When the Power Is Gone: A Powerless World - Book 1 (13 page)

Russ and Brian had been splitting their attention between the surrounding area and Sean’s tale. They couldn’t hide the sympathy in their eyes for the great loss this family had been through. Sean went on.

“I decided to leave Kate and the girls in the playhouse, so I could scout for supplies, and I gave Kate my 9mm. I had taught her how to handle a gun and how to shoot. She wasn’t as comfortable with it as I was, but she could defend the girls. The smoke was still really thick, so visibility was very low, which actually worked in my favor. I found a wagon and went around the edge of the burnt houses, and the very outside edges of the mall. There wasn’t much, but little things can help a lot. A tin of tuna, a half jar of peanut butter, a sleeve of crackers – anything that could even remotely be considered food I grabbed. I checked cars in the back of the mall parking lot, too. And that’s where I scored. There was a car sitting in the middle of an area, you know like it stopped right when the shit went down.”

Kate cleared her throat. Sean laughed. “Sorry, Sweetie. It’s been a rough morning. Sorry girls.”

The girls giggled, the first sound we’d heard from them. Sean went on.

“Apparently whoever had been driving it had just been to the grocery store. When the car died, they must have just left and started walking home. The door wasn’t even locked – probably didn’t remember the electronic door lock wasn’t working when they tried to use it. I opened the driver’s door and popped the trunk latch. Thank goodness it wasn’t electrical. The trunk had half a dozen bags of food. It smelled really bad – there was spoiled meat in a thermal bag, but fortunately, it was separate from the other stuff. There was bread, crackers, Vienna sausages, peanut butter, chips, all kinds of food stuff, as well as juice boxes and a couple of cases of bottled water. “I looked around, didn’t see anybody watching, and grabbed everything that didn’t stink and loaded it in the wagon, bag and all. With the other things, the wagon was pretty full, and I was afraid someone was going to see what I had, so I took my coat off and threw it over the top.

“I kept to the edges and worked my way back to the playground. As I was walking up, I saw a woman and two kids walking through the park. She saw me and rushed over. ‘
Excuse me, do you know what’s going on? Do you have any food? My kids are hungry and our house burned last night. We lost everything
.’ I looked at the kids and couldn’t turn my back on them. I went to the wagon and pulled out the half jar of peanut butter and a sleeve of crackers and handed them over. She took them, thanked me, and hurried away.

“I went on to the playhouse and called out to Kate to let her know it was me. She opened the door, and I pushed the wagon in. It was kind of cramped, but we needed to keep the food with us. The girls asked for something to eat. It was past noon and we hadn’t eaten since yesterday evening. Kate grabbed a few things from the wagon and fed us all. While we were eating, I heard someone outside. Close. I motioned to the girls to be quiet, and we listened. I heard the woman I had given the food to outside, talking to a man. ‘
He was right here. He had a wagon full of stuff. He can’t be far.
’ They were trying to figure out where we were. They tried the door on the playhouse, but again the rock gave the appearance it was locked. In a few minutes, they moved away. I knew then we had to leave. I whispered to Kate my plan to go to Luke and Casey, our friends in the country. We decided to wait until dark and head out.”

Sean paused, like he didn’t really want to talk anymore, or didn’t want to tell the next part. Russ and Brian waited patiently. If he needed to tell them he would; if not, their story would end there, as far as the guys were concerned.

They were definitely getting an idea of what went on when the neighborhood burned. They felt bad for the Scanlins, as well as the other families who had lost their homes that night. Just when they thought he wouldn’t continue, he did.

“About an hour after sunset, I opened the door and took a look outside. I didn’t see anybody, so I had the girls come out and bring the wagon. We headed for the back side of the mall, giving it a wide berth, so we could get to the highway. I figured we could follow it south, which was the way to the country. As soon as we got to the edge of the park, someone called out from the dark. It was the woman again, but she looked to be alone this time. She said she needed some more food for her kids, that what I had given her earlier was gone. I told her I couldn’t spare anymore, since I had my own kids to feed. Just then, a man stepped out behind her with a baseball bat. He said he was ‘
real sorry
’ about my kids, but they needed to feed theirs, too. He said to hand over the wagon and no one would get hurt. His wife, at least I guessed that was what she was, pulled a grocery cart out, that had some blankets and coats and stuff in it – mostly clothes. Her man came toward me, swinging the bat like he was warming up for his at bat.

