“Yes.” Kit nodded. “They were walking. They were sick. Their names…”
“Rege and Mark,” a woman spoke up then emerged from the back of the room.
“Yes,” Kit said excitedly. “That’s them.”
“Catherine,” the man at the table said. “Were those the two men a few weeks back you were talking about?”
“I believe so. I gave them a ride.” Catherine walked up to Kit and Abe. “I saw them on the side of the road. I offered to bring them here, but they wanted to go to Spokane. I even offered to wait for them, but they wanted to stay. I can show you were I took them.”
“Oh, no need. Just knowing they got there is good,” Kit spoke upbeat and pulled out the map. “I have my brother’s address and I’m sure I can find it.”
Catherine gently lowered the map. “The map isn’t going to help you. I think it would be easier for me to show you.”
If it was under any other circumstances, Kit would have been suspicious, but there was genuine concern in Catherine’s eyes and voice and that worried Kit.
It was supposed to be unscathed, spared by the bombs. It was supposed to be a gleaming city still standing.
It wasn’t supposed to be gone, but it was.
Like she did with Regis and Mark, Catherine broke the news to Kit and Abe on the short drive there.
A misguided missile or perhaps on purpose, whatever the reason, the bomb fell just north of the Spokane, obliterating most of the city.
“They weren’t well. They weren’t well at all, I could see how sick they were.” Catherine said. “I felt really bad leaving, but they didn’t want to come, or have me wait. There was a lot of love between them, you know, you could feel it. My heart broke for them. I knew what they would find.”
Kit didn’t know what to say. She just stared out the window watching the destruction as they drove by. She kept her arms folded tightly to her chest. Abe reached over, giving a gentle reassurance squeeze to her shouldar.
It was three weeks. Where did her brothers go? Did they even leave? If they stayed, how did they survive?
At least Mark found resolution. It wasn’t what he wanted to find, but he knew the truth.
That was what Kit aimed for in her search for her own child.
Catherine stopped the truck. “This is as far as I can drive. They walked down that way.”
She shut off the truck and stepped out.
Kit opened the door and she and Abe followed Catherine.
She had a sick feeling in her stomach, a sad one as well, and as she walked closer, she saw that her brothers never left.
A figure of a man, covered in a blanket sat in the middle of a flattened home. He was larger, it had to be Regis.
“Rege!” Kit called out and picked up her pace.
“Kit.” Abe tried to stop her.
Kit ran, but only a short distance. Twenty or so feet away she could see a pair of legs crossed at the ankles, they extended from Regis’ side from underneath the blanket. A back pack was next to them, and it looked like Regis moved slowly back and forth, front to back.
“Regis.” Kit ran again. A few more steps and she stopped cold when she heard the growling.
“Stop.” Abe grabbed hold of her shoulder.
Kit ignored him and inched closer learning Regis wasn’t moving, it was two dogs, one a smaller German Shepherd, the other a terrier. They defended their meal as they viciously tore into the bodies of Regis and Mark.
“Get away!” Kit screamed as she bent down lifting a small piece of wood, while running she hurled the wood at the dogs, hoping to scare them off. “Get off him!”
The wood landed a foot from the two dogs, but it didn’t scare them off. Instead, it sent the dogs rushing her way. The Shepherd leapt at Kit, its front paws slamming into her and sending her back.
She heard the firing of a gun, but Kit couldn’t see what was going on. She tried to fight off the dog, who snapped for her face while snarling. His jaws were dripping saliva, his breathe was rank smelling making her gag.
He was too heavy and she lacked the strength to push him off her. She didn’t know how long she struggled with the animal, it could have been only a few seconds, but each one was terrifying.
The dog was lifted from on top of her and she saw Abe. He had the dog, but it wasn’t an easy fight for him. He threw it to the ground and reached down for something. As his hand gripped a piece of debris, the dog stirred to his feet and lunged for Abe.
A single shot fired and the dog, flipped back, landing on the ground.
Out of breath, Abe looked at Catherine. “Thank you.” He helped Kit to her feet.
“We’ve been having problems with dogs. They’re pretty rabid,” Catherine said.
“You okay?” Abe asked Kit.
“No,” Kit whimpered, staring at the bodies of her brothers.
Regis’ body was now slumped over.
“I’m sorry,” Abe said.
“I am, too.”
They were her brothers; yet, Kit could only get so close. She just couldn’t bring herself to look. It pained her to think of how they died, how they suffered at the end, and for all their struggles, to have their bodies desecrated by animals, just seemed cruel and wrong.
It would be dark soon, Kit knew staying wasn’t an option. There was no way to dig a grave. Catherine retrieved a tarp from her truck, they covered Regis and Mark with that, then buried them beneath debris. It was the best they could do. Then Kit silently said her goodbyes.
The only thing that made it bearable was that the two of them had healed the rift between them and they found peace. Their entire lives they had their ups and downs, like most siblings. Still, they were brothers and dying in each other’s arms was their final symbol of that brotherhood.
THRITY-THREE – Kicked Out
Kit still had a hard time believing there was an occupation. She hadn’t seen any signs of one. No foreign soldiers, military trucks, none of that until they nearly reached Seattle.
There, thirty miles outside of Seattle, at an interchange for the town of North Bend, a road barricade was erected and Kit and Abe were forced to leave their car behind.
They turned around, parked it on the side of the road by the other vehicles that were moved, took the keys and hoped that it would be there when they returned.
At the check point, they were asked their names and if they were trying to return home.
The soldier working the gate wasn’t friendly, but he wasn’t mean either. When Kit told him she was searching for her family, he informed her there were over forty camps set up on the outskirts between Seattle and Olympia.
If she had to, she would check them, but she wanted to check her mother’s home and Jillie’s apartment.
The thirty mile hike wasn’t going to be easy because they were forced from the street when the sun set. They were stopped, loaded into the back of a military truck and taken to a fishing depot, where she and Abe sat inside the emptied store with ten other people while a guard stood on watch.
The only positive thing about that was they didn’t have to use their rations, they were given food.
No one in the store knew what was going on and no one talked much except to say they were all looking for people. They all, like Kit and Abe, were waiting for sun up to move on.
When morning came and the guards opened the door, they all filed out.
“It’s amazing,” Abe said as they walked.
“What is?”
“How is anyone going to find anyone if they’re all out looking.”
He had a valid point.
“You know,” Kit said. “No one ever thinks these things will really happen. You imagine they could, you hope they don’t and think they won’t. So no one really plans. It’s not like people going about their daily lives stop and somebody says, “Hey, in case of a catastrophic event let’s meet here”. I suppose some people might. Realistically, they don’t. We also kind of think… the nukes fall, but no one’s left so why prepare.”