When the Power Is Gone: A Powerless World - Book 1 (17 page)

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We got close to the next exit, and Russ slowed down again. He got back on the radio.

“Guys, I think if we can get past this one, we should be in a better area. This exit is the last of the ‘burbs, so I doubt the bad guys will be working their way south. My guess is they are concentrating on the places where there are multiple homes, more choices, more stuff. I say if it looks clear, we get a mile or so past this exit, then look for that stopping spot. Cool?”

“That’s a big 10-4, good buddy. I need to drain the lizard. OW! Damn, Sugar! That hurt!”

Russ and I both busted out laughing at that, because we saw it happen: Janet smacked Bob for the crude remark. Could have been a head shot, arm, gut – it didn’t matter, she would have gotten him good.

“Thank you for the laugh, Janet. Good shot, wherever you got him. Seriously, stay sharp, gang. Yell out if you see anything.”

Russ proceeded, slow but steady, toward the exit. I was trying to look in every direction at once. Just then, Brian came on the radio.

“Russ! I see people down the ramp on the right side!”

Russ grabbed the radio. “How many? Do you see any weapons? What are they doing?”

To me, he said, “Anne, see if you can see anything on your side.”

I looked over the edge of the overpass we were almost on. I saw maybe half a dozen men, a couple of women, and four or five kids, toddler to young teen. They were all looking toward us, but no one was making any move to come our way, or bring any weapons to bear. I relayed all that to Russ, and right after that Brian came on the radio and said almost the exact same thing.

“Okay, if they don’t want any trouble, we sure as hell don’t, so just keep an eye on them, and we’ll keep going.”

Just then, Brian was on the radio again. “Russ, I think I see Sean Scanlin down there. I’m almost positive it’s him!”

Russ slowed to a stop. “If it’s them, they didn’t get very far. Let’s find out for sure. We told them we’d watch for them and give them a ride out to their friends’ place, or as close as we could get them. Let’s pull over. Everybody stay alert though. We’re outnumbered.”

Bob pulled over behind our rig. Brian got out and waved down to the people.

“Sean? It’s Brian Riggins. We met a few days ago. Are you guys alright?”

Sean looked up, and with a big grin on his face, started up the ramp.

“Brian! Russ! I was hoping we’d see you guys again! You coming down here, or do you want us to come up to you?”

Brian looked at Russ, who was already shaking his head.

“No, we’ll come down to you. Give us a minute.”

Russ went to Bob and Janet. “Brian and I will go down, since we know them, and we’ll take Anne, for the female aspect. The rest of you stay up here. Don’t leave the vehicles. Janet, you take the rear; Bob, you take point, and put the boys on either side. Keep an eye out for anything suspicious, or out of place. It looks pretty safe but don’t take any chances.”

Bob nodded and directed everyone to their posts. Marietta went to the rear with Janet. The rest of us started down the ramp, side arms visible.

The men were alert, herding the women and children together and behind them. Good for them. Placing themselves between their loved ones and danger was a good sign, a sign that they were good people. Russ was in the lead, with me behind him, and Brian bringing up the rear, all watching the group, but keeping an eye on the surrounding area as well. Russ held his hand out to Sean as he approached them.

“Sean, so good to see you again. I’m glad you and your family are well – well, as well as can be expected in this new reality. How are you all doing? I see you’ve found some others to travel with. Very good move. Hi, I’m Russ Mathews. This is my wife, Anne, and our friend, Brian.”

Russ made the introductions, as the other men came forward and shook our hands. The women and children stayed back, but seemed to relax a bit.

Sean took over.

“Russ, Brian, this is Ryan, and his brother Bill; Pete, Mike and Lee. They lived in this area, about a mile from here. Sara is Pete’s wife. They have one son, Tony. Lee has two kids, Moira and Aiden. His wife, Jackie, never made it home from work.”

Russ shook hands all around, and paused at Lee.

“I am so sorry for your loss. I don’t know what I would have done if Anne hadn’t still been at home when it happened.”

