Darkness After Series (Prequel): Enter the Darkness Page 6
“We might as well leave now then,” Jason said. “What about Mom, though? How will she get back from Hattiesburg?”
Lisa was starting at Rusty’s Nova when a thought suddenly occurred to her. “Hey, we’ve got my Grandpa’s old truck out at the farm! It’s even older than Rusty’s car, so it wouldn’t have been damaged. If we could get it, we could drive to Hattiesburg and pick up your mom!”
“Hey, you’re probably right,” Jason said. “The only problem with that idea is that it’s a long way to your farm and we don’t have a ride.”
“Maybe Rusty would drive us,” Stacy said.
Rusty couldn’t hear any of this conversation because he was still sitting in the driver’s seat of his car, revving the engine and talking to the other boys crowded around him. Lisa doubted he would be interested in driving them all the way to the Henley farm because Rusty Sinclair had a reputation for doing what Rusty wanted and the heck with anyone else. Jason said the same thing, and it wasn’t like he was one of Rusty’s friends anyway. Rusty was the quarterback of the varsity football team, and like Mitch, Jason didn’t even play high school sports. Neither of them were going to be winning any high school popularity contests, and neither cared. Mitch was into the woods and Jason dug his guitar.
“It won’t even do any good to ask him,” he told his little sister. “Come on. Let’s just all walk back to the house and think about this a bit. Maybe mom will find a way to get there. I think we ought to give her a little time. What if we’re gone and she comes home and can’t find us? She won’t have any way to call us.”
“We could leave her a note,” Stacy said.
“Yeah, and we will if we leave, but let’s wait and see for a bit.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” Lisa agreed. “Mitch might find a way to get here too, and if he does, he’s going to come to the school or to your house first, looking for me.”
When they got there, Stacy’s mom wasn’t back, not that any of them had really expected her to be.
“What are we going to do all day?” Stacy wondered. “It’s going to be boring without TV.”
“At least we won’t have to listen to Jason’s guitar playing,” Lisa said. Jason had already gone to his room. He probably already had his guitar out, but if he did, they couldn’t hear it without the amplifier. “We can play a game or something.”
“Yeah, I guess. I’m just worried about Mom though. I wish I knew for sure that she was still at the hospital.”
“I know. I’m worried about my mom and dad too, and my brother. Maybe we just need to stop thinking about it so much though. We can’t do anything about it right now. If she’s not back by tomorrow we can go get the old truck somehow and go look for her. I’m sure she’ll be fine until then.”
* * *
Little Kimberly was whining and restless and no doubt wanting her mommy when David Greene went back inside his parents’ house. He had no idea how he was going to get his little girl back home, or even let her mother know that the two of them were okay. He wondered too if he was going to lose his job over this. He had no way to contact his supervisor and he’d already been warned about being late more than once. He had been on thin ice there for at least a couple of months and this was going to make it worse. David hated his current job as much as he’d hated every job he’d ever had, but he didn’t have many choices and at least he got some overtime most weeks. He needed it because it was so expensive living with April in New Orleans. The rent was the worst part, but there were a lot of things Kimberly needed too and even though April made as much as he did, David had very little left for himself from his meager paychecks. Things had certainly been easier when he still lived in Hattiesburg, hanging out with Josh and his other buddies and drinking beer almost every night. But then he’d met April by chance and his life had changed forever. After spending time with her, nothing he was doing before seemed important, at least in the beginning. After a few weeks of this, David found himself looking for a job in New Orleans. They hadn’t planned on Kimberly, but once they knew she was coming they were determined to stay together. David had done his best in the beginning, he really had, but he knew he was becoming a disappointment to April. He knew she worked harder than he did and didn’t seem to mind it, yet he felt cheated out of his youth and not ready for so much responsibility and a life with little to look forward to but going to work every day.
He still dreamed of restoring the classic Mustang his uncle had given him before he graduated high school, but there was never any extra money to put into it. He couldn’t even keep it running most of the time; much less afford things like the new upholstery and paint job it needed to be really cool. David knew he needed to figure out a way to get ahead, but so far the answer as to how to do that had eluded him. April was angry with him about as often as not, and the friction was beginning to take its toll.
Thinking about all this, David realized that in a way he was relieved that he couldn’t go home. Maybe a forced break away from April for a few days was what they both needed. It would be better if it were just him stranded here while Kimberly was with her, but he had his mom and dad to help him with the child, so that wasn’t going to be too big of a deal. Josh’s apartment wasn’t exactly close, but it was within walking distance if he wanted to go hang out and drink a beer. No one could blame him if he did, because none of this was really his fault. April would in fact be thankful that he’d overslept this morning when she found out, because if he hadn’t, he and Kimberly might be stuck on the side of Interstate 59 somewhere between Hattiesburg and New Orleans. That would be a real problem, he realized, so no matter what April thought about it, getting drunk last night was the best decision he’d made in a while.
