Getting Out

25

Georgia didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know whether these people were a threat or not.

She wasn’t the type to automatically assume that someone was a threat, even in these dire circumstances. But at the same time, the man had rushed out of his car carrying a handgun.

Then again, she had a gun too.

Georgia certainly wasn’t just going to murder these people. But she also couldn’t just ignore them. They were here, and they weren’t simply going to go away. If they were a threat, she’d have to tie them up or something, and that would be the same as murdering them.

Either they were a threat, and she killed them here and now. Or they weren’t, and she let them go, let them get their equipment out of their car.

Both vehicles were obviously too damaged to ever run again. It was the sort of damage that totaled the cars. Even a professional mechanic wouldn’t be able to help the vehicles.

James was holding the flashlight on them, illuminating both of them. Sadie was holding a rifle, per Georgia’s instructions.

Georgia had to act. She got out from behind the tree and walked towards the man and woman, who had their hands in the air.

Georgia approached them, pointing the gun right at the man’s stomach. At this range, there was no chance she could miss. But Georgia also knew about knife attacks. She knew that even trained police officers didn’t have time to draw and discharge their weapons if they were rushed with a knife—what was it, something like fifteen feet? It was quite a distance.

So Georgia stayed twenty feet away. She thought that was safe enough, considering the circumstances.

“What are you doing here?” shouted Georgia.

Supposedly the man and women were named Max and Mandy. But they could be lying. Not that it mattered at all.

She studied the man’s face, as he squinted in the face of the bright light.

He didn’t look dangerous. He looked somewhat serious. But none of that meant anything. Not now.

“We’re…”

She could tell the man was hesitating. He didn’t want to give away what he was doing.

“Tell me,” said Georgia. “Or you’re dead.”

“We’re headed to a house,” said the man, supposedly named Max. “This is my friend Mandy… She was my neighbor. We knew we had to get out when the EMP happened. Our friend is in the car. He’s knocked out. And he’s going through… never mind. He’s injured. Not in good condition…”

Georgia had seen the headlights of Max’s vehicle earlier. They’d been coming right at them, and Georgia had wanted to avoid them, so she’d taken a turn off to the right.

She realized now what must have happened. It must have just been a small shortcut road that took them right back onto the main road. And when it did, she’d run right into their car, T-boning it.

For the first time in her life, Georgia had absolutely no idea what to do. And she couldn’t ask anyone. Her kids were, well, they were just kids. They were teenagers, and they might have thought of themselves as adults, but the truth was that they simply didn’t have that adult mindset, the mindset required to make difficult decisions.

Georgia studied the woman’s face. She looked kind, in a way. She looked trustworthy, and the man certainly didn’t look like any kind of criminal. But all her life Georgia had dealt with people who didn’t look like criminals, but had tried to screw her over on her pay, or undercut her in some devious way.

She couldn’t stand there forever, in the rain, swaying on her feet from exhaustion.

She went forward, risking it, and grabbed the gun from the man. He didn’t move a muscle.

She took the gun, identifying it as a Glock, and stuck it in her waistband carefully.

“Look,” said the man. “You’ve got the upper hand here… You can do what you want. But we’re just looking for the same thing you are… We’re trying to get out… Trying to survive.”

Georgia continued to study him.

The seconds seemed like hours. It felt like an eternity was passing slowly as she kept her gun trained on him.

Finally, the woman spoke.

“We’re tired and hungry,” she said. “We’ve been through so much already. We’re not looking to harm anyone. We stopped in a town, and they tied us up and knocked Max out. It turned out they were just scared. They didn’t want to hurt us, but they thought we were the enemy, without even knowing us. We ended up helping them, giving them some pain medication for a dying man who couldn’t get his dialysis.”

She paused.

“Keep going,” said Georgia. “I’m listening. Convince me that you’re not the enemy, because I don’t want you to be. I don’t want to have to… hurt you.”

“The world is descending into chaos,” said the woman named Mandy. “At least as far as we can tell that’s happening. Without communication, we don’t really know what’s happening out there. But before we got out here, we saw a mob descending on a store. They almost killed the man who’s passed out in the back of the Jeep. Max saved him, risking both our lives to do so. Society may be collapsing. Society may be dissolving. It’s going to be every man and woman against everyone else. Everyone for themselves. But that doesn’t mean that we have to act like that. We can help each other. We can share supplies, and… I think we’re lost. We need help, too, to be honest.”

