CHAPTER 6

 

 

 

 

 

 

George Bush International Airport, Houston, TX 20:30 EST

“This is it,” Ed said with great relief as he approached a sparkling, cherry red Jeep.

“This your toy?” Kyle asked as he inspected the vehicle, noticing that the jeep’s canvas top was worn, but the rest of it was in excellent shape.

Ed smiled and nodded. “It’s a ‘78 Jeep CJ7. You like it?”

“I do. It’s nice,” Kyle said running his hand along the polished chrome bumper.

Ed pulled the keys from his pocket and unlocked the door. He swung it open and pulled himself inside, then leaned over and popped the other lock. Kyle climbed into the Jeep and they both sat in silence, relishing the fact that they had reached the vehicle, but uncertain as to whether or not they’d be able to go anywhere in it.

“Do you think she’s going to run?” Ed asked as he fidgeted nervously with the keys. “Because if she doesn’t, it’s a long way to walk to my house.” He eyed the ignition, trying to muster the courage to try.

“There were some cars running as we walked through the parking lot. Hopefully yours will work, too.”

“Yeah,” Ed said, “but there were fifty dead vehicles for every one that worked. They were stalled everywhere, and people were still just sitting in them, not knowing what to do. Probably waiting for a tow truck to magically appear. You’d think they’d figure out that the tow truck is either dead too, or that there might be five hundred other vehicles to get to first.” Ed paused. “Even if I do get her started, I don’t know how we’re going to get across town. The whole city could be a parking lot.”

Kyle’s feet hurt, his head ached, and he was tired, and anxiety had been building in him for the last few hours to the point that he was nearing the tipping point. “Just try the stupid thing, Ed! Then at least we’ll know,” he blurted, the words sounding more harsh than intended, but Ed didn’t react. Ed just sat there staring out the front window. Kyle took a deep breath to calm himself. “Ed? Sorry. You still there?”

Ed’s head jerked, and he looked at Kyle. “Yeah? I’m here,” he replied. “What’d you say?”

“I said try it, and let’s see what happens. It’s going to be dark soon. I don’t know how far away you live, but the sooner we head that way, the better off we’re going to be.”

Ed put the key in the ignition, and they held their breath as the engine turned, resisted, coughed hesitantly, and then caught, roaring to life with a deep guttural growl, that echoed off the concrete roof above them and shattered the eerie silence that had marked their journey across the streets and parking lots. Ed tapped the accelerator and the engine raced in response. Smiling, he leaned forward and rested his forehead on the steering wheel. “That’s my baby,” he said, the relief evident in his voice.

“I think you need to get your muffler fixed!” Kyle shouted over noise of the engine, hardly able to speak he was smiling so much.

Ed shook his head. “That’s the way I like it.”

Both men leaned back and buckled their seatbelts. “I have to admit, that’s about the most beautiful noise I’ve heard in my life,” Kyle said, still grinning. “Your head alright to drive?”

Ed nodded. “Yeah. Let’s get going. I’ve probably got an anxious wife at home. If I start to feel bad, I’ll let you know.”

 

Deer Creek, Montana 22:55 EST

Jennifer leaned down and kissed her daughter. “Goodnight, Emma. The power should be back on in the morning.”

“Will Daddy be home then, too?” Emma asked, looking up at her mother with innocent, blue eyes, her long blonde hair spilling across the pillow. “He could fix this if he was here.”

Jennifer smiled, pleased that for her nine year old the world was still simple and safe, and that mom and dad could make everything right. “Daddy will be home in a couple of hours, and yes, I’m sure he could fix this if he was home. I’ll tell him to come in and give you a hug and a kiss if it’s not too late. Alright?”

“Alright, Mom,” Emma answered. “I’ll try to stay awake so I can say hi, but if I’m asleep, tell him I missed him.” She told her mother goodnight and rolled over to face the wall.

“He probably already knows, but I’ll be sure to tell him,” Jennifer reassured her daughter. “Do you want me to close your blinds? It’s Saturday tomorrow; you can sleep in if you want.”

“No, that’s okay, Mom. I don’t want to.”

“Alright then, sleep tight.” Jennifer pulled the door closed behind her and went to the family room where her fourteen year old son, David, sat on the couch reading a book in the fading light. His earphones were on, and his head bounced lightly to the beat of the music that played on his iPod. The family room was bathed in the pleasant, warm glow of the fading sun, and Jennifer flipped on the switch for the kitchen lights just as she remembered that the power was out.

“Power’s out, Mom!” David said, his voice louder than normal due to the earphones.

