No Normal Day (13 page)

“
We
are making it.” Eric puts his arm around Trish's waist. “What's
happening, it's something bad, isn't it?”

“
You
are right, it is something bad. We just don't know exactly
what
,
yet. Oh, Trish...Eric...this is Lee, he is a good new friend.”

“
Nice
to meet you, Lee.” They both shook
his
hand.

Trish
wiped a tear away and looked over at the station wagon. “Daddy,
what in the hell, is that?”

Jack
laughed, “Well, it looked a lot better before we had to squeeze
by the bread truck on the bridge. It belongs to Kathryn and Tate.”

“
Kat?
Where are they? And why is that piece of junk running?'

“
I
won't get technical, Trish, it seems that the really old cars are not
effected by whatever has happened. Not many of these
beauties
left,
though”, he smiled. “Kat and Tate and all the rest of the
family are back at the house.”

“
Everyone?”
Trish was wide eyed.

“
Everyone
but ya'll, girl. We decided it was time you came home for a visit.”

Jack
got serious. “Go in and start gathering your clothes and
things, Trish. You better get a least a few of the girl's toys, not
big things. You know how they love to dig in the chest of old toys
that belonged to you girls.” Nicky interrupted, “Yay! We
can play with the little people”.

“
Sure,
but right now, you need to go in and help Mommy.” As she and
the girls went
in
the house, Jack said, “Honey, get what you really need, don't
plan on coming back anytime soon.” Trish looked
like
she didn't totally accept that.

“
Eric,
if you have any food, we need to gather it. Do you have a gun, here?”

Eric
looked down at the muddy water in the bucket. “We don't have
much food left. I was putting off telling Trish, I have been
seriously thinking of breaking in the neighbor's cabin, to see if
they had any thing in their pantry. I was more than a little glad to
see you, Jack. I have a .22 that I brought down to shoot snakes and
such.”

“
Go
get all of that together and any ammo that you have. And tell Trish
to gather your blankets, pillows and some towels. I need to talk to
her about something....but first he looked
at
the house next door and remembered
Beth
saying,
don't
pass up any food.
“
we
are going to visit the neighbor's”.

They
have loaded the back of the wagon, stuffing in bags and linens. Trish
moved to get the girl's car seats. Jack put both hands on her
shoulders and looked her in the face. “Trish, you have got to
get your head into this. I know that it's a lot to take in but you
are a smart girl. No car seats, the girls will sit between you and
Eric, in the back seat.” She spots Eric, coming out of the
house next door with a trash bag full of something. Jack followed her
eyes, “We have a lot of hungry mouths at the house, we need all
the food we can get, understand?”

She
pulled away from him. “I understand, Daddy.”

“
Good,
now I need to talk to you about something else. Can you get in the
warehouse?” Trish was the second in charge, rumor said soon to
be number one, at a sprawling distribution plant for a huge retail
home improvement chain. It was about fifteen minutes from the lake
house.

“
I
wasn't at the plant on Saturday, I am not sure what the situation is
there. I should be able to get in. Why do you want to go to DC?”
questioned
Trish

“
There
are some things that we really need, in order for all of us to be
safe and function at the house,” said Jack.

Trish
had that disapproving look on her face, the one that was actually so
similar to her Dad's. “We can't just go in the warehouse and
take stuff,” she said in disbelief.

“
I
understand that this goes against everything that I taught you. If
the world ever gets straight again, lots of folks will maybe answer
for their actions. But right now, the survival of you and those girls
and all of us depends on the choices we make. It is the number one
priority. We will try our best to accomplish that, without hurting
anyone else. Make no mistake, I
will
do
what I have to, to kept us alive and safe.”

Trish
just loaded the girls in between Eric and herself and sat sullen. She
had become a very independent and strong lady, it had been necessary
for her to move up in her career, in a mostly man's world. Her
parents had taught her values, honesty and patriotism. Her Dad
believed the worst transgression was to lie. She and her sisters had
learned early on, if you were doing something you shouldn't be, then
the only way to get around it...you had to lie, the big
no-no.
So
the warning,
don't ever lie to me,
pretty much covered all of
the rules. She wasn't convinced yet, of her Dad's assessment of the
situation. As they moved away from the safe haven of the lake, she
would quickly change her mind.

The
closer they moved to the warehouse and to the Interstate that ran
right in front of the complex, the more she was seeing the horror of
what had happened. Lines of dead and vandalized vehicles, fires were
burning, either no one around at all or menacing looking groups of
people roaming around. Even packs of dogs were picking around,
looking for something to eat. Trish looked down and saw the little
hand resting on her leg.
Oh my god, I should have known, Dad is
right. This is something is really bad.
It is for certain.

