Ambulance? The word struck him with the crushing force of a falling tree.
“What hospital?” he asked.
“I’m sorry, sir,” said the first. “We don’t have that information.”
The second raised a hand. “For your own protection, I’m going to ask you to leave the area immediately.”
“Really? In what?” Nate replied angrily, pointing at the Dodge, riddled with bullet holes. “You killed my truck and nearly me along with it.”
“You didn’t stop when we told you to.”
That was a lie, but Nate wasn’t in a position to debate the issue, not when his body was absorbing dangerous amounts of radiation. “Can you at least give me a lift back into town?”
“I’m afraid not.”
Much like the billowing black cloud overhead, Nate felt a deep sense of despair settle over him. Not only because of his current situation—he knew now he had no hope in hell of reaching the convoy before it left—but also for the supplies in the truck bed he would be forced to leave behind. Packed there were containers with food and water they would likely need in the coming days and weeks, not to mention his weapons. And now most of that was gone on account of two guys with itchy trigger fingers.
Just then a glimmer of hope appeared when Nate spotted a firefighter, also in a radiation suit, wrestle his bulky frame behind the wheel of a fire engine. Maybe he could hitch a ride after all. Nate scrambled to grab vital items from the truck bed. He would have to leave most of the food and water behind. But not either of his pistols, nor the twelve-gauge and certainly not the ammunition that went with them. A shotgun without shells made a lousy club.
The fire engine approached the gate and stopped.
“I’ll see if you can hitch a ride,” the second guard said, approaching the driver. After a brief exchange, he turned and said, “He’s heading back toward Byron. Says you can tag along. If I were you, I’d take the ride.”
Stay and die of radiation poisoning or head back into town. It was hardly much of a choice. Nate climbed into the passenger side, depositing his go-bag, shotgun and an extra pack with food and water on the raised seats behind them. Nate barely had time to close the door before the fire engine tore off.
They were not on the road more than a minute before Nate said, “The military told me some of the plant workers were taken to the hospital.”
The firefighter didn’t bother to turn, since the bulky suit would have impeded his vision anyway. “Name’s Denton,” he said in a deep voice only slightly muffled by the suit. “Leon Denton, and I ain’t never been so happy to leave a place in my entire life.”
Leon was African-American with pronounced cheekbones and light brown skin. A guy like Leon would stick out in a place like Byron, simply because most folks there were white, but Nate didn’t remember ever seeing him around.
“What station you with?”
“Stillman Valley,” Leon told him.
It was an even smaller town maybe a mile southeast of Byron, which explained why Nate didn’t recognize him. “The guard said you were going to Byron.”
“No, sir, I’m heading back to Stillman, I’m afraid.”
“But Stillman’s within the exclusion zone,” Nate said, confused.
Leon nodded, his whole suit rolling with him. “That’s why I’m dropping this here engine back where it belongs and then hightailing it to Chicago. Got family there and I’m sure they need some help getting on.”
“You sure that’s such a good idea, Leon?” Nate said, genuinely worried for the guy. “I mean, Chicago isn’t exactly the safest place on the best of days.”
Leon laughed. “Maybe for you, it’s not.”
Nate grinned and let it go. If this guy was determined to stick his head into a lion’s mouth, who was Nate to try to stop him? Besides, saving family members had been a big part of the reason he was in this mess to begin with.
The truck bounced around as they plowed through snow drifts collecting on the road. “You mentioned before you’d never been so happy to leave a place. My younger brother was an engineer there. Evan Bauer. Do you remember anyone by that name?”
Leon squinted one eye for a moment. “Can’t say I do.” He grew silent after that. “Look, man, I don’t want to worry you any more than you already are. I get you drove out in all this craziness looking for a loved one. But there’s something you should know, something you ain’t gonna hear on the news even after the power comes back on. Only three people were taken out by ambulance. Twenty more were evacuated. Another thirty won’t be found until spring when the snow melts. Wasn’t no morgue we could take them to. We were stacking bodies up outside two and three deep. I can’t say which group your brother was a part of. I only hope, for both your sakes, he was among the first two.”
Nate listened with growing dread. The guards had told him his brother had been put on an ambulance. But soon after, they’d told him the fire engine was heading back to Byron. They had also claimed to have ordered him to stop before they fired. As hopeful as Nate was, the soldiers’ track record for accuracy and truthfulness was not encouraging.
“I don’t mean to worry you,” Leon said, realizing he might have gone too far. “But I believe it’s important to speak the truth. If you don’t manage to find your brother at any of the local hospitals, you’ll know where he is, back at the plant. In which case, it might also be said he was one of the lucky ones. To get out early, before the world goes and tears itself apart. Know what I mean?” He paused. “You a religious man, Mr. Nate?”
“Sure,” Nate replied, without hesitation. “Are you?”
Leon nodded. “When all this started happening, I must admit, I couldn’t help wondering whether humanity had been judged.”
“Judged?”
Leon gripped the large steering wheel as they blasted through a fresh snow drift, jostling them in their seats. “That’s right. Judged for our wicked ways by the Almighty and found seriously wanting. Hard not to see the Lord’s hand in all this.”
Nate wasn’t sure if it was the Lord’s hand at work he saw or someone else’s.
Up ahead was a split in the road. To the north was the bridge over the Rock River and Byron. To the east was the town of Stillman Valley.
“I’m gonna get out by the bridge,” he told Leon. “I wanted to thank you for the ride. Not sure what I would have done.”
Leon turned and flashed a toothy grin. “You woulda walked and probably not made it very far. I’m glad I could help, but I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you more about your brother.” He pulled the truck to a stop and Nate gathered his things. “Good luck finding him. And God bless.”
The two men shook hands.
“Likewise to you, especially on your journey to the big city.”
With that Nate exited the engine and began heading for the bridge into town. By now, his chances of reaching the convoy were zero. In all likelihood, it was on the highway, spiriting his family, and many other families, out of the immediate danger zone. Which only served to drive home the severity of his current predicament. He was outside in the numbing cold, without any proper food or shelter. Before him lay a journey—very possibly a journey on foot—to reach his family in Rockford. Add in the snow and the threat of radiation, peeling off layers of your life minute by minute, and what had seemed difficult before suddenly felt downright cataclysmic, maybe even impossible.
With the few possessions he owned slung over his shoulders, Nate tucked his head into the blowing snow and worked one foot in front of the other, all the while wondering if Leon had been right.
Chapter 21