“Thanks for the information,” she said to her grinning son. “I’m going to get the dishes done before it’s too dark. You should probably get ready for bed now so we don’t waste our flashlight batteries.”

David pulled the headphones from his ears. “I missed that. What’d you say?”
“I said get ready for bed. It’ll be dark soon. I’m going to do the dishes.”
“But it’s early,” David protested as he looked at his watch. “It’s only 9:00.”

“In twenty minutes or so it’ll be dark,” replied Jennifer. “I guess you can stay up if you want, but there won’t be much to do. Say, did you have any problems tonight with your iPod?”

David shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. “No. Why?”

“I can’t get mine to work. I thought the battery was charged, but it won’t turn on and with the power out I can’t check it on the computer.”

“I keep mine locked in Dad’s old gun safe in the basement so Spencer can’t mess with it. That way I don’t have battery problems anymore.”

“Well, aren’t you the smart one. Maybe I’ll have to start locking mine in there too. So, are you going to help with the dishes or go to bed?”

David scratched his head as he made a show of thinking deeply and then sighed. “I guess I’ll go to bed, but it was a tough decision. Maybe tomorrow night I’ll stay up and help, if you’re lucky. Oh! Hey, I almost forgot to ask. Can I go to Matt’s house tomorrow? He’s a new kid from school that rides our bus. Lives in that big, brown house that just got built over the summer.”

“You have a few chores, but once they’re done, you can go if you want, I suppose,” Jennifer answered.
David grimaced as he listened to his mother. “Is there a big list of stuff?”
“Just the usual: mow the yard, clean your room, say hi to your father. Maybe a couple more things once I take a look around.”
David rolled his eyes and muttered something Jennifer couldn’t make out.

“I heard that,” she lied. “Just because you’re fourteen it doesn’t mean you can cop an attitude with me, young man,” she scolded good-naturedly. “I still have the receipt for that iPod your dad got you for your birthday. It’s only been three weeks, so I’m sure the store will take it back. And don’t forget to brush your teeth,” she reminded.

David flashed a grin at his mom, his dimples sinking deep in his cheeks, as he disappeared down the basement stairs to his room. Jennifer went to work on the dishes, scraping them off and stacking them on the counter, as she thought about how much David was starting to look like his father. He was already three inches taller than her and was starting to fill out in the shoulders. Another year, she guessed, and he’d be as tall as his father, maybe even a little taller. The fact that girls were starting to call David at home, and that he liked the attention, indicated her firstborn was rapidly growing up.

Anxious to finish cleaning before the daylight was gone, Jennifer hurried to fill the dishwasher, then wiped the breadcrumbs off the table and swept the floor, finishing as the last direct rays of sunlight disappeared behind the mountains to the west.

Her watch showed a quarter to ten, giving her a little over thirty minutes before Kyle would be home, if his flight was on time. Jennifer lit a candle, checked on Emma and Spencer, then went to her bedroom and found the red, silk teddy Kyle had given her for Valentine’s Day the year before. Securing the bathroom door behind her, she lit a second candle and placed it on the counter in front of the mirror by the first one before stepping back to look at herself in the flickering light. She turned to the right and examined her profile, sucking in her stomach and pushing out her chest. She was pleased with how she looked, having lost five pounds while Kyle was gone and coming so close to hitting her goal weight.

Jennifer quickly changed into the teddy, then pulled out her make-up and sat down in front of the mirror. It was difficult to see clearly in the candlelight, but she managed if she leaned in close to the mirror. Kyle often commented on how pretty her brown eyes were, so she played them up with mascara and eyeliner, drawing her lashes out as long as possible. Next she warmed her cheeks with some blush, then picked out her lipstick and carefully applied it, accentuating the curve of her mouth to make her lips look as full as possible.

Finished with her makeup, Jennifer stood up and looked at her reflection in the mirror again. She liked how the cut of the lingerie complemented her figure, with the neckline dipping temptingly in front and the sides cut high enough to reveal the full length of her legs, making her feel enticing, but not cheap. She rested her foot on the edge of the tub and rubbed lotion on one leg and then the other. As she stroked her legs she noticed, with satisfaction, the firmness of her muscles and the pleasant shape of her thighs, both the result of walking fifteen miles a week since they’d moved into their new community.

Removing the elastic band from her ponytail, Jennifer let her dark brown hair cascade over her shoulders and began to brush it, slowly drawing her hair down in front of her with each stroke. Her hair was getting longer, reaching almost to the middle of her back, the natural wave giving it just the right amount of body.

