“They can by putting together a backup plan.”
The two men’s eyes met. “What backup plan?”
“More of an escape plan really,” Carl told him. “In case the worst happens.” Carl rubbed his red-tipped fingers together. “They’ve assembled a number of school buses at the Byron Middle School on Colfax.”
Nate scratched his chin. “I don’t see what good that’ll do if no one knows about it.”
“No doubt, the blackout’s made that difficult,” Carl acknowledged. “From what I heard, they plan to send vehicles through the streets checking on folks and giving them the instructions in person. Not sure how well that’s going to work given the snow isn’t letting up and the roads are barely passable as they are. Either way, you can imagine they’ve got their hands full just getting the water back up and the generators up and running.”
“Where will the townsfolk be evacuated to?” Nate asked. A pencil sat on his desk and he started spinning it, a habit from childhood.
Carl looked at him, incredulous. “What does it matter? How about anywhere but here? If the core melts down…”
“If there’s a shelter nearby, we can get there on our own…” he started to say before he considered they were now down to one truck, which was dangerously low on gas and only had room for two. “We had two trucks up until this morning,” he lamented.
“I saw they took a bunch of the firewood you had sitting out front.”
Nate nodded. “We got a chunk of it moved inside yesterday, but not nearly enough. I’ve read many of the same books you did on preparing for the worst. Heck, you were the one who got me onto setting up a few preps here and there. Renegade said it too, over the radio. Once things get too dicey in town, folks will start heading for the country, whether or not they should.”
“It’s human nature, Nate. They did the same thing when the Nazis pushed into France during World War Two. Clogged the roads out of Paris. Ended up slowing down the very troops sent to defend the city. It was a disaster all around, but that’s what people do when the brown stuff hits the fan. They clog up the works, even if doing so damns everyone else to hell.”
“I just thought I had more time.”
“You mean before the lowlifes came out and started wreaking havoc?” Carl eyed him. “I see why you’d say that. This isn’t Chicago. Compared to its crime-ridden neighbor, Byron might as well be in a different country. You might have been more prepared than the average citizen, but you didn’t count on the full reality of the situation. It’s fine to have loose rounds in your pocket, but they won’t do you much good if someone’s charging at you from a few feet away. You see what I mean?”
“First thing I gotta do is keep note of my essentials and make sure I do everything I can to protect them.”
Carl nodded with enthusiasm. “That’s right. Store what’s left of your wood inside somewhere. Keep a weapon on you at all times. Make sure your family’s always on the lookout for danger and sleep with one eye open.”
Nate was taking mental notes.
“From now on, someone approaches the house, you greet them with the barrel of that shotgun. This is your castle. Assume they’re friendly and you could end up dead. And make no mistake, if someone comes here intending to do your family harm, you’re the first one they need out of the way. Once you’re down for the count, they can have their fun.”
“Don’t underestimate Amy,” Nate warned him, only half-joking. “She’s more than a pretty face.”
“Well, her pregnancy might complicate her lethality…” Carl began.
“No, I can attest, she’s far more lethal now.”
The two men shared a smile. “So these buses you mentioned,” Nate continued, bringing the conversation back to the subject at hand. “Where will they go? Chicago?”
“Goodness, no. No one’s that cruel or stupid. The plan will be to head to Rockford. It’s about twelve miles away, just outside the plant’s danger zone should the worst happen.”
Nate considered this. “Rockford’s twelve miles in a straight line. By road it represents a twenty-five-minute drive.”
“Perhaps under normal conditions. Doesn’t normally take me more than a minute to walk from my front door to yours. But just now it took me five full minutes and I was dead tired by the time I arrived. Also, none of the roads have been plowed or salted. If you’re thinking of getting your family out by truck, you run the risk of getting stuck on the highway. And if you do, it’s not like you can call AAA to come bail you out. Those days are over, my friend. There’s also a more obvious issue. With Lauren’s truck gone, you’ve only got your Dodge left and it’s a two-seater.”
Nate shook his head. “Would you believe we were supposed to go test-drive a used Bronco down at Billy’s car lot two days from now? We could have fit all our stuff and five or six people, no sweat. I’d consider driving to his house now, except I can’t access any of my cash and either way, I couldn’t fill the tank even if the truck was sitting in my driveway.”
Carl’s eyes were warm and compassionate. They were eyes that said, Emergencies always seem to strike at the worst possible time. “Well, the wife has insisted if push comes to shove and we leave Byron, we won’t be chancing it on the highway.”
“You’ll get on the bus with the others?” Nate sounded surprised.
“Under different, much warmer, conditions, I wouldn’t be caught dead on that bus. But that wasn’t the hand we’ve been dealt. It’s very possible the country’s major highways have already become unofficial graveyards for many a poor fool who chose to flee his home and spun out or ended up in a ditch. That’s all it would take.” Carl made a clicking sound with his tongue. “I have room for three in my car if need be.”
Nate thanked him. He didn’t see any other way of making it work. All he could do now was to harden the defenses around his house and pray Evan and his people would keep them from needing to evacuate.
Chapter 16
Following breakfast, Nate assembled the twins to help with moving the remaining wood inside. They stacked it by the fireplace and when that filled up, Nate set some old towels on the floor and kept the pile going. An hour and a half later they were done. Hunter might have messed up earlier, but at least he was making up for past mistakes with hard work.
Amy brought them all a mug of water, which they gulped down greedily. On the fireplace ledge was a pot where she’d melted snow, bringing what was left to a boil. She’d then filled the mugs and let them cool to room temperature.
Boiled water tasted different from regular tap water, but Nate and the twins were thankful. It always seemed like a strange thing to be sweating when the weather outside was this cold.
Next, Nate planned to reinforce the front door. He had a metal rod lying around in the garage somewhere, remnants from a home renovation he’d started last year. He would use it to fashion a door jammer. The concept was simple, but incredibly effective. One end was normally wedged under the door handle while the other end was secured in a bracket on the ground one to two feet from the lip. Once properly installed, a jammer could even give a SWAT team with a battering ram a run for their money. And although some determined bad guy might eventually succeed, he was sure to stir up such a racket, he would alert the entire house. All in all, it was a low-tech and highly effective solution.
Nate was in the garage fishing around for a bracket when Lauren appeared.
“Listen,” she began in that universal tone that promised an unpleasant conversation to come. “What are the chances we can get our hands on a generator? I looked around and was surprised you didn’t have one.”