If we were traveling in a straight line, it would be fifteen hundred miles. But it wasn’t a straight shot. We had to pick up Melissa Ayersman in Little Rock. She was an agricultural specialist. Craig Milton, a brilliant doctor and scientist in St. Louis, then finally Peter Fleishmann outside of Columbus.
The other specialist, an electrical engineer was supposed to go to the shelter and prepare the facility in the final hours.
Each person we picked up was to have enough gas to get us to the next location.
The trip, without problems would take twenty-six hours.
Not a problem if we left on time.
But the day we were supposed to go, the 1975 Volkswagen van, or rather as it was called a bus, wouldn’t start.
As decked out and redone as it was inside, the engine failed for some reason and I took it to the nearest shop. Parts had to be ordered.
“Another week or so,” said the Mechanic. “I’m sorry. But you’ll be on the road soon.”
Little did he know, we didn’t have another week.
The day I spoke to the mechanic was the last day I spoke to Tony. He had to hunker down. I wished he would have said goodbye because we actually had started to become friends.
My final phone call from Gil motivated me.
Jackson had finished wrapping the radio system parts all individually in foil.
I had packed all the rations that I had made along with six gallons of water. We were going to leave, van or not, and try our best to get to the bunker.
My plan was to call the three passengers en route and tell them to bring the minimum and only what was needed. It was going to be a tight squeeze.
We would get there. We had two days. As long as everything stayed sane, we would be fine.
I didn’t know how we would fit our belongings in the car along with everyone else. I took what clothes I could, along with photographs and keepsakes.
“You ready?” I asked Jackson, who placed the last of his items in a suitcase.
“We’re leaving?’
“We have to. You wrapped and protected all your musical stuff, right?”
“I did.” Jackson sighed out. “I’m scared Mom.”
“Yeah, me, too. We’re going to have to leave a lot of the gas behind. I need you to secure what we can to the roof.”
Jackson nodded and stood. “What about Dad?”
“Dad’s probably already been evacuated to wherever they are taking the President.”
“How do you know?”
“The news just reported he was taking a few days off for the flu. That tells me…” A knock at my door drew my attention. “Finish up. We leave in ten minutes.”
Jackson nodded.
I hadn’t a clue who would be there. Imagine my surprise when I opened the door and Tony stood there.
“Tony?” I questioned. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m sorry it took so long. I had to find a pre-computer van that ran.”
“You’re supposed to be up north.”
“I thought about this. I know where I’m supposed to be. And I am going against every rule set forth. But I know the best chance for long term survival and for life is at Lillyville. That’s where I need to be. That’s where I need…” He pointed back to the van that sat in my driveway. “That’s where I need her to be.”
I looked beyond Tony to the van, and standing next to it was a little girl no older than five.
“She is what is important to me. I need my daughter to go to Lillyville. I need her to live.”
It took me by surprise and took my breath away, Tony never mentioned he had a daughter. “Absolutely.” I said. “She goes. You go. There’s plenty of room.”
“Thank you. I’ll go get the gas cans. Are you ready?”
“We’re ready.” As Tony turned from me, I stopped him. “Tony. Just know I am really glad you’re going with us. I feel much better.”
Tony nodded. “I owe you for letting her go. I won’t let you down.”
“I know you won’t.”
“Get ready, we have to move.” Tony said as he headed to my garage. “News is going to break tonight. God knows what we’ll run into.”
The news was going to break? I was surprised it hadn’t already. Despite the fact that internet speculation had increased, NASA and the government adamantly denied an impact was imminent.
If it was going to be made official, I feared what we’d run into.
I only hoped we could make some distance before all hell broke loose.
And it would.
11 – THE ROAD
Interstate 20 East
The longest leg of the journey was the first one to Little Rock, Arkansas to pick up Melissa who was to be waiting at a research trailer on the grounds of Hansen Foods.
The trip under normal conditions would take a little over nine hours. We had enough gas to make it to Little Rock, with some in the cans to spare. Not much. Melissa was to have additional cans to get us to the next stop.
Tony found a good means of transportation. The van, while older, had been redone by some band. There were plenty of seats and enough open space for bags.
We left my home at ten in the morning, and should have, by all accounts, arrived in Lillyville by noon the next day. A full twenty-four hours before the comet was to strike.
Enough time to help foil man finish wrapping and get situated.
Tony’s daughter was a miniature picture of him. She was five years old with long dark hair. She seemed sweet, but I could tell she had his sarcastic attitude. I felt bad that I didn’t know he had a daughter.
“You didn’t ask,” Tony said.
“I did. I did. Remember? It was after I asked if you were married and you said if you were would we be dating? Then I asked if you had any kids and you said you wanted to play video games with Jackson. You avoided the question.”
“Maybe you should have I asked why,” Tony said.
“I didn’t want to press it. I thought maybe you had a testicle problem or something.”
He looked at me with a glance of shock and some disgust.
“Tell me again,” Jackson poked his head between the seats. “Why we can’t go straight there.”
“Joie.” Tony simply answered then indicted his daughter. “She’s here right? Why? Because I knew about Lillyville. The fear was if they knew where it was and they were responsible for going, they would bring people with them. If I, of all people, broke the rules, so would they. It’s human nature to want to protect the ones you love. So they don’t know where it is. To survive they are reliant on being where we tell them to be at the time.”
“The other guy is going there. The electrical guy.” Jackson said. “What made him special?”
“He knew where it was all along,” Tony answered. “He actually was the one that designed all of the systems for the three bunkers. Lillyville was his working space. If the preventive measures taken for EMPs fail, we blame him.”
“Not a lot of faith in him,” I mumbled. “Considering we bought stock in aluminum foil.”
“Back up to a back up. Plus, the guy lived close and had no family. He’s there. We made sure we did a background check on everyone before they started working with us. Prime candidates weren’t married or had children.”
Tony continued the conversation with Jackson. One of which was how, once we hit Ohio, we’d be able to communicate with the bunker with our radio systems. Until then, we were in the dark with them.
Jackson and Tony got along really well. On the ‘sleep over’ nights, Tony and Jackson were up all night playing games while I studied and learned.
It was on my mind day in and day out.
Of course, weighing in was how incredibly uncomfortable I was with how fast Tony drove. His child was in the car, and even though we were making great time, all it would take was to get pulled over and we’d lose that time.