By fifteen minutes after ten, Jennifer had finished getting ready for Kyle’s homecoming, retrieved her robe from the closet, and was sitting on the couch in the family room waiting for him to arrive. While she waited, she read the newspaper in the dim candlelight, then moved on to the newest Readers Digest. When she finished that and Kyle still wasn’t home, she started on a novel borrowed from a friend at work. A little before midnight, with her eyes hurting and the room too dark to see well, Jennifer found a blanket and pillow and lay down on the couch. Around two in the morning and too uncomfortable to sleep, Jennifer scooped up the blanket and staggered down the hall to her room where she tossed and turned for an hour more before drifting off to sleep for the night.

 

Houston, Texas 23:45 EST

“What do you think I should do, Kyle?” Ed asked as the four figures waved their arms frantically at them. When they’d had to force their way through the exit barrier at the airport parking lot both men knew the drive home was going to be much more difficult than they wanted. The foot traffic of airport workers and escaping passengers walking into town dotted the road along with a snarl of abandoned vehicles. Most of the people moved out of the way and let them pass as the jeep approached, their faces filled with expressions of confusion, fear and exhaustion. Every so often a person would block the road in an attempt to catch a ride.

Ed had picked up a couple of older ladies and dropped them off near their homes, but the reputation of the surrounding neighborhoods and the worsening conditions had kept them from straying too far from their route home. Gunshots rang out just as the second of the two women was getting out of the jeep, and Ed sped off with a squeal of his tires, not sure whether the shots had been intended for him, but unwilling to find out for sure. Since that encounter, Ed had done everything in his power to avoid people and take a direct path home. These efforts had required driving down medians, hopping curbs, weaving through stalled traffic and violating most of the rules of the road.

They were on the freeway and making as good of time as could be expected when four individuals appeared in front of them. It was a young mother with three young children, the oldest no more than seven, huddled beside a car that was pulled over into the median. There was plenty of room for Ed to avoid them without slowing down, but his foot instinctively went to the brake.

“It’s your call,” Kyle replied, “but if you’re going to stop for them, let’s get them loaded quick. It’s not like they’re the only people around that’d like a lift.”

Ed grunted and Kyle felt the jeep slow. They rolled up to where the family was standing, and Ed rolled down his window. The mother wiped her eyes and cheeks with her free arm. The other hand clung tightly to the wrist of the youngest child. “Get in quickly,” Ed said in as kind of a voice as he could muster under the circumstances.

The woman mumbled a “thank you” and pushed her children into the back seat.
Kyle looked at her in the darkness and his thoughts immediately went to his wife, which sent a chill down his back.
“Where are you going?” Ed asked, twisting around to look at his passengers.

The woman sniffed and tried to regain her composure. “Thank you again. We’ve been waiting for hours for someone…” The youngest child, who appeared exhausted to the point of passing out, began to cry and the woman leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. “It’s alright, Courtney,” she whispered, “we’re on our way.”

Ed put the jeep in gear and accelerated away from her vehicle, too afraid to stay stopped any longer than he needed to. “Where’s somewhere safe I can take you, miss?” he asked again.

“My ex lives in League City. That’s where we were headed when everything went bad. That’s the closest place I’ve got.” She paused, and her eyes glassed over as she tenderly rubbed her youngest child’s head “ We left Huntsville as soon as Jonathan got out of school…their father is supposed to have them for the weekend.” Her voice was faint and she seemed to be in another place. “I’ve never had car problems before; do you know what’s going on?”

Kyle shook his head, “We don’t know anything for sure, and there’s nothing on the radio but static.”

“Someone said there was a war going on, that we’ve been attacked.” The woman was fighting to control her emotions as she spoke, but tears rolled down her cheeks and her voice halted every couple of words.

“Who said we were attacked?” Ed asked, looking in the rear view mirror, even though it was too dark for him to see into the back seat, with the only light coming from the glow of his headlights.

“I don’t know,” she answered. “Just some guy who walked by us a couple of hours ago. It scared Jonathan, and I guess me too. What are you going to do with us?”

“I guess we’re going to League City,” Ed said. “I can’t very well throw you out on the side of the road.”

The woman in the backseat let out a deep sigh, and Kyle could hear her crying. After a short silence she spoke up again. “Thank you so much. I didn’t know what we were going to do. Everyone just kept walking past us. Things are just so crazy. I suppose we could have walked somewhere, but I don’t know this part of town.”

“Just relax, Miss,” Ed said, sounding tired. “No one knows what to do right now, and I imagine being stranded with three kids doesn’t make it any easier.”

