An Unkind Winter (Alone Book 2) (16 page)

     “Pretty cold out there, huh?”

     “Colder than the devil’s heart.”

     “Yes, sir, buddy. I reckon that would be pretty cold.”

     “You know, Frank, I can help you insulate your living room so it would be a lot more comfortable in here.”

     “That’s okay, my friend. It’s tolerable during the days. And at night, it just gives us a chance to snuggle, like we used to do when we were youngsters. All in all, it’s not a bad way to live. We’re both from the upper peninsula of Michigan, you see. The cold normally don’t bother us much. Now, granted, this is a lot worse than it usually gets down in these parts. But it’ll pass, I reckon. We’ll just tolerate it until it does.”

     “Frank, I’m sorry it took me so long to come back. I left one of my bags full of empty bottles outside my fence when I went home that night. It just happened to be the one where you put your note. I just found it a few days ago.”

     “I figured something like that happened. Eva told me to staple it to the outside of the bag, but I rarely listen to Eva. Maybe I should start.”

     “What was it you wanted to talk to me about?”

     “Wait right here. Let me crank up my generator.”

     Frank disappeared into the garage for a minute, and Dave heard the meaty roar of a generator come to life. A floor lamp in the kitchen immediately came on.

     Frank returned and said, “Follow me to the spare bedroom.”

-30-

     Dave was impressed. The spare bedroom was configured much like his safe room, with a love seat piled high with blankets, a television and DVD player, and a microwave.

     “This is where Eva and I hang out a lot during the daylight hours. It’s cozy and gives us something to do to pass our time.”

     The most impressive thing in the room, though, was sitting in the corner at a small desk.

     “Do you know what this is, Dave?”

     “It looks like some kind of two way radio.”

     “It’s a ham radio. I can use it to talk to people all over the world. It was a hobby of mine even before the blackout, and a lot of the people I conversed with back then were also preppers. Many of them, like me, had a backup unit stashed inside their Faraday cages to help everyone stay in touch after the world went to black.”

     Dave was impressed, but failed to see how Frank’s radio could help him personally.

     “Wow, Frank. That’s pretty cool.”

     “You thought to save bunnies and seeds, Dave. I thought to save a portal to the outside world. And that’s why I wanted to talk to you. You said your family was flying to Kansas City when the blackout happened, right?”

     “Yes, sir.”

     “One of the guys I communicate with sometimes lives in the Kansas City area. I’m not sure where, exactly. Most of us keep our exact locations a secret, so we don’t draw in bandits looking to see what other goodies we may have been able to save. But he’s usually on around this time of night if you want to try to raise him.”

     “Sure. Why not? Maybe he can answer some of the questions I’ve got about the situation up there.”

     Frank sat in front of the radio and turned it on.

     “Run into the dining room and get a chair to sit on while I’m trying to find him.”

     Dave did as he was told, and sat down beside his friend.

     “Mark in K.C., are you on tonight?”

     Dave said, “I thought when you used the ham radio you had to use your call number or FCC number or something.”

     “Those days are long gone, Dave. Now it’s more like a CB radio.”

     “A what?”

     “A CB radio. Citizens band. Like truckers used to use. At one time, they were pretty popular among the non-trucker crowd too. That was back in the 70s and 80s. The fad petered out a long time ago.”

     “I don’t remember it.”

     “That doesn’t surprise me. I reckon it was a bit before your time.”

     The radio remained silent. Frank tried again.

     “Mark in K.C., this is Frank in south Texas. You on board tonight?”

     Ten more seconds of silence ticked by. Frank said, “I guess he’s taking a night off.”

     Then, as though Frank’s words were its cue, the radio sprang to life.

     “Hello, Frank. How are things in south Texas?”

     “Cold, Mark. Very cold.”

     “I hear you and feel your pain. Do you guys have any snow down there yet?”

     “No. Too dry for that. Knock on wood. Just bitter cold and bone chilling winds.”

     “Well, consider yourself lucky, Frank. We’ve got over three feet now. It comes down a little at a time and doesn’t go anywhere. The temperature hasn’t been high enough to melt it in three weeks now. I’ve got a path to my outhouse with snow over my waist on both sides now. If it gets over my head I’m gonna walk to Tahiti.”

     “I guess it’s hard for you to get out now, huh?”

     “Yes it is, Frank. But we see that as a good thing. Those of us who prepared for this thing are hunkered down. We’ve got food to eat, and the snow is giving us plenty of water to drink. So we don’t need to get out. The good news is, it’s keeping the bandits and looters away. Hopefully most of them will starve to death because they can’t get out to steal food anymore.”

