Meteor (9 page)

“Here you go,” she said as she got up and went over to the kitchen table to sit with her mom.

Troy began to read the essay and he began to frown. He was deeply troubled at the sentences that he read, realizing that Henry’s death had definitely affected her in a most profound way. In her essay, she said that if things returned to normal, she would move out to the middle of nowhere to live by herself. She said that ever since the death of her one true love, she did not ever want to be close to another human being as long as she lived.

After reading this, he also circled a few grammatical errors. What was clear was that her writing skills were greatly improved in the last few months. It was also quite evident that she bore some deep emotional scars from what she had witnessed.

“Cordelia dear, can you come over here for a moment?” Troy said as he looked up at her. She came over and sat down beside him.

“Please don’t tell me that you want me to redo it,” she said.

“No, dear. First off, your sentence structure and grammar is greatly improved. What’s disturbing me is the nature of what you wrote.”

“What do you mean?” she said, not understanding.

“Cordelia, in this essay you said that you never wanted to be close to another person again, and that you would live all alone way out in the country.”

“So, what’s wrong with that? It’s not like things are ever going to return to normal again, anyway. So what does it matter?” she asked him pointedly.

“Cordelia, you cannot let Henry’s death affect you this way. First off, things will eventually get better, and we will live to see the day when we can go back to a more normal way of life and leave this shelter, hopefully forever,” he said. “You will meet other boys and learn to become close to someone again. Then one day, hopefully, way off in the future, you will be happily married and have children of your own,” he finished with a smile.

“I would never want to bring children into a world like this.”

“You say that now, but one day you will change your mind about that. It’s the easy way out to say that nothing matters and try and isolate yourself. It’s much harder to face reality and try and do everything you can to make your reality more livable. I want you to look on the bright side of things as much as you can, and when you think about the future, I want you to think about all of your hopes and dreams that you had before all of this happened.”

“My dream was to marry Henry.”

“Well, there will be plenty of other boys that would feel lucky to be with you. All you have to do is open your heart to the possibility. Don’t close yourself off and give up all hope. As long as there is hope and determination, human beings can persevere, even in the most dire situations. You have to believe that.”

Cordelia looked at him long and hard before finally flashing him a smile. “I’ll try, dad, but it’s going to take time.” She managed to give him a slight grin, whether genuine or not, Troy wasn't sure.

“Of course it will,” he said as he brushed her hair back behind her ear. “Just hearing that you will try makes me feel so much better. Now get up there and correct the few errors that you made.”

“Okay, dad, you got it,” she said as she went upstairs.

***

After six months went by, the family had gotten into a pretty steady routine. The only real concern was with the provisions. Just as Troy had expected, certain keys items were beginning to run low after this many months. The reports from the news said the acid rain threat was beginning to dissipate with time as the amount of toxic waste in the atmosphere began to stabilize.

The biggest concern was the water supply. The family only had about forty gallons of water left, and this would probably only last them about another two weeks tops. Troy would have to make their first supply run soon, and he had no idea what the supply situation was. He planned on taking Brandon with him and seeing what the local grocery stores had in stock, if they were even open at all.

Troy has tried calling various local businesses to find out what their current situations were, but he got little response. One man that ran a local gas station did answer the phone. He told Troy he had some water he could sell, but he hadn’t received a supply of gas for many weeks now. Troy figured he’d get what he could from there and then proceed to the grocery stores and beyond.

The unfortunate thing about living in a small community like Dickson was that it was not on the government’s radar as a place to drop off supplies. The nearest government drop-off was in Nashville, which was hundreds of miles away. Troy decided to run the idea by his son first to see how he would take it, and also make sure that Mary was alright with it.

One night after dinner, Troy brought up the subject.

“There’s something that we need to discuss as a family. As I told all of you several months ago, some of our supplies will not last after six months or so. Well, it’s now been six months, and we are getting short on certain critical items, such as our water supply. What I’m looking to do in the next couple of days is make a supply run. I know of a gas station that has some water left, and from there I’m going to head to the grocery. Brandon, I would like for you to come with me, if you would,” he said as he turned to his son.

“Cool, yeah, I’m more than willing to go, dad,” Brandon said anxiously. “I’ve been cooped up here for so long, I’m starting to forget what the outside world looks like.”

