Torn (22 page)

“You do that.”

“I hate him,” Bret declared.

“I understand.” Darius kept walking.

“It’s hot.”

“I know.”

“Do you think we’ll have to walk at this pace, in this heat
, on this terrain for very long?
”

“Bret.” Again, he stopped with a snap to his tone. “Are those tampons in the diaper bag as a precautionary measure or do you need them.” He turned and started to walk.

It took Bret a second and she underst
ood his insinuation. “I am not menstrual or pre
menstrual. I like to be prepared and I don’t appreciate you making it out that my period is the reason for my bad mood.”

“I apologize.”

“So typically male.”

Darius grumbled.

“So what is that yellow thing i
n your hand?” she asked, trotting
to catch up to him.

“Your tone changed.”

“Yes. I feel better now. I got some out of my system.”

“Oh my God. You’re a roller coaster.”

“Pretty much,” Bret shrugged. “So. You didn’t answer.”

“You confused me. What was your question.”

“What’s that thing in your hand?”

Darius held it up some. “A navigator. Helps navigate by putting in coordinates.”

Bret nodded. “And you think that might help us find our way?”

“I don’t know.” Darius said. “It could be screwed up.”

“Doesn’t look like it makes sense to me.” She peered over his shoulder.

Darius stopped. “Do you have another way?”

Bret pointed upward.

Chuckling, Darius shook his head “We established, following the sun isn’t going to help. You can’t see it.”

“Not the sun. Why can’t we see it?”

“The smoke.”

Bret smiled.

“What? I’m lost.”

“Y
ou’re pretty smart, Darius, but
. . . .
”
She pointed to her temple. “Think about it. We follow the smoke. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and where there’s fire
. . . .
”

Darius grinned and
finished her sentence. “There’re
rescue workers.” With a grin, and a tug to her arm, Darius moved them more enthusiastically in the direction of the smoke.

So much for the theory.

It took two hours for Darius and Bret to walk the distance. The heat hammered at them and the smoke thickened, making the walk a strug
gle. But not as much as the sight
of a body part here and there.

“Keep walking,” Darius instructed. “But make a mental note. The rescue workers will want to know where the body is.”

“Why don’t you mark a tree or something,” Bret covered her mouth.

“Good idea.”

“I’m joking,” Bret grabbed his arm again, and they continued on.

B
oth of them thought
it wouldn’t be much farther
. They lightened the looming mood by encouraging each other
with
the thought of seeing rescue workers, paramedics, perhaps even some water
so
they wouldn’t have to touch their supplies.

And Bret actually stopped bitching. Darius supposed the sight of the bodies did that. They picked up enthusiasm the closer the noises drew.

But they realized that the crackling sounds were the only sounds they were going to hear.

Nothing.

No one. Nothing. Blackness. Fire.

Where were the workers?

“You have got to be shitting me.” Darius exclaimed. He held out his arm blocking Bret. “This is the end of the line.”

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing is here. No one.” He inched them back. “Let’s go.”

“Wait
. . .
what about waiting.”

“If they aren’t here by now, they aren’t coming. Fuck.” He gave a twitch of his head. “EMP pulses. Fire trucks may not be working. Communications. Nothing.” He took hold of her arm and led her in another direction. “We can’t stay here. We’ll get sick. We have to keep on moving.”

“Where?” Bret asked.

“Who knows. East
.
West. Anywhere.” He looked back at the devastation. “Anywhere but here.”

Chuck had a seat on the grass, and pulled at the collar of his tee shirt. Using two fingers
he swiped a bit of perspiration
and ran his hand around to the back of his neck. “Feels hot.” He shook his head. “Maybe it’s my imagination. Would be odd.”

