Callie broke me from my daydream when she said, “What’s that thing?” She pointed to a large wooden item that almost blended into the wood paneling.
“Oh, wow,” Megan said.
She crossed the room toward it and I followed her. She ran her hand across the polished wood.
Megan said, “I haven’t seen one of these since my great grandparents were alive.”
“Is that a radio?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
She turned the power knob and the speakers hummed before emanating the President’s maddening speech. All three of us groaned simultaneously.
“Of course,” Callie said.
Megan began to fiddle with the knobs and changed to another channel. And like the day before, each channel broadcasted the speech. Callie sighed and I retreated to a seat beside her.
“How’s the ankle?” I asked.
“It doesn’t hurt as much. I’m afraid to move it though to see if it’s better.”
Flipping through the channels and without turning to us, Megan said, “You should keep it elevated, stable, and ice it every three hours.”
The static and squawk of the radio was replaced and a clear female voice with an Irish accent emanated from the radio’s speakers.
“—at one one seven five South Metro Lane. It’s the last building on the right on a dead end road. I plan to play this message on a loop as long as I can. I have some provisions in the studio to last for a few days but after that…” She sighed. “I don’t know what I’ll do. You can stop them by kicking them in the balls. If you can hear this message please let other women know. If you know how and have access to another radio station please jam the frequencies. I think if you stop the transmission we can stop them.” There was a brief silence. “Hello. My name is Melissa Hayward. I’m the chief engineer at the radio station WZUL. I’ve managed to reverse hijack the broadcast signal intrusion to put out this message. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to maintain the hijack. It appears the government has overridden all radio frequencies to broadcast the President’s speech on a loop. I don’t have very much information I can provide other than I know you can take the men down by kicking them in the balls. None of the phones are working and the internet is down. WZUL is located at one one seven five South Metro Lane. It’s the last building on the right on a dead end road. I plan to play this message on a loop as long as I can. I have some provisions in the studio to last for a few days but after that…” She sighed. “I don’t know what I’ll do. You can stop them by kicking them in the balls. If you can hear this message please let other women know. If you know how and have access to another radio station please jam the frequencies. I think if you stop the transmission we can stop them.”
There was another brief silence before the message began again. Megan turned the volume down but let the message play on. The three of us looked at one another.
Megan said, “The radio station is halfway between here and the base.”
“You’ve seen it?” I asked.
“No. I know the area well. I cross over South Metro Lane between my apartment and the base. My best guess would be if you took the road east you’d find it.”
“Why east?”
“I’m assuming it would dead end in the direction toward the edge of city. It’s on the city outskirts if my memory serves me correctly.”
Callie said, “I’d never find my way to the grocery store if it weren’t for GPS.”
Megan began to pace. She furrowed her brow at the floor when she spoke. “My best guess is a radio station would scout a location with the least amount of noise interference. So it would have to be to the east.”
Callie sat up straighter and asked excitedly, “Are you planning on going there?”
Megan stopped pacing and looked at her. “In the event of an emergency with circumstances such as these the protocol is for me to return to the base and secure any civilians in the process.”
“But…” I hesitated. “Wouldn’t… it be overrun with men?”
“Women comprise fourteen percent of the base’s population.” She appeared to be running the numbers in her head. “It’s a possibility. But since there’s no line of communication I can’t be sure. It’s also a possibility the female population has secured the area. They have every tool they’d need to do so readily available to them. We need a vehicle.”
“The roads will be crazy,” Callie said.
“We didn’t see any cars though,” I said to her.
Megan added, “They can’t drive. I made it on the shoulder pretty far but had to abandon my vehicle on the highway. There were so many accidents and the men were roaming around on foot in a daze. I was lucky enough to make to the exit into downtown before I set out on foot. The gridlock appeared to have happened only on the highway. The city streets were deserted except for the packs of men.”
Sister Catherine appeared in the doorway as the woman on the radio was informing us to hit the men in the balls. Her face reddened with anger and she closed the space between her and the radio to shut it off.
Megan said, “How many civilians are here? Do you have any vehicles?”
Catherine spun toward us. She ignored Megan’s questions and focused on the radio’s transmission. “Filth! Such vile filth within the house of the Lord! You will not listen to such things here.”
“That was a distress call,” Callie said.
I said, “She managed to break through the President’s speech.”
Callie added, “She needs our help.”
The Sister waved her hand dismissively. “It is only the nonbelievers who will call out in distress. It is His will to repopulate the earth and we as women should be thankful He has chosen us to fulfill his plan. I will only answer to his call.”
“Well,” Megan said. “I answer to the United States government. And since you don’t seem to be in any hurry to go anywhere, do you have any vehicles at your disposal I can commandeer?”
Catherine clenched her jaw and stared daggers at Megan. Megan looked to her with determination and expectation of an answer.
Catherine lifted an eyebrow and her chin and said, “We have a bus we only use for the Lord’s work behind the monastery.”
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Megan said.
“You’ll have to speak with the Mother Superior to get permission.”
Megan opened her mouth to say something but at that moment Sister Frances appeared in the doorway with her head lowered. Sister Catherine acknowledged Frances before turning to us.
“A meal has been prepared for you,” Sister Catherine said. “If you’d follow me.”
She turned and the two nuns stepped out into the hallway. I collected our handles and helped Callie to her feet as the others patiently waited on us. Callie refused Megan’s offer of help and used both handles in a skier’s pole fashion as crutches to hop along.
Once in the hallway the two nuns rounded the corner and Callie and I followed. But Megan held a finger to her lips and darted into the Mother Superior’s office nearly soundlessly. She rejoined us shortly after we’d rounded the corner ourselves, shoving a hand in her pocket as she did so. I gave her a questioning glance. She pulled her hand from her pocket carefully to show me a keychain containing a number of keys and a few random tags and trinkets before clenching them to keep them silent and sliding them back into her pocket.
Chapter 8
In the dining hall we found three place settings. Megan tried to ask Sister Catherine once again where the rest of the people were and she avoided the question with the flippant response of ‘they were around’ before excusing herself. She left us with Sister Frances who hovered by the door but remained silent when we tried to get any answers from her. Our assessment was she’d taken a vow of silence and the three of us gave each other uneasy and questioning glances as we ate our bland meatloaf and mashed potatoes. The other two appeared as disturbed and apprehensive about the nuns as I was.