“We will have to be very careful. There will be people out there that are desperate, and we don’t really know how bad the dust is at this point. The good thing is that the news is starting to report that the acid rain has begun to decrease, and it is now becoming safe to venture out again. I want you to prepare yourself because we are sure to witness some horrible sights out there. A lot of people have died and I’m sure we will see the evidence all around us. The other thing is we will need to take a couple of guns with us to defend ourselves if necessary,” he said gravely.

“Cool.” Brandon became excited about the prospect of shooting a gun.

“Do be careful, Troy. I couldn’t bear it if something happened to the two of you out there,” Mary said, as she began to gather the dirty dishes from the table.

“I will dear, don’t worry. I wouldn’t go out there at all yet if we had adequate supplies, but the fact of the matter is we don’t. If we were getting low on canned corn or something like that, we could make do, but without water we won’t last much longer.”

Cordelia got a look of worry on her face as she thought about this.

“Don’t say that, you’ll scare them,” Mary said.

“Sorry, I’m just saying, we have to find water, and do it really soon,” Troy said.

“What about the creek water?” Brandon asked his dad, thinking of the small spring branch that ran through their acreage.

“It’s far too likely to be contaminated. It’s probably really acidic and may also be polluted by the dust and debris that has been kicked up into the atmosphere. Our best bet is to try and get our hands on as much bottled water as we can find. For all we know, the grocery store may be up and running, although I doubt it due to the fact that they won’t answer their phone.”

“What if the store is closed, what then?” Mary asked.

“Then, we will have to keep looking until we find a place that still has water available, I guess. We’ll head down the road to McEwen or BonAqua. Somebody is bound to still have some supplies out there.”

Brandon and Troy loaded their weapons and took a few bags, gas masks and two backpacks that they were hoping to fill up with supplies. The first plan was to head for the closest grocery store. If inventories were tapped out in town, they would continue down the road until they found something.

“Please be careful,” Mary said with a look of worry in her eyes.

“We will. Try not to worry. I can’t be sure how long this will take us. It all depends on how far we have to go,” Troy said. “Remember not to open the door for anyone, no matter who it is.”

“I won’t, don’t worry,” Mary assured him.

“Dad, do you have to go out there?” Cordelia was thinking back to her boyfriend and the fate of others that they had witnessed.

“Honey, if there were any choice in the matter, I would stay here, but we have to get some more water and whatever canned goods we can find,” he said. “Alright son, are you ready?”

Brandon nodded his head anxiously and put on his gas mask. Despite the risks of venturing outside, cabin fever had fully set in. Brandon just wanted to feel the wind in his face and see the wide open world again, though he knew it might look somewhat different than the world they left behind months ago. Troy put on his gas mask and opened the series of locks on the door. The door opened and they quickly slipped out of it and shut it immediately.

“Activate the locks!” Troy shouted to his wife from just outside the door.

The first thing the two companions felt was the freezing cold. A mantle of grey clouds was shrouding the sky above them; no sunlight pierced this layer.

“Here, put on an extra layer, it’s even colder than I had anticipated.” Troy and his son got out their coats and put them on. They looked around them and saw noting but a bleak landscape, littered here and there with corpses. They came across the body of Cordelia’s boyfriend, which was badly decayed.

Troy put his hand on his son’s shoulder when he noticed that he was looking at the body.

“Son, I want you to prepare yourself. You are likely to see many more bodies. We have to keep in mind that we are the lucky ones and not let it get to us.”

Brandon nodded his head. He had been trying to mentally prepare himself for what he might see on the outside. Seeing the bodies was a little harder to take than he thought it might be at first.

They headed east down the street, and at first they saw no one else around. A few more bodies were seen along the sidewalk. Their bodies were mostly decayed, being victims of the acid rain, which had now abated.

After about a mile or so, they heard the sound of a car driving down the road.

“Quickly, into the woods. We do not want to be seen by anyone. We don't know who we can trust,” Troy said. Brandon did as his father told him. Once in the woods, they peered out and heard the car come to a stop. A second later a tall man with a rifle got out of the car and signaled to the driver.

“Come on, they went this way,” the man said.

“Leave them,” the driver said. “We don't know what weapons they have, and if we try and go in after them they could easily mow us down.”

“We need whatever they have, though,” said the other man through his mask. “You stay here if you’re too chicken shit.”

