Jeremy at last found the time to introduce himself to Toni, and the two spent hours each day trying to enhance the base’s communications gear to extend its range and the power of its signal. She was a very kind and warm person, Jeremy discovered, once you wormed your way around her defensive layer of shyness.
“Pass me the screwdriver,” Toni called from beneath the control room’s main communications console. Jeremy selected a Phillips head carefully from the toolbox and passed it over. He heard Toni work for a moment with the tool before she slid out and smiled at him.
“I think that does it. Anyone on this side of the country with so much as a handset should be able to hear us now.”
Jeremy grinned and pointed at the top of the console. “So this little red light is supposed to be on and flickering this way?”
“What?” Toni pulled herself up and looked at the light. Her whole body tensed up and she barely seemed to breathe.
“Was it something I said? I’m sorry if…”
She whirled on him and threw her arms about his neck as he stood there, totally dumbfounded.
“Someone out there is trying to reach us!” She half giggled, half screamed as she slammed a finger down to transfer the incoming transmission to the room’s speakers.
The broadcast was garbled by terrible static and interference, but they managed to understand a few words. “This… Freedom Station… Anyone… us?”
Toni held a hand over her mouth.
“Freedom Station,” Jeremy repeated. “Holy shit.”
Toni had already opened the channel and was responding. “We copy that, Freedom. This is Def Con, and you have no idea how happy we are to hear you.”
“Repeat… Couldn’t…” the voice replied.
“Go tell the others!” Toni told Jeremy. “I’ll try to clean this up some and keep the channel open… Go!”
Jeremy dropped his toolbox and darted off, yelling down the corridors.
15
The woods were quiet and a gentle rain began to fall as Amy made her way up the mountainside. The night had given way to a gray sky full of clouds. The rain was a warm one, however, and she welcomed it. She fished around in her pockets and brought out the last of the berries she had found during the night, plopping the whole handful into her mouth. They were wonderful, the food of the gods, but she longed for more and hoped she would come across another patch soon. She wasn’t a nature person, having grown up in New York, but she knew some berries were poisonous and had to be careful what she picked.
Briefly, she entertained the notion of trying to shoot or catch one of the rabbits that ran rampant in the woods, but she had no idea how to hunt them. If it came down to it, she swore she would eat grass rather than waste the last five rounds in her weapon. She couldn’t risk being defenseless if one or more of the creatures crossed her path.
Amy reached the top of the large hill, which, to a city dweller like her, was considered a mountain, and she looked down at the town below. The instant she saw it, she ducked into the foliage out of instinct. She cursed herself for being foolish. It was miles away. Nothing could see her… unless the creatures down there were the smart kind, keeping a watch with binoculars.
There didn’t appear to be any kind of road or trail leading from her position to the town. It looked as if the forest stretched all the way to the city limits. The town’s proximity meant she was much more likely to come across the creatures than she had thought, even if she kept to the woods and tried to cut around it. She took a moment to steel herself before heading straight for the town. She was going there, and she was going to find the things she needed. Maybe, if it was mostly deserted, she could find a home or some kind of building to hole up in and finally get some rest.
As the sun began to sink from the sky, she made it to the edge of the town. She hadn’t bumped into any creatures, and that was a good sign. She didn’t see any in the parking lot of the gas station either. It was the town’s most outlying building. It was damaged a bit on the outside, a few bullet holes and shattered windows, but from what she could tell it hadn’t been ransacked. It called to her with the promise of food and other wonders.
For over forty minutes she stayed hidden, watching for any sign of trouble or movement before finally creeping out of the trees. The sound of her own footfalls on the pavement unnerved her. She glanced around, making sure she was still alone.
As Amy approached the glass doors of the station, she breathed a sigh of relief. Not only did there appear to be no one inside, but its aisles hadn’t been trashed. She started to open the door when she heard a gun being cocked behind her.
“You can put your weapon down now, ma’am,” a voice with a heavy Southern accent ordered. She dropped the .45 to the pavement and turned to see a very large gun pointed in her face. She guessed it might be a Magnum like Dirty Harry used in the movies, but wasn’t sure. The man who held it was young, much younger than she was. He barely looked out of his teens. A mess of thick blond hair covered the top of his head and he wore a pair of filthy overalls over a white T-shirt that had seen better days. His appearance would have been comical if not for the way his deep-blue eyes watched her with such dead seriousness.
“I reckon you ain’t one of them,” he said, “but you sure as heck ain’t from around here neither. Everybody here is dead or crazy. I ain’t seen anyone else alive for a while now, so just where did you come from? Who in the heck are you, lady?”
“Amy. My name is Amy… I’m from New York,” she added hastily.
The man laughed. “New York? You’re a long way from home.” He lowered the huge pistol and nodded, as if to himself. “Welcome to Virginia, Amy. We’d best get inside. Most of them things are gone from ‘round here, but there are still a few stragglers left, I think. Best not to take chances, ya know?”
He reached past and opened the glass door for her. She started to head inside again, but he stopped her. “Don’t forget your gun,” he said, grinning and pointing at the weapon she’d dropped. “You may need it.”
She retrieved the pistol and followed him to the back of the station, where he unlocked a massive metal door and ushered her inside.
“Place used to be a restaurant or something,” he said, closing the door behind them. “When Pop and I bought the place, we turned the freezer into a backroom of sorts. We kept the door though. It’s solid steel. Nice place for an office if you get robbed or the world suddenly goes F-ing bananas.”
Amy didn’t laugh at his joke. She was busy eyeing the room. It was small and furnished with a singular desk and what appeared to be a makeshift bunk; food and other supplies were stacked all around the space and packed in the corners.
“You’ve been living here… since the wave, I mean?”
“Yeah,” he said. “No place else to go.” He sat on the bunk and stared at her. “Guess we have a lot to talk about, huh, Amy?”
Hundreds of questions flooded her head, but the first one she asked was, “You said most of the creatures are gone from this town. Where did they go?”
“You mean the crazy people? Don’t know. A group of guys drove into town and rounded them up—only the guys weren’t normal either. The crazies didn’t attack them. It was pretty messed up. I hid and stayed out of their way. Didn’t see much. All I can tell you is that they went south, all together in one big group with the weird guys leading them.”