David’s father was deep in thought while his mother took Kimberly to her rocking chair and sat down with her to try and sooth her. David was headed for his old room to lie down and take a nap when his father stopped him.
“Son, I think we’d better get busy. The more I think about this, the more worried I get. You saw all those broken down cars sitting in the middle of Hardy Street. Whatever caused this, it was something really serious, and we don’t have any way to find out the full extent of it. I think we need to get down to the nearest grocery store and try and pick up all the food we can before it’s too late.”
“How are we gonna buy anything, Dad? You heard what they said at the donut shop. Their cash registers aren’t working and they can’t take plastic or checks.”
“I know that, but the grocery store might be willing to take cash. They’re going to have a lot of things like meats and produce and dairy that will ruin if they can’t get rid of it. I’ve got some cash on hand. It’s worth a try to get what we can before other people get it all, because we don’t know how long this situation is going to last.”
“Even if you buy things like that, we won’t be able to keep them from spoiling either,” David’s mom said.
“No, but I’m thinking they may sell their non-perishables too. Why wouldn’t they? They’re going to have to close their doors soon, I’m sure, but the owners will probably be glad to make all the money they can before they have to. Especially at the smaller stores.”
“How are we supposed to get there?” David asked. “If we just walk, how are we going to bring anything back?”
“That’s what I’ve been thinking about. I’ve got my riding mower out back in the garden shed. It should crank just fine because all it has is a battery and a simple starter and relay. There’s gas in the tank because I just filled it a couple of days ago and I didn’t cut the lawn because it rained. I’ve got that little leaf trailer I bought for it that I can tow behind it, and it will haul a lot of groceries if we fill it up.”
“Hmmm. I guess that might work. But two people can’t ride on it, so why do you need me?”
“Because I might have a problem, son. The mower may break down on the way there or on the way back, and if we both go, the two of us can carry a few bags of groceries in our ha
nds too. That thing is as slow as walking anyway. If you don’t want to walk, you can drive it and I’ll walk. We can switch up on the way back.”
David saw that there was no way out of this and that his nap wasn’t going to happen. He followed his dad out to the garden shed, and just like the old man said, the mower started right up without issue. They hooked up the little trailer and his dad went back inside to get his money. Maybe it would be worth it if they could indeed buy something, but David still had his doubts. He wondered what April was doing right now and figured she was probably going crazy with worry. She would have to know by now that he wasn’t going to be able to get home with Kimberly. If she were here with him then he wouldn’t have much to worry about. They could just stay at his mom and dad’s house until things got fixed. But with April that far away, David didn’t know what to do. All he could think of was that maybe they would hear something soon from the power company or other officials and maybe the authorities would get some buses or something running like they did for hurricane evacuations. If they did, maybe he could ride one to New Orleans to get April. Or maybe there would be one she could catch to Hattiesburg. Other than that, he was out of ideas.
Ten
APRIL WENT BACK HOME after her walk around the neighborhood and ate some leftover pizza from the fridge with another one of David’s Cokes. Things inside there were barely cool now, and the ice cream and other goods in the freezer were beginning to thaw out and melt. She would eat all of the perishable items she could and save the few cans and packaged items in the cabinets for later—hopefully for her journey to Hattiesburg.
With that thought in mind, she went out to the carport and felt around under the front edge of the Mustang’s hood for the latch. When she lifted it up, she saw the place on the top of the engine where the carburetor went, the hole now covered with a greasy rag. David had pointed out the carburetor to her before when he told her he was going to rebuild it, but she’d barely had a passing interest then. Now, she wished she’d paid more attention, but she knew that everything he’d taken off the car had to go back the same way it was before. There was only one way the parts could fit together, and she was determined to figure it out. He had put the carburetor in an old cardboard box and laid that on the passenger’s side floorboards. April took the entire box and its contents into the kitchen, along with the new, smaller box that contained the rebuild kit. Then she went back out to the carport and collected all the screwdrivers, wrenches and sockets she saw scattered around. If she was going to do this, she wanted to be comfortable, because it was going to take some time. The dining table was perfect for her purpose because it was next to a big window that let in plenty of sunlight during the daytime.
She unfolded the sheet with the diagram again and studied it carefully, and then took out each of the new parts that came with the kit and compared them to what she could see in the illustration. Most of the parts were gaskets and little metal clips and springs. There were a lot of them though, and April began to think that maybe this wasn’t going to be as easy as she thought. She was going to have to carefully disassemble the carburetor and take careful notes of how everything she took apart went together, and then identify all the old parts the new ones were to replace, and install them one-by-one as she put it all back together. She could only hope that rebuilding the carburetor was all that the car needed to run. She wasn’t exactly sure how David’s friend came to that conclusion, but she did know that for a long time the car wouldn’t run at idle without going dead and then it had gotten to where it wouldn’t start at all. He said it was because the inside of the carburetor was gummed up, and that tearing it down and cleaning everything and then putting it back together with the new parts in the rebuild kit would make it as good as new. It was all April had to go on and she knew it was her best hope if she wanted to get to Hattiesburg.