Brandon and Troy watched the man as he approached the edge of the woods.

“Now you come on out of there. I saw you go in them woods. Come out and give up what you have and no harm will come to you,” he ordered.

“No,” Troy answered from the woods. “You get back in that car of yours and we won’t have to fill you full of bullet holes.”

“Now there’s no need to be that way.” The man pointed his rifle in the direction of Troy’s voice and cocked it.

The man took a step closer to where they were hiding and Troy fired a warning shot at the tree above the man’s head.

“That’s close enough,” Troy warned. “The next bullet will be planted in your forehead.”

The man began to laugh and backed away a few steps. Then, he began to fire several rounds in the direction of Troy’s voice.

“Duck!” Troy yelled at his son. He didn’t have to tell him twice. The boy was down in the brambles avoiding the shots.

Once the man was finished, he took another step closer to the two companions. Troy saw his opportunity and he fired a shot at the man’s arm causing him to drop his weapon.

“AHHHH!” the man yelled.

“Quickly, grab that weapon!” Troy urged Brandon.

Brandon ran forward and grabbed up the rifle and pointed it right at the man who was clutching his arm.

Troy emerged from his hiding spot with his weapon trained on the man.

“Don’t shoot, you win!” he said.

“Get back in your car and drive away before I have to take you and your friend out,” Troy said. The man nodded and got back in the car.

The driver had his weapon pointed at Troy, but both Troy and Brandon had their weapons pointed at the two men.

“Now, you best be on your way,” Troy told them. “Either you drive off now or we will all be shot full of holes in the next few seconds.”

The man reluctantly stomped on the gas and the two men sped off into the distance.

“We need to go another way. I can see now that the road is going to be a dangerous way to go. It’s liable to be full of opportunists willing to kill for whatever they can get their hands on,” Troy said. “ I know of a way through the woods, come on.”

They took off through the trees and came across a couple of houses on their way to the closest grocery store. They passed a couple of decayed bodies, but didn’t have any more encounters with living people.

When they emerged from the woods, they saw the grocery store and a gas station. There were a few cars parked here and there, but no sign of anyone moving.

“Okay, we are going to enter the store. I’ll go first and you cover me from the rear. If you hear or see anyone, immediately drop to the ground and be prepared to fire your weapon,” he said.

The windows and doors had been smashed. Someone had thrown the waste can that was normally outside right through the front door. Troy stepped carefully through the shattered glass, and Brandon followed closely behind him. Once inside, they saw dust and glass all over the floor, and mostly empty shelves all around them. Towards the back, there were a few items left on the shelf.

“Come on,” Troy whispered, “let’s make our way towards the back. Then we’ll check the stockroom.” Once they got to the shelf, they were displeased to see that it consisted mostly of cleaning products and detergents. No one is worried about clean houses or clothes in a crisis of that level. Then, Troy heard a noise come from the back room.

“Quick hide behind this row, someone is back there,” Troy said as they ducked down. “You stay here. I’ll go check it out.”

Troy held his weapon out in front of him and began to move forward in the dim light. Once inside the entrance of the stock room he began to speak.

“Whoever is in here, get your hands up!” he said. He looked ahead of him at a man and his teenage daughter who had a large knapsack that they were filling with whatever was left of the canned goods.

“Don’t shoot!” the man said, as both he and his daughter threw their hands up in the air. Then, Troy realized that he knew the man. It was Dennis Harper who ran the local hardware store.

“Dennis?” Troy said as he lowered his weapon.

“Troy, thank god it’s you,” Dennis said in relief.

“I’m sorry to point my weapon at you, but we have only traveled a short distance from our bunker and we have already been attacked.”

“I know what you mean, buddy. We got in a shootout at Willow Road with two fellas in a blue Camaro,” he said.

“That’s the same two that tried to shoot us. I shot him in the arm to make him think better of attacking us,” Troy said.

“Good for you. Look, I’m willing to share whats left of these goods here.” Dennis gestured at the mostly empty shelves.

“Only if there’s enough. What do they have left?”

“Well, there’s some canned vegetables, but no water which is what we really need.”

“Same here,” said Troy. “I guess we could check the gas station down the road. Have you been there yet?”

“Not yet, but if you don’t mind, we will go with you.”

