Unprepared Read online

  “Kelly,” David muttered to himself, wandering around the room. He thought how much he took instant communication for granted. Up until two days ago he could just call her at any time, but not now. The disconnect was sickening. He had to do something.

  David walked quickly to the spare room, opening the box which had a hunting knife and a small can of pepper spray. That wouldn’t stop a bullet, but it’s better than nothing. He clipped it to his jeans and went to the back door. He scanned the surround area behind the house to check the coast was clear before leaving the relative safety of their single-level home. There was no sign of human activity, so he softly clicked the door behind him and walked into the forested area behind their section.

  He saw something. There was movement. David froze behind a tree, reaching for the pepper spray in his pocket. He wondered how long it takes before pepper spray renders a threat useless. Immediately? After five seconds? He slid his head from behind the tree in the location of the movement, but he saw nothing. Whoever, or whatever it was, was hiding. They'd seen him. Maybe it was a looter? Maybe a hunter? Maybe it was Kelly? “This is fucking ridiculous,” he thought. “I’ve got maybe six months of food behind me and I get killed now? On day two?”

  “Thrrip”

  A short whistling sound came from somewhere amongst the trees. It sounded like a bird, but it wasn’t. It was their signal.

  “Thank God,” thought David.

  “Thrrip!” he whistled back.

  Kelly appeared, gun in hand, from behind a tree.

  “You scared the shit out of me,” David said.

  “That’s twice in as many days,” responded Kelly.

  “What took so long? I was worried.”

  “I got stopped by a man with a sick wife. Don’t worry, I’m fine. She wasn’t though. She’s not gonna make it.”

  “What’s wrong with her?”

  “Not sure. Some infection perhaps, maybe salmonella poisoning. She needs antibiotics.”

  “Where is she now?”

  “I told her husband to take her to the hospital and helped him load her into a wheelbarrow.”

  David raised his eyebrows.

  “You put her in a wheelbarrow?”

  “Yeah.” She looked at David. She knew him too well. “Before you say it…”

  “Bring out yer dead!” he joked.

  Despite her ordeal, she couldn’t help herself.

  “But I’m not dead!”

  “'Ere. He says he's not dead!” David responded.

  “Well, he will be soon. He's very ill!”

  Both of them giggled.

  “Oh Dave. “You’re a clown, but I love you. You know, humor is an antidote to all ill.”

  “Maybe. Buuut probably not hers.”

  Chapter five

  Tedium

  Eleven days had now passed since the EMP attack. The house next to theirs had been broken in to by looters and they knew that their house could be next. It was clear that there were still people in this city, perhaps hundreds, perhaps thousands. They still heard gunshots in the silent air every day, at differing distances.

  Their daily conversations were always carried out in whispers. If it was windy outside or raining, they could enjoy the luxury of using their vocal cords and talking normally, but considering the paper-thin construction of most American homes, they had to keep noise to a minimum at all times. Pots and plates were always managed with both hands and they used plastic cutlery to reduce any clanking sounds which could carry through the walls and outside.

  They had a system for whenever they saw someone walking on the road outside their house: get down; shut up. They had to remain hidden if they wanted to survive.

  In apocalyptic disaster movies, the hero is often seen leaving his place of safety in the midst of the chaos to rescue someone or get something, putting himself at great risk and ending up in a gunfight with evil-doers. This was a version of reality which David and Kelly worked hard to avoid. From the outside, their curtains looked drawn and the house looked empty. Of course there was no car in the carport (that was still sitting somewhere on the side of the road 25 miles away). Inside their living room, however, they had black plastic sheeting covering all the windows of the kitchen and living room. This allowed them to cook food by candlelight or read books on the sofa without the world knowing there were two living beings inside. They only left the house every two or three days for water from the creek, and that was always after midnight.