The
road took them under the Interstate, they only had to push one car
out of the way to reach the gates of the DC. In the far distance down
the Interstate, Lee spotted what appears to be some military
vehicles, they looked mobile. He said, “Eric, do you have those
binoculars?” The field glasses were still around Eric's neck,
he removed the strap and handed them to Lee in the front seat. Lee
opened the door and scoped down the jammed road, bringing the distant
vehicles into focus. After a few minutes, he got back in and handed
the glasses back to Eric. “It's military alright, maybe
National Guard. I can't really see what they are doing. I did see
them put a couple of guys in the back of a truck.”

Jack
said, “How come the trucks are mobile? Maybe they are beginning
to try to give some aid.”

Lee
just looked ahead for a minute and then said, “It
might
be rescue and aid but they seem to be holding guns against them.
Maybe policing? I do remember hearing that there were supposed to be
some vehicles in shielded storage, that would remain functional after
an EMP. This could be a good sign, I don't think I would trust in
that. We will wait and see.”

The
girls were being quiet, did they sense the drama of their situation?
Trish was about to tell her Dad to drive around to the rear of
complex where the loading docks were, when she saw that the front
gates were busted open and no one was in the little guard house.
Trish told her dad, “Go past the parking lot and turn left and
go to the loading docks,” This warehouse distribution center
covered acres and acres, hundreds of employees worked there. It would
have been the weekend shift last Saturday, so not as many cars were
in the parking lot as would have been during the week. The back gates
also stood open. One big truck was inside the back gates, about half
way to the docks and several more were backed up at the docks. “Dad,
go in that big opening over there,” she pointed to a ground
level, wide entrance. The wagon crept in the door, along the concrete
floor.

The
warehouse had glass windows way up high, rows and rows to let in the
natural light and fans as big as airplane propellers hung down, their
blades still. It was, of course, darker than outside, Lee pulled out
a big flashlight. Conveyer belts and towering shelves of product
filled the enormous spaces. Fork lifts were here and there and no
sign of anyone. It was pretty stuffy inside and they rolled down the
windows. Jack was digging out his list so they could locate what they
needed. Trish said, “Stop,...I smell smoke. Do you smell that?”

“
Yeah,”
said
Jack.

“
Turn
down that way, beside those lawn tractors,” Trish spoke
in
a whisper.

They
eased along past the mowers and wheelbarrows and other large yard
equipment. At the end of the long row, in an open area there was a
fire burning in a big metal barrel. “Wait” she said,
“What the heck?” About twenty men were standing around or
sitting in lawn chairs. Some tents were set up further away, a girl
opened the flap and exited one. Lanterns and other battery outdoor
lights were scattered around. She saw bar-b-que grills and coolers.
It looked like a big tail gate party, at first glance. A short, dark
haired man in jeans and a T-shirt walked about half way to the car.
Trish opened the door and stepped out, Jack exited at the same time.
Lee slid his hand to the gun and Eric moved the girls up close beside
him.

Trish
said, “Manuel? Is that you, what are you doing here?”

“
Hey-y,
boss lady. We were on the weekend
sheeft
,
you know, we could not
leaf
here,
boss.” the man spoke with a Spanish accent, the same as a large
portion of the employees of this plant. The company had
an
aggressive program for the employees to learn Spanish and for the
Spanish employees to learn English. Manuel spoke
English
well and he was a leader in the area where
he
worked. Trish, had
studied
hard to learn the language and she spoke
Spanish
fairly fluently. She saw
some
familiar faces but many she did
not
recognize.

“
Que
gente? Manuel's amigos?
” queried
Trish.

“
Yes
boss, they are employees and mi amigos,” the man answered.

“
You
know you should not be here, Manuel?”

“
Si
,
um-m, yes, but we have no place to go.” Some of the men were
easing forward behind Manuel, one had
a
knife in his hand. Jack moved
in
closer behind Trish, his hand on his .380. Eric was leaning over the
seat and watching closely, he had
pushed
the girls down in the seat. Lee was ready. Trish heard
a
questioning small voice from the car, she was glad that the guns she
had frowned at earlier, on the front seat of the wagon and on her
Dad's waist, were there.

She
looked around, there was some bottled water and some candy wrappers,
other packaging from the vending machine food in the cafeteria. Of
course, they would be all broken into, the cafeteria meals are
contracted out, probably not a whole lot of food stored there. “What
are you going to eat?” Manuel relaxed just a bit and put his
hand up to signal the others to back off.

“
We
are managing boss, there are some out looking for food right now.”

Trish
said, “Are there any more people still here?”

“
Most
everyone left. Maybe still someone, way down at the other end. We
hear noises last night,” he pointed.