“As soon as he got about 10 feet away, Kate and I both pulled out our guns. I pointed mine at him, and Kate pointed hers at the woman. The both stopped, wide-eyed. I told him to drop the bat and kick it over to me. With a belligerent sneer, he did as he was told. Kate told the woman to push the cart over as well. She started to protest, saying it was all they had and how could we take it. Kate said, ‘
The same way you were about to take ours
.’ It was pretty bad ass.”

They all laughed as Kate blushed.

“We took the cart, grabbed the wagon and headed out. Oh, and we took the bat, too. We’ve been walking ever since.”

Brian asked the question that was on Russ’s mind as well.

“How did you keep them from following you? I would think that as soon as you turned your back on them, they would have been on you immediately.”

Kate spoke up then. “They had some really good stuff in their cart. Rope, duct tape. Sean wrapped them up inside the playhouse, taped their mouths shut, and closed the door.”

She smiled at her husband. He grinned back at her. So, they were survivors after all. They just needed some guidance.

By now, they had gotten to the next exit off the highway. Russ held up his hand to get everyone to stop and wait. He checked the area with the binoculars. He paid particular attention to the underpass – perfect spot for an ambush. When he didn’t see any threats, he turned back to the group.

“This is as far as we go today. I think if we can get this far with the rigs, we should be in good shape. We haven’t been in the woods on the other side, but I think if you stick to the woods, you’ll be a lot safer. Try to stay close to the highway, just not too close. Like I said, we’ll be through here in the next few days. Keep an eye out. We’ll be looking for you from this point on, for the next 15 or so miles. I doubt you could get much further than that with the little ones. Are you okay with food and water? How about ammo?”

Sean pulled his pistol out. “I think we’ll be okay with food and water. As far as ammo, we have what’s in the guns. I wasn’t carrying any spare on me, just the guns.”

The pistol had a 15 round magazine. Russ pulled out his bag and dug to the bottom. He pulled out a box of target ammo and handed it to Sean.

“This is for my wife’s gun. I try to carry a spare box of each of our caliber, as well as the magazines. Take it. We have more at home.”

Sean took the box of 50 rounds. “Thank you, Russ. You guys are awesome. I hope we see you again, soon.” He held his hand out to Russ, who shook it, and held on for a moment longer.

“Don’t forget what I said about the girls. Hide the fact that they’re female. That’s your number one priority. Good luck, Sean.”

Brian reached out and shook Sean’s hand as well. “You guys head on out. We’ll cover you, make sure you get across the street to the woods on the other side. If you see anything shady, holler.”

Sean nodded, grabbed one of his girls’ hand, Kate grabbed the other and they headed out. The guys watched them all the way. At the edge of the woods on the other side, they transferred everything to the wagon, ditched the grocery cart, and, with a wave, headed into the woods. The fellas wished them well and good luck. They’d probably need it.

Without the distraction of the conversation, Russ and Brian paid a bit better attention on the way back. They noticed that not too far from the mall the cars thinned out on the road headed south. Since it was very rural that direction, it made sense. Even the people who live out that way would have been heading north, if they had to go to work in town. This was going to work out very well for our journey. Once we got past the mall, which had already been cleared to an extent, we should not run into any issues.

Since they hadn’t seen any bad guys so far, they were also thinking this time of day would be a good time to travel. Of course, they had kept themselves hidden in the woods and not been out on the road. There could still be problem people out there, but maybe we could out run them. Hopefully. They made their way back to where they had stashed the bikes. Everything was as they had left it. After checking the area, they pulled the bikes out and turned back toward the house.

They had barely gotten back on the trail when they heard the truck. Reflex made them jump off the bikes and work their way deeper in the brush. They could see the road leading away from the burned-out neighborhood and the mall, and the truck was on it, heading toward our area. There were a few other streets out this way, so there was a chance it wasn’t necessarily going to ours. Since they’d been regular visitors the last few days and nights, probably not a really big chance. Make that fat chance.

