2nd Earth: Shortfall (6 page)

Later in the day one of the young girls, who is only about seven or eight, that just joined us calls to her mother that the other people in their group just went by and are going into a building about a hundred feet up the street from us. I ask her if she would like to talk to them and she says she would really like to know why they left them alone the way they did. She, Dayna, and I head up the street to the building where they went and surprise them when we walk in. The group in the building looks pretty bad as far as having eaten recently and they look pretty run down. They are surprised to see the lady whose name is Robin, but not in a bad way, they seem to be relieved. She asks them why they left her and the children alone the other day. They say that they never meant to. They went in search of food and got chased by the predators and it took them a couple days to even meet up together afterward, and when they went back to where they had been staying, she and the children were gone. They thought the predators had gotten them so they have been looking for food and a safer place to stay.

Robin looks at us as if she is asking if her friends can join our group. We tell her and them it is okay, but they will have to do their share of the work and abide the rights of the others. We are getting to be fairly full now. We still have room, but when our propane runs out for the generator we will probably look for another place, maybe closer to some area where there haven’t been so many people, and maybe even find a place with no predators. Even though we feel fairly safe here, we try to have some of the men and young men of the group stand watch at night. Most of the time it is just staying awake for a couple hours during the night and making sure no one breaks in. Just about every night we see predators checking out the building on the outside, but so far none of them have tried to get in. I don’t know about the others, but Tim and I expect them to make some kind of move against us, and fairly soon.

I never noticed it before, because most of the people who have joined us usually wear fairly heavy coats or other loose fitting clothing, but Dayna tells me we have at least five women who are due to have babies fairly soon. I realize that I have been negligent in getting medical supplies in for just such an emergency. On Monday, that is one of our priorities when we go looking for food and books. I love the new pickup at least as much as the older one. Tim is driving the older one today with Charity and Marty along and I have Dayna and her father with me. Billy is staying behind today to make sure no one bothers our home or our family members.

Today we go farther than we have yet. We are looking for other people and stores that we may be able to use for food. Not the people, just the stores, but we want to make sure we are not making someone go without, so we can have more. We come to a very large library and spend a good hour gathering the books I am looking for, and getting some great reading for the others. Dayna, and some of the other young people like us, have started reading some of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries. There is at least a full shelf of each. Dayna and Charity ask if we mind getting all of them we can, even though they can’t read very well yet. Tim and I tell them that they can get half the library if they want it. In fact we recommend they get a lot of different kinds of books because winter will be long and having good books to read will help a lot. We wind up filling one pickup with just books, and we even find a couple boxes of records that we think might be good.

I want to take a moment to tell you about driving around the city the way we do. First off, even though the city has been almost totally wiped free of human life, there are still hundreds of thousands of cars on the streets. Many of them are stopped right in the middle of the lanes blocking the whole street from being able to drive down it other than on the sidewalks. Many of the sidewalks are covered with debris from decaying buildings that have been left empty and desolate for almost thirty years. It is not uncommon to see skeletons in cars or in buildings. Often when we enter a home or a building we have to be very careful to make sure that it will not fall down around us or that the floors haven’t rotted out. Over all it is a pretty depressing way to live, but this is all most of the people we now call our family have ever known.

We are looking for a medical equipment store or a pharmacy that has some of the medical supplies we will need. We finally find one and it turns out to be a great place to get what we will need. We fill boxes with sterile bandages, elastic bandages, and suture kits in case someone needs stitches. I find an entire doctor’s bag complete with stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, thermometer, a light for looking in ears and throats, and a variety of needles, bandages, and other medical supplies. I throw in a couple extra stethoscopes and blood pressure cuffs just in case. We also load up on vitamins, even if they may not be the best anymore they probably have some potency left. We also get a good supply of scalpels, surgical clamps of all kinds, and anything else that one or the others of us thinks we may need. We leave there and find a supermarket, not far down the street, and fill the truck up with canned goods from the store room. From the looks of the store there have not been many people going there, if anyone.