When she began removing screws and taking the carburetor apart, she could see that it was indeed dirty, both inside and out, but then so was most everything else under the hood of the old car. She scribbled notes to herself on a piece of paper as she worked; drawing her own diagrams so she would remember where everything she took off came from. The little parts that would be replaced by new ones in the kit she put aside in one pile, while laying out the bigger pieces that would be reused on the table so she could clean them one-by-one. She had seen David using mineral spirits to soak greasy parts for cleaning when he was doing other repairs on the Mustang, so she went back out to the carport and looked until she found a quart container among his collection of oils and other lubricants and cleaners. She poured some in a shallow bowl and sloshed the parts around, relieved to see that it did indeed loosen the crud and grease caked on them and now on her fingers as well. The soaking plus wiping with paper towels made the parts shiny again and would make them much easier to work with as she reassembled the unit.
April had no idea how much time passed as she concentrated on her work, but when direct sunlight no longer illuminated the table by the window, she knew it had to be well after noon. She took a break and went outside to see what was going on in the neighborhood. It was quiet on her street, but she could hear shouting several blocks away in the direction of the nearest commercial district, and from somewhere in that area, a dense plume of dark smoke was rising over the tops of the buildings. Just as when she had heard the gunshots during the night, there were no sirens wailing in response to what had to be a building or house fire. April wondered if it was deliberate arson and figured that it probably was. With no firefighters to put it out, whatever was burning would likely be totally destroyed, and April wondered how much more of the city would burn because of all this. Were the looters that were surely stripping grocery stores and other businesses of their goods also setting fires before they left? April knew such things were common in riot conditions, and she figured that rioting was surely already taking place in parts of the city. People had probably already died because of this and April was afraid the number was going to rise rapidly in the coming days. She had to get out before it got so bad that she couldn’t. Even if Kimberly and David were here with her, they would have no choice now but to get out. It would be impossible to survive in a place like New Orleans in these conditions. She hoped that Hattiesburg would be different. It was a much smaller city with a far lower population density and a lot less crime in normal times. Things might get bad there, but she couldn’t imagine they would ever be as bad as they were surely going to be here.
It tore her apart thinking about what would become of people like Mrs. Landry, next door. The sweet old lady lived alone and didn’t drive, but she did have a somewhat younger sister in Slidell who came by at least once a week and brought her groceries and the other things she needed, usually staying all day when she did. April hadn’t seen the sister since the lights went out though, so she thought she’d better go next door again and check on Mrs. Landry herself before it got dark again.
* * *
“Are you sure you don’t want to wait until morning to get started?” Deborah Greenfield asked Mitch as he folded the map and tucked it into his pack. “You can get a good night’s sleep in a comfortable bed and I’ll make you a big breakfast.”
“No ma’am, I appreciate it, but I’m sure. I want to get going right now and make as much time as I can before morning. I don’t plan on stopping until I’m on the other side of that bridge. I can’t thank you enough for all the good food and the supplies, though. It will make all the difference for my trip home.”
“We’re glad to help. I don’t envy your journey, but you’re young and strong and I’m sure you’ll be fine. We wish you the best of luck.”
“And good luck to both of you too. I really hope things don’t get too out of hand here, but if they do, y’all better get out of the city somehow—before it’s too late. Keep your eyes and ears open.”
“We will, Mitch. Don’t worry about us. Just do your best to avoid trouble on the road. I know you will,” Mr. Greenfield said.
“I’ll be fine, I’m not worried about myself. It’s my sister I’m concerned about. I think she’ll be okay until I get there, but we’ve got work to do on the farm to prepare for what I imagine is going to be a long wait for my mom and dad.”
Mitch shook hands with Mr. Greenfield one last time and then set out down the street to follow the shortcut his new acquaintance had sketched to take him back to the expressway. He heard more generators running in the neighborhood, evidence that the well-to-do residents that lived there were better prepared than most. Even so, Mitch didn’t see how they could stay there indefinitely. What was going to happen when the hundreds of thousands of people living throughout the rest of the city ran out of food and everything else they needed to live? They were going to start looking for it wherever they could find it, Mitch knew. They would sweep through here like every other neighborhood and take what was left—if anything was. And Mitch knew there would be nothing Mr. Greenfield or anyone else could do to stop them. But that wasn’t his worry. He had expressed his concerns and the Greenfield’s had made their choice. All he could do was look out for his own, and right now that was Lisa. He’d agreed to be responsible for her while his parents were away, and no matter how long that turned out to be, he aimed to honor his promise.
Mitch soon came to the expressway and had to walk up a long entrance ramp to reach it. He could have stayed on surface streets until he reached the beginning of the bridge across the lake, but after discussing it with Mr. Greenfield, he decided he’d probably encounter fewer people on the elevated roadway. Those that were using it this first night after the blackout were probably stranded motorists who’d left their disabled vehicles hours earlier and were trying to get home.