The truck followed the road and went around a curve, so the guys couldn’t see it anymore. They mounted up and took off. If those assholes were headed to our street, our place, they wanted to be there. Brian told Russ he knew a path deeper in the woods that would get them home faster. Since they didn’t really care anymore about watching the road, Russ told him to lead the way. Brian took the left fork at the next break in the path, and they put the pedal to the metal, so to speak. They dodged limbs and trees, and scared up rabbits, squirrels, and a wild turkey. That one scared the shit out of them. Those things make a hell of a noise trying to take flight. Brian almost wiped out on a boulder. It would have been funny if they hadn’t been on a mission to get home as fast as possible.

They got to the edge of the woods behind the house and stopped. Russ pulled up his binoculars and checked the area. He couldn’t see in front of the house, but he could see between our house and Bob and Janet’s. It looked clear, and he didn’t hear the truck, or anyone out and about. They decided to leave the bikes in the woods for now, so they could check things out before they headed in. They made a dash for the fence behind the house and pulled their side arms. Russ motioned that he would go to the corner on the right, and for Brian to go toward his place in the other direction. Brian nodded and took off.

Russ got to the corner and looked around the edge of the fence. It looked clear, and he didn’t hear anything, but he stayed low anyway. He crept up the side of the fence and stopped at the front corner. He heard men talking, and they weren’t really trying to be quiet. It sounded like it was coming from Bob and Janet’s front yard.

“Can you see inside, Joe? Seems like the ones on this side of the road are closed up tighter than a virgin’s legs.”

Russ heard at least two men laugh at the crude remark. “Nah, all three of these down to the end I can’t see nothin’ inside. We can try bustin’ into one of ‘em, see if there’s anyone, or anything, inside. That one on the end and this one next to us both have a big fence. We could jump it, have some cover for kickin’ in the back door. Hell, we can go in the front if you want. Ain’t seen nobody on this street except them dumbasses next to this one. I don’t reckon they’d cause us any trouble. That old man about pissed hisself the other day when Les told him to fuck off. I bet they ain’t even got no guns in there. Just struttin’ around like a peacock, tryin’ to impress somebody.”

The original speaker, Russ hadn’t heard his name, spoke again. “Let’s go talk to Les, see what he thinks.”

He heard the men head back toward the road. Apparently the truck was in front of Bob and Janet’s house. Russ backed up, keeping his eye out front, and feeling his way back behind the fence. He turned the corner and saw Brian heading toward him. Russ motioned for him to stay and went over to him. He told Brian what he heard.

“Do you think we should make our presence known? Do you think it would get them to move on, maybe to the next road down?”

Brian considered it, and nodded.

“You know, we can jump the fence to my house, get in and walk out the front door, like that’s where we’re staying. That will take their focus off this house and maybe get them to move on. I have a key hidden in the backyard. What do you think?”

Russ grinned. “That’s a great idea. Let’s go.”

They ran to Brian’s section of the fence. Russ gave Brian a leg up. Brian climbed up, looked over the edge of the fence to see if anyone was looking, or could see him, then straddled the fence at the top. He reached back down to help Russ up. They jumped down into Brian’s backyard. Brian headed to his outdoor kitchen, knelt down, and pulled a specific brick out of the back. It came out with mortar attached on all the edges. In place, you couldn’t tell it was loose. Sweet hide-a-key, bubba. Russ made a mental note to remember that one. A key was taped on the backside of the brick. Brian pulled the key off and headed to the back door. He opened it, but stopped and pulled his pistol out before he went in. The thugs could have already decided to come in. He looked into his kitchen, through to the living room. It looked clear. He gave Russ a curt nod and headed in. Russ already had his gun out. They went to the front door and saw it was still locked. They holstered their weapons and got their plan worked out.

“We go out, side arms holstered but openly visible. Don’t say anything first – let them start the conversation, if there is one. Just go out front and look their way. If they say something, we’ll respond. If they don’t say anything, but don’t make a move to leave, I’ll engage them. Let’s go. I don’t want to give them time to decide to bust into our place.”

Brian reached for the door, unlocked it, and they went out. Time to meet the shit birds.

