What he wanted to do was open his trunk and look in the back seat to count everything he had. Terrence got a ton of supplies from the hotel, and if used sparingly, he could stretch it out. In the middle of the garage, that wasn’t an option. Not with everyone around. It was obvious the people down there didn’t retreat to the garage prepared. They going there was a last minute decision, like Terrence, to get to safety. He hoped many of them, did like he had done and packed their car with supplies. That way he wouldn’t feel bad for having food.
After a few minutes, he caught his breath, put the car in gear, and with Macy behind the wheel, he pushed that car away from the ramp and to the far end of the garage.
It wasn’t that much of a distance, but far away from open air and deep enough into the garage to set up a space for him and his family.
“Why are you doing that?” one man asked. “Just leave your car there.”
Terrence didn’t reply. He stayed focused on getting his family back deeper. Ideally, going one level down would be best. In order to do that, he’d have to empty out his car and all the supplies.
Pushing the car took a toll on Terrence and he started to feel the pain. Hating to do so, he got four ibuprofen from his wife’s purse. He dreaded taking them because he knew he’d probably need them more later on. Terrence needed something for the pain, because he needed to keep going. He knew what was above, he didn’t know what was below. He placed the keys in his pocket so no one but him could get into the trunk. Even though their supplies were in the backseat, the bulk of them were in the trunk. After making sure his wife and kids were okay, he handed his mother the gun because he knew she wouldn’t hesitate to use it.
“What are you doing?” Macy asked. “You think these people are gonna come after us?”
“I can’t take that chance.”
“Look around. They’re scared. They’re hurt, they aren’t coming for us.”
“If they know what we have, they will.”
“You honestly think tomorrow you will be able to open up a can of soup and eat it knowing these people may not eat?” she asked.
“I’ll think about that tomorrow, right now, I have to think about today. I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?” Macy asked.
“I need to see how many people are here and what’s below. I’ll be back.” He kissed her on the cheek, then reached into his car’s glove compartment and pulled out a small note pad and pencil.
Terrence realized it seemed like a trivial thing to do in the wake of the attack, but really it wasn’t. His family’s safety and survival was foremost important.
He counted the people in the shelter, including his own family. There were twenty-seven people. Of them eight were women, nine were men. Seven were small children under the age of twelve and there were two teenagers.
First place he walked was to the stairwell, he opened the door and looked in there… no one.
He stopped at the elevator after leaving the staircase and pounded on the elevator door.
“Anyone in there?” he asked, then pounded again. “Anyone?”
When satisfied that the elevator was empty, he moved back to the stairwell.
“Excuse me,” the man called out. “Hey, excuse me.” He ran up to Terrence. He looked young to Terrence, but he knew the man wasn’t a kid.
Terrence stopped and looked at him.
“Can I ask what’s going on? Are you looking for survivors?”
“No, I’m just seeing who is all in the garage. I don’t want any surprises while my family sleeps.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“No need.” Terrence opened the stairwell door. The man followed.
“I’m Murphy. Just called me Murph.” He flicked on a flashlight. “We’re going to need this. There aren’t any lights in here.”
Terrence nodded a thanks.
“What’s your name?”
“Why do you care?” Terrence reached the bottom.
“Man, we are all in this together.”
“No, we’re not. We’re just in the same garage after a nuclear explosion.”
“That’s makes us all together. We gonna need each other,” Murph said.
“I don’t need anyone but my family.”
“Really?” Murph asked with a hint of sarcasm and just as Terrence opened up the door, Murph shut off the flashlight.
Terrence waited for his eyes to adjust, but they didn’t. Everything was pitch black and he couldn’t see a foot in front of him. “Shit.”
“What was that you were just saying? More than you want to admit….” Murph turned on the flashlight. “We really are all in this together.”
FIFTEEN – Connection
Harland needed sleep, and Abe was just too worried about everything to even close his eyes. He was also the only one of the three to have slept before the flight, so in a sense, even though injured, he was well rested. Harland asked him into the little office so he could explain how things worked. He showed him how to take a radiation reading, check the radio, mark the map and fill in the time line book.
“I’ll be sleeping,” Harland said. “So it’s super imperative that you mark the reading at 9:23 am. I realize that’s still several hours from now, and I may be up, but just in case that is an important time to take it. Give or take a few minutes.”
“Why that time?”
“It’s the seven ten rule,” Harland explained. “Radiation falls every seven hours by ten. No doubt an hour or so later, after that seven hour mark, it will increase some when the radiation from the west gets here. That’s why we need to watch it. So we know when it’s okay for me to go to the hospital. We also get to see if it jibes with what Schriever sends us.”
“You know, not saying you’re right or wrong, but I’m surprised you aren’t at the hospital already. I saw this movie once.” Abe said. “The doctor was caught in the nuclear blast and made his way to the hospital and was on hand to help.”
“A huh.” Harland nodded. “I saw that same movie. What happened to the doctor?”
“He died.”
“From radiation sickness. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This… staying under, is the prevention. There’s no cure for radiation. Just treatment, and the injuries around here are minor. In a week, it’s gonna be hell out there.”
“I understand.”
“I think you do, but in case you don’t…” he reached into the drawer and pulled out a book. “This is interesting reading. Ignore the drawings though, the book was published in the eighties.” He yawned. “Wake me if you need me, or if something important comes over the radio.”
“You want the generator shut off at all?”
“No, we’ll chance it and gamble. Leave it on for a spell. Kit needs the fresh cool air.” Harland turned toward the door.
“Harland, are you sure she’s okay?” Abe asked. “Not second guessing your medical experience, but she doesn’t seem well.”
“No, she’s not. She has a head injury. I saw that when I looked at her.”
“Should we be waking her?”
Harland chuckled. “Actually, that doesn’t do anything. Keep an eye on her. Really we just have to wait. It can get worse, it can get better. Whatever the case, there’s nothing we can do right now. We can’t take her out in this. Not yet. Her level of sleepiness will tell and speaking of sleeping…”
“I’m sorry. Get some sleep.”
Harland gave a wink and a nod, and left the office.
Abe sat back in the old beat up chair, swinging left to right, fingers flipping through the self help surviving nuclear war book. It actually looked like interesting reading and would educate Abe. However, Harland’s system was an education in itself. He marked everything down and kept a time line.