Meteor (7 page)

It didn't take too long before the neighbors’ supplies began to dwindle. The first family to come knocking at the door of the shelter were the Jenkins. It was of course, ironic that Mrs. Jenkins would come around asking for a hand out after all of the grief that she had given Troy for his constant building and hammering when he was constructing the shelter.

“Troy, are you there? Mary?” Mrs. Jenkins said in a voice that sounded desperate. “We need some help, we have no supplies left. Do you have anything that you can spare? Please answer me, I know that you are in there,” she said.

Mary was about to answer her when Troy put his hand over her mouth to prevent her from saying anything.

“Hello? Hello?” Mrs. Jenkins said as the desperation in her tone seemed to grow.

Cordelia and Brandon came downstairs as this was going on, and Mary held up her finger to her lips to indicate to them that they needed to remain silent. They both stopped at the bottom of the stairs and listened to the voice of Mrs. Jenkins.

“Please, Troy, I know I wasn’t supportive of your efforts to build your shelter, but I’m sorry for that, so sorry. We are in need of anything you can provide for us. Anything you can spare,” she said, but she was met only with silence. “May God forgive you for turning your back on your neighbors.” She finally burst into tears and disappeared form the front of the shelter.

“Why didn't you help her?” Cordelia said in an accusatory tone.

“Honey, we’ve been through this already,” Troy said, trying to calm her down.

“She is obviously starving and desperate. I’m sure that she wouldn’t be coming here if she weren’t,” said Cordelia.

“That ole bat never had a kind word to say to dad,” Brandon said.

“So what, she was in need and we didn’t help her.”

“Look, I need you to be strong, Cordelia.” Mary looked her daughter firmly in the eyes. “Your father is right. We have to hold onto all of our supplies if we hope to make it through this situation alive. There will be other people trying to beg us for help, and as cruel as it seems, we have to keep those doors shut. Is that understood?” Cordelia began to feel tears flowing down her face again as she nodded her head and hugged her mother. Brandon rolled his eyes when he saw how emotional his sister was acting.

A couple of days later, it was Troy’s old friend, and Mary’s ex-lover, Steve who came by with his whole family, asking for help. Again, the irony of the situation did not escape Troy as he looked into the periscope at his old friend.

“Troy, I know that you’re in there. I also happen to know the amount of supplies that you have stored away in that shelter of yours. You have more than enough food to share with me and my family, and you know it. Now, I know that I’ve done some things to seriously mar our friendship, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I’m asking you to search your heart and find some forgiveness for me. Don’t allow my children to suffer because of a vendetta.” Steve had positioned his middle-school aged children at the door. They had miserable and hungry-looking expressions on their faces.

“So that’s what you think. That I’m not opening my door because of what you did to me? Think again, Steve. I’m not opening this door because I love my family and I’m going to do everything that I can to ensure that they have enough food and water to survive for as long as we need to. Go and find your own supplies, Steve. You are a crafty son of a bitch, you’ll figure something out,” Troy said as he took his finger off the intercom button and stepped away from the periscope.

“Come on guys. We aren’t likely to get any help from that selfish prick. Maybe some of the other neighbors still have some sense of humanity left,” Steve said before leaving. “CURSE YOU!” he turned around and shouted.

Mary couldn’t help but weep when she thought about the fate of not just Steve’s family, but the rest of the desperate families that were struggling to survive out there.

Troy comforted her. “I’m so sorry, Mary, but this is the way it has to be.”

“I know, dear, it’s just so hard,” she said as she wet her husband’s shoulder with her tears.

***

Later that night, Mary and Troy were awoken when a fight broke out in the children’s room.

“I don’t want to have to hear that!” a voice shouted. It was Brandon who was complaining to his sister.

“I’ll handle this.” Troy got out of bed, got dressed and entered the children’s bedroom.

“What’s goin’ on in here?” Troy said as he looked first at Brandon who was sitting up in his bed, and then at Cordelia who was sitting in a chair in her nightgown.

“Nothing,” Cordelia said as she rolled her eyes.

“Nothing my butt. I’m over here trying to sleep, and I suddenly begin to overhear Cordelia’s conversation with her boyfriend. They were saying some pretty raunchy stuff to one another, and my sister over here was touching herself.” Brandon made a disgusted expression.

“That is not true,” Cordelia said, as she turned three shades of red in embarrassment.

“Honey, you cannot be having conversations like that or doing things like that except when you are in private.” Troy felt a bit uncomfortable about the situation.

“I didn’t know he was awake. Do you really think I would have such a conversation if I thought my creepy younger brother was listening?” she said in her defense.

“I don’t know, but let’s not have any more situations like these. If you need privacy, go to the bathroom. As for sex conversations with boys - they are strictly forbidden, if you want to keep that phone,” Troy said, looking at his daughter who wore a look of guilt on her face.

“Yes, Dad.”

Troy turned to leave the room, but Cordelia caught him by the hand.

“Dad, I need to ask you something.”

“What is it?”

“When I was talking to Henry, he asked me if I had any supplies that I could loan his family. He told me that they were running out of lots of basic stuff, and would be starving before too long if they didn’t get some help. Please Dad, let me go see Henry and bring him some things. You can go with me if you want,” she pleaded with him.

“No, Cordelia, it’s too dangerous to venture outside, for lots of different reasons. Besides, we’ve been over the situation about supplies. We cannot begin to give our supplies away. Everything that we give out to someone else is something that we are going to need down the line for our own survival, do you understand that?” he asked her.

She did not agree with him, and she burst into tears and then disappeared into the bathroom.

“Dad, can’t I sleep downstairs?” Brandon asked. “Sharing a bedroom with her is starting to drive me nuts.”