With no more room to put anything, if we find it, we head for home. We get there about mid afternoon and find that the rest of the family has been busy as well today. They went looking for bookshelves, because even though the offices we are using for a home have several book cases, with the addition of the books we got today, we would not have had enough room for them all. They also found some partitions like they use in offices for cubicles, to use as separations for people who have been sleeping in the big outer room from the small offices that some of us married people have been using. Billy is proud of all the work that they accomplished today and is happy that we found so many treasures. Tim and I show him that we found even more treasures than the ones mentioned already.

Next door to the medical supply place was an athletic equipment store where we found several footballs, basketballs, baseballs, tennis balls, and pretty much every kind of ball you can name. We also brought back some baseball gloves that are not too bad, and a basketball hoop to put up as soon as we figure out where to put it. The young people like the balls and other toys they have to play with as well as a bunch of books for really little people that we found. Our new family is really coming together and working toward a common goal. After our reading lessons Tim and I go over some of the books we really wanted. They are showing us exactly what we wanted them too.

6

The weather turns rainy again and the temperature is definitely getting colder. We have to use the generator more often, than we have been, to keep the building reasonably warm. It has electric baseboard heat and I am just glad that it still works. No one is complaining because we are still much warmer and fed better than they were when they were living as individual groups. Dayna tells me that before this year they used to build fires in barrels to stay warm. Not only were you cold all the time, but you smelled like smoke, and although there is plenty to burn, it isn’t the best way to live. We spend days like this talking about what we may want to do for the future and continuing to teach the others how to read and write. They are very fast learners and most of them are already able to work their way through some of the simpler books and as I said before, many of us enjoy the teenage mystery books.

The mothers in the group are at least able to read to their children, and the expectant mothers are getting bigger every day. I can’t believe I didn’t notice that before Dayna pointed it out to me. Tim and I are concerned with being attacked by the predators, so we have been looking for a place high enough up to afford a good field of fire, and still have access to it and away from it without being seen. We had to check out four or five buildings in the close vicinity to find exactly what we want. Even then it took us almost a day and a half to clear the stairways enough to be able to get to the roof. Once on the roof, we had to move some things around to be able to get to the edge for a good field of fire. It is worth it though, because now we can see and control the entire area for about ten blocks in every direction. Not without moving of course, but we don’t have to leave the roof, just move to another section. We even set up some cover at each location just in case an attack comes during the rain or even when it snows this winter. Dayna told me that in the winter the predators don’t come out as much. That could be because they are lazy or because people don’t move around as much during the bad weather days. The others agreed with her about that, when the weather turns bad, there is very little movement around here. People are too busy just trying to stay alive to think about much else.

We have been talking about moving the family to a warmer climate, where we can grow what we need to eat, and can maybe get away from people like the predators. Of course not knowing if the rest of the United States is as badly devastated as this city doesn’t make it any easier. We do figure though, that if the rest of the nation was much better off, someone would have come here looking for survivors or at least to check out the damage. We all agree that Virginia might be a good place to try. I know I spent quite a bit of time in that part of the country growing up even though we usually lived in North or South Carolina. We figure we can try Virginia, and if it doesn’t work the way we think it will, we can always try somewhere else. Under normal conditions we could drive there in less than eight hours from here, but we have no idea what we are going to run up against. We have been spending some time working out a route to get us to Virginia. Then we will have to look around for a place to stay. Hopefully, we will find a farm or something similar that has been vacated and we will be able to move in and get started farming.