“Sure, we’ll split whatever we find,” Troy said, although he didn’t really like the idea of having to share what they found with another family. All the same, it would be safer to have another person with a weapon traveling with them. They gathered what was left of the canned goods and ventured on down the road to the Exxon station.

Brandon smiled at Dennis’s daughter, Hannah, and tried to have a conversation with her as they made their way cautiously down the road.

“Where are you guys holed up?” Brandon asked her.

“In our basement,” she said. She seemed to want to say only what was necessary. She appeared somewhat shook up by the scene around them.

“We have a place that my dad built that is state of the art,” Brandon boasted.

Troy overheard what he was saying and he made a gesture with his hand across his neck to let Brandon know he needed to shut up and not tell too much.

“Is this your first time venturing out?” Brandon asked her, changing the subject.

“No, we had to go out for supplies a month or so ago. It was even more dangerous then because there was still some acid rain. If it began to rain, we would have to seek immediate cover. We managed to find a few things, but we came very close to getting burned to death in a storm.”

“This is our first time venturing out,” Brandon said.

“Wow you must have really been stocked up,” Hannah said, opening up to him a little bit.

“For a while. I’m just happy to be out of there for a while, even if we are being shot at and stuff,” Brandon said, making Hannah smile.

The gas station had cracked open windows and doors as well. A decaying corpse lay right inside the doorway. It looked as if someone had shot this person as they entered the gas station. The main coolers inside the store were completely empty.

“Let’s check the back room, maybe there’s a stash of bottled water there,” Troy said as Dennis nodded his head.

Once they got to the back room, they were pleased to see that there was still a case of bottled water sitting by a walk-in cooler. Dennis ran in and stood between he and Troy, then, much to Troy’s surprise, Dennis raised his weapon and pointed it at him before he could get his weapon raised.

“I’m really sorry about this, Troy, but there ain't enough water here for me to share with you and your boy. We’ll be taking this water and be on our way. We don’t want any trouble,” he said.

“You do what you think is necessary,” Troy replied calmly. “For the record, I would have shared it with you.”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures. Don’t get me wrong, I wish you all the best,” Dennis said as he gathered up the precious liquid. “Come on, help me out, Hannah.”

Hannah looked at Brandon and Troy with pity in her eyes as she did what her father told her.

“I’m really sorry about this,” she said to them. Troy and Brandon watched helplessly as they carried the water out of the storeroom. Dennis still had his gun pointed at them as they exited.

Once Dennis and Hannah were out of the gas station, the blue Camaro was heard coming down the street towards them. As it drove by, the man that had been shot by Troy began to fire at Dennis through the car window. Dennis fired back, but he had already been hit. He fell to the ground clutching his chest.

“Get the water and run, girl. Get your ass home as quickly as you can,” he said.

Hannah began to cry as she picked up the water and began to run towards the woods behind the gas station.

The blue Camaro had come to a stop in the parking lot.

“After her, she has water!” one of the men said. They both got out of the car and headed into the woods, chasing the teenage girl. Troy and Brandon had come out of the gas station by then, and they saw the men run into the woods.

“Come on, we have to help her,” Troy said. Brandon nodded his head.

They ran into the woods just as one of the men grabbed the girl. He was attempting to tear her clothes off as she yelled. The man managed to take off her shirt while the other man laughed.

“We gonna have us a real good time with you, girl!” the man said, but his fun was soon brought to a close as Troy shot the man right in the back. He fell right to the ground as Hannah gasped in fear. The other man went for his weapon, but Brandon managed to shoot him right in the head. He fell to the ground and did not move again.

Hannah was crying hysterically. Troy handed her top back, which she promptly put on and sank to the ground beneath a tree. She burst into tears and began to murmur words to herself through her sobs. Brandon came and sat beside, trying to comfort her.

“Dad,” were the only words she could utter.

Troy sat down beside her on the side opposite Brandon.

“I’m so sorry about your father, but you need to come with us now. We can’t stay here for very long,” he said.

After a few minutes, she gained her composure enough to get to her feet. She followed behind Troy and Brandon as they made their way out of the woods. Hannah began to cry again as they walked past her father’s body. Troy and Brandon carried the water to the Camaro and put it in the back seat. They were pleasantly surprised to find several canned goods and ammunition stored in the back. There were even a few gallon jugs of water in the floorboard.