Kyle agreed and slowly walked backward and away from Richard’s body as he stared at the carnage.
Chapter Thirteen
In the heat of the late afternoon sun, the men met the river’s edge at Omaha. They stepped out of the rafts onto loamy soil, and dragged their belongings into the concealment of a small grove of trees. Shrubbery helped to conceal the rafts after they covered them with tarps and buried them with dirt from the riverbank. Robert stepped back, adjusted the fit of his rifle, and paced around the three buried rafts.
“Does it look good?” asked Kyle.
“It looks good. But I don’t know about the clouds coming in. If we get a bad storm, maybe strong winds and rain could blow the cover away.” Robert pointed to the horizon. Dark clouds were visible and the air was thick with humidity. The skies looked like rain was on the way and the distant wall of clouds looked ominous.
Kyle put on the backpack and adjusted the straps. “If it rains, the dirt will get heavy. I don’t think it’ll blow around. It should stay concealed.” Kyle removed his pistol, verified that there was no cartridge in the chamber, and engaged the safety.
Robert came back around the rafts, and spoke as he did. “I’m worried about dogs, too. I can only imagine how many dogs are loose now. They’re going to form packs and prowl around, hunting. If they get near our equipment, they may smell the food we left in the rafts. What if they dig it out and tear apart our rafts?”
“We don’t have any other options. If someone stays to watch this stuff, we’re split up. That’s not a good idea, either. Let’s hurry, get in and get out,” said Kyle, as he was adjusting the heavily loaded backpack for the search to find his wife.
Robert, scanning the urban landscape with cautious eyes, asked, “Which way?”
Pointing in a westerly direction, Kyle said, “Follow me.”
The tall buildings of the downtown area were just beginning to silhouette in the setting sun. One of them was still smoldering from a recent fire. Other billows of smoke, from sporadic fires in the area, could be seen in the distance. Kyle pointed in a direction that would take them out of the loamy soil and onto rough open grassland near a railroad-switching yard. Walking through the massive rail yard would put them directly on course to enter the concrete jungle ahead of them. The two men walked away from their buried rafts and out of the sandy dirt toward the railway complex. After spending so much time rowing and paddling on the water, walking on the rough ground felt awkward. Their pace was cautiously slow as they advanced, carefully scanning the path ahead and frequently checking what was behind them.
Kyle stopped walking and looked at Robert briefly, then turned and looked back at the river. He said, “I never did thank you.”
“For what?”
“Getting a plan together that worked. Look how far we’ve made it.” Kyle paused and pointed toward the city. “I made it home alive, and you offered to get me out of this place and will let me stay with you, too. If all this hadn’t happened just like it did, I can’t help but think I would have ended up like Richard.”
Robert visibly cringed at the thought of what happened to Richard, and said, “Don’t thank me for anything. We’re a team and I’d like to think we’re just working together for survival. As for Richard, what’s done is done. I don’t want to talk about it. I‘m more interested in getting your wife, and then getting out of here. I’m happy we’re here, but don’t forget, the journey isn’t over. We have quite a distance left to go and I’m not with my family yet.”
Kyle adjusted the backpack and looked toward the city. His body language said he was finished talking. Nothing else was said as they continued to walk toward the railroad tracks. A large pile of debris, mostly composed of railroad ties, was in their path, obstructing the view ahead. As they walked around the stack of railroad ties, Robert saw something moving in the distance. He saw motion around the stalled railroad cars. There were miles of stranded freight cars in this complex. It must have served as a railroad hub. Robert extended his arm and gestured for Kyle to get behind the stacked railroad ties.
“I see movement ahead. There’s a lot of motion behind the railroad cars. Get the binoculars out of the backpack,” said Robert, in a hushed tone.
Kyle had already slipped the backpack off and was getting the binoculars before Robert was finished asking for them. Robert peeked into the open backpack as Kyle was removing the binoculars.
“Hand grenades. You aren’t kidding around today. How many did you bring?” Robert asked.
Kyle answered silently with two fingers. He pointed to Robert and then to himself indicating one for each.
Robert smirked. “Nice of you to share,” he muttered, as he turned the binoculars toward the stalled railroad cars. “I see people. They must be raiding the freight cars. Some are on top of the cars. It looks like they’re throwing something out… it’s too small to see what it is. Here, take a look around.”
Robert handed Kyle the binoculars. Just as Kyle began to focus, they both heard the sound of firearms coming from the direction of the railroad cars. Kyle quickly lowered the binoculars and looked around.
“I heard it. It’s coming from straight ahead. That’s right in our path,” said Robert, angrily.
Kyle pointed to an alternate direction to get to his apartment and wife. They needed to keep moving to avoid traveling in the dark of night. He had just begun to explain the detour to Robert when dozens of people from behind the railroad cars began to run in their direction.
Robert tapped Kyle on the shoulder and pointed to the obvious. Kyle had already seen the throng headed toward them. Robert chambered a round in his rifle and placed the stock against his shoulder. “Get ready… stand your ground, Kyle.”
“Hold it. They aren’t running at us. They are running away from something. They must be running from the shots we heard,” Kyle said, as he put his hand on Robert’s rifle and lowered the barrel.
“You’re right, Kyle. Look at them. They look sick and weak; they must be starving. There are children out there, too. We got caught in the middle of something. We need to go, now.”
As the people fled from the railroad and got farther away, they began to scatter in different directions. Robert and Kyle remained hidden behind the railroad ties. A middle-aged woman and a young boy continued in their direction. The woman was running as fast as she could, but appeared to have an injured leg. She was limping badly. The young boy tried to help her move as she leaned on his shoulder while running away. In their panic, the woman and boy did not notice the two men hiding behind the railroad ties. She could not run anymore and wanted to hide there. When the starving pair got near to the pile, Robert and Kyle stood up. The woman instantly stopped, frozen in fear, as she saw the two men with a rifle and a pistol, directly in front of them.
“Please don’t kill us,” the woman pleaded. The young boy began to cry. “There’s so much of it. We just need a little coal to boil water and cook what little food we have.”
Robert looked at the woman’s leg. She had been shot. Both the woman and young boy were covered in black coal dust. “Lady, we’re not going to kill you,” said Robert, as he pointed the rifle down.
“If you’re hiding from someone over there, you better get on the other side of this pile,” said Kyle.
The young boy stopped crying and looked up at the woman, who was still frozen with fear.
“Lady, you and the kid better get over here.” Robert motioned to their position behind the pile of railroad ties. “You better sit down.” He then gestured toward the wound on her leg.