I know that sounds so cold and presumptuous of us, however, we have to assume that the same thing happened there that happened here. We feel that we have to be prepared to be able to live for six months minimum, just in case things don’t work out the way we hope they will. Many of the books we got are on farming, as well as other topics that we will probably need. I found a book on building our own windmill to generate electricity by using the wind. We got books on electrical work, plumbing, building, canning, preserving, and drying foods, medicine and pretty much every topic you can name. We won’t be able to call an electrician or a plumber, and odds are we will not be able to run to the neighborhood store to buy groceries. If indeed we are, we have been gathering money. Mostly the coins and silver, but we have a pretty large amount of the paper kind as well. We are making a list of what we think we should take with us, and how much of everything we will need. Of course we are hoping that we may be able to visit cities in that area and do what we do here. We are aware of course that we can’t depend on that. There may be a much larger number of people who have survived, and there may not be any food in other areas.

Everything is speculation and the only way to find out what we need to know is to go there and see. We discussed the possibility of me going to see if I can find us a place and then come back to get everyone. That was voted down very quickly. Everyone agreed that we won’t survive more than maybe another year here before we are out of food, so there is really no reason not to go somewhere else. Many of our family members say they feel like pioneers because that’s what they did when this land was being settled for the first time. That is when this country was being settled by the European and other people that we refer to as the white man. Everyone is anxious to get started although we still have some preparations to be made. When the weather breaks and we can go outside again, without getting soaked, we start teaching some of the others how to drive. We also go back to the dealership and salvage three large vans for traveling in, and that enclosed truck we found last time.

It takes us several days to get all the tires found and changed, but we manage and then getting the vehicles started is another adventure all its own. We are all extremely proud when we have all the vehicles we think we will need sitting in front of our home. While we have been getting the vehicles ready, others have been visiting the stores farther out from where we live, bringing home truck loads of food to take with us. Billy and his new bride, are very proud to show us what they found today while they were out. They found a hardware store and loaded up on shovels, hoes, picks, rakes, hammers, and all kinds of tools that we will definitely need. They also found thousands of bags of seeds that may or may not be any good. Since they are dry, they may work, all we can do is try. Billy says there are at least four large generators in the storeroom of the store he was at today. We will need another truck to haul them in, but it could be well worth it. We look for another large truck with the box on the back. Billy says he saw another dealership, so we go there and find exactly what we are looking for. It takes us a day and a half to get it ready to go, but it is a very nice truck. We stop at the hardware store for the generators on the way home.

It is all we can do to get them loaded on the truck and we still have room for more supplies. A stop at the store fills the remaining room and gives us a bigger cushion than we thought we would have. We are all getting excited about the journey we are going to take. We are all surprised that the predators haven’t bothered us at all in the past couple of weeks. That in itself should be a tip off that we can expect something to happen. We decide that we will rest tomorrow, since it’s Sunday, and then load the trucks on Monday, to leave on Tuesday for our destination. Naturally we are all a little afraid of what we will or will not find when we finally leave, but we know that life cannot continue the way it is for much longer here. On Sunday, we read the scriptures together and then talk more about the move we are making. The women that are expecting are getting closer and we feel that it will be better to be in our new home when the babies are born. We get everything packed and ready to go except for loading the trucks with all the food, and other supplies, and belongings that we are taking with us.

In the morning we start loading the trucks and making sure everything is packed that we will need for at least the next six months. Most of our family has gone without so much they feel that living on what we have will be very easy, as long as we have each other. While we are loading we get a surprise in the form of another woman and two children coming out of the building across the street and ask if they can go with us. We can’t see why they shouldn’t be able to so naturally they become part of our family. We find we still have some room in the big truck for food so Tim and I leave Billy at home to take care of the family and we head to one of the stores to get as much canned goods as we can fit in the truck. When we get home we finish loading the truck and make sure we are ready to leave first thing in the morning. I am making sure that everything is ready in the big truck cab and when I start to climb down I hear the whack of something hitting the door of the truck right beside my head.

