Ashes of the Unspeakable, page 26
Pete could see the furnace door opening in the man’s eyes. A fire grew in the blackness of those eyes, his face tightened, and rage filled him. He was going to do it. The man was going to kill him. He took up the axe and fingered the blade, talking low to Pete in words that Pete could not hear anymore. It reminded him of when he watched someone butcher a chicken, how they spoke low and calming to it before they committed the act.
The man drew the axe back, opened his mouth to offer final validation, and all hell broke loose.
“Noooo!” Pete screamed.
There was an explosion and the man’s head snapped back, blood erupting from a massive hole in the side of his skull. A mist of blood enveloped Pete, spraying his eyes and his mouth. Pete screamed again as the man’s body toppled into the dirt, oozing blood into the thirsty dust of the barn floor.
The woman had no reaction. She looked as if nothing else that happened in the remainder of her life would ever cause her to so much as raise an eyebrow.
“Don’t fucking move!” Jim crept in, M-4 held high, sighting the woman through the red dot. “Get your hands up! Get them up!”
The woman did not move, only stared at Jim.
“Don’t shoot her, Dad,” Pete said. “She has children in the house. They don’t have anyone else.”
Jim kept his gun on her.
Pete’s mother was suddenly in front of him, cutting him loose.
With his hands free, there was nothing left holding his body upright. He staggered and nearly fell. “The stall,” Pete croaked.
Jim nodded toward the woman on the stool. “Keep an eye on her,” he told Ellen. “If she moves, kill her.”
He found his mother where she lay in the straw. He knelt and put his ear to her mouth. “Thank God, she’s still breathing. Randi is a nurse. Let’s get her home now.”
While Jim carried his mother to the truck, Ellen aimed her pistol at the woman’s head and spoke quietly to her. “We’ll be back tomorrow. You should be gone. Don’t ever come back here.”
Pete grabbed his gear and staggered out the door. Ellen backed behind him, pistol still aimed at the woman, and the family disappeared into the darkness.
CHAPTER 29
Jim’s House
Russell County, Virginia
When Ellen and Jim had raced to Henry’s farm earlier, she’d explained that they were living in the cave without really having any time to tell him why. As they returned to their farm, driving through the gate and weaving through the steel obstructions, Jim stopped in front of his house.
“Pete, I need you to help me get Nana into the house if you feel up to it. Ellen, get everyone at the cave and bring them back here. Bring back the medical totes and some food and drinks.”
Pete took Ellen’s house key, put on his headlamp, and ran to open the house. Jim followed, wearing his own headlamp and carrying his mother. He took her to his room and placed her on the bed. He noticed her high fever as he carried her, and was concerned that she was dehydrated.
At his father’s side, Pete watched everything silently. With his mother settled, Jim turned to his son. “I am so proud of you, Pete. You helped keep everyone alive while I was gone. You went after your Nana all by yourself. You grew up while I was gone.”
Pete started crying and grabbed his father, hugging him tightly. “I was so scared, Dad. I thought I was going to die.”
Jim patted his son’s damp hair, holding him. “I’ve been scared a lot lately, Pete. What’s important is that you don’t let being scared stop you from what you need to do.” They didn’t say anything else, just held each other. Jim could feel the void within him start to refill from the love and presence of his family. It recharged his battery.
It was only a few minutes before the entire family was crowded into the master bedroom watching Randi take Nana’s vitals.
“I appreciate this, Randi,” Jim said. “I know you want to get home.”
“I only got this far because of you and Gary, Jim. I’m not going to run out on you now.”
After a few moments, Randi corralled everyone out of the room and into the living room. They encircled her while she briefed them on Nana’s condition. “She’s dehydrated, malnourished, and needs IV antibiotics. We have to get that stuff.”
“Shouldn’t we take her to the hospital?” Pops asked.
Randi shook her head. “She’ll be much better off here than in a hospital. They probably don’t have enough staff on hand to take care of what they have. She’ll get better care here with you all, but we need to get her hospital grade meds.”
“That may not be easy,” Pops said. “It was a madhouse when I was there earlier.”
“Do you have any pain pills in that med kit?” Randi asked.
Jim nodded. “Hydrocodone from my hernia surgery.”
“There’s a nurse on the third floor that will probably be there. Her name is Claire. Offer her ten of those pills for the list of drugs I’m going to give you. Do not give her the drugs until you get your stuff.”
“Thank God for drug addicts,” Jim said sarcastically.
“Don’t analyze the morality of the situation, Jim. Just go,” Ellen said.
“I’ll drive,” Jim said. “Pops, come with me.”
The pair headed out the front door to Jim’s diesel truck, which had not been moved since he’d left on his trip. It started right up and had a full tank of fuel. “Nice to be driving,” he remarked.
*
They were back in an hour with everything on Randi’s list. Things had gone exactly as planned. Jim left Pops in the truck, armed with the tactical shotgun and instructions to shoot anyone who touched it. Jim had gone inside the hospital, lit now only with battery-powered lights, and found the nurse Randi had mentioned. When offered the pills, she did exactly as they’d been told she would. In mere minutes, he was back out the door and in his vehicle.
