Anaheim Run

Prologue 1

“Listen!” exclaimed the oldest of the trio, an elderly man with a shock of white hair and gray brows. A strong breeze from the west, from the Pacific Ocean, stirred his brown woolen shirt and baggy green pants. The air was exceptionally chilly along the West Coast, even for January.

“I don’t hear nothin’,” commented the youngest of the party, a skinny youth barely out of his teens. Brushing his long black hair from his brown eyes, he scanned the vestige of a road they were following to the north.

Potholes dotted the buckled asphalt, and the surrounding vegetation served as a verdant wall. The wind seemed to shear right through his blue short-sleeved shirt and black trousers. “There’s nothin’ out there,” he commented.

“I knew we should have stuck to the main roads!” complained the young woman lagging slightly behind the two men. Her shoulder-length black hair was being lashed by the gusts, and her blue pants and blouse provided scant protection from the cold.

“Will you quit gripin’, sis!” countered the youth.

“We should have stayed with the main roads!” his sister reiterated.

“You know how dangerous it is to stray!” She paused, shivering. “And why didn’t we bring an extra set of clothes? Warm clothes!”

“It was nice when we left yesterday,” the youth said.

“It’s not nice now!” his sister groused.

“Quiet! Both of you!” barked the elderly man.

“What’s with you, Grandpa?” the youth demanded. “Everything is cool.”

“In more ways than one!” interjected his sister bitterly.

“I tell you there’s something out there!” Grandpa insisted.

The youth gazed up at the darkening sky, spying several stars in the firmament. “Let’s find a spot to camp for the night. We’ll start a fire. If there’s an animal in those woods, a fire will scare it off.”

“What if it’s not an animal?” the sister asked.

Grandpa glanced at the young woman. “Don’t fret none, Tess. We’re only about thirty miles from Los Angeles. The damn Raiders don’t ordinarily come in this close to the city. They’re afraid of running into a Free State patrol.”

“But the soldiers only patrol the main roads,” Tess noted. “And who knows where the hell we are?”

“I know,” Grandpa asserted. “And by this time tomorrow, you’ll be safe and sound at your Aunt Betty’s.”

“We never should have left Rincon Springs,” Tess muttered.

“I haven’t seen my sister in ten years,” Grandpa said. “If your folks were alive, they’d agree this trip was a good idea.”

“Grandpa, what’s that?” the youth inquired, pointing to the southwest.

Grandpa turned in the indicated direction. Visible above the trees in the distance, reflecting the fading glow of the vanishing sun, was an imposing edifice consisting of white spires and towers with slanted blue roofs. Even from afar, he could distinguish a dilapidated aspect to the structure. “That used to be an amusement park. I forget its name. My father told me once, but that was fifty years ago. Nobody goes there anymore.”

“What’s an amusement park?” the youth queried.

“I’ll tell you all about it later,” Grandpa said. “Right now, Johnny, we’d better find a place to camp.”

They hastened to the north, their ears alert for any sound from the woods.

“Hey! Look at that!” Johnny cried.

To their left, perhaps 15 yards from the ancient road, was a tumbledown frame house, long since abandoned. The windows had been broken and the front door was dangling from one rusted hinge. Weeds choked the yard and partially covered a cracked cement walk leading up to a collapsed wooden porch.

“How about there?” Johnny questioned.

Grandpa stared at the steadily dimming sky. “We don’t have any choice. At least there will be a lot of wood we can use for our fire.”

“Let’s get out of the wind!” Tess urged.

Grandpa, his right hand on the Astra Model 357 strapped to his right hip, took the lead, cautiously advancing along the walk to the house. The sagging green wooden steps creaked as he stepped up to the porch. “Wait here,” he directed.

“Be careful!” Tess warned.

Johnny drew his machete from its sheath on his hip. “I wish I was packin’ a gun,” he commented.

“I wish we’d never taken this shortcut,” Tess mentioned.

“You’re the one who wanted to reach L.A. as fast as possible,” Johnny noted. “Grandpa was just doing you a favor.”

“Me and my big mouth,” Tess said.

Grandpa skirted the gaping hole in the middle of the porch and sidled closer to the door. He peered into the gloomy interior.