Lee acknowledged the sentiment with tear filled eyes.

“Thank you. I still can’t believe she didn’t come home. We waited for four days, but there was no sign of her. We ran out of food and had to leave the house. I still have hope, but I know it’s probably fruitless.”

A single tear ran down his cheek. Unashamedly, he wiped it away. I wiped a few away as well. I couldn’t imagine going through this without Russ, and I knew he felt the same. Aiden was older, probably 10, and Moira looked to be about six or seven. They were as clean as could be expected in this situation. I was impressed. All of them looked tired, but not hungry, and semi clean. Apparently they had been doing alright so far.

“Hi kids. I’m Anne. How are you guys doing? Have you eaten today?”

I looked expectantly at Sara. She smiled, and shook her head.

“Not yet. We were just about to try to find some greens or something in the woods there. We had a rabbit stew last night, so no one is starving.”

I nodded, and took her hand.

“How about we all have something to eat? We have some supplies in the trucks, and it looks like it’s probably about lunchtime. What do you think, Russ?”

He gave us a tight smile. “I think that would be a great idea. I have a huge hankering for some peanut butter and crackers. How about you guys?”

He looked at the kids, who all had eyes as big as saucers.

“You have peanut butter, mister?”

It was Tony who spoke up first. If you were a kid and had been eating off the land for a week or so, peanut butter would probably be the stuff dreams were made of. I must admit, there were times I craved it, and nothing but a big tablespoon of it would suffice. It was also high protein and high calorie, something these folks would need. He leaned down to Tony’s level.

“We do, and if you guys will go over there and take a seat in the shade, we’ll bring some to you.”

I looked at Sara, and she smiled and nodded. I headed up the ramp.

While I went to get the food, Russ got the story on the Scanlins and the rest of the group. The Scanlins had done as Russ advised and stayed to the woods. They hadn’t come upon any others until they got to this area. They ran into Mike Thomas, who was hunting for game to eat.

After the initial shock of finding each other, they shared their stories. Mike was a single guy, who worked nights. He had just gotten home when the grid went down. He told them he was with a group, but they didn’t have much in the way of supplies. Sean relayed to Mike where they were trying to get to, the Callen farm, and suggested perhaps they work together to get there. Sean told him he couldn’t say for certain that they would be able to stay, but the Callens had a large farm, and he felt there was room for more, if there weren’t others already there. Mike asked about the rest of the group, and Sean said they could all travel together, since as a group they would be safer, and worry about the rest when they got there. Almost everyone in their group had handguns, rifles, and shotguns. This is Tennessee, after all. They did not have an abundance of ammo, though. Maybe a thousand rounds, total between all of them. Who needed to stockpile ammo? The sporting goods store was right down the road. Until SHTF – then, what you had was it.

Mike told him that Ryan and Bill Lawton, the brothers, ran a landscaping service together. They had just pulled out with their truck and trailer when the pulse hit and stopped them dead in the road. Over the course of the day, they managed to push/pull the truck and trailer and get it back in their driveway, where it was still sitting. Pete and Sara Raines lived next door to Mike, and the Lawton brothers lived across the street. Lee Roush and his family lived next door to them. They weren’t close friends before, but they were “talk across the fence” neighbors, and when everything went down, none of them had any long-term supplies. After the second day, they got together and checked empty houses on their street. There were quite a few. Unfortunately, it was a neighborhood full of young couples, who ate a lot of take out and microwavable food, and there wasn’t a lot of that either. Being a prepper, I couldn’t believe people lived with no more than a day or two of food in their house. If our house had been safe, or at least defendable, we could have easily lived a year or more off the food we had stored. But then I also thought: what would we have had if Russ hadn’t made me see the light?

When Sean told Mike about the Callen farm, he took the Scanlin family back with him to their street. After a group meeting, they all decided they would try to get there together. They had literally just started out this morning, stopping here to decide the best course of action and route to take. I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. It was more than fate that they just happened to be here, with people we (well, Russ and Brian) knew, and pretty much heading the same way we were. Big question: how were we going to get eleven more people in our vehicles, that were already packed to the gills, and then some? I knew we were going to take them with us – I just didn’t know how we were going to do it.

