
toys behind?”

John did his best to explain
that they were headed to a new home, in Alabama, on the lake but she seemed to
be ignoring him and worried about the basket.

They stayed on I-70 and when they
neared downtown St Louis they began to see small groups of teenagers along the
side of the road. It did not seem too threatening until there was a group
standing on an overpass ahead of them, and another group standing alongside the
road on each end of the overpass near the highway.

John, who had been riding in
the front of the group with Cameron, came to a stop. David had also spotted the
groups.

“What do you think David? Are
they going to try anything?”

“I don’t know but it sure
doesn’t look good. What are our choices?”

John thought about the risks
a long minute. “Cameron and I will ride on ahead. We will act as if nothing is
wrong, we will wave and say hello as we pass under them. You and the girls stay
here in a group for a few minutes. Act like you are checking the bikes and the
gear. If they try anything when we go under them, be ready with the pistol. I
will be ready with the .22. When we get about fifty yards past them, we will
stop and look back. Then you ride through. If they try anything when you go
under them, I will have the rifle ready. If it gets serious, don’t be nice.
Shoot for blood, no warning shots. Be ready, they are probably armed too.”

John put his hand on
Cameron’s shoulder, “Ride steady and quick, don’t race, but don’t slow down no
matter what happens.”

Cameron did as he was told
and stayed beside John as they rode under the overpass, John waved and said “Howdy.”

A couple of the boys waved in
return. John could see the group on the right end of the overpass looking in
the direction of the group on top as if awaiting a signal of some type.

John whispered to his
grandson, “Keep going Cam.”

When they reached about fifty
yards past the bridge John got off his bike and removed the rifle from his back.
He sat on the ground facing the overpass and placed the rifle across his legs. He
wanted those on the bridge to see the rifle.

Cameron asked, “Are you going
to shoot them?”

“No, I just want to be ready
in case they try to hurt any of our family.”

David stayed behind the girls
so he could see them as they pedaled towards the overpass. Lynn was in the lead
followed by Megan, and Renee.

David had the pistol on the
right side of his belt and was ready for action.

As they passed under the
overpass they pedaled at a fast and steady pace.

The group on top of the
overpass walked to the opposite side and watched as they pedaled away.

As they neared, John said, “Keep
going, don’t stop. Cameron, get on your bike and go with them.”

John waited until they were two
hundred yards ahead before he cautiously got back onto his bike and pedaled
their direction.

This incident made everyone
more aware of the overpasses as they neared the St Louis Arch and bridge across
the Mississippi River into Illinois. As they crossed the river Lynn pedaled up
beside John and asked if he had a plan to get them through East St Louis.

 “Well, there is no way
around it. We have to stay on I-70. The best thing on our side is it is only
10:30 in the morning. If it was near dark I would say we should wait for a safer
time. This is about the safest time of day. Besides that, I think it is not as
unsafe as most people will tell you. Most of the people who live there are good
people. There are some bad ones for sure so we have to be alert. But I have
enough faith in the good people not to go back the way we came to bypass this
three mile section of road with a bad reputation.”

Lynn smiled and said, “Right,
and the rifle on your back helps you have more trust than normal too, you can’t
fool me.”

They stayed in the center of
the highway as they rode east for the next few miles. There were very few
people on the highway but they did see a group of about fifty people in the
back yard of a church. They were sitting on the ground on blankets and listening
to a man standing on top of an old station wagon.  The man was obviously
preaching from the Bible and his deep booming voice was clear enough for John
to hear him say, “Fear no evil.”

John silently repeated those
words to himself as they passed on through East St Louis without incident.

About an hour and a half past
East St Louis they coasted one by one into the parking lot of a Raceway gas station
for a short rest and hoping to find something for lunch.

David held his pistol at his
side and stepped into the store through the broken front window.  He moved
cautiously through the store and when he determined there was no one there he
called out for the others to come in.

Cameron and Megan moved
towards the hole in the window but John stopped them and said, “Be careful of
the broken glass. See if you can find water and anything we can eat.

Cameron looked at his Papa
with caution. “Can we take anything we want?”

“Yes, it will all spoil soon
anyhow. But don’t eat anything until your mother says it is ok. Some of this
stuff may already be spoiled.”        

Everyone was able to find something
to eat and drink. Renee used her arm to wipe clean the top of a table near the
broken window so the kids could sit down to eat.

