“We all did. Good boy. Good drawing.”
“Thanks. I’m putting them in the box with that rock.”
“Figured out that rock yet?”
Tyler shook his head.
“Did you read the paperwork in the box?”
Tyler gave another negative shake of his head. “Not yet. I was trying to figure it out on my own.”
“I see. Well, have Rick take you to Miss Sims. She’s been teaching the kids. Have her give you one of her history books.” Harry winked.
“Ah,” Tyler whined. “You said I didn’t have to do the school.”
“I’m not saying you do. But it will help you figure out the rock, and maybe make a friend.”
“I have you, Harry.”
Harry smiled. “Yep you do. But don’t you wanna play?”
“Not really.” Tyler shook his head. “It’s not fun playing inside.”
“Makes sense. But you need rest. How about finishing that drawing in the evening? Sun’s coming up now,” Harry said. “We need to rest.”
Tyler smiled with a shake of his head.
“Why’s that funny?” Harry inched to him.
“We sleep during the day and work and play at night. We’re like vampires.”
With a ‘hmm’ Harry nodded. “I guess you’re right. But let’s gather this stuff up. Maybe I’ll let you finish the drawing at the house.”
“Okay. That’ll work. Can I eat a cookie? That nice lady gave you cookies for me.”
“Just one.” Harry held up a finger and helped Tyler gather his things.
Everyone that was in The Tap was saying their goodnights, yawning and heading to the door to get home before the sun came up.
“Harry,” Tyler asked as they headed out the door. “You think everyone sleeps during the day now?”
“On this side of the lines,” Harry said. “My God, if they don’t, they’re fools or ill informed.”
Tyler yawned as Harry grabbed his hand. He knew he wouldn’t be working on that picture too long. Tyler had adjusted to the new ‘life’ schedule. He’d be asleep before the sun was fully shining.
Lana had hurt her ankle when her bike hit a divot and veered off to the left tossing her over the hill.
For three days it was swollen and both she and Ben feared it was broken.
But days of taking anti- inflammatory medication and staying off the foot had brought the swelling and the pain down and they were finally able to move onward again.
They continued to stay within the wooded areas where they felt a lot safer. Only a few times did they see a plane and not once were they shot at.
When they finally crossed over into Massachusetts, they celebrated vocally as if they had won the super bowl.
But unfortunately, it was more of the same. No people. No noise.
They had even found a radio when they were holed up in an old house while Lana was recuperating. But that didn’t provide them any information. They heard only one station and it played bad music.
There was no news and it was as if nothing had happened.
They were peddling in their own twilight zone.
Then they saw a McDonald’s.
They had gotten off the highway and figured, even if it was closed, they would find things in there they could eat. After all, they had found things like cookies, bread and juice boxes in other McDonalds.
But when they got there they found it had been wiped clean.
The McDonald’s still had electricity but nothing remained in the freezer— not a meat patty or a bag of frozen French fries… nothing.
Even the Apple Juice boxes were gone.
Someone had cleaned out the McDonalds and it was the first time they had seen that.
Who wiped it out?
As they were leaving the establishment they saw the sign for the small town.
Agabarn – two miles.
It was down a nothing road off the highway.
Did the people in the small town wipe out their McDonald’s?
Figuring it was two more miles and what would it hurt to check it out, Lana and Ben headed to Agabarn.
Brendan opened his eyes, not because his body had rested enough to awake him, but because the continuous calling of ‘Mr. Doe’ brought him to wakefulness. He wondered who this Mr. Doe was and why he wouldn’t respond.
Last he recalled he had run into Allied forces, American soldiers, and they had taken him with them in the back of their truck.
He had fallen asleep.
“Mr. Doe.”
It was when he fully opened his eyes that he realized the soldier standing above him was talking to him.
“Are you talking to me?” Brendan asked.
“Yes, sir.”
He groaned and sat up. “My name is Brendan Lane.”
“Mr. Lane, how are you feeling? I’m Captain Weurl.”
“Groggy,” Brendan responded as he sat up., “But good.” He looked around. He was in a tent, lying on a cot. “How did I get here?”
“My men picked you up yesterday.”
“Yesterday?” Brendan freaked.
“Yes, sir, you passed out. Are you hungry?”
“Very much so., I don’t know when I ate last.”
“Good. I brought you a hot meal.” The Captain said, laying a warm brown pouch on his stomach and handing him a fork. “Hope you like ham.”
Swinging his feet to the floor, Brendan looked at the Meals Ready to Eat package and chuckled while thinking ‘warm meal.’
“Sir, I have a question to ask you.”
“Sure.” Brendan opened the pouch.
“Where did you come from?”
“Today or when I was born?”
“When my men found you,” he said. “Where were you coming from?”
“Oh, God. You’re not gonna believe this.”
“Try me.” The captain pulled up a chair.
“I was riding a train in New York. It crashed. When I came up with other survivors, everyone was dead. People in the street, in cars, everywhere I went everyone was dead.”
“You know the United States was attacked, right?”
“I figured as much and assume enemy is not friendly,” Brendan said as he took a bite. “Wow, this is good.”
“You must be hungry,” the captain said with a smile.
“I am.” Brendan took another bite. “Anyhow, they aren’t friendly; I was shot at nineteen times. But damn if I didn’t make it out of there.”
“From New York City to Boston to the ocean is occupied territory,” the Captain explained. “They did have Philly for a while, but we took it back. But you were in New York City?”
“Yes. For a couple days,” Brendan said.
“I realize you were running and trying to get out of there, but you are the only person that has made it out of New York alive. We think they are using New York as their main hub. Did you see anything there that may indicate that? This is very important.”
“Yeah, actually, I did. There were a lot of convoys, trucks, tents; it was a huge set up.”
“Do you think you can recall what all you saw?” the Captain asked.
“I can do better than that,” Brendan said. “I can tell you where it is.”
On that, the Captain smiled.
Foster hadn’t a clue how long he had been sleeping, but he woke with a start and to the sound of children laughing and playing. He sat up. A blanket that smelled kind of musty had been covering him and he was asleep on a sofa in what looked like a recreation room from 1950.
A little girl looked up at him as he sat up.
“You were snoring,” she giggled and ran off.
Where was he? Where was Judith? He knew he was safe. After helping Manny and the others load the truck, they had driven somewhere beyond Brunswick, New Jersey. They had pulled into an underground parking facility. On the bottom level was a hole in the wall. It looked as if it were just made.
“We’ll cover that with the box truck,” Manny told him, “after we get everything inside.”