He looked up at the sky, shook a finger at the sun, and then lowered his head. “OK, here’s the deal, Mary. Forty-two? Yeah, no. Forty-some planes dropped from the sky today. Bret was on one, but she managed to parachute her way to safety. How do you like that? Darius knew, and they were prepared. I saw it coming. I saw her plane
number leave the screen. I know
. . .
I know
. . . .
”
He held up his hand. “How do I know all this? Well, the world see, is going to shit.” He nodded. “Mother N
ature, God
had enough, time for a change. Like with the dinosaurs. Right now, there’s some sort of reversal going on, caused by the sun. And get this, when it’s done, this huge storm is gonna dump snow and ice
on the northern hemisphere. But
it gets better. Not just snow and ice. Hundreds of feet up north. Here in Pittsburgh maybe a hundred. For the first month, snow will extend all the way to the Florida
state line
. . .
about.”

Chuck paused to snicker.

“They say, after the destruction, the solar flares, earth quakes volcanoes, people are gonna know something is up. It’ll be more than likely
be
explained as the reversal, nothing more, but we know better. After the destruction, after the reversal is complete, the storm will brew. They think we’ll have a twelve
-
hour warning before the snow star
t
s to come. When it does, four to six feet an hour. During which periods of freezing, instant freezing will occur.”

Chuck played with the grass.

“Everyone is gonna try to head south. So our crew is making arrangements to set up here.
Wait until the migrators leave or die off. More than likely,
freeze and be buried. Then we’ll head south. OK. Not we. Some view this as a bad thing, me? I view this as a great thing.”

Chuck reached out and ran his hand over the
flowers
that deco
rated the base of the tombstone, a
stone that held the engraved names of his wife and daughters.

“When the snow falls, I’m staying. Shh. No one knows this. In fact, no one knows I’m just gonna go out in it. One of those instant freeze things.” Chuck snapped his finger. “It’ll be over. I’ve missed you guys so much. My life is empty. Nothing. This isn’t the end of the world for me, Mary. It’s a new beginning.” Peacefully, he touched Mary’s name on the stone. “I’m coming home.”

The small fire cracked an
d popped;
Darius poked in to keep it going. He could see the edges of the MREs melting
, folding a bit
from the heat, where they rested close to the fire.

He had taken one of the parachutes and built a tent, make-shift, but something that would keep the elements from them for the night. But at that moment he waited on Bret. She had taken long, and Darius was almost at the point where he was going to worry.

The he heard the ‘snap’ of a twig.

He looked up. “Feel better?”

“Yeah, thanks. I’ve always had a hard ti
me peeing around people. Hell
. . . .
”
Bret sat down, “I get stage fright when someone walks into a public restroom.”

Darius snickered. “Stage fright is a guy thing.”

“You would say that.”

Darius cringed. “Sorry. I am really trying to steer clear of male
-
related topics or implications.

“Yeah. I k
now. But aside from a guy thing, i
t’s also a Bret thing. And look, I didn’t use to
o
much water to brush my teeth.” She held it up. “Conservation.”

“We’ll be fine,” He nodded. “We’ll be in civilization by tomorrow.”

“You think?”

“I know.”

“Please don’t tell me that smell is our food.”

Chuckling, Darius shook his head. “It is and it isn’t.” Using the stick, he removed the packet. “Since we don’t have anything to heat the food, I kept it near the fire. Should be good. No plates, we’ll have to share.”

“The same bag? Like a soda”

“If you want to say that. Why?” Darius paused. “Do you have a problem with eating in front of someone too?”

“No, I got over that in my teenage years”

Darius reached down and picked up the pouch. “Want t
o share
. . .” he
turned it over and read “Chicken
a
la King.”

“Sounds good.”

Just as he opened the pack with a small pocket knife, both he and Bret were startled by the ringing of the cell phone.

Both of them dove for it.

“Excuse me,” Darius grabbed it. “Mine?”

Bret gasped.

“Colin,” Darius said instead of hello.

“Dare-Dare. It’s good to hear you. How are you?”

“Fine. We’re both fine. Camping until morning.”

“Tell him I said
hi.” Bret said.

Darius ignored her.