“No. It doesn’t. My name’s Stephanie, my friends call me Steph.”

“Okay Steph. I hope you can get us to your ex’s in the dark. Keep your arm around your kids. I’ll probably be doing some off-roading, and I’m going to keep my speed up.

****

It was four hours later when Ed finally swung the jeep into his own driveway. The jeep’s headlights, the only light in the eerily dark neighborhood, splashed across the front of his house, lighting up a brick bungalow with an attached, oversized garage. He engaged the emergency brake, shut off the ignition, and killed the headlights, immediately plunging them into a thick, all-enveloping darkness.

“I think you might want to leave the lights on, Ed,” Kyle suggested. “I’m guessing your security light isn’t going to kick on, and there’s not much for moonlight.”

Ed flipped the headlights back on. “Let me go find a flashlight. I’ll just be a couple of minutes.” Ed jumped down from the jeep and hobbled off towards the garage on tender feet, spot-lighted like a performer on a stage by the piercing beams of the headlights.

After a short wait, Kyle saw a small light coming from around the side of the garage. He leaned over, found the knob for the headlights, and pushed it in, the darkness swallowing them again except for the thin beam of Ed’s flashlight.

“A penlight?” Kyle asked.
“It’s all I could find. Did you want to wait out here longer?”
“No, I guess not.”

“Then quit complaining and follow me,” Ed instructed in a tired, but good-natured voice. “I’ll let us in, but you wait by the door. My wife is going to be scared to death. I’m not supposed to be back until next Friday, and she’s all alone without any power. I just hope she doesn’t get another ulcer with everything that’s going on.”

Ed let them in the front door then called out to his wife in a soft shout. “Virgie? Virgie?” Receiving no response, he continued to call her name as he walked down the hall.

Kyle stood in total darkness by the front door and listened. He heard a door open and then the muffled sound of a woman’s voice. After a short exchange, he saw the glow from Ed’s flashlight coming back down the hallway.

“I’m going to put you in the guestroom,” Ed said as he returned. “Virgie wasn’t exactly expecting company, but the room’s not in bad shape. Can I get you something to drink before you go to bed?”

Kyle nodded and followed Ed to the kitchen, where they sat at the table eating slices of Wonder bread and sharing a six-pack of Budweiser in the dimming glow of the flashlight, neither having much to say. As Kyle finished off his second beer, he heard a door open and footsteps slowly approach from down the hallway. Kyle turned and, in the dim light, saw Ed’s wife approach, rubbing her eyes.

“I didn’t understand what you said in the bedroom, Ed. I was too tired,” she said, forming her words carefully. “Why are you home? You’re supposed to be gone for a week.”

Ed looked at Kyle and appeared embarrassed by his wife’s presence.

“Virgie, I told you I’d explain it all in the morning. Why don’t you go back to bed? I still don’t understand everything myself, and I’m tired.”

“But I’m awake now,” she said, trying to stifle a yawn, “and I wanted to meet your friend. What did you say his name was?”

“His name’s Kyle, dear. I met him on the airplane.” Ed stood and reached for his wife. “Let me help you back to the room.”

Virgie turned away from Ed and leaned towards Kyle. “Hi, I’m Virgie,” she said, extending a chubby hand and leaning down close.

Kyle took her hand and introduced himself, trying not to recoil from the powerful smell of liquor on her breath. She looked like someone’s doting grandmother, pleasant and plump with curly, gray hair, but the bloodshot eyes and alcohol-induced redness in her cheeks ruined the grandmotherly effect. Kyle wished Virgie a goodnight and thanked her for allowing him to stay, then Ed escorted his wife back down the hallway to their bedroom assuring her that everything would be all right.

Kyle swallowed the rest of his drink and set the can on the edge of the table.

Ed returned minutes later, using a damp washcloth to wipe at the patches of blood on the side of his face. “I’m tired,” Ed said. “I’d offer you another beer, but I think I’d fall asleep at the table.”

“That’s fine. I’m struggling to keep my eyes open myself,” replied Kyle. Ed motioned for Kyle to follow, so Kyle trailed him down the hall to a small room with a computer and a fax machine on a desk against one wall, and a single twin bed pushed up against the opposite one.

“It’s not much,” said Ed. “We don’t usually have company, and I’m redoing the bedroom in the basement.”

“This is more than good. At this point I think I could sleep on the garage floor.”

Ed smiled weakly as he gathered a couple of folders from the bed and piled them onto the desk. “The bathroom’s next door. I’ll try to find you a flashlight.”