By Way of Autumn Read online

“It’s survival, and he wants his town to survive. So he invoked the law.”

  I tossed out my hand. “It sucks. We don’t know how long this thing will go on. He’s certainly not winning next election. He’s not getting my vote.”

  “Tess. There’s not gonna be a next election. This world is different now.”

  I took a big swig of the coffee and handed the mug back to Sam. “Do you know something? Did you hear something?”

  “Not anything. But I got static.”

  “Okay.”

  “I had dead air up until this morning. Someone is bouncing signals out there, I just got to catch it. And …. Larry went out this morning on the plane. Stew released the fuel for him to do so.”

  “So we’ll at least know something soon.”

  “We’ll have a good idea what’s going on out west. And maybe find out what that flash you saw actually was. In comparison to the whole world, that’s not much.”

  Wrong. My husband and daughter were west of Falcon’s Way. More than anything, I needed to know. Contrary to what Sam thought, my entire world was west of me and knowing what happened to them was all that mattered.

  TWELVE – HIGHWAY

  I passed the stone. Although I didn’t think that would help my mood. Two hours after Sam left, my stomach pains grew worse. So much so that Julie urged me to go to the hospital. I knew I’d be fine. Sweating profusely, I moved about, until finally I knew I’d pass it.

  I did.

  At least the pain from that took my mind off of the fact that I hadn’t heard from Jeff. Where was he? I prayed he was somewhere safe. And Nicole, that prison was solid concrete. Was she still there? Was the prison intact?

  Until Larry returned, I was still in the dark about what it was we saw.

  I felt better. My stomach was bit queasy and I attributed that to not eating. The heat didn’t help, last I looked the temperature was ninety and it was still early.

  About noon, Josh Mason stopped by to check on us. I was grateful for that.

  “She’s sick,” Julie told him.

  “I’m fine. And I’m glad you’re here. I want to head to that distribution registration. Can you stay with my family?” I asked him.

  “Mom,” Julie whined. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

  “He’s not a babysitter,” I told her. “It’s added security and protection.”

  Julie quietly laughed. “It’s Falcon’s Way. Nothing bad will happen here.”

  “Let’s hope, you’re right. I’ll be back.”

  “Mom, you sure you feel okay to go?”

  “Yes. Josh, do you mind?” I asked.

  “No, go on. I have nothing else to do.”

  “Thanks.” Then I instructed Julie. “Keep an eye on Tag. I’ll be back.”

  Truth was, I didn’t know when I’d get back. The note on the table said distribution was at Monroe grocer and I decided to walk there. I didn’t need ‘community’ supplies, but I was going to claim mine anyhow. Even if it was only to get back my own food.

  As soon as I stepped outside I noticed it. There was a weird color to everything. Stepping off the porch, I moved to the walk and peered up at the sky. A thin haze, almost smog hovered in the sky. To me, that explained the heat. The smog acted like a lid, keeping everything down and tight. I wanted to go back in my house and ask Josh if it had been like that all day, but decided it was something I could ask him later.

  “Weird isn’t it?”

  Del’s voice startled me and I spun to see him standing in his yard.

  “I’m sorry?” I asked.

  “Weird.” He pointed up. “The sky. Awfully smoggy. I hope Larry is alright. I heard him fly out a couple hours ago.”

  “Hopefully he didn’t have to land,” I said. “I’m heading to distribution. Are you going?”

  “No. Stew said because of our age we don’t need to register.”

  “Lucky you.” I took a step to leave then noticed. Del didn’t look well. His skin was pale and he had a heavy layer of sweat on his forehead. “Are you all right? You feeling okay?”

  “No. Heat is getting to me. House is just holding in the heat and pretty soon, there’ll be no shade.” He gave a twitch of his head to his tree.

  The leaves were dying.

  “Oh my God. This heat is killing everything.”

  “We need rain.”

  “That’s not happening,” I said.

  “Well with this sky, you don’t know.”

