“Can’t we help them?” Jacob sat up as far as he could, pressing his nose against the window.
“I wish we could, but we’ve just got the one truck. We can’t help everyone we see, at least not right now.”
“Where are we going, mom?” Mark asked.
“Good question.” A burned out car was parked in nearly every driveway Dianne drove past, and the fire had spread to more than a few yards and houses, as well. Smoke grew thicker the closer she drove towards the center of town, and she started to realize just how serious the situation was. “I think the best thing to do is to see if we can get a few supplies and then head back home.”
“What about dad? Is he okay?” Josie piped up from the back seat, and Dianne’s gut wrenched at the question.
“I’m sure he’s fine, sweetie. He’s probably still—oh my...” Dianne’s jaw dropped as she turned a corner in the neighborhood and saw what was ahead. Beyond the last few rows of houses sat the town square, the compact yet vibrant cornerstone of the city. The main street wrapped around a small park and gazebo in the center while the edges of the road were lined with shops both large and small. Beyond the center of town, just to the north, was the high school and accompanying stadium, from which a thick cloud of smoke was billowing into the air.
Dianne could make out the flashing lights of fire trucks as they sat near the enormous burning hulk of an airliner that had crashed directly into the stadium, flinging debris for a half mile in diameter. Chunks of metal and remnants of seat cushions were scattered on the rooftops of the buildings around the town square, and Dianne could swear she saw the gruesomely twisted form of someone who had still been in their seat when it hit the road and skidded along for a few dozen yards.
If the debris and victims from the crashed airplane had been the only things wrong with the town square, Dianne wouldn’t have been quite as concerned as she was. That, however, was merely the start. A small parking lot on the edge of the square that was normally filled with cars was instead a pile of charred metal, and the fire from the lot had spread to some of the buildings nearby. Owners and patrons of the shops were all standing out in front of their buildings, holding each other as they tended to various burns and other wounds they had suffered.
“He’s probably still where, mommy?” From her position behind Dianne’s seat, Josie couldn’t see the smoke and carnage ahead of the truck, a fact that Dianne was extremely grateful for. Mark, on the other hand, saw it quite clearly, and started to say something when Dianne took another sharp turn, heading for the city’s lone grocery store on the back side of the town square.
“Mom, was that an… airplane?”
“I—I don’t know, Mark.”
“Is dad still in the air? Or did he land? What’s going on, mom?”
“Mark!” Dianne snapped at her son harsher than she intended, and she immediately gave him an apologetic glance. “I don’t know.” Dianne shook her head and lowered her voice to a whisper to avoid upsetting Josie. “I don’t know what’s going on, but this is bad. This is really, really bad. Let’s just get to the store and see if we can get any supplies, then we’ll figure out what to do from there.”
Chapter 7
Los Angeles, CA
The juxtaposition of Jack’s speech patterns, attitude and hair with his suit and shoes was a constant source of amusement to Rick as the trio walked along together. Rick barely had to say anything since Jack was able to talk about seemingly any topic at length and with some degree of knowledge to boot. Originally from Arizona, Jack had traveled to Los Angeles a few years prior and lived on the beach while taking classes online to learn how to program.
After a year of scraping by he managed to get a job offer and upgraded from a hammock between two trees to a single bedroom apartment in the heart of the city. He had never lost his love for the beach, though, as he made clear on more than one occasion. His style of dress, he explained, had been a choice that was quite personal to him. Growing up in poverty meant that he had never owned new clothing, and he used his first paycheck from his new job to buy the best suit and accessories he could afford, making it a point to never be under-dressed again.
Samantha’s story was somewhat different than Jack’s, and she was quiet until Rick probed gently for her backstory. She had grown up in the area and was the daughter of a local investor who had used his leverage to get her a job at a company he had invested in. The job was as a project manager, and she and Jack had quickly developed a rapport despite their different backgrounds. When the “event” (as the trio soon came to call it) happened, Jack and Samantha had been driving from a meeting that had just wrapped up about a new product they were hoping to launch.
After hearing their stories, Rick shared his own, telling them about his wife and children back in Virginia, the work he did for his—now more than likely former—employer and what he was doing in Los Angeles.
“Dude, you are super lucky you were on the ground and not stuck in the air. There were a dozen planes at least that came down over the city and the bay!”
Rick nodded solemnly. “Yeah, it was… something else.” The thought of the explosions and screams Rick had heard was enough to make him grow quiet, and Jack appeared to feel the same way. The three walked along together in silence, their shoes scraping against the metal, soot and asphalt. Every few cars they passed had another blackened body either in the vehicle or directly next to it, and though Rick felt queasy at the sight of every new body he saw, he could feel his mind starting to numb to the horror.
As night fell, Rick was glad that the sky was starting to clear enough to allow the moon to peek through, which offered up just enough light to illuminate the road ahead while simultaneously hiding many of the horrors. He kept a small penlight and a screwdriver set in his breast pocket which he had thankfully remembered to get out of his luggage as he was first leaving the airport. After being looked over by more than a few people who were escaping the city, though, he didn’t want to advertise the fact that he had a light for fear of what someone might do to him to try and take it. Ordinary, good and innocent people can turn violent at the drop of a hat. All it takes is the proper motivation, and even a good man can fall prey to the temptations of evil.
Jack and Samantha continued traveling with Rick until night fell, at which point they decided to stop and rest until the next morning. Rick had nearly stayed with them, but the desire in his gut to escape the city and find a way back home was far too powerful to overcome.
“You sure you don’t want to stay here, dude? We might not stay the whole night. Maybe just an hour or two to get some rest.”
Rick smiled. “I appreciate the offer, Jack, but I need to keep moving. The sooner I get out of the city, the sooner I’ll be able to get in touch with my family.”
Samantha and Jack glanced at each other before giving Rick a hug. He stood still, surprised by the sudden embrace, before returning it.
“All the best to you, Rick.” Samantha smiled at him. “Stay safe, okay?”
“Yeah, man. Keep your eyes open. Lots of crazies and weirdos around this town, if you know what I mean.” Jack made a show of twirling his fingers at the sides of his head, then laughed and shook Rick’s hand. Rick gave the pair a final wave as he walked off, still tempted to stay with them and rest, but ultimately determined to keep moving no matter the cost.
As Rick walked along, he saw more and more people stopped on the overpass, clustered together into small groups. There were young, old, women, men, children and elderly; whatever had happened had been no respecter of persons. Rick picked up on pieces of whispered conversations held by those along the overpass as each group discussed and debated their own theories about what had happened. Rick himself still wasn’t sure, but the further east he walked along the overpass, the more he hoped that it really was just isolated to the city itself.
Sitting down to give his feet a few moments of rest, Rick sat on a spare tire that had fallen off of a burning vehicle and rolled off to come to a rest against the side barrier of the overpass. With Jack and Samantha far behind him, Rick was starting to feel the effects of isolation begin to set in, as well as feeling the exhaustion from the day’s events. As his head began to nod forward, Rick suddenly stood up and started walking again, shaking his shoulders and head around to try and clear the sleepiness from his head. Falling asleep on the overpass wasn’t something he wanted to do, especially since there were still so many people wandering by—many of whom eyed his stained and wrinkled suit with no small amount of desire in their eyes.