Georgia made a snap decision. She hoped it wasn’t the wrong one.

“Are you hurt?” she said. “From the crash?”

“No,” said Max. “We’re OK, although we should check on Chad in the back seat.”

Georgia lowered her gun. She wasn’t sure how much they could see of her.

But they must have been able to see her enough, given the faint diffuse light from the headlights. They instantly relaxed their positions. Max slowly lowered his hands.

Georgia didn’t call out for James and Sadie. If something happened to her, she wanted them to be safe. She wanted them to have time to escape. Or for them to shoot and defend themselves.

Georgia walked towards them, her rifle lowered, pointed to the ground.

“I’m Georgia,” she said, extending her hand.

She hoped against hope that this wasn’t a mistake.

“Max,” said Max, shaking her hand.

No funny business. No secret attacks. He just shook her hand and that was it. He had a good, firm grip, and so did Georgia.

She shook Mandy’s hand next.

“Where are you two from?”

“Ardmore,” said Max.

“Me too,” said Mandy. “I’m his next door neighbor. Or was his next door neighbor, I guess.”

“I’m from Bryn Mawr,” said Georgia.

“Right down the street,” said Max, nodding.

“Let’s see how your friend is doing, OK?” said Georgia.

The walked around to the other vehicle, a Jeep.

Georgia tried to keep her eyes on Max and Mandy, to make sure they didn’t pull anything.

If they proved trustworthy, she would give Max the gun back. But there were so many things that could be weapons. Knives, sticks, flashlights, anything heavy. Georgia didn’t see the point of shaking them down, asking for weapons. Plus, she was past that stage. If she was going to do that, she should have done it already.

There was an overweight man passed out in the backseat of the wrecked Jeep.

Max crawled into the back seat to examine him, while Mandy and Georgia stood somewhat awkwardly outside in the rain, waiting.

Mandy was younger than Georgia, and had a good figure.

“He saved me, you know,” said Mandy, making what turned out to be something like small talk. “As soon as the power went out basically, two guys came and tried to… rape me. It was horrible. I didn’t even know Max, and he came busting in with his gun drawn and shot them both… They were so horrible. He’s always talking about how he has to look out for himself, but he always ends up helping someone. He saved Chad in the back, his old friend. Sorry, I’m kind of rambling on, I guess. I’m just still nervous… The crash really scared me. And we’ve been through a lot. I’m sure you have too. I don’t know what we’re going to do now. It looks like the Jeep is totaled.”

“Wow,” said Georgia. She couldn’t think of anything else to say. It was a lot to take in all at once.

“He’s OK,” said Max, who started to drag his overweight friend out of the car.

He got him down and his friend dropped heavily into the mud.

“He doesn’t need to be treated too gently,” said Max. “He’s an addict… It’s a long story, but it’s disgusting enough. We gave his pain pills away to someone who actually needed them. Not sure what to do with him.”

“What’s happening?” said the man.

“We had a car accident, Chad,” said Mandy. “Is your head OK?”

Chad lay in the mud. He was already covered in mud from head to toe. He looked completely disgusting. His hair was plastered with mud, long and unruly, covering part of his face. His clothes looked disgusting, like he’d been sweating through them before the rain. They were stained.

“Is he going to be all right?” said Georgia.

“I think so,” said Max. “Once he stops being such an asshole. He’s been giving us a hard time without his pills. He tried to attack me.”

Normally, this would have made Georgia worry for her own safety, but she’d dealt with addicts before. She knew how they behaved, and she knew how horrible it was for them to lose their drug of choice.

“You still with us, Chad?” said Max.

“Still here,” muttered Chad. “Not feeling too good though…”

Max got up, leaving Chad in the mud, and started examining the Jeep.

“Looks bad,” he said. “I don’t think either one of these is going to run again.”

“That’s what I thought, too,” said Georgia. “How far away is the place you’re trying to get to?”

“Mandy’s been doing the directions,” said Max.

“We’re lost basically,” said Mandy. “At least until day and then maybe things will get clearer. Truth is, I’m so tired now, I can’t think straight, let alone try to figure out where we are…”

“Maybe about 50 miles,” said Max. “So on foot that would be something around 16 hours at max speed. With all this gear that we’re going to have to haul, it’ll be… who knows. A week, maybe? What about you?”

Georgia was surprised at how quickly the conversation had become normal. She knew now that Max and Mandy weren’t a threat. They were like her. They would hurt people, but only to defend themselves. They would only use violence if they themselves were attacked, only if it was necessary.

