Sudden Chaos: A Post-Apocalyptic EMP Survival Short Story by T. L. Payne

Author:T. L. Payne [Payne, T. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-09-10T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 4

It was difficult to walk with Marty’s mother literally dragging her feet. Even though she didn’t weigh much, carrying her was not an option because she was so frail. They were taking their third break in twenty minutes when Erick came up with an idea. He looked around to make sure there were no police officers watching them, then headed off down the embankment toward a warehouse on the side road. A few minutes later, he had the solution to their mobility problem.

“You, my friend, are a freaking genius,” Marty said as Erick pulled a convertible hand truck and cardboard box up the embankment.

Erick pushed a lever on the handle, and it converted from a vertical two-wheeled hand truck to a horizontal four-wheel cart. He broke down the box and placed the thick cardboard down on top of it. He and Marty assisted Marty’s mother onto the cart, and they continued their journey down the interstate.

It took twenty more minutes to reach the toll booth, with a few stops to convince Mrs. Simpson to stay on the cart.

The weary crowd occupying the parking lot barely looked up as the trio arrived.

Erick handed Marty a bottle of water and unscrewed the cap on one for himself. A little boy with dirty clothes and a smudged face stared at him as he took a sip from the bottle. Erick looked around and could not tell if the boy was with anyone. His first instinct was to offer the boy the water, but these days, gestures like that could be misconstrued as something sketchy, so Erick turned his back on the boy and watched as Marty assisted his mother in taking a drink.

Erick removed some granola bars from the bag and tore the wrapper open for Marty. Marty’s mother swatted his hand away as he tried to coax her into taking a bite of the bar. Erick finished his and crumpled the wrapper in his hand. Mrs. Simpson turned and grabbed the wrapper from him and began rubbing it between her frail fingers. The noise seemed to soothe her.

As dusk approached, Erick became increasingly anxious. It appeared the bus was not coming for them until the next day. They were going to have to spend the night in the parking lot. He wanted to set out on foot instead of waiting on the Red Cross, but there was no way he could walk the fifty miles faster than the bus could get them there, even if he left now.

Erick lay curled up on the grass staring at the stars. It was a clear night, and with the absence of all man-made light, there seemed to be more stars than he had ever seen in his life. He couldn’t think of a time when he’d been in such a dark place, both physically and mentally. Without the adrenaline of rushing to get to his wife and child, his body crashed as his mind raced to find solutions to all manner of scenarios he may encounter on his way to get to his wife.

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