  I commented on how he was right, told him if he needed anything to let us know. And walked off. It took everything not to tell him about Sam’s air conditioning, but it wasn’t my place to spill Sam’s secrets. I would, however, speak to Sam about letting them cool off.

  As I walked to town I pondered the distribution set up. Would I have to wait in line? Would it be organized or screaming for help?

  With all the homes, all the food, could they keep track of everything? I hoped for speedy and orderly, but I knew that wasn’t happening.

  Three blocks from town, people ran by me. They held arms full of supplies. They raced down the street.

  Another block, I heard gunshots.

  Not much farther it was evident that Sam’s perfect, equal society was a dangerous attempt at a humanitarian pipedream.

  The sleepy, peaceful town of Falcon’s Way erupted in chaos and rose up against the establishment. Well meaning or not, Stew and his band of Merry Men were outnumbered by the angry, hostile mob that broke the lines of distribution, crashed into Monroe’s store and proceeded to strong arm those in charge and take what they could.

  It was mayhem, and all I saw was disruption. No one attempted to stop them.

  Total chaos. People were behaving mindlessly and violently. It wasn’t safe. Bottles were thrown, furniture busted and not only Monroe’s window, the other shops as well.

  Right then and there, I realized Stew not only took a portion of my food, he took a portion of my security. I wasn’t high and dry, but how many others in town now were because they entrusted in their fellow neighbors to follow the rules.

  They would starve and struggle because of the selfish acts and desperation of people that they sat next to at church.

  The cliché ‘Dog eat Dog’ held true in Falcon’s way. I was down a week’s worth of supplies, and by the looks of things I wasn’t getting anymore. What I had hidden surely wasn’t enough to last long term or until I came up with a plan.

  My mind spun and so did my body as people blasted by me, knocking into me as they took off with food. Where did they think they’d go? Stew knew every person. Once he regrouped, he was going to go after those people and I didn’t want to be seen in town.

  I also needed to get my SUV hidden or at least disabled.

  Being one of the last working cars in town, I was certain that my vehicle would be a next target.

  Heading back home, I thought about Josh and maybe he knew something I could do to the SUV.

  Del spotted me and called out. “You’re back fast.”

  “People broke through distribution and looted it.”

  “Already?” he asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Oh My God. Is there anything left? Any water?”

  “Probably not.”

  His hand went to his head and he sat down on his porch step. “We have nothing. He left us nothing. How am I gonna feed my wife? Where we gonna get the food from?”

  “You had nothing stashed?” I asked.

  “We gave him all we had. We might as well have just thrown it on the street.”

  My eyes widened. “Don’t worry, Del. I have an idea.”

  “You know where to get food?” he asked. “Water?”

  “I may.” I raced back inside my house. Tag greeted me bright and cheerfully, and in my rushing, I blew him off. Then I stopped. He was clueless about the world gone mad, and it wasn’t fair to him to dismiss the only bright spot of my day. I backtracked, kissed him and then continued on my plight.

  “Mom? What are y
ou doing?” Julie asked.

  “Distribution was looted. People went nuts.” I opened the hall closet. “I have an idea. Josh, stay with the kids, lock the doors.” I not only grabbed the old green duffle bag from the closet I retrieved the revolver.

  “Are you going looting?” Julie asked.

  “You can say that.” I rushed to the back door.

  “Mom! You can’t.”

  “I’ll be fine. I’ll be back.”

  Josh said something, so did Julie, but I kept going. The SUV was parked out back, and I would hide it in the garage when I returned. I was certain there wasn’t enough of a posse to cover every street out of town, and I took the back way east out of Falcon, backtracking on dirt roads, and taking the long way to Mountain Highway.

  It had been three days and chances were my shot in the dark would be a miss. But I had to try.

  Fifteen minutes to bypass town and ten minutes on the winding mountain road. I expected it to be gone, for Deputy Stevens to have sent someone to the scene.