  David had set up a few runs of fishing line around the front of the house with bells attached, harvested from Christmas decorations, while Kelly took photographs of their unexciting lives. She had plenty of rolls of 35mm film, which she stored in the refrigerator; something her grandmother had told her keeps the film fresher, longer. She tried developing some photos once since they'd returned, but the smell of developing chemicals in their tightly sealed house drove David insane.

  During the day they read books and played board games, but Monopoly gets pretty boring remarkably fast with only two people. They played card games, such as poker, even trying strip poker once, but when you already have free access to your partner’s body at any time, it seemed a little pointless, like sex with extra steps. In the evenings they gave in to their vice: alcohol. They did very well holding back, but eventually the boredom led to them tapping into their own supplies of booze which should have been reserved for trading. With two eager livers, it wasn’t long before they’d drained their two trading bottles of whiskey empty and had moved on to tea, which was nowhere near as exciting.

  Unlike an action-filled apocalyptic disaster movie, this was a genuinely boring existence, being cooped up indoors and remaining silent. Essential for survival, but as tedious as hell. It would make for a terrible movie or book.

  This tedium was broken on the twelfth day with the unexpected arrival of someone at their back door. Kelly was reading an old magazine aloud to David in a hushed voice, when an uninvited stranger began making a clinking noise on the back window, shattering their sense of security and calm. David and Kelly found themselves in a sudden state of high alert, unaware who or what this new threat was. David found himself the closest to the gun and he crawled over to grab it, before hiding in the hallway. Kelly scuttled over and poised behind him.

  With eyes wide open, David spun his head towards Kelly and silently mouthed the words, “Who is it?”.

  Kelly shrugged and shook her head simultaneously.

  The clinking sound continued, a little louder.

  Crouched in the hallway, David and Kelly could hear each other breathing, adrenaline coursing through their veins. David’s mind raced. “Was it someone they knew? If it was a looter, they wouldn’t knock. Or would they? Was it their parents? No, they’re thousands of miles away. Unless they drove here? Does their car still work? No, the gas stations don’t work; they wouldn’t be able to make it.”

  David’s panicked thoughts were interrupted by the unknown person outside slowly turning the door handle. They kept the door locked, which resulted in the person trying several times more, with each attempt having more energy and confidence.

  David motioned to Kelly to stay where she was, and he crawled on his hands and knees far enough that his head was able to see the back kitchen window, closest to the back door. The blinds were closed, and he knew that touching them would be visible to whoever was outside. Something scratched at the door lock. The person was now trying to break into their home. “Why didn’t he just break a window and give me a real reason to shoot?” David wondered, his gun aimed firmly at the middle of the back door.

  He had an idea.

  Rather than confront someone inside their house and allow an intruder to see their supplies, he scuttled over to the front door and quietly grasped the knob, turning it, with his heart pounding. It opened silently, allowing light to pour into the darkened room. He hoped the change in light wouldn’t be noticeable to anyone out the back. David didn’t have time to scan the front yard and stre
et for twenty seconds, as he normally did. He walked straight out, barefoot, around the side of the house, toward the back, going through the carport, his arms stretched out horizontally, the gun pointed towards the ground, with his finger on the Glock's trigger. He was ready to kill whoever was threatening their safety as he leaped around the corner and confronted the looter, side-on..

  “Freeze!” Dave shouted, immediately aware he sounded like he was in an 80s police movie. The man shook in fright, and instinctively moved his hand towards a holstered sidearm.

  “Move and I shoot!” Dave yelled.

  Wait. He recognized this man.

  “Steve?” he asked.

  His neighbor, whom he'd met just days ago on the street, turned his head slowly towards him.

  “Dave.”

  “What the fuck are you doing?!” David said.

  “Dave. Take it easy. Don’t shoot. I’m gonna put my hands up slowly. It’s all good.”

  Steve raised both his hands as promised.

  “Don’t move an inch,” David ordered, moving closer to his neighbor and carefully removing the pistol from the holster on his neighbor's waist. He kept his gun pointed at him.

  “Steve. Answer me. What are you doing here?”