“You can if you want, son. Look, please be patient with your sister. She really misses her boyfriend. You have to understand, she really cares about him. It’s hard for her being apart form him, knowing that we can’t do anything to help him.”

“I know, dad, I’ll try.” Brandon laid down in bed and tried to get back to sleep.

***

In the morning, Troy woke up to the sound of the outside doors being opened.

“What the?” he said as he shot out of bed and down the stairs. Cordelia was dressed and opening the locks on the last steel-reinforced door that led to the outside. In her backpack were a ton of supplies including bread, milk, water and a whole host of canned foods. Just as she opened the door and got outside, her father came running up behind her.

She broke into a run across the front lawn in the direction of her boyfriend’s house just as Troy caught her by the arm. He realized at that moment that neither he or Cordelia had their masks on. He could immediately feel his lungs becoming irritated. The air had become thick with debris, and the sunlight was so dim, it looked as if a thunderstorm might start up at any moment, but no thunder was heard.

“Let me go, dad,” Cordelia said as she broke into a coughing fit.

“No, it’s unsafe out here. The very air has become toxic. You are coming back home with me, young lady, and you are not carrying those supplies to Henry’s family!”

She continued to pull away from him. He put both of his arms around her to restrain her as she kicked and screamed.

He picked her up while she was still kicking at the air and carried her back to the shelter. Once they got back inside, she collapsed onto the couch and began to sob uncontrollably. Troy quickly closed all of the doors and locked them all one by one. Luckily, the doors had not been left open and the contaminated air had not entered the building.

Troy picked up the supplies and returned them to the spare room next to his indoor garden. He put the canned goods back on the shelf and the milk, bread and water back where they were being stored. Then, he went to do his best to comfort his daughter. She had her face in a pillow, and continued to cry.

“Honey,” Troy said as he put his hand on her shoulder.

“NO, GO AWAY!” she shouted at him as he retracted his hand.

“Cordelia, I know this is hard, but you need to listen to me now, and listen good. If you try a stunt like that again, you could jeopardize the health and safety of our entire family. That door is to remain closed and locked at all times. Do not for any reason open it again without getting permission from me. As for the supplies, they are to be used for this family and this family only. If we kept on giving out supplies to neighbors and friends, we will be out within a month or less. I cannot allow that to happen.”

Cordelia took her face out of the pillows and wiped her eyes. She immediately ran out of the room and up the stairs without saying a word to her father. He sat down and put his head in his hands. Then, he got up and returned to the bedroom and tried to get some more sleep.

Troy got up before everyone else did later that morning and got more updates from the news. The situation had grown dire, especially in all of the major cities in the United States. Looting and rioting was at a fever pitch as marshal law was declared across the entire country. Several violent standoffs between angry mobs and the police took place. Many innocent people were robbed and murdered as gangs of thugs went through neighborhoods hunting for provisions.

Troy thought again how lucky they were by comparison to all of the other people on the outside. The acid rain situation was even more serious than scientists originally thought. In many places, the rain was so toxic it could burn the flesh right off of someone if it made contact with their skin. Quickly, Troy switched off the television before any of the others had a chance to hear the bad news that got worse with each passing day.

A few minutes later, Troy heard the sound of thunder as a storm approached the area. He couldn’t help but wonder just how acidic that rain that was going to fall would be. After a few minutes, a huge downpour was occurring. The roofs of many homes were damaged as the acidic rain began to dissolve the ordinary shingles that wouldn’t hold up to the sulfuric acid that was beating against them.

Not too long after this, Troy was looking around with his periscope when he saw Cordelia’s boyfriend, Henry running in the direction of the house, trying to keep the rain off of him with an ordinary raincoat he had on. There were visible holes in the coat where the acid had begun to eat through. A few seconds later, he was at the door pleading to be let in.

“Please, Mr. White, let me in! This rain really burns!” he yelled. There were now sores visible on his face and hands where the toxic rain was beginning to burn through his flesh.

“I’m sorry, son, I can’t do that. You need to seek shelter elsewhere,” he said.

Cordelia and Brandon came down the stairs, having heard the conversation that was taking place. Mary came up behind them.

“Daddy, let him in, that’s Henry out there!” Cordelia yelled.

“I can’t open the door, it’s too dangerous. The rain falling out there will burn the flesh right off of your body. I can’t risk it. Besides, the air has become too toxic to breathe with all of the debris in it. I’m sorry,” he shook his head.

“NOOO!” Cordelia yelled out as she ran for the door. Brandon grabbed her with both hands around the waist and tried to restrain her.

“Let go of me!” she screamed as she threw wild punches at her brother, hitting his face and neck.

Mary ran up and stood between Cordelia and the door, blocking her exit. She tried desperately to get past her mother, but she would not allow Cordelia to pass.

“I’m sorry dear, but your father is right,” Mary said, as she restrained her hysterical daughter. Cordelia continued to thrash about and kick with her legs.

Henry’s screams were heard outside as the rain began to strip his flesh from his body. Troy peered through the periscope, only to see Henry collapsed on the ground, blood pouring from various places on his body where the skin had been burnt away to reveal the tissues underneath.

Troy quickly averted his eyes and went to try and console his daughter. By this time, she had stopped struggling and was bawling her eyes out in her mother’s arms. No words of comfort could assuage her as she began to mumble indecipherable words through her sobs. Then, she jerked away from her mother and ran upstairs. She slammed the door of the bedroom behind her and collapsed on the bed.

Troy went to his wife and hugged her. She too began to burst into tears. Brandon, who normally wasn’t very touchy feely ran to his parents and hugged them both at once as he felt the tears form in his eyes.