****

Les was sitting in the truck smoking a joint. Not like he had to hide it – no one had seen a cop in a week. This street had been pretty good for gathering supplies. That house across the street didn’t have much for food, but damn that boy had guns. The one two doors down had lots of food, probably old people. His grandma always had food at her house. The rest of the houses to the end on that side had yielded a nice pile of food, weapons, and, one in particular, drugs. They could lay low for at least a month on the food they had grabbed. They could stay high that long, too, if they wanted to. Les was smart though – he knew the new “money” was everything they had been grabbing up. There was quite a bit of microwave food, and they still had to figure out how to cook that without a microwave – maybe they’d trade that for something else. Let someone else figure out how to cook it without electricity.

His “crew” consisted of Joe and Mac, out there scouting more houses, and Ray, Junior, and Dave back at the stash. They had set up in one of the small shops at the mall, after they boarded up the front. Who would come in looking for anything in a boarded up storefront? They had started in a storage unit on the other side of the mall. It still had some stuff in it, so they kept it locked, and checked it every day. It was mostly the microwave food, so not a big loss if it got stolen, since they couldn’t figure out how cook it. The shop was a much better location, since it had a lot of space, shelves they could sort the stuff out on, and with the front boarded up, just a man door coming in or out.

So far, they hadn’t had to take anybody out. That’s why they were working the empty houses first. There were lots of cars on the road, some with plates from the next county down, so they figured lots of people got caught away from home. Those houses were easy to clean out. If the owners weren’t home yet, most likely they wouldn’t be, ever. Les was trying to keep this low key for as long as possible. He knew it would get bloody at some point, so right now he was getting what he could with the least amount of trouble. If this side of the street wasn’t open, he was just going to get the boys loaded up and head over to the next street. No sense taking chances yet, if they didn’t need to. There could be some whack job barricaded in one of those places waiting to ambush them. They didn’t have to put themselves in a position like that at this point.

He saw Joe and Mac heading toward him, but he saw two guys behind them at the house on the end. They were standing there looking down the road toward his truck. And they had guns on them. Shit! He leaned out and yelled.

“Behind you, idiots!”

They both turned and saw Russ and Brian standing there. They stopped, but didn’t leave. Les got out of the truck and joined them on Bob and Janet’s lawn. Together, they started toward the guys. No one spoke, so Russ did.

“Can we help you boys?”

Les smiled at Russ. “Just checking the area for supplies. Stores are empty, ya know? Didn’t want any trouble, man. We check to make sure the house is empty first, so we don’t take someone else’s stuff, you know?”

Russ nodded. “Yeah, I know, but just because someone isn’t home, doesn’t mean they won’t be. What happens if they make it home, and you took all their supplies? How do they eat, feed their kids? What right do you have to take other people’s things?”

Russ was getting fired up. He hated thieves. Les took a defensive stance.

“Hey man, we ain’t hurtin’ nobody. You know as sure as we do that if they ain’t home by now, they probably ain’t gettin’ home. Someone’s going to get this stuff sometime. It might as well be us. We didn’t know anybody was on this street, except those assholes over there.”

He motioned with his head back to the Baxters. As he turned to look, he saw Bob coming out of his house, with his pistol holstered, and his shotgun in his hands. How’d he get over there? They’d find out later, but Russ grinned and gave his best friend a nod. Bob nodded back, but his look was all business.

Les quickly figured out they were evenly matched, maybe even in a deficit, and they were covered front and back. Russ and Brian both had their hands resting on their pistols.

Bob spoke up from behind them. “I think you boys should get in your truck and move on. You’ve done all the ‘shopping’ you’re going to do on this street. You get me?”

Les looked at all three men and slowly nodded. He motioned to Joe and Mac.

“Yeah, we’ll be movin’ on now. You fellas have a good day now, ya hear?”

They backed away, keeping our guys in their line of sight, but making no moves for their weapons. Good move, or lack thereof, dirt bags. They loaded up, turned around, and left the neighborhood. They didn’t look back.

Bob walked over and met Russ and Brian in our yard. He grinned at them.

“You guys didn’t think I was gonna let you have all the fun, did you?”

Russ slapped him on the back. “Nice situational awareness, brother. Thanks for the backup. Let’s get these houses locked down again, and get a meeting going ASAP. Unless something changes, we head out in the morning. First thing.”