They were the only vehicle on the road that night but they passed several groups of pedestrians and a few ATVs moving about. There were bonfires in town with people standing around them socializing. In general, everything seemed more peaceful than the places Jim had been, but maybe that was simply the feeling of being home. He was glad his family was safe, but certain that the stories he would hear over the coming days would be very upsetting. He could tell his son was a different person now, more of a man than he’d been when Jim left. He was sure that there was a story behind that, and he was certain that it would be painful to hear.
With the medications in hand, Randi had an IV line in Nana in no time. In the glow of a battery lantern, she administered fluids and antibiotics. She also had steroids to be administered in the morning before she left. By the time everyone left Nana alone for the night, her color was better and she was resting peacefully. Randi wouldn’t leave her side, so they all stepped out, shutting the door behind them.
Jim was not comfortable leaving the house unguarded and no one was ready to sleep, anyway, so they all moved to the front porch. They sat in the dark, eating a little, drinking, and enjoying the feeling of a family once again intact. Occasionally, Jim lifted the night vision and scanned the perimeter, but saw nothing. The only sound was the crickets and Jim even felt like they were welcoming him home.
All the little things that each party had experienced in the other’s absence hung over the group like a cloud of insects, but no one was ready to tear into those wounds yet. Those stories would come out over days and weeks, sometimes when they sat together as a family, sometimes when they were together individually. Some stories would bring anger, others would bring tears.
When the kids began to fall asleep, Ellen offered to take first watch. They moved the kids inside, back into the beds they’d both missed during life in the cave. Pops agreed to take second watch, with Jim taking the last shift in the morning. He would stay up from there, then return Randi to her family.
*
As it happened, Ellen and Pops covered all the watch shifts that night and let Jim sleep. He was a little perturbed at this, but did not complain too much. He was never so happy to wake in his own house as he was that morning. Even though he slept on the couch, it was his couch in his living room and that was a damn fine place to be. He went to check on his mother first thing and found Randi already up and tending to her. She’d kept the fluid bags going all night and Nana was conscious now, though still weak. Jim kissed her on the cheek and she returned a weak hug.
“I thought we’d lost you,” he said.
“We never thought we’d lost you. We knew you’d be back any day now.”
He smiled at their confidence in him. It made him proud.
“I’m taking your nurse home,” he said.
Randi placed a hand on Nana’s arm. “I already told her that I’d be back in a few days to check on her. I intend to keep that promise, even if you have to come get me.”
“It’s a deal,” Jim said. “Are you ready to go?”
Randi gave him a final explanation of the med regimen for his mother. She explained what complications to watch for, and that they should leave the IV in place until she returned to remove it.
“I almost didn’t get that thing in her,” Randi explained. “I don’t want to give up that line until I’m sure she’s on the mend.”
Jim nodded, feeling a bit overloaded with information.
“I kind of like being the one with all the answers for a change,” Randi said with a smile. “I felt pretty dumb out there on the road.”
“You weren’t dumb,” Jim assured her. “You got back alive.”
While Randi said her goodbyes to everyone and got an especially grateful hug from Pops, Jim grabbed his M-4, a dozen clips, and replenished the ammo for his pistol. He stuck the backpack he’d walked all these miles with in the bed of his truck. He hoped to God that he didn’t have to walk home from wherever Randi’s family lived, but he wanted to be prepared in case he did. If his bag had not saved his life, it had certainly made his journey home easier. He would never travel any distance without a similar bag for the rest of his life.
As he and Randi drove out of the valley, Jim noticed numerous houses and barns burned to the ground. From the brief information that he and Ellen shared, he assumed this was the work of the man he’d killed last night. He wondered if all of the burned-out houses meant that those families were dead. He did notice that there were still some people alive and moving about. The closer he got to town, the more people he saw. Perhaps their little valley was the only location to experience the fury of Charlie Rakes. He knew there would be other communities that would suffer the same from different oppressors. Other men, turned out from jail as Charlie was, had spread outward like the four horsemen of the apocalypse, delivering their own particular breed of pain, suffering, and criminality to the outer reaches of his community.
*
Randi lived in a little roadside community called Pumpkin Center about fifteen miles away from Jim’s home. Halfway into their journey they encountered a police roadblock similar to the one they’d run into at Claypool Hill. Jim approached slowly, his windows down, keeping his hands in view. It would suck to make it all the way home only to get shot because a local cop got nervous. It turned out that Jim knew the man working the roadblock, a Virginia State Trooper that he’d gone to high school with. The man was carrying some type of bullpup automatic rifle. Another example of tax dollars being used to buy cops weapons that Jim himself could not afford. That still pissed him off.
The trooper was dressed in combat fatigues and studied Jim through his window. He appeared not to recognize Jim, but Jim knew that he probably still looked like shit from his time on the road.
“It’s me, Travis. Jim Powell.”
A light came on in the Trooper’s brain and he nodded. “Oh, yeah, Jim. Sorry, I recognize you now. The last time I saw you I don’t remember you looking like something the cat threw up.”
