The Arsenal limits were about a mile outside of Marshall and an idea stuck her when she saw the PX, or Post Exchange on base. Some PX’s were small, and some were like large chain bargain store. This PX was large and shared an overgrown parking lot with a BBQ restaurant.
For the first time, she saw a car. Two of them were in the parking. Both had weeds that grew up to the side of the car doors and were two rows apart. Jason walked straight and Nora walked up toward the PX.
“What are you doing? I thought we were going to look for the base.”
“PX. This is like a Target. I wanna check it out. See if they have bikes. Be a lot easier to peddle across than walk.”
Jason looked humbled, nodded and said, “That’s a good idea.”
“Plus, it’ll tell us a lot. If the store is empty, there was enough time for those who were ill to get supplies. If the shelves have a lot of items, the base emptied out fast.”
She approached the first car, it was locked. She tried to clear the window, but the dirt was too thick so Nora moved to the second vehicle. A blue compact car. She tried the driver’s door and it opened.
“What are you looking for?” Jason asked.
“A date. Maybe a receipt or something.” She looked in the car and when she did, she immediately saw the toddler car seat in the back. Even though the car seat was empty, a sickening feeling hit Nora’s gut.
She looked around the car, it had a musty smell to it and a thick layer of dust formed on the dashboard and seats. There was a takeout receipt deep in the console, but that was dated a month before they even went into stasis.
She popped open the glove compartment and pulled out the plastic folder. “Louisa Martin.” Nora said. “The car is registered to her.”
“What difference does that make?”
“Thought you were the big prayer guy. Thought maybe you wanted a name to toss on your prayer list.” Nora exhaled. “Nothing. She had a child and this car was clean. To me that’s odd. She wasn’t traveling or running somewhere.”
“How do you know?”
“Think Jason, you have a child. Is your car ever clean when you travel with a child? I know mine had cheerios or crackers or something over it”
“I have a baby,” Jason replied. “I never got to that stage.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Let’s just try the PX.”
“Yeah,” Nora said sliding out and then shut the door.
They walked across the lot to the large warehouse style building. The windows were dirty, yet intact, and the automatic sliding doors were partially open allowing for them to slip inside.
The store, though dark, was untouched, almost as if they closed for the night and never reopened. Merchandise was still on the shelves. Nothing disheveled. Perfect displays, the only thing that indicated something happened was the large cold and flu supply set up near the front of the store. A dust covered sign read, ‘Flu Season is here.’
That was it.
The farther back they walked, the less dusty it was. Sealed off from the world. It was as if the world just stopped and everyone disappeared.
Nora and Jason located the bicycle department in the back of the PX. They lifted two bikes from the display rack, and found a hand pump in the store.
While Jason prepared the bikes, Nora grabbed a hiking backpack. She wandered the store, getting items she knew she needed that weren’t in those boxes from storage.
Soap, packaged tee shirts, safe from dust and deterioration, undergarments still in packs, were just some of the things. She hit the camping section, bearing in mind what she would be able to carry on the bike.
When he located her, Nora was crouched on a section of the floor she had cleaned.
“Done shopping?” Jason asked as he approached. “Bikes are ready.”
“Sorry, yeah. Almost done here.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m, making Skivvy rolls.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Skivvy rolls.” She tossed him what looked like a stuffed half, tube sock. “You wouldn’t believe what is in those.”
“It’s a sock.”
“A pair of socks, underwear, tee shirt. Each roll is different.”
“Impressive. How did you learn to do this?” he asked.
“My father and… eight years of service. Including two combat tours.”
“You served. You never mentioned it.”
“I didn’t…” Nora stood. “I didn’t remember until I walked in here. Saw the BCU’s and it all came back to me. I served then got married. Weird isn’t it? You would think I would remember that.”
“Makes you wonder what else we aren’t recalling.”
“Yeah. Most of my childhood is a blur.”
Jason blinked slowly. “So is mine.”
She handed him his sleeping roll. “We can take turns lugging this thing.” She placed the pack on her back.
“Bikes are over here.” Jason pointed, then walked ahead of her, and took one.
“Wouldn’t it be funny if we didn’t remember how to ride?”
“Yeah, real funny.” Jason said with little emotion as he pushed his bike toward the front of the store. “Nora, did you by chance look at any of the names on the other Genesis units?”
“Some. Not all. Why?”
“Are you sure you weren’t supposed to be there and just got put in the wrong unit.”
“Why do you say that?”
Jason shook his head. “You were at the Astoria, right? Have you ever been there before? I think you said the station put you there because everything was overbooked. What if that wasn’t the case? What is you were meant to be there.”
“For what purpose.”
“Maybe you’re more important than you remember. Not that you aren’t important and all. But I think you know what I mean.”
Nora didn’t respond because just as he finished saying that, she saw them.
“Nora.”
“Why didn’t I think of this?” She perched the bike against a bin and hurried to the checkout line. “Impulse shopping. Magazines. Tabloids.”
“Okay.”
“They come out weekly.” The front magazines were hard to decipher, worn and dirty. Nora reached to the back of the first bunch of tabloids and grabbed one. She flicked on her pen flashlight to see the date. “Odd. November. So this shut down before our experiment. Malcolm said that last date was… the fourteenth.” She moved behind the register and pulled out the trash bin. “Yep.” She lifted a receipt. “November tenth. Doesn’t look like anything unusual. So that tells me in that month everything…” she stopped talking when she noticed Jason stared in horror at a tabloid. “Jason?”
His hand shook as he extended the tabloid to her. He used his light so she could read it.
The ‘sensationalized’ gossip sheet called The Globe News had a picture of the first lady on the cover.
It read, “My husband is not dead!”
With the sub headliner: ‘Top scientist claims president was not killed in explosion. He is cryogenically frozen to survive impending Apocalypse.’
“Oh my God,” Nora flipped it open.
“Wanna take a bet on who that scientist is?”
Nora lifted her eyes. “Summer Rosewood.”
“Is it?”
“Yeah it is.” She rolled up the tabloid and looked, there were more. One was a dedicated edition to the explosion in New York. Nora grabbed that as well. In fact she grabbed several, so the others could read. And they would. The magazines were a source of information, sensationalized or not.
Loaded down, they hopped on the bikes and made their way across the parking lot and down the road.