“Thank you,” John said gratefully. “You three strike me as family men.”
“We are,” one of them in dress pants and a white shirt replied. “I was leaving for work when everything just shut down.”
“Everything with a computer chip, that is. All you need to do is look around to see the proof of what I’m saying. I suggest each of you grab a wheelbarrow and head to the local market for supplies. Best to do it now before everything’s gone. If any of you have an older car, say something built before 1980 and preferably with a diesel engine, it may still run.”
“Doesn’t Gary Henderson have that old MGB?”
“Yeah, he’s got a couple old cars.”
“Maybe you men can work something out with Gary. Barter for the use of one of his cars. Gold might work or offer a skill if you have one.”
“Seems a bit premature for all of that, doesn’t it?” the man in the suit said. He was probably some sort of lawyer or office worker. A skillset which would be useless in the coming months. “I mean, we’ll all feel a little foolish when they get things running again.”
“When who gets things running again?” John asked. He didn’t have time to chitchat, but he was working to accomplish two goals. First, divert the men’s focus from his truck to some other means of transport and second, offer them advice that might just save their lives. They didn’t seem dangerous, but desperate people didn’t always think straight. “Feel free to keep waiting,” John said, “but whatever’s going on has affected the entire city, maybe even the whole country. Please don’t take this personally, but I’m gonna ask that you three gentlemen back away a few paces while I get in my truck.”
They looked at him with confusion.
John dropped his hand to the pistol grip sticking out of his pants.
The men backed away. He got into Betsy and before closing the door said, “Thank you very much, gentlemen. God bless and good luck.”
They nodded, still not entirely sure what had just happened.
John started the engine and left. He didn’t get further than a few houses before he saw Diane talking with a group of people. They watched him approach and sudden recognition lit her eyes when she realized that it was him. She came at once, carrying her high heels as she walked across the lawn. John leaned over and unlocked the door so she could get in.
“Oh, honey, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.” She leaned over and hugged him tight.
He was putting the truck in gear when she said, “Hold on. I can’t just leave the Shaws.”
“Who are the Shaws?”
“The young couple I was showing the house to.”
“Diane, I’d like to help them, but we don’t have time. We’ve got to get Gregory and Emma from school and then hit the grocery store before they’re cleaned out.”
“You think it’s that serious?” The rising fear in her face was starting to show for the first time.
“If you only knew.”
Diane glanced out the window at the Shaws and he knew her heart was heavy. She was a good Christian woman, always eager and willing to help anyone in need, but in a situation like this, chauffeuring people around Knoxville was only going to endanger her family. It was a dilemma John had already faced a half-dozen times since taking Betsy out of the garage. Sure, it would have been nice to help as many stranded motorists as he could. But then what would happen when things got too dangerous to risk leaving the city? The shock that had stunned and perhaps tranquilized most of the population into temporary docility wasn’t going to last much longer.
They left Cedar Bluff and headed to pick up the kids at West High School. With so many high-school kids running around it was going to be difficult to find Emma and Gregory, but the school’s emergency protocol was to send the kids to the football field in orderly groups. Hard to imagine any evacuation going off well without the principal being able to use the intercom.
John and Diane were approaching Interstate 40 when his wife gasped. A second later he saw what she’d been looking at. Hundreds if not thousands of people up on the raised highway walking. They’d left their cars and had become a herd on a mass migration. At once it made John think of 9/11 and the thousands who’d fled Manhattan by foot across the Brooklyn Bridge.
Neither of them knew where the crowd was heading, but one of the off-ramps led to Sequoyah Hills. Surely at least a small portion of the mass would divert in search of supplies and a way home.
“We’ve got to hurry,” John said, gripping the steering wheel and pushing the Blazer.
Chapter 7
They were driving south along Hollywood Road when they came to the accident. A pileup was probably a better way of putting it, since at least a dozen cars in both directions had collided once their engines had cut off. By now many of those involved had simply left their cars and walked away.
On one side was a narrow sidewalk next to a short stone wall. On the other was a field, but there wasn’t enough room for the truck to pass by. The only other road that cut under the interstate wasn’t for miles and the highway was little more than a sea of pedestrians.
“We’ll need to go back to the next turnoff,” Diane said, tapping the flat of her nails against the passenger window. She was deep in thought and likely feeling the same disappointment John was.
He nudged Betsy forward.
“John, you’re not thinking of—”
“We don’t have the luxury of going around, Diane.”
She tightened her grip around the overhead grab handle. “I don’t think it’s safe.”
Betsy’s tire clearance was such that John might be able to keep his right wheels on the sidewalk while his left rolled over the stalled car blocking his path. Luckily it was a Corvette that had crashed into the opposite lane which meant the car’s low hood was facing Betsy’s front left tire.
“This is someone’s property, John. You can’t just drive over it.”
“Honey, these cars aren’t much more than hunks of metal now. Besides, if the insurance companies don’t go completely bust then he can get it repaired.”
Like nearly everyone else’s, Diane’s thinking was still in line with a society that had ceased to exist the minute the power went out.
John pressed the accelerator and Betsy lurched as the front tire hit the Corvette’s bumper.
“I’m not sure about this, John.”
In the distance, John spotted a trickle of people in business suits mixed with truck driver types and folks in casual clothing. This was the first wave descending from the raised interstate. He would have to hurry before the trickle became a flood and they blocked the street altogether.
John backed up five meters and then accelerated to build up some speed. Betsy hit the Corvette and stopped, throwing John and Diane forward in their seats. Distance wasn’t what was needed. John brought Betsy right up to the Corvette’s bumper and then slowly pressed the pedal. There was a groaning sound as the truck climbed and then rose up at a thirty-degree angle. Gravity kept Diane pinned to the passenger door.
“Hold on, honey, we’re almost there.” But the worst was about to come. The Blazer had to make it over the Corvette’s roof. Now he really pushed Betsy forward, steering back and forth to keep the truck from tipping over. A moment later they were over and Betsy’s back wheel touched pavement, rattling them both.
Diane gave him a nervous grin. “John, tell me you’ll never do that again.”
“I promise,” he replied, squeezing her hand. It was true that he’d taken a chance, but a calculated one.
Up ahead was the stream of refugees from the interstate. John honked as he slowed down to cut through them. A few threw their hands in the air, as if to say, ‘What about us?’ John simply laid on the horn and inched forward. He’d seen similar crowds after football and hockey games let out in big cities. It didn’t matter if the light was red, pedestrians would surge across the street anyway. These people were on their way home as well, but the main difference was they were getting there on foot. And judging by the looks on their faces, home was the only thing they cared about. The fear hadn’t quite materialized just yet. For some it was an adventure. For others, simply an annoyance. Once they realized the nightmare was real and they weren’t going to wake up from it, the real fear would settle in.