A split second later I hear the report of a gun and the screams of many of our family members who are outside watching me. I yell for them to get into the house, which is where they are going anyway, and I hit the ground next to the truck as fast as I can. Tim yells from the doorway asking if I am alright. I tell him I am, but I don’t know where the shot came from. Just as I say that another shot is fired that hits the door again very close to my head. No matter which way I start to move the shooter seems to be able to see me. Tim says he will find the shooter and runs back into the building. I am lying almost under the truck to avoid being hit. I have my pistol, but I can’t see anything or anyone to shoot at. Dayna wants to come and help me, I assure her I’m fine, and I tell her to stay in the building, we will take care of the shooter or shooters. She seems to calm down a little when she hears that I am okay, at least for the time being. From the sound of the shots the shooter is using an M14 military weapon. Definitely enough gun to kill someone in the wrong hands. It seems to take forever, although I am sure it is no more than a few minutes before I hear the report of that .307 we found. I see a predator break cover about a hundred yards away and then the gun barks again and he goes down. It doesn’t look like he will be getting up any time soon if ever.

I start to stand up and almost get hit by another shot from a different direction, the .307 speaks loud and clear, and then I hear Tim call down to me they are running away. He asks if he should shoot more of them. I tell him not to bother, but it is clear to us that the predators are getting more serious now than they have ever been in the past. It is only mid-afternoon when we all meet in the house. I ask Tom and Billy’s mom if they can see any reason why we don’t leave right now. If worse comes to worse we can find another building to stay in overnight closer to where we are going. At least that will put some distance between us and the predators. We throw everything we own in the trucks, everyone loads into the vans and trucks wherever they can find a seat and we head south to no one knows what. Oh yeah, we take long enough to say a family prayer before we leave.

It is slow going, picking our way through the city, until we get on what I guess could be called a highway that avoids at least some of the city. We picked up two more small families on our way through the city, all women and young girls. We tell them we don’t know exactly where we are going, and they say they don’t care as long as it is anywhere, but here. We get to New Jersey before dark and find a reasonably nice building in what used to be a shopping center. The nice thing about this place is that we can park the vehicles where we can watch them. We take turns standing guard during the night to make sure no one bothers them. In the morning we take off as soon as the sun comes up. We find a market with lots of canned goods still in it so we get breakfast from there, and then about an hour later we find a gas station with a generator that I am able to get running enough to fill all the vehicles. That takes an hour and we are joined by another mother with two children that look to be around eight and ten. They say they haven’t seen anyone else in a long time and were beginning to think they were the only ones left alive.

We are making better time than we thought we would. The main roads are rough, but at least we can get through the cars parked on them, and the pavement, although broken and buckled in places, isn’t as bad as it could be. We are going through southeast Pennsylvania in the afternoon when we come upon a road block with three men standing on the road, they are all carrying guns. Tim and I get out after stopping a little ways back from them. We have three guns trained on the men just in case this doesn’t go well. The three men are definitely low life trash that would have to improve to be called a predator. We can smell them from ten feet away when we get closer to them. They ask us what we have in the trucks, and say that we have to pay the toll to use their road. We are looking around and don’t see anyone else and there isn’t much cover around here.

I ask them how much the toll is, and they all get a really disgusting smirk on their faces saying they want women. One of them is waving a rusty pistol around like he thinks we are afraid of him or something. I tell him I’m sorry, but all the women in our family are married, so they will have to ask for something else. This makes them think we are afraid of them, one of the others says they will take young ones. They don’t care how old they are. No matter what happens here today, these three are going to die. I have always hated men, or should I say animals like this. Tim whispers that there are no more than this three, we have been looking and by now someone would have showed themselves. The guys in front of us ask us what we are talking about, and I tell them I am going to the truck to see if any of the girls would like to stay with them. They start to smile as I turn to walk back, what they don’t see is my hand gripping the butt of the 9mm Sig I have behind my belt under my shirt. Tim is turning the other way and he has his gun in his hand as well. We spin back facing them and open fire as we do. My first shot takes the first one who spoke in the face. The second is just a split second ahead of Tim’s in the middle ones chest. He got the other one with his first shot. We hear some gunfire back at the trucks and run to see what is happening. We see two dead men beside the second van, which is loaded with our family members.