When Renee asked, “Are we
stealing? Can we get arrested for this? Cameron and Megan stopped chewing the
chips in their mouths and looked at their grandfather for an answer.

John finished chewing his
beef jerky and said, “I don’t consider this stealing These are unusual
circumstances. We are not taking this stuff for any other reason than survival.
There is no one here to pay and it will spoil anyhow. If I owned it, and could
not get to it myself, I would say to anyone who needed it to take it. I don’t
feel guilty, do you?” As if the response was planned, Renee, David and Lynn
replied in unison, “NO!”

They sat on the store’s floor
leaning against a wall and the merchandise racks for nearly an hour resting,
eating, and talking about the future. They discussed the schooling for the
kids, things they might need, and how long this mess might last. Before leaving
the station, all made a visit to the restrooms. Then it was off again on I-70.

Late in the afternoon as
David was leading the group, he came to a sudden stop in the middle to the road
and stared to the right, into a field. A few hundred yards into the field was
the tail of an airliner. The weeds were too high to see anything lying on the
ground, but a piece of the tail could be seen over the top of the weeds.

John knew immediately it was
another plane crash. He had been surprised that they had not seen such a scene
when they passed Lambert Field a couple of hours earlier. He had not said
anything to his family about what he had seen at O’Hare.

He told the girls it was time
for another rest and looked at David, “Let’s go check it out.”

David shook his head, “I
don’t think I want to see that. I will stay here and rest.”

John left his bike beside the
road and climbed the fence at the edge of the field. He could smell the jet
fuel and the rotting flesh as he pushed his way through the waist high weeds to
the tail of the plane.

The wreckage was scattered
over the area the size of a football field. The debris included luggage and
body parts scattered among the twisted aluminum.

As he walked around the weeds
and brush among the wreckage, he found a brown leather wallet hanging waist
high on the limb of a sapling. The wallet contained three hundred and sixty
three dollars and four credit cards and a driver’s license with the name
Charles Murphy. He looked at the picture on the license a long minute before
putting the wallet into his pocket.

He continued to search
through the wreckage and found a small woman’s purse. He opened it and found
over twelve hundred dollars and several credit cards. He took the cash and
credit cards and dropped the purse back onto the ground.

He walked the area for about half
an hour and thought about why no one else had been picking through the
wreckage. He asked himself, “Is everyone staying home? Is there no one using
the highways but us? It does not make any sense. Maybe no one had seen the tail
of the plane.” Then he asked himself if he was being dishonest or cruel by
taking the money. He started to take the wallet and money from his pocket to
put it back but stopped himself. He rationalized his actions, “It will rot or
blow away if I don’t take it.”

When he returned to the group
at the side of the highway, he did not tell them of the wallet or purse. He
just looked at the adults and shook his head, no. They knew what he meant, no
survivors.

They stopped to make camp near
Mt. Vernon beside one of the many small ponds made by the people who built the
highway many years ago. They found a nice level grassy spot under a large
hickory tree to set up their tents. The kids were physically tired but
emotionally they were in high gear. Even after riding all day, they were still
smiling and enjoying the adventure.

David found several dead tree
limbs and carried them back to the camp He busted the smaller portions over his
knee and piled them on the bottom of the stack to help start a fire.

Most people consider a
campfire and this one was no exception. They had not been sitting around the
fire very long before the kids had fallen asleep on the open ground. They were
put into the tents and covered.

After all the others had gone
to sleep, John walked to the pond, took off his clothes, and waded into the
cold water. He washed his hair and body using his shampoo. He knew that no
matter how uncomfortable that cold water felt, he knew he would feel great when
he got out and was clean.

As he dried off at the edge
of the pond, he wondered how he might be able to make hot water for showers
once he reached home. He knew almost nothing about solar power but he was
confident he could figure it out. As he fell asleep inside his tent, his
thoughts were of Sue and hot water.

Chapter 8

The next two days were long
and hard. It seemed that there were not many flat sections of road. There was
one long grade after another for most of the miles. Everyone seemed to get
tired more often and were riding slower and slower. As they were eating lunch after
one especially hard morning of hills, David made a suggestion that they stop
early today, to take a break and refresh. Everyone agreed that they would stop
for the day at the first nice camping spot.

John said, “My only request
is that wherever we stop, there is enough water to get clean.”

