“Somebody would have shot you, stabbed you, or hurt your parents to get that truck,” Mike said.
“It’s okay, Chris,” the boy’s father said, putting his hand on his son’s shoulder, and with that the fight went out of him.
“We made it all this way,” Chris said.
“You should have stayed off the highways. That’s where most people will turn to when they travel. It’s large, familiar, and if other people are traveling it’s possible for them to get a ride,” Mike said.
“There were so many people begging us for rides. My parents kept yelling for me to stop, to pick some of them up, but I knew what would happen if I did,” Chris said.
“You did the right thing,” Mike replied.
As the five of them walked along the road Mike saw him glance back at his parents, shuffling along the highway next to Ulysses. The boy’s father had his arm around his mom while Ulysses chewed their ear off about last night’s Pirates game.
“They’re not going to make it,” Chris said.
“Don’t count them out just yet,” Mike said.
Mike was speaking about Chris’s parents, but looking at his dad.
The sun sank lower in the sky the further they moved west. The orange ball in front of them spread its colors across the sky in pinks, reds, and fading blues. Chris’s exit came up and they parted ways.
“Good luck, Mike,” Chris said.
“You too.”
Ulysses shook both of Chris’ parents’ hands. They turned onto the off ramp that would take them to Chris’ girlfriend’s house. Mike watched the couple grasp each other’s hands and follow their son’s lead. He wanted them to make it. He wanted them to survive.
Mike and Ulysses were about an hour away from home when they came across the blue Chevy truck turned on its side. Blood and bullet holes riddled the windshield. The mob that had attacked it didn’t know why the car was working, they just saw it and panicked, but Mike knew.
The truck that had worked was too old to have any computer chips in it. That’s why it ran, but the masses didn’t care about that. They just wanted something to work, without understanding why.
Across the dashboard, slumped over the wheel of the truck, Mike recognized the back of the Steeler jersey. Mike kept his eyes forward and the smoke rising from the wreckage grew smaller behind them.
Home
The sun had completely disappeared from the sky when Mike and Ulysses turned onto 24th Street. Most of the driveways were empty. The windows along the street were dark. There was only one dim light coming from down the street: his house.
Mike felt himself running. His feet lost their pain. His face lost its weariness. His body lost its fatigue. He ran up the driveway digging into his pockets for the keys, fumbling them in the lock and thrusting the door open.
“Anne? Kalen? Freddy?” Mike shouted.
Mike looked up and saw Anne lean over the railing on the second floor. He watched her face fade from a smile to shock. Her feet thumped against the steps as she rushed down to him.
“Oh my god. Mike, are you all right? What happened?” she asked.
Her hands touched the dried blood on his shirt. She touched gingerly, looking for a wound that wasn’t there.
“I’m fine. The blood it’s not mi—”
Mike stopped. He pictured Garry’s lifeless body covered with the white sheet where underneath his green eyes were open, unmoving, frozen.
“It’s not mine,” he finished
Mike gently leaned his forehead against hers. The candles in the foyer barely lit the features on her face, but he already knew every line of it with his eyes closed.
“Are you and the kids okay?” Mike asked.
“Yeah, we’re fine. The kids are a little restless. Mike, what’s going on? Nothing’s working. The phones, laptops, cars, everything’s dead.”
“I know. You didn’t try and take the Jeep out did you?” Mike asked.
“No, why? Would it work?”
“Yes, but let’s keep that to ourselves for now, okay?”
“What makes you think it will work?”
“It doesn’t have any computer chips in it.”
He watched her face process what he said, then saw her hand slowly cover her mouth in realization of what that meant.
“Jesus,” she said.
“I hope you’ve got room for one more,” Ulysses said, finally catching up with Mike.
Anne composed herself and hurried over to Ulysses, wrapping her arms around him.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” Anne said.
Ulysses kissed the top of her head.
“Still breathing. How are you and the kids holding up?” he asked.
“Well, Freddy went over to Sean’s house and Kalen’s at Malory’s,” Anne said.
“Shouldn’t Kalen be here? She’s grounded,” Mike said.
“What’s she going to do over there, Mike? Everything she’s grounded from doesn’t work,” Anne replied. “And besides, she was driving me nuts.”
“I’m going to change upstairs and then bring the kids home. Will you set up the guest room for dad?” Mike asked.
“The couch will suit me just fine,” Ulysses replied.
“I’ll have the spare room ready in no time,” Anne said.
Mike walked down to Sean’s house to grab his son. He didn’t mind Sean, but his father, Nelson, was a man he could never understand. They just didn’t have anything in common.
When Mike rapped his knuckles on the front door he could hear the shouts of the two boys running around inside the house. Nelson answered and smiled.
“Mike!”
“Hi, Nelson. I’ve come to collect Frankenstein’s monster.”
Freddy came running by the front door. His head was hidden inside a cardboard box that had two eyeholes cut out and a wide, toothy mouth drawn across it.
“Dad!”
Freddy rushed toward his father. Mike lifted him up in the air and tilted the box up to see his son’s face.
“Hey, buddy.”
“Dad, the power went out and then Kalen got really mad because she couldn’t look at pictures of James, the boy she likes, and then I told her that she should just stand outside of his window and drool at him there and then she threw her phone at me and Mom yelled at her and then she screamed about how she hated living here and that when she moves to New York the power will never go out, but I don’t mind the power being out because I got to be outside all day.”
“I’m glad you’re making the best of it.”
Mike turned to Nelson.
“I appreciate you watching him, Nelson.”
“It’s no trouble. He’s welcome to come over any time, but umm, Mike, before you go,” Nelson said, stepping outside the house and closing the door behind him.
Mike stood, still holding Freddy in his arm. He watched Nelson fold his arms across his chest. He was worried.
“Do you know what’s going on?” Nelson asked.
“No.”
Mike wasn’t sure why he lied, or why he answered so quickly, but when the words left him, he felt a pang of guilt in his stomach.
“It’s just… I haven’t been able to reach Katie on her cell. It’s like everything’s fried,” Nelson replied.
The flashbacks from the mobs in the streets popped into Mike’s mind. He remembered the smell of blood and heat from the hospital, the rush of panic spreading through everyone in the city.
“I’m sure she’s fine, Nelson.”
“I know. I just worry.”
Mike knew that Katie was some sort of vice president at a company. It was a large corporation, so he figured she must have had some sort of security detail with her. He thought that would at least give her a chance.
“Well, you guys have a good night,” Nelson said.
“You too,” Mike said.
“Bye, Sean,” Freddy said, waving his arm wildly at his friend through the front window.