     “Yeah, that would be a good thing, I guess. But most of the other survivors who are just scavenging to survive are in the same boat.”

     “True enough. I’ve been hearing an awful lot of gunshots lately in the neighborhoods around me. Not gunshots like in shootouts. Gunshots placed evenly, a few seconds apart. Families giving up. But I can’t dwell on that. There’s nothing I can do to help them, and maybe they’re going to a better place.”

     Frank winced at Mark’s words, unsure how Dave would react to the news that it was so bad in Kansas City.

     “Mark, before we go any further with that, I have a friend here who has family up in your area somewhere. I was hoping you might be able to answer some of his questions.”

     “I’ll try. But I haven’t been off my property since the blackout began, so I’m not sure how much help I can be.”

     This was finally Dave’s chance to get some of his questions answered.

     Frank handed him the microphone. Dave was excited, yet a bit apprehensive. Almost afraid at what the answers might be. He reached out for the microphone, and was surprised to see that his hand was shaking.

     “Mark, my name is Dave. My wife and daughters were flying into Kansas City right around the time the power went out. They were never able to call me to tell me they’d landed, so I don’t know if they made it.”

     He didn’t want to finish his question, but he had to.

     “Do you know what effect the EMP had on airplanes that were in the air?”

     Instead of answering Dave’s question directly, Mark reached out to another operator.

     “Stan the Man, this is Mark. Are you on tonight?”

     “Yeah, Mark. Just sitting here listening in.”

     “Stan, I’m too far away from the airport to answer Dave’s question. You’re closer to it than I am. Can you answer that one?”

     “No. I mean, I don’t know what happened to the airplanes that were in the sky. I never saw any of them falling out of the sky, if that’s what he’s asking. But you have to remember, I was taking a nap on my couch when the blackout happened. By the time I woke up it was an hour after. So if they fell out of the sky it would have happened long before I got up and looked outside.

     “I will say one thing. I could see a lot of thick black smoke coming from the airport area the rest of that day and into the next. I don’t know what was burning or where it was coming from, but it was in that general direction. I remembered wondering why it burned for so long, and then finally figured out the water plant was down, and they had no water to put on the fire. And no fire trucks to get to it. It finally burned itself out by the second day.

     “I remember also seeing a couple of other plumes from fires. They could have been from crashed airplanes. Or maybe from vehicles that crashed into each other when their engines all died. I don’t know. I wish I could give you a better answer.

     “If your family made it in, did they have a safe place to stay?”

     “Yes. They were going to visit with relatives.”

     “In town or outside of it?”

     “I don’t know the exact location. It was outside the city, though.”

     Mark got back on.

     “You never want to be too specific about the location anyway, Dave. Not on the radio. If they made it to the relatives place outside the city, that’s a good thing. Inside the city, it’s pretty much like a war zone. Not many survivors left at all. Do you know much about the general area she was headed to, where the relatives lived?”

     “Not much, no. I was there once, but don’t remember much about it. A farm house, maybe nine or ten miles west of the airport. Somewhere in that area. I remember the farm had a good sized creek that ran along its western edge that fed into a river at some point. And that its address was odd. Route 8 or something. That’s all I remember.”

     “Well, Route 8 is west of the airport, and there are a couple of rivers in that area and a lot of streams and creeks that connect with them. It sounds like they’re probably in the Leavenworth area. That’s good in a way, and bad in another.”

     “How so?”

     “Well, it’s good in that it’s rural. If they have access to a water source, and they have some land, it’ll be easy for them to grow crops. When there’s not fifty feet of bloody snow on the ground, that is. Also, it’s easier to protect rural land from looters.”

     “Okay…”

     “The bad news is that the Route 8 area isn’t far from Ft. Leavenworth, the military prison. They had a bad prison break just after the power went out. A very bad one. From what I heard, more than two hundred convicts got out, and nearly all of them are still out there. The military couldn’t go after them because none of their vehicles worked. The convicts presumably couldn’t get far because they had no vehicles either. I heard the Army eventually formed a cavalry detachment, with real horses, like the old days. They were going from one farm to the next, looking for the convicts. Like an old fashioned posse. I heard they caught a few and dragged them back, but that the commanding general finally called off the operation because the farmers and ranchers in the area kept shooting at them. I guess they saw a group of men on horseback and considered them a threat.