  “Dave. I didn’t know you were still living here.”

  “Well what the hell are you doing? Why are you trying to get inside?”

  “Please. I can explain. Just, put down the gun. Please. I’m not a threat. You have my gun.”

  Kelly was inside, listening intently, pepper spray in hand, not that it would offer much of a challenge against a 9mm bullet. David took a step back and lowered the gun slightly.

  “Explain yourself, Steve.”

  Steve turned in David’s direction, opening his palms and extending his fingers to show he had no weapon. He lowered his hands.

  “I’m sorry Dave. I knocked first. I thought you were gone and I wanted to see if you have any water. We’re all so thirsty at home.”

  “But you said you were leaving when I saw you last week,” David responded.

  “I’m sorry. I lied. I’ll be honest with you, OK? It’s too dangerous to go out on the roads or near the city and the kids would never make it, so we stayed. I wanted people to leave us alone; to think our house was empty, so we’ve been hiding at home, waiting for the army or something, but no one’s come. It’s like the army doesn’t exist. We must be at war or something, because there’s no help. We’re fending for ourselves like animals.”

  David relaxed a little, but kept his hand wrapped tightly around the pistol grip. Sensing that David was in control of the situation, Kelly called from the Kitchen.

  “Everything OK?”

  “Yeah. It’s fine. It’s Steve from down the street. It’s safe.”

  Kelly opened the rear door and came face to face with the failed intruder, the pepper spray in her hand. Steve noticed it and raised his eyebrows slightly.

  “You guys only got that? A gun and a can of pepper spray?”

  “Well, I guess I have two guns now,” David responded, waving Steve's sidearm.

  “Look. Guys. I would never have tried to enter your home if I thought you were here,” said the neighbor, then trying to lighten the mood by attempting a compliment.

  “You did a damn good job of hiding. I mean, I’ve been all over the neighborhood at night, searching for food and water, and I never saw you guys at all. Never heard anything either. I admit, this week I broke in to all the houses between ours. I only took food and water. Nothing more. That old guy. What’s his name. Uses that portable oxygen machine. He lives three doors down from here. He’s dead. Found him with his mask around his face yesterday. He’s still sitting on the sofa. It scared the shit outta me when I saw him.”

  “Jerry,” David replied.

  “That’s him. Jerry.”

  The two stood in silence for a moment. This guy was telling the truth. He had two kids and a wife to provide for and he wasn’t a prepper. David actually pitied him. Kids were nothing but liabilities in a crisis situation.

  “Steve, I’m gonna remove the clip from your gun and I’m going to place it back in your holster, OK? Just please don’t make any sudden movements. Don’t freak me out, OK?”

  The neighbor nodded.

  “I can see that you’re just desperate, trying to keep your family alive. But you can’t come back here, got it?”

  “OK,” he replied.

  David removed the clip from the gun, aware that there was almost certainly still a bullet in the chamber. He took the risk, placing the pistol into Steve’s holster and flipped the leather holder over the top. He then put the clip into Steve’s back pocket.

  “Thank you,” Steve said, nodding.

  “It’s fine. You just scared us.”

  Steve’s basic biological needs came to the fore of his mind.

  “Do… do you guys have any water? Please? I’ve gone to all these houses and emptied their toilet cisterns but we need more. The kids are seriously thirsty.”

  David looked at Kelly. It was clear, even to Steve, that they did have water.

  “Look. There’s no law any more. We have to trade. I can give you a few gallons of water, but we need something in return,” David said.

  “You name it. Anything.”

  “We need another gun. Our can of pepper spray would be useless in a shoot-out. Do you have a spare firearm?”

  Steve shook his head.

  “I honestly don’t. I only have this one, and even then, the wife makes me keep it in the safe. Can’t have guns readily available when my kids are always getting into everything.” Steve then realized this was not helping his plight and he needed that water.

