“The real President?” I asked.
“Yes.” Gil answered. “Are you leaving?”
“I am. I came to say goodbye.”
“I’ll walk you up.” Gil stated.
I said goodbye to Tom who wished me luck.
“You have supplies, right?” Gil asked as we hit the stairs. “Remember, do not use them or give them out until you are positive you can return. I’ll come out for you if you aren’t back in four hours.”
“We need more than four hours. And we have the radios.”
“Anna,” He stopped me as we reached the top of the steps. “Something for you to think about while you’re out there.”
“What’s that?”
“The President wants to send transportation up here in a week. He wants me down there, says I can be a big help. It’s thirty degrees down there and rising. You don’t have to live up here. Come with me.”
“Gil, what about everyone else?”
“I can’t take them. I can take you. I want you to come. Things will be good there.”
“Why don’t you stay here?”
“For what reason, Anna?” Gil asked. “Why? If you give me a good reason, I will stay. Otherwise I’m going to go.”
I didn’t know how to respond, I really didn’t. I just stared at him.
He reached down and opened the door for me. “Good luck and be careful.” He kissed me on the cheek. “Think about it. Please?”
My only response was a slight nod of my head in acknowledgment of his request. Stepping into the bay, I saw Tony standing there holding my coat.
“Think about what?” Tony asked.
“You heard?” I placed on the coat.
“Yeah and saw the kissing action. Think about what?”
While I adjusted the coat, Tony handed me my knit face mask. I perched it on my head. “He wants me to go south with him to that bunker.”
“Oh, won’t his wife be thrilled about that?”
That made me laugh.
“You ready?” he asked.
“Actually, I am.”
Tony took hold of my arm and we walked to the blast doors.
Duke and Spencer were already fully suited up. Both of them carried a bag on their shoulder. I had one too, it was empty.
“Remember,” Tony said. “Do not activate your hand warmers yet. It’s gonna be cold. Face coverings down.”
I rolled my mask over my face. Placed on my goggles, and then lifted the hood.
“This is a little overboard.” Spencer said. “It’s cold. But this isn’t Antarctica.”
“Better safe than sorry. We have to walk.” Tony reached for the doors.
I was ready, fully covered and mentally excited. We were leaving the bunker, venturing out and I couldn’t wait to see, good or bad, what was out there.
It had been months since I had left the perimeter of the bunker.
It was time.
Tony opened the doors.
49 – ELWOOD CITY
I never really realized how far a mile really was until I had to walk a mile in that cold. Bitter cold. It didn’t matter how much lining I had. By the time we reached the fence, I was frozen.
We were still quite a distance from our destination.
There wasn’t a single sound out there. No birds or animals. No planes in the sky causing a low hum you don’t realize is there until it’s gone.
Life sounds were gone.
The tree line road was still partially tree lined.
There were no leaves and the trees we saw that weren’t covered by snow were black and dead.
Actually, the trees were literally half dead. One side had taken the brunt of the heat wave.
The boots I wore were a little big for me and I kept slipping in them. My feet were cold. I knew they’d be numb before too long even though I wore lots of socks. Those hand warmers were going in my shoes first chance I got.
The ash on the road was still there but it was hard like a rock and covered with a thin layer of ice. It crunched as we walked and I had to lift my legs with every step. Every so often in the short one mile journey, I would regret not staying back and staying warm. What lay ahead and the vision of the aftermath kept me going.
What would we find? What would we see?
Was it a dead world? Outside the bunker it certainly was.
We stayed close, not really speaking, conserving our breath and trying not to inhale too much cold air. Spencer made a comment that it reminded him of a winter ten years earlier and he didn’t have the gear we had now. I started thinking it was just me, because Tony, Duke and Spencer looked unfazed.
The garage was a welcome sight. It wouldn’t be warm there, but at least it was a chance to get a vehicle. It looked little and square and I wondered how such a small garage could house a jeep and protect it from the insane elements.
Once the garage door was opened, I saw how. It opened to a ramp that went below. Dark and cold, the Jeep was there as promised, and Duke wasted no time getting to work on it.
While he did that, I walked up the ramp half way and pulled out the radio.
“Protocol One, come in.”
“This is Protocol One,” Gil replied. “Been waiting to hear. How is it out there?”
“Cold.” I replied. “Very cold.”
“Well, it’s warmer than when I arrived.”
“This isn’t a competition.” I said.
“How are you holding up?”
“I’m okay. We’re at the garage. It was untouched.”
“Keep me posted on the Jeep.”
“Will do.”
We said a few more things, and the conversation ended with Tony coming to get me.
“Are you done?” He asked. “We’re ready.”
“Duke got it started?”
“With ease.”
I smelled the Jeep running when we approached and Duke was inside. Tony got in the driver’s seat, and I got in the back with Spencer.
“Give it a few,” Duke said “She’ll warm up.”
To me, it was already warm compared to outside.
Slowly we pulled from the garage and turned. Funny, how I had no sense of direction and kept looking for the van.
Then we spotted it off to the side of the road. The back doors were open and the windows were busted. When we hit the bottom of the hill, we turned.
The drugstore looked even worse for wear. It had been burned down. At least the left side of it had burned.
We hit the main road and that was when I realized, I didn’t pay attention when we were on our way. Nothing looked familiar.
A few abandoned cars dotted the road, not many. They were just left there and most were buried in frozen ash. At least that was what it looked like to me. Of course, I wasn’t all that certain ash could freeze.
The road was covered and Tony said it was a little slick, but he was taking his time.
Elwood City sounded like a small town so I wasn’t expecting much. My first glimpse of the devastation caused by the comet was only a mile or so away.
As we neared, we saw smoke. It wasn’t buildings burning. It was people burning things to stay warm.
The area was flat with very few slopes or hills and spirals of dark smoke streamed to the sky from various buildings and houses.
We didn’t’ see a soul on the streets. We cruised through the main strip of town. The buildings were blackened from smoke and ash, but some had been burned. Windows were broken. The stores were apparently cleaned out. Store fronts were busted out. Items that had spilled out on the street were frozen there. A few shopping carts were over turned.
Again, though we didn’t see anyone, it was clear that people had survived and were living in that town.
Tony slowed down, then turned the car to the left.
“I counted eight,” Duke said. “Want to go farther?”
“No, we saw what we needed to see. “ He slowed down and in the middle of the road near the curb, he stopped. “Take the wheel?” he asked Duke, then opened the door.