  But no one did. It was still the same. The smashed white can and rolled minivan were still where I last saw them. So was the body of Liam’s brother. Only it wasn’t covered any more. Birds had found their way around it, removed the blanket and were boldly feasting on the remains on the little boy. They didn’t even stop when I threw rocks at them.

  When I stepped from my SUV, I had to pause, turn my head and vomit. My stomach churned and fought further regurgitation. I wanted cry out, and I felt a tremendous amount of guilt for leaving the child’s body there.

  It was too late now.

  My plight wasn’t to witness the crash site again, it was to get what I could find. No one bothered to come to the crash site, so no one saw what was up there.

  The multitudes of canned goods, bottled water still littered the highway. With the open duffle bag, I proceeded to try to collect what I could. There was so much stuff. They had either just gone shopping for the month or like Julie said, knew something and were making a quick escape.

  I was opting for the shopping. Most people left Falcon’s way to hit Big Sam’s wholesale, and the giant can of Big Sam’s applesauce told me my guess was probably right.

  It was in the middle of that highway, sun beating down that I heard the sound of the twin-engine plane.

  I paused in my collecting and looked up to the sky. Sure enough Larry’s red plane cut through the smog. He was safe, alive and returning.

  As heartbreaking as it was and daunting, I remained on task and would do so until I grabbed every single item that I could.

  That highway not only afforded me the chance to get food for my family, being there gave me first sight of Larry’s return. Soon enough I would be getting answers. At least I hoped.

  THIRTEEN – SPORADIC

  The fully stuffed duffle was wedged behind the front seats, packed tight on the floor and covered by a blanket. The few straggling items I tossed in the back. I hated the fact that I had to drive around Falcon’s Way and come in on Mr. Wesson’s property, but it was the only way not to be seen by Stew or the town’s people.

  I had been gone nearly two hours and it was twenty minutes since Larry flew overhead. By now he either was just landing or leaving the small airport or with Stew. I would have to rely on Larry directly or even Sam for my information. Once in the car, I downed one of those bottles of water, the heat was unbearable. My hair and clothing were drenched with sweat and I hated consuming a whole bottle but I had to think of the baby. I was still feeling the after effects of that kidney stone.

  I had water hidden and collected quite a few bottles on the highway. Del and Mary Bender were forefront on my mind as I drove back toward town. Before talking to Larry, I had to get water to them.

  They weren’t young, the heat had to be hard on them.

  Middle of my drive back, I noticed the temperature reading on my dash. It told the outside temperature. I couldn’t be right. I chalked it off to the vehicle baking in the sun, because there was no way it was one hundred and twenty degrees.

  I wondered about town and if Stew initiated order. While I wholeheartedly disagreed with what he did, his intentions were good and the people that went nuts, in my mind, committed a worse wrong.

  On the last hill into Falcon’s way just before I’d turn off, I saw the smoke rising from town. It lifted high in the air and mixed with the lingering smog.

  Swell, I thought, the town was on fire.

  It really wasn’t, but without water, how long would it be before it got out of control.

  How could people do this to their town? It was only a few days; to be so desperate that fast.

  I made my way around the outskirts, through Wesson’s property then hightailed it by way of side streets home. No one saw me coming, and I sped into the back yard, got out of the car, opened the door to the garage, and pulled in.

  I didn’t realize how heavy the duffle bag was until I tried to pull it from the back seat. In my near seven month pregnant state, the bag, secured in tightly was an impossibility. I wondered if Josh was still in the house. I hoped he was. I needed him to do something to the truck. Render it useless but with an easy fix.

  I had commodities, the working vehicle, food and water.

  After forgoing the duffle bag, I raced in the house through the back door.

  “Mom,” Julie rushed to me.”Where have you been? I was worried.”

  “I’m fine. I got supplies.”

