“Where are we going?” Foster asked.
“Gonna educate you,” Manny told him. “I was recently educated myself. Back in the cold war, civil defense was ready for nuclear war. They built fallout shelters, stocked them and then the threat left and they were kind of abandoned. They weren’t cleared out though. Well, most weren’t; they were resupplied periodically.”
“So you found one?”
“Miss Betty told us about it. She works for the county. Our camp is occupying the three shelters in this area. We use the one under the court house as the main one. All of them can be accessed from this garage. We cover our entrances with trucks.”
Manny explained to Foster that a lot of people tried to leave New Jersey when the attacks occurred. But then continuous airstrikes were killing a lot of people. Miss Betty lived in Manny’s apartment complex and she had given him the idea of going to the shelters to be safe. Within days, they were bringing more and people inside. That was the reason they had to go out to get more supplies.
Foster was impressed.
It was semi dirty, but they were cleaning it. It was old fashioned, but it was underground and safe.
Foster was alone in the room but it was not long before three children raced in, followed immediately by a thin black woman, who looked to be in her forties. “Now, come on, the boy is…” she paused in scooting the children from the room. “You’re awake?”
“Yeah,” Foster said as he scratched his head. “What time is it?”
“A little after two. You just missed breakfast, but I can get you something.”
“I’m good. Manny fed us when we got here. I have a friend.”
“Judith?”
“Yes. Where is she?”
“She’s with Doc Baker.”
“A real doctor?”
“Yes. Are you sure I can’t get you something to eat?”
“I’m sure. Thank you. I would like to see Judith.”
“Sure, baby, come with me.”
She gave him a gentle smile and he followed her. In route to where the doctor had his set up, she told him he was in Camp A. It was the main one and the bigger one of the three. She pointed to the door where he could get cleaned up and showed him where he could get clothes. She pointed toward the far end and told him that was where he could get his food rations from the infamous Miss Betty. Everyone had daily rations and it was up to him what he did with them. He could save a meal for later, if he wished. The only thing he wasn’t permitted to do was waste.
That he understood.
“What the hell?” Ben blurted as they walked on the side of the road with their bikes.
“What? What is it?” Lana asked.
“I just saw a man.”
Lana heaved out a sigh and smiled. “You saw someone, are you sure?”
“Yeah, just beyond that truck up there.” Ben indicated the truck parked in a gas station at the edge of the small town.
Lana took a second to process the possibility of finding a person, a live person, and then it hit her. “Wait. Was it a soldier?”
“Not unless they wear flannel shirts.”
“Flannel?” Lana cocked her head back. “In April?”
Ben chuckled and with a burst of enthusiasm they picked up speed, still refraining from riding the bikes.
As they neared the parked truck the town came into view. Ben noticed it right away that every window and every shop in the town was boarded up. The only cars on the street were the truck at the gas station and one directly across the street from it.
“Look at this place.”
“You think the enemy was already here?”
“Hold it!” a male voice called to them. “Just stop where you are.”
Ben and Lana stopped.
“Passing through or refugees?” the voice asked but they did not see anyone.
Ben replied, “Passing through. We’ve been biking for days to get north. But if you have a place we can safely rest, we’d appreciate it.”
“Well, if you’re staying a few days you’ll have to register with our refugee center.” Rick finally emerged from behind the truck, gave a short whistle and another man came from behind the other truck. Rick then turned and faced the town, waving his hand and doing a bird call.
In the distance, a bird call responded.
Rick faced Ben and Lana. He held a rifle.
“Whoa!” Ben held up his hands. “Can you point that thing another way? We aren’t armed.”
“Why not?” Rick asked.
“Huh?” Lana replied, dumfounded. “Did you ask, why not?”
“Yeah, why not?” Rick shook his head.
Lana shrugged. “We don’t really believe in having guns.”
Rick laughed. “Get the hell out of here. Really? Got a war happening, foreign country invading our land and you all are wandering the countryside unarmed? What the heck did you two plan on doing if you were faced with the armed enemy? Did you plan to lift your arms, asked them to join hands and sing Give Peace a Chance? Don’t answer that. That was one of those rhetoric questions.”
“Rhetorical,” Ben corrected him. “You meant to say rhetorical.”
“Here we are letting you into our home and you’re correcting my grammar?”
“I’m sorry,” Ben shook his head “That was rude.”
“It was,” Rick said, waving them to follow him. “But I’ll let it go because you two really can’t be all that smart if you’re wandering around without a weapon. Gees.”
With Rick a good ten feet ahead of them, and confident he couldn’t hear, Ben leaned toward Lana and whispered. “Don’t get too comfortable. We aren’t staying long.”
Lana only nodded her complete agreement.
Judith looked good.
Foster leaned in the doorway peeking in on her as the women finished up with her. Her hair had been washed, combed and pulled back neatly. She wore a plain colored tee shirt, a sweater and a pair of jeans.
“Just remember what the doctor told you. Keep to the regimen he prescribed. The woman squeezed a bottle in Judith’s hand. “Oh, you have a visitor.”
“Jimmy?” Judith called to him. “Honey, is that you?”
“Yeah. You look good Jude,” Foster told her. “All cleaned up and stuff.”
“Rosemary here did that for me. She said I looked a little worse for wear.”
Foster snickered. “I guess I didn’t do too good a job picking out clothes for you.”
“Don’t be silly, Jimmy, I am sure you did wonderful considering what you had.”
“Well, you couldn’t see yourself, so I was good.”
Rosemary smiled pleasantly at Foster. “You can take her back to the family room or to get food. I don’t believe she’s eaten yet. She needs to keep up her strength. Do you mind?”
“Not at all.” Foster walked over to the table and laid his hand on Judith’s. “What did the doctor say?”
Rosemary answered, “She sees light and dark, as you know. And she was able to distinguish that Doc was saving his hand in front of her. That’s a great indication that she can see shadows as well. Doc Baker says it may not be permanent. She may never see like she did before, but some sight will probably come back. She has to keep up the anti inflammatory medication.”
Foster grinned. “Wow, that is awesome news. I am so happy. Did he say how long?”
Judith replied, “When I met you Jimmy, I didn’t have dark and light and today I have shadows. He said a day, a week, a month. Who knows? But it will come back some and then I get to see your handsome face.”
“You may wanna reserve that comment.”
Rosemary chuckled. “Don’t let him kid you, Judith, he’s a very handsome young man.”
“He’s been my angel, so he could look like the Elephant Man and I’d think he was Brad Pitt,” Judith said.