     “So my guess is, most of them are still in the area, raising havoc. I hope your relatives are well armed and prepared to defend their land.”

     “Thank you for the information, Stan.”

     “No problem. I don’t mind helping out a friend of a friend. And I’ve known Frank for many years. If he vouches for you then I know you’re good people. I hope you find your family someday, and I hope they’re in good shape.”

     “Thank you for that. I have one more question, though. I thought Fort Leavenworth’s prison was just for white collar criminals… deserters and non violent criminals and such. Do you really think the ones who escaped are that dangerous?”

     “I hate to break it to you, Dave, but Fort Leavenworth is just like every other prison. The only difference is it’s for military people who were convicted by court martial. But they’ve got the same type of criminals every other prison has, ranging from counterfeiters to murderers.”

     Mark cut in.

     “Stan, I’m going to ask this question of you because I suspect Dave wants to ask but doesn’t know you well enough to impose. I’ve known you long enough not to care if I impose. Once the snow clears and you’re able to get out again, if he can somehow pinpoint his family’s location, would you be willing to ride one of your horses there to find his family and make sure they’re okay?”

     There was a long silence on the radio. The seconds ticked by painfully slowly.

     It was apparent that Stan was choosing the right words.

     “Mark, I consider you a good friend. But I’d have to say no. The world has gone to hell. It’s a very dangerous place. And that part of the country is one of the most dangerous, because of the prison break. I have my own family to protect, my own loved ones that need me. I feel bad for your friend, but my first allegiance is here, with my own. If I went off in search of your friend’s family, I could very easily get myself killed. And then my own family would pay a heavy price.

     “So my answer is no. I owe it to my own wife and children to refuse your request. But I hope that someday the world will get moving again, somehow. I wish you well, Dave, and hope you can reunite with your family someday.”

     “Thank you, Stan.”

     “I have to go now, fellas, my generator’s about out of juice and starting to sputter. I’ll catch you next time.”

     Mark felt the need to apologize.

     “I’m sorry, Frank, and Dave. But I understand Stan’s position. I feel the same way. My first priority is protecting my own family, and I can’t do that if I leave them alone to go look for the loved ones of others.”

     Dave said, “I understand. Thank you for the information. Now I have a little bit better picture of what it’s like up there, and a better understanding of what to watch out for when I come up there for them.”

     “Well, don’t come anytime soon.  The snow pack makes it pretty much impossible to get around on foot. I have an old Army deuce and a half in my barn that I was restoring when the EMP hit. Six wheel drive. If I had that thing running, I might chance going out on the roads. But of course, she’ll never run again. Hell, I wouldn’t even take a horse out in conditions like this. If you’re coming this way, make sure the snow pack is melted before you set out.”

     Dave looked at Frank, who was smiling. Frank’s smile seemed out of place, but he didn’t mention it.

     “Mark, do you mind if I call you back in the spring, when I get ready to set out, to find out what the conditions are like up there?”

     “No. I don’t mind at all. It would be the smart thing to do. But are you really going to come all the way up here on foot, just to get your family? I mean, isn’t it several hundred miles? And pardon me for suggesting it, but what if you come all the way up here only to find out they didn’t make it?”

     “It’s right around a thousand miles or so. And I have to. The thought of getting them back is the only thing that keeps me alive. If I find out they didn’t make it… well, I don’t know what I’ll do. But it’s something I need to know, one way or the other.”

     “Well, good luck on your journey, and touch base with me when you get closer to leaving. I’ll share any information I can find to aid you. Frank, I’m signing off too now. You guys stay safe.”

     “Ten four. Thank you, Mark.”

-31-

     Frank turned off the radio and turned to Dave.

     “Do you need to hurry home, or would you like some coffee?”

     The truth was, Dave was starved for human interaction. He was tired of being alone in what he was coming to consider his own personal prison, with no one but a dead body and a couple of rabbits to talk to.

     “I’d love some coffee. Thanks.”

     “You sit here. I’ll put the pot on the fire and add another log or two, and I’ll be back in a minute. You just relax here in my ‘TV room.’ It ain’t too fancy, but it’s comfortable.”

     Dave put the chair back into the dining room and then returned to relax in a recliner. He looked around the room while waiting for Frank to return.

     It was a typical family room, with Frank’s police awards and Eva’s nick nacks displayed here and there. There were several photos of small children hanging on the walls.

     Dave decided not to ask who the children were or what might have become of them. He didn’t want to cause any pain for this kind friend who was hosting him on this dark and frigid night.