“You’re breaking up,” Colin said. “But I wanted to check. I’ve been trying
the phone every fifteen minutes
.”

“Maybe we’ll have a better connection tomorrow. I’ll shut off the phone tonight to conserve the battery. We should hit civilization by then, get a car and go to the real estate place. Although I don’t know if they’re gonna sell with all that’s going on.”

“They’ll sell. In fact you probably can get them down in price right now.”

“Probably.”

“What’s he saying?” Bret asked. “What’s he saying?”

Darius waved out his hand to her.

“Dare-Dare, rent the car for a while. FAA suspended all flights.”

“Shit,” Darius said.

“What?” Bret whispered. “What’s going on?”

Darius turned his back to her.

Bret gasped.

After a few minutes of conversation, Darius ended the call with ‘Shit’ and put down the phone. “Connection died.”

“Serves you right,” Bret said. “You were rude.”

“I was rude? You were rude. I was on the phone.”

“Yeah, and you should have shared that phone call. So because you didn’t
,” s
he tossed the foil food pack at him. “I didn’t share the food. Night.” She stood up and went to the makeshift tent.

Darius stared at the
nearly-empty
foil package. “She ate almost all of it. Shit.” He looked up. “She ate the food.” After glancing at the tent, Darius tossed the foil packet and summoned up a smug look.

The bright morning sun behind me doesn’t brighten the gloom of yesterday’s attack. It’s a sad day for Americans, in fact the world, as expe
rts estimate the loss of life due
to the terror attack to be somewhere around six thousand. That would include
those lost in the planes
and on the ground. President Green
e
is expected to address the nation later today and still no one has come forth claiming responsibility for the attack. The FAA has suspended all domestic flights until further notice. You know, it is amazing, Dana, the outpour
ing
of help from that has come in from around the globe, and right now experts are working har
d to restore power to the north
east part of Texas. They’re saying, because the loss
was caused due to the electromagnetic p
ulse
from
the atmospheric burst, it is quite conceivable that it could take months, years before the power is restored. On Route to Texas
via bus, this is Blain Davis.
B
ack to you, Dana.

It just had the feel of early morning to her. The sun wasn’t too bright. But of course that could have been brought on by sky shrouded in smoke from the previous day. But it just had that feel.

The chilled air against her body was not alleviated by the parachute she used as a blanket
/
sleeping bag. Bret wou
ld have shouldered up the cloth
had she not felt it.

Actually several parts of her body felt it. A pressure against her lower back, heaviness on her hip and a
warm breeze swept past her ear…
very close.

Fuck, she thought, and shifted her eyes down.

Darius’ hand rested on her hip and that could only mean the warm
th
against her ear was his breath an
d the pressure against her back
. . . .

Eyes wid
e, mouth screaming ‘Fuck!’ Bret flung off the covers
and scooted quickly out and to her feet.

Darius, oblivious to what she meant, opened his eyes, and squinted. “What?”

“What do you mean, what?” Bret huffed. “What were you thinking?”

It took a moment, but Darius caught his bearings. Then he snickered.

Bret gasped. “You laugh?”

“Serves you right.” He fussed with
h
is hair and sat up.

“Excuse me?”

“You ate al
l
the food. Steal the covers? I thought I’d share.”

“You did more than share.” With a growl, she stormed from the tent area. “I need coffee!” she shouted.

A few moments later, Darius emerged from the tent. He still had a
n amused
look
on his face. “Admittedly
. . .
”
he said,
“I didn’t intend to end up snuggling with you. That just happened. In all honesty, I was just sharing the blanket.”

“And you accidentally snuggled?” Bret asked with disbelief.

“Well, yeah.”

“How does one accidentally snuggle?”

Darius shrugged. “I rolled, maybe?”

Grunting, Bret ran her fingers through her hair. “I’m telling.”

“Telling who?”

Raising her eyebrows, Bret nodded. “Colin. He warned me that you might maybe try to take advantage of me in my vulnerable s
t
ate.”