“If you only fucking knew,” Jim said. “I’ve had a rough couple of weeks.”
“I think we all have,” Travis replied ruefully. “Where you headed?”
“This is Randi. We were on a work trip when all this went down. I’m taking her back to her family over at Pumpkin Center.”
Travis nodded. “Things aren’t too bad over that way. You shouldn’t run into trouble. There’s another roadblock coming out of Honaker, but that should be all you need to look out for.”
“Thanks for the information.”
“You armed?”
Jim raised an eyebrow at the trooper. “Why are you asking?”
“Cause if you’re not, you need to be,” the Trooper said. “People are getting a little crazy.”
“I’ve noticed, and I’m prepared,” Jim said. That was all he planned on saying on the matter.
“They’ll get worse, I’m afraid,” Travis said.
Something about the way he said that made Jim think he may know something. Information was scarce these days. People knew nothing of what was going on anywhere outside their own immediate world.
“What are you hearing?”
“There’s not much information getting through. It’s all been passed through a lot of hands so it’s not reliable. They’re saying that the electrical grid problems are serious. Some of the transformers that were hit were critical ones. There may be some localized power back up and running eventually, but nationwide power could take years because of the transformers.”
“We have coal-fired plants. We should get ours back, right?” Jim asked.
“The refinery issue is hurting us there. The strategic oil reserve is useless without the ability to refine. There are some working refineries but only small ones. All the big ones got hit. The fuel that’s being made now isn’t going very far. It’s not making its way up here yet.”
Jim sighed and looked at Randi. It was as if all the worst case scenarios that had played out in his head on the way home were becoming reality.
“We’re expecting refugees to start showing up here,” the trooper continued. “That’ll be the icing on the cake.”
“Refugees? From where?” Randi asked.
“Out west. There are some nuclear disasters unfolding out there. We’re not getting much in the way of details, but I hear it’s getting worse every day. People in the fallout zones are trying to clear out, most of them on foot since they can’t get fuel.”
“Most of those will probably die,” Jim said. “The road is a hard, unforgiving place.”
Travis nodded. “Sounds like you’ve been there.”
“We have. By the way, what are you hearing about the FEMA camps?” Jim asked. “We had some co-workers who went to stay at one near Lexington. They didn’t like my company.”
Travis scratched his head under his riot helmet. “If they went to a FEMA camp, they’re probably still there,” he said. “That whole thing didn’t work out as planned. Most of those camps are falling apart. What I’m hearing is that they won’t be restocked when their supplies run out. They’re going to turn the people out and tell them to get home as best they can.”
“What about you cops? Everyone still showing up for work?”
The trooper laughed. “Hell no. Don’t even get me started on that. There were probably sixty law enforcement officers in this county before. There’s probably a dozen working now.”
Jim shook his head. “They all just quit and go home?”
“Yep. We put cops on all the big gas stations when the order came down from the governor. It was made clear to us that the only fuel we’d get during this crisis would be the fuel we seized locally, so it was up to us to protect it. The deputies guarding those tanks had a hard time saying no to their friends so they started trading gas off for food, guns, ammunition, chickens, sex, whatever the hell they could get. Then when they realized how long this was going to last, they started carrying it off to their own homes. Now there’s hardly any left at all.”
“So how long are you going to keep working?” Jim asked.
“I love being a cop, but I’m about out of road flares and gas. I can’t keep driving up here every damn day. In another week or two, folks will be on their own. There might not be any cops at all by then.”
“What will you do then?” Randi asked.
“I’ll go home and protect my family. Work in the garden. Cut firewood. I’ll do all the stuff that needs doing, you know.”
“Where do you live?” Jim asked.
Travis stared him down hard. “None of your damn business, Jim.”
“Don’t get all defensive, Travis, I was just asking,” Jim said. “If things turn ugly and good people have to start enforcing the law on their own, I thought it might be good to know where to find an actual cop with a badge. Or at least a man who can handle a weapon.”
The trooper looked Jim in the eye. He leaned closer conspiratorially and whispered, “Between you and me – fuck people. I’m sick of them. I took this job because I wanted to help people. These days, I could care less about them. You know what I mean?”
Jim smiled at that. “I know exactly what you mean.”
The trooper smiled back. “All right then. You have a good day.”
“I’ll be coming back through later, Travis, if you’re still here.”
Travis nodded, then leaned up to Jim’s window. “By the way, where do you live, Jim?”
Jim smiled. “None of your damn business.”
CHAPTER 30
Pumpkin Center
Russell County, Virginia
The closer they got to Pumpkin Center, the more Randi squirmed in her seat. She couldn’t sit still and she couldn’t shut up. Nerves affected everyone differently. Both her body and her mouth were in constant motion.
Jim could only try to focus on the road and not pay attention to the chatter. He’d forgotten how confining the interior of a vehicle was. On the road, his personal space had expanded and he wasn’t ready to give up the area he’d gained. Now, Randi was sitting right in the middle of his personal space and he couldn’t do a damn thing about it.