I brought food and water down for the group. Russ had gone up to talk to Bob, to try to figure out how we could get them out to the Callen farm, or at least as far as our farm. Bob posed a question.

“Are there any older vehicles in the area? Maybe we can find one, hot wire it, and they could use that. I mean, we might be able to take a couple more, if we dump a few things on the side of the road, and you might be able to take a couple in the bed of your truck, if they agree to hold a chicken pen. But there’s no way we get them all in these two vehicles.”

Russ thought for a second, then looked back down at the group. “They seem like good people. Lord knows there’s going to be fewer and fewer of those around. The fact that they grouped up means they understand that they’re stronger that way. I’d like to get them out to the Callen farm, or maybe even ours. We know we’re going to need more people to secure it. Let’s see if we can find another ride. In the meantime, let’s back up and take the rigs down there. That way, we can all stay together, and these vehicles are not sitting up here for anybody to see.”

They went to the trucks, backed up, and drove down the ramp. Everyone else walked down. Not knowing how long it would take to get to the farm, and how long we might be cooped up in the trucks, we took the opportunity to stretch our legs.

After they got the rigs down the ramp, Russ and Bob went to the guys in the group.

“Do you guys know of any older cars or trucks, like ours, in the area? We want to take you with us, but we don’t have room for this many people. If we could find an older truck, or SUV, or even a station wagon, we could probably get everybody in, between the three.”

The guys looked at each other, and Ryan and Bill seemed to think of something simultaneously. They both said at the same time, “Charlie!”

We all looked at them, not understanding. They grinned, and Bill filled us in.

“Charlie Hotchkins lived on the other side of us. He was an old guy, and not very friendly. He was out west to see his kids and grandkids, though as crotchety as he was, I can’t believe they wanted him to visit.”

We all snickered, and he went on. “He has a, like 1970, Ford LTD station wagon. The thing is a bus. It’s covered up in his garage. Last time he cranked it, it ran like a champ. He did that at least once a month. Would that work?”

Russ smiled and nodded. “That would be perfect. Why didn’t you guys think of that before?”

Bill had a sheepish look on his face. “I never thought about the older cars running. Everyone out by us had newer rides. I guess when I saw you guys in your trucks, something clicked in the back of my mind that the bus was out there and might run. We can walk back and get it – shouldn’t take more than an hour.”

Bob addressed Bill. “Do you know how to hot wire a car? I’m guessing you don’t have a key for it.”

Bill looked at Bob, then his brother Ryan. “No man, I got no idea how to do that. Do you guys know?”

Bob grinned at him. “Son, you might not have noticed, but we were kind of ready for something like this to happen. Hot wiring 101 was a required course for this event. I’m going to say we drop my trailer, grab some tools, and drive over. Sound good?”

They all agreed that was a great plan. Bob and Russ dropped Bob’s trailer at the curb. Bob, Bill, Ryan, and Brian headed out to get the wagon. The rest of us stood, stretched, and got to know each other better. We already knew the Lawton brothers were landscapers. We learned Pete was a trucker, who had just gotten back the day before the pulse from a run, and wasn’t due to head out again for two days. His wife Sara was a teacher, but Tony had been down with a cold, and she had called out that day to stay home and take care of him. Mike was a machinist, in a big factory in the city, and had literally just gotten home when the pulse hit. Lee was a carpenter, self-employed like Russ. His wife was an executive secretary and had been called in early for a board meeting for her boss. She would have been in the downtown area when the pulse hit, at least 30 miles from here. In pumps and a business suit, I couldn’t imagine she could have found a way to get home. Thirty miles might as well be 300 without the right clothes and supplies, especially for a woman, alone, with no way to defend herself, in a lawless world. If she hadn’t made it back by now, chances were slim to none she would. If she was still alive…I didn’t want to think what her life had become.