“Vulnerable? You? Doubtful. Colin
was just
starting trouble.”

“So what. I’m telling him that you not only snuggled, but you
….
” She dropped her voice to a whisper. “Snuggled hard.”

It took a moment.
Darius paused, and then he shook his head. “I did not.”

“Did too. I felt it.”

“Thanks.” He smiled.

Bret turned and because she had nothing else to do, started gathering things. “I want to walk out of here.”

“Bret,” Darius made his way to her. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to snuggle.” He took her arm. “And I es
pecially didn’t mean to snuggle
. . .
hard.” He cleared his throat. “Even though I don’t think that’s the case.”

“Why do you not believe me?”

“Simple, if I did
…” he motioned his eyes downward. “It’s only been a minute, where is it now.”

“Those things can happen.”

He scoffed. “Hardly. But I understand if you are confused on that matter.”

“What do you mean confused?”

“That you may have thought you felt what you felt, but didn’t because…
.
”

“What?”

“Let’s just say from what I heard, you may have forgotten.”

“Forgotten?” A pregnant pause and the
n
Bret gasped hard. “Oh my God. Are you implying I don’t have sex?”

“That’s what I heard.”

“From who?”

“Is it true?”

“From who?”

“Your husband. I mean, ex.”

“When?”

“When?” Darius thought. “When he sent me that threatening email telling me that if I was thinking of having an af
fair with you, don’t, you don’t
put out.”

“You’re lying.”

“Why would I lie?”

“True.”

“And it is?
”

“OK, enough talk about penises and sex. This conversation is getting gross.”

Darius laughed.

“What?”

“Gross?” he whistled, then mumbled as he turned. “If sex is gross to you, no wonder he found the Asian chick.”

“What was that?”

Darius sh
ook his head. “Thinking. Anyhow
. . . y
ou said you wanted coffee.”

“And I’m sure you’ll produce some.”

Darius reached to his backpack and opened it. After rummaging he tossed a small packet to Bret, while still holding a similar one in his hand. “Enjoy.” He stood, zipped his bag and grabbed the make shift ten
t
.

“What am I supposed to do wit
h
this? It’s instant coffee. It’s powder.”

Darius smiled then held up a pack. "When I was in the Army.” He ripped it open, and dumped the entire packet in his mouth. He grinned, and chewed.

Bret huffed. “That’s gross.”

“Instant caffeine fix.”

“That’s so gross.”

Darius chuckled and returned to his task of packing up their camp.

The building stood seven
teen
stories high. Firm and solid, a structure built in the mid 1940’s. At one time it was huge loft style apartments, which was before it
was turned
in
to storage, and then finally vacated.

The exterior was golden brick, arching around the huge windows that were boarded.

Inside, Bruce and Colin walked the
tenth
floor. Papers
rolled
about the dark interior as their feet kicked the garbage about.

“I have to tell you, Bruce, this is much better than the structure we had picked out.”

“I thought so, too. Once I sat back and
was looking at what you wanted,
I thought of this place. Let
me show you what I was thinking
… I’ll put the third divided wall here.” Bruce indicated
to the far right. “Both floors
five and six should be where we all bunk down
. . .
”

“And you think it’s our best bet to avoid the
top
floor?” Colin asked.

“Well
. . .
”
Bruce titled his head. “I’m no expert. You are. But I was thinking it may get way too cold up there.
Snow is insulation.
Better safe than sorry.”

Colin nodded. “Make
s sense.
Will it be shut off?”

“No.” Bruce shook his head. "In case of emergency, you know, I don’t think it’s smart to shut off any means of escape to another floor.”

“I have to tell you,” Colin s
aid with pleased look, “this is p
erfect. The fireplaces are still semi
-
operational. Heat was my big concern.”

Bruce chuckled
. “Uh mine, too. But this place needs only m
inimal work. I can get th
ings
going real fast
. . . .
 