Georgia thought back to how she’d made two attempts to steal, once from her neighbors, and once from the three women she’d become insta-friends with. She felt guilty about it, and neither attempt had gone well. She had the feeling that Max was too good of a guy to do something like that, to steal for his own benefit.

“I don’t know,” said Georgia. “We were heading up to a hunting cabin…”

“We?” said Max. “Who’s we? Who else is with you?”

Georgia had been avoiding telling them that she had her kids, but the uneasiness she’d felt was gone now.

“I’ve got my two kids with me,” she said. She pointed her flashlight into the trees where James and Sadie were hiding. She called out their names loudly.

After a few moments, James and Sadie emerged from the woods and came down to join them. Everyone introduced themselves.

Georgia noticed how cold and hungry they looked. They were younger than she was, and in some ways stronger, but they didn’t have that mental toughness that adults gained with years and years of experience.

Maybe Georgia needed help. It would be a huge undertaking for her to bring James and Sadie on a long hike with pounds and pounds of gear. But could Max and Mandy help them? She didn’t know how…

“We’re going to have to hike it, definitely,” said Max, coming back from looking under the Jeep.

Everyone was completely soaked.

“What do you say we set up a little camp?” said Georgia. “And get something to eat? We’re not going to be able to carry all the food we’ve got, considering the other gear. And I imagine you might be just as hungry as we are.”

“Sounds good,” said Max. “Yeah, I feel like we’ve just been dealing with a constant string of obstacles since leaving. We’ve barely even had time to eat, let alone actually sit down and prepare a meal.”

Georgia agreed, and they spent some time out in the storm trying to figure out what to do.

They thought of eating in the cars, but with the airbags deployed, with the sides smashed in, and the windows cracked and much of the glass completely shattered, the cars weren’t the shelter that they’d been.

Max set to finding the perishable foods, some of which had already gone completely rotten and the rest of them went looking for a place among the trees that might provide some shelter. Normally, as Georgia knew, it was not good to be under trees when there was lightning. But they didn’t have much choice. It was either stay out in the open on the street, and be miserable, being lashed by the elements, or risk it under the trees. The risk was small enough that it seemed worth it.

They found a place next to an outcropping of rock, some sort of boulder that had been sheared away by the eons of time. A pine tree was behind it, and it sheltered them somewhat. The rain still fell on them, but it was blocked by the thick boughs.

Max had a small camping stove, and the heat from it and the light was welcome. There wasn’t much point in trying to start a fire, since it turned out that none of them were experts at camping skills.

While Georgia had spent a lot of time in the woods, it wasn’t like she’d been making camp fires in a downpour. She’d always had gear with her.

Some of the food had already gone rotten, but most of it was still edible. There were steaks that had come from Max’s freezer, apparently. They were now perfectly defrosted, and it seemed generous to Georgia that Max offered the first three steaks to Georgia and her kids.

The hot, seared meat tasted wonderful. They ate with their hands, like savages, like cave men in distant times. This was what the world was going to turn into—the savage lands where people ate like animals, the lands that once were. These lands would become again something resembling their distant glory, and their distant savageness. The rule of might would again become the rule of the land. The weak would perish, and for some the coming night would be nothing but a nightmare until a swift and painful end. But for others, it would be filled with glory and adventure. Modern life had cut everything off from its citizens—life was dull and filled with drudgery. In the modern world, there was no danger, not even a spark of it. There was nothing in the modern world to excite a man, or a woman, nothing except constant and mindless entertainment.

There was one thing that Georgia knew, and that was that she was going to be among the survivors. She and her children would survive. She wasn’t sure about Chad, who sat apart from them, muttering to himself and shivering constantly. But Max and Mandy—they were like Georgia. They were going to survive too.

“Did you see that?” said Mandy.

“What?”

“There was something out there…”

“Where?”

“Out there… eyes… it looked like eyes in the night…” Mandy sounded scared. She seemed like a reasonable woman, but it was possible that she frightened easily. She didn’t seem like the type who’d spent much time in the woods before.

“Probably just a raccoon or something,” said Max.

“Do raccoon eyes… glow?” said Mandy.

“I don’t know,” said Max. He looked at Georgia for an answer. She could barely see his face in the flickering light of the little camp stove flame.

“I’ve never hunted raccoon,” said Georgia.

“I think it was something else,” said Mandy. “I think it was another person.”

“Out there, now?”