It was about two in the
afternoon when they found another small lake with several large shade trees
near the edge of the highway. They coasted down the slope at the edge of the
berm and parked their bikes in the shade. They set up camp and relaxed by the
pond until dark.

It was becoming very clear to
John that the level of stress even under these serious conditions was less than
in the past. He could see the difference in all three of the adults. All were
tired, but all were relaxed and seemed to be calmer than he could ever
remember. The situation had initiated more straightforward and serious
conversations than he had ever had with his daughters or son in law. In the
past conversation had too often centered around the TV news or sports. But now,
they knew they were facing an unknown future and the conversations were
straightforward and serious.       

Not long before dark, Lynn
took a short walk to the highway. She was walking along looking into the
abandoned cars.  When she stopped to rest on the hood of a new caddy, a black
family rode up on bicycles. When they stopped near her, obviously wanting to
talk, she smiled and introduced herself.

She thought she recognized
his voice as that of the preacher they had heard as they rode by East St Louis.

She asked, “Are you a
preacher in East St. Louis?”

He smiled, “Yes, were you
there on Sunday?”

“No, we passed on the highway
and could hear you. I recognize your deep voice.”

They talked for a few minutes
about the loss of power and the things they had seen as the family rested and
drank from water bottles. When they rode off, they wished each other luck. 

That evening, the sky was
clear and stars were very bright. John spread out his sleeping bag and lay down
to look at the stars. Soon all three of the grandkids were on the sleeping bag
beside him looking up at the stars.

He told them to look at the
moon and listen, he had a story to tell. He loved telling stories and he wanted
this one to relate to what they had been experiencing the past few days on the
trip.

“Not too long ago three kids found
a Genie’s lamp and were given three wishes, one for each of them. The youngest,
a girl said she wanted a magic bicycle that would fly like a bird. The other two
followed her lead and asked for the same thing, they also wanted a magic bike.”

He pointed to the moon and
continued. Well, those kids learned to ride and fly the magic bikes so well
that they flew high in the sky, higher than the birds could fly. They kept
going higher and higher until one day they fly all of the way to the moon.”

He continued with the story
making things up as he spoke. The kids were very tired because of the hills
they had climbed that day and they stayed quiet and soon were asleep at his
side.

He carried them one at a time
to their tents, kissed them goodnight, and put them to bed. 

Five minutes later he was
naked in the pond taking his nightly bath.

The next morning all seemed
to have more energy. Everyone was up early and eager to get going, the short
day had given everyone more enthusiasm. After packing their gear on the bikes
they rode until late in the day before making camp.

As they sat around another
camp fire David asked, “When do you think we will get to the lake?”

John thought a few minutes
before answering, “We are only a few hours from Nashville. If we can get
through there with no trouble or delays, it would be only two or three more
days to get to the lake.”

David looked at the kids as
he spoke to John. “I think they will be really happy to get there. They are getting
more tired every day, they’re slowing down.”

“I agree, maybe we should
slow the pace some tomorrow. Let them stop and rest more often.”

David agreed, “If we do that,
we could use the time to get into some of the abandoned cars and trucks. I
think we have been missing a real opportunity to find things we might need.”

John nodded in agreement,
“Yes, maybe we could find food, water, guns or ammo.”

They pedaled south the next
morning they stopped frequently to look through car and pickup truck windows.
They found the doors locked on nearly every vehicle so their checks were only
visual until just before lunch time David was stopped at the side of a faded
blue Ford pickup looking through the passenger side window when he called out.

“I can see a few .22 bullets
on the floorboard of this one.”

John walked to the other side
of the truck and leaned his face to the window, “I see the corner of a box
under the driver’s seat.”

He moved to the edge of the
highway and found a baseball size boulder. He swung it hard and broke out the
window, unlocked the door and climbed inside. Under the seat he found a full
box of Remington high velocity hollow point .22 bullets and another box that
was half full of the same ammo.

“Bingo, more bullets!”

The kids and their mothers
were also off their bikes and looking inside the cars and trucks but were
finding nothing until Lynn looked through the rear window of a white panel van.

“Look at this. The back of
this van is full of boxes, it looks like snacks and food. I see potatoes chips,
cereal, and a bunch of bottled water.”

John used the same boulder
and shattered the rear glass and unlocked the door. Within seconds they had the
boxes out of the van and spread out on the concrete looking at what they had
found.

Cameron dropped to his knees
and began pulling open one of the boxes, “I say it is time for lunch.”