  “Good but …”

  My eyes shifted to Josh who walked into the kitchen, ignoring Julie, I turned to him. .”Josh there’s a duffel bag in the back seat, can you grab it? Julie, there are items in the hatch, I need you to get them. Then Josh, you need to disable the car. I can’t have people know it runs.”

  “Absolutely,” He answered and walked out the back door.

  “Julie” I faced her. “When we get the supplies inside, we take them downstairs. I need to get a care package together for Del and Mary. In fact maybe we should ration for five instead of three. Include them.”

  “Six,” she said.

  “Six? I’m sorry?” Before she could answer, I saw him in the doorway. Little Liam. “He’s here?”

  “Doctor Stanley said they closed the hospital. Didn’t know where else to take him. I said it was fine that he stay here. You’re not mad.”

  “No. Not at all. Did he say why? I mean, why they closed the hospital.”

  “No, he didn’t. But statistically speaking, sixty-three percent of hospitals only have enough emergency power to run three days...”

  “Is he speaking?” I looked at Liam.

  “Oh, him. I thought you were talking about Doctor Stanley. Yeah, Liam talks now. He’s chasing Tag trying to hit him with that cast.”

  “Good. We need the boys happy. We’ll make some food in a few minutes. Go take care of them, I’ll help Josh.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. Go.” I knew Josh was handling the heavy stuff and made quite the ruckus when he carried the bag inside.

  “Where do you want this?” Josh asked.

  “Take it downstairs,” I told him.

  “What’s in it?”

  “Food.” I reached the screen door.

  “Mom?” Julie called out. “Where did you get the food?”

  “You don’t want to know. But let’s say, it was your idea.” Saying no more, I pushed open the screen door, walked to the SUV, and grabbed the scattered items from the back. Josh and I passed each other once again.

  “I’ll take care of disabling the SUV now,” he said. “Then what?”

  “Pull the garage door closed.” The items teetered in my full arms, and I made my way back to the kitchen, dropping everything on the counter.

  I grabbed two bottles of water, and decided, I’d ration the food later, but getting water to Del and Mary was most important.

  Julie was with the boys in the living room and I informed her where I was going and that I would be right back. She tossed another of her
‘statistically speaking’ facts at me that I was increasing my chances of heat exhaustion. I stepped out of the house on to the porch; the sky was growing more eerily green. And to toss even more confusion into the weird happenings, I watched the Snyder Family, all four of them, walk down our street pulling supplies in a wagon.

  Where were they going?

  Putting that out of my mind, I walked across the yard to Del and Mary’s home.

  The front window was open and the door closed.

  I knocked.

  No answer.

  “Del. Mary?” I called out. “I have water.”

  I knocked again. Still no answer.

  Figuring they probably went into town to get supplies, I put the water between the door and screen door, and left it there. The storm door didn’t close all the way, but Del and Mary wouldn’t be long, town wasn’t that far.

  Turning to go back to my house, I saw yet, another odd sight. A young couple, they were new in town and I wasn’t sure of their name. I saw them at the fireworks the week before. They were on bikes, peddling down my street, both of them bogged down with huge hiking backpacks.

  My eyes shifted, the Snyder’s were at the end of the block.

  Where were they going?

  Ready to pass it off and go back to my house, I then noticed Sam stepping from his house. He waved to me then jogged over.

  “Where you been?” he asked.

  “I went to get supplies,” I replied.

  “Were you looting?”

  “In a sense, but not from anyone who needed things. Why?”

  “The kids were looking for you and …” Sam paused in speaking, and turned his head.

  Wondering what captured his attention, I too, turned to look.

  Not just a few, but several people, families, walked down my street. They resembled a pilgrimage. They all carried backpacks, pulled wagons, the Stone family pushed a Monroe shopping cart loaded with items. They moved at a steady pace, focused and not saying a word.

  “What the hell?” I looked at Sam. “Where are they going?”

  “Out of town. Prematurely, I’d say.”

  “I’m lost. What do you mean?” I asked.

  “You don’t know?”