  “But I know a guy who does. He’s one of those prepper guys. He owes me. I got him off for assault in March. He’s guilty of course, but I convinced the jury it was self defense. He owes me big time for that. Just tell him that. He lives in the north of town in the suburbs and I can give you his address. He’s cool, he’ll hook you up.” Steve paused and looked at both of them. He could see David and Kelly thinking about it, so he tried his hand.

  “Surely that’s worth some water?”

  Chapter six

  Guns and ammo

  Trevon lived on the north of the city, three miles from their house. Three weeks ago, such a journey there and back would have taken around ten to fifteen minutes, depending on the traffic. Three weeks later, after the pulse, however, this journey was most likely going to take an entire day and had a high risk of death.

  Kelly and David needed to leave early in the morning if they wanted to avoid the height of human activity. They had to decide between taking the outskirts of the city or going direct through town. The latter would be faster, but more dangerous, and the former would be safer but meant adding two miles to their trip. They decided to take a moderately direct route on the way there, early in the morning, and a longer, safer route in the late afternoon, if Trevon would let them wait with him until sunset.

  As they had no working alarm clock but needed to awaken at 4 AM, they used a Native American technique for getting up early for battle, by both drinking a lot of water as they went to bed. This meant that by 3 AM they were fighting disturbingly realistic dreams of going to the toilet; a serious hazard if they had been five years old again.

  Climbing out of bed, Kelly was the first to use the bucket in the bathroom to relieve herself, there being no point in using the toilet which had no water to flush. By this stage David had woken up and was putting on his pants, eager for his turn to relieve himself. Using the bucket had become a part of life now, although it meant the last person to use it had to empty it outside. David carried the bucket of warm urine outside into the cool October air and, checking for noises and movement, took it to the edge of the trees behind the house, tipping it closely to the ground as to not make a sound. Over the last three weeks they had become accustomed to living in silence, having long since worn out their jokes about taking vows of silence or
living in a self-imposed monastery. Eating, cooking, communicating. Even the act of sexual intercourse had to be done quietly; something which they freely admitted to each other destroyed a sense of inhibition and raw pleasure which they had enjoyed previously.

  David replaced the empty bucket in the bathroom and slid on the backpack which was now full of essentials for the journey they were about to undertake, from extra ammunition to a spare roll of 35mm film. Kelly was adamant that if they were about to enter a desolate and dangerous Lynchburg, she wanted to be one of the few who had photos to prove it, and perhaps, if normality one day returned, she would sell these photos for a hefty profit. She wasn’t a professional photographer, it was just a hobby she’d had since her dad gave her an old Canonet 28 as a child. Of course, with the advent of digital photography and the quality of cameras built into everyone’s cell phone, photography - and the art of being a decent photographer - had lost their value and general standing in society. In the modern era, any stay-at-home mom with a Sony DSLR camera and a spare afternoon was suddenly a 'professional photographer', photoshopping the italicized words “Stacey May Photography,” or whatever her name may be, to the bottom of predictable wedding photos.

  By all means, photography as an art form was dead. Until the pulse occurred, that is. Now, Kelly was one of a handful in the city, state, or perhaps country, who could document the destruction of an EMP attack and the collapse of a lawful society in a first world city. People new to photography always used to ask her, “What’s the best kind of camera to have?” to which the answer was always, “The one you have on you.” In this respect, Kelly now had one of the best cameras in the world.

  David opened the back door and stood in the door frame, meeting with the cold October air. It made him wonder how they were going to stay warm when the temperatures got below freezing, but that was a problem for the future. Right now, they needed to focus on surviving today. Kelly walked through the door and closed it behind her with a gentle click, that noise alone being incredibly loud in the deathly still morning air. Kelly turned to David and held his face in the darkness. This was it; the thing they vowed not to do. Time to head into the center of the city. David leaned in and kissed his wife. They held that position for a few seconds, the feeling of warm breath on each other's faces. At that moment it wasn’t too late to turn back and go inside, but before she had time to weigh the pros and cons once more, David whispered to her.