I was also thinking of using the bottom floor for wood storage. We’re gonna be sealing
the
first
ten
stories. So that should stay dry. Plus, we’re gonna have a ton of wood from when we break down the storage walls.”

“Supply storage?” Colin asked.

“According to,” Bruce made finger quotes, “The P
lan.”

“Which isn’t etched in stone, mind you. We still have to meet when Darius returns to finalize.”

“Still. Our supplies up here are limited, and should be. We can’t travel with much.”

“Speaking of traveling.
…” Colin said. “You told me on the phone that you worked out a plan.”

“I did.” Bruce pulled from
his
back pocket a sheet of paper. “After visiting this site a couple times, and remembering what
you said about souping up them Humvees,
I came up with my own modifications, specifications. Big words huh?” he winked and handed Colin the paper. “Plus,
i
f you turn it over I’ve solved your other dilemma.”

Colin received the paper and opened it. “Nice diagram. Other dilemma meaning where to store them.”

“Yep, and it isn’t a concern. Turn that over.”

Colin did.

“We keep them here.” Bruce said. “Right smack with us.”

“You’re going to create a garage, here?”

“
Yep. Pretty ingenious, don’tcha
think? We construct a ramp on each floor. Attach them to the arch windows, big enough to
take
a vehicle though. As the snow piles up and
is firm, we drive out,
drive around, up the next ramp to the higher level.”

“Holy cow, that’s brilliant.”

“Yep,” Bruce said proudly. “Me and Bobby worked on that.”

“Can it be done?”

“Piece of cake.”

“And you have i
t worked out on how to get the H
umvees in here in the first place.”

“Got it covered, don’t you worry.”

Colin smiled. “Somehow, I don’t with you.” At that second, Colin’s phone rang. He reached down to silence it but stopped. “It’s Darius,” he said brightly, then answered. “Dare-Dare.”

“Hey, Colin, we got a signal!” Darius said. “We cleared a portion of the woods.”

“And you’re heading where?” Colin asked.

“Civilization.”

“Well, let me know where that is, I may have to drive down there t
o get you. I can probably leave.
…”

“No, no need. We’ll get back. I’ll rent a car,” Darius said.

“If you’re sure.”

“Yeah, I just wanted to make sure you know we were fine.”

“And Bret?”

“Fine.” Darius dropped his voice to a whisper. “Bitching.”

“Are you behaving?”

“Yeah, but this morning she claimed I hit her with my erection.”

“Excuse me?”

“I was sharing the blanket. Said I poked her with it.”

“How would she know?” Colin asked.

“That’s what I said. She got pissed.”

“Dare-Dare, just behave and be careful.”

“I will.”

Another exchange and Colin ended the call. He held it near his face.

“You got that proud papa look on your face,” Bruce said. “All is fine?”

Colin nodded. “Fine and safe.”

“Good.”

“Of course.
…” Colin sighed out. “Darius is showing her his erection, but other than that, they’re making progress.” He put his phone away, turned and started to walk. “What’s this over here?”

Still spinning from Colin’
s comment, Bruce shook his head, s
nickered and followed Colin.

“I’m not understanding why they are sending you down there,” Ch
uck said, talking on the phone
while in the convenience
store
.
“Damn it, I
didn’t
see mustard.”

“Huh?” Blain asked.

“Nothing.” Chuck found the packet and opened it with his teeth. “Why?”

“Why are they sending me to Texas?”

“Yeah.”

“They aren’t. I asked to go.”

“Okay. Why?” Chuck asked as he
walked to the counter and waited for the clerk to ring him
up
.

“I’m a pretty big news celebrity.”

Chuck paid
,
all
the
while bobbing his head and rolling his eyes.

“I have an obligation to keep this ‘end of the world’ thing a
secret.
”

“When did that change?” Chuck asked.

“When I became part of the survival plan. You and I have book duty this upcoming week. Next week we are
water boys
. You think if this thing breaks we’re
gonna
have all that easy of a time
hoarding
water?”