Tess nervously glanced at the nearby trees. “Why is it I feel like something is watching me?”

“Because you’re a jerk,” Johnny replied.

“Up yours!”

Gandpa disappeared into the house.

“I hope nothing happens to him,” Tess said.

“You should of thought of that before,” Johnny stated.

“Why the hell are you getting on my case?” Tess inquired angrily.

A branch snapped in the encircling forest.

“What was that?” Tess blurted in alarm.

“Don’t crap your pants,” Johnny ridiculed her. “It could have just been a rabbit.”

“And it could have been a mutant!” Tess rejoined anxiously.

“The mutants have all been killed off from around here,” Johnny said.

“The wild ones, anyway.”

“They’ve been exterminated close to the cities,” Tess declared. “But we’re thirty miles from L.A.”

“Like Grandpa said,” Johnny remarked. “The Raiders don’t come around here anymore, and the same goes for the wild mutants.”

“I hope you’re right,” Tess said.

“Trust me, sis,” Johnny stated reassuringly.

“Not on your life,” Tess said.

Grandpa appeared in the front doorway. He beckoned for them to join him.

“What’s inside?” Johnny asked.

“See for yourselves,” Grandpa said.

They entered to find the home had been ravaged, with broken furniture scattered all over the floor. A few cobwebs hung from the ceiling.

“Go on up,” Grandpa instructed them, motioning toward a flight of stairs to the right.

Johnny went up first, Tess on his heels. The second floor was in marginally better condition, and there were two chairs and a bed still intact in one of the rooms to the left of the stairs.

“Tess can use the bed,” Grandpa said.

“Sleep on that cruddy thing?” Tess griped.

“It’s either the bed or the floor,” Grandpa told her. “Take your pick.”

Tess walked over to the bed and patted the pitiful remnant of a mattress. She coughed as a swirl of dust enshrouded her face.

“We’ll be safe on this floor,” Grandpa said. “You stay here while I check the kitchen.”

“The kitchen?” Johnny repeated quizzically.

“Sometimes you can find old pots and pans in these deserted homes,” Grandpa explained. “There might be something I can use to contain a fire.

You’ll see.” He walked off.

Tess sat on the edge of the bed and sighed. “I’m sorry I ever agreed to go see Aunt Betty.”

“I’m lookin’ forward to gettin’ there,” Johnny said. “L.A. is the big time.” He slid his machete into its sheath.

“Who cares?” Tess yawned.

“What a dork,” Johnny stated, shaking his head.

They waited in silence until Grandpa returned bearing a huge metal pot and a large marble square.

“What’s this?” Johnny asked, reaching out and tapping the marble.

“They used it to chop vegetables on, and they placed hot pans on it to prevent the kitchen counter from being scorched,” Grandpa detailed.

“We could use one of those,” Tess remarked.

“I’ll take it with us,” Grandpa said. “It will make a dandy gift for Betty.”

“What are you doing with it?” Johnny wanted to know.

“Watch.” Grandpa moved to the center of the bedroom and deposited the marble square on the floor, then positioned the pot on the marble. He went into another bedroom across the hall and came back with an armful of furniture fragments.

“We’re going to use it for our fire!” Johnny deduced.

Grandpa nodded. He knelt and dropped the wood into the pot, then took a box of matches from his left front pocket. A minute later, a small fire was radiating light and heat about the room.

“Neat!” Johnny said. “I’ll have to remember this trick.”

“It’s no trick,” Grandpa corrected him. “They did it all the time before the war.”

Tess unslung the brown leather pouch she wore draped over her left shoulder by a thin strap. “Can we eat now?”

Grandpa nodded, kneeling next to the pot.

Johnny crossed to the only window in the room and examined a network of cracks in the glass. “I can’t believe this is in one piece!”

Tess opened her pouch and extracted three strips of beef jerky. “Here you go.” She handed one to Grandpa and tossed a strip to her brother.

“So what’s an amusement park?” Johnny queried, then bit into the tangy jerky.

Grandpa held his wrinkled hands over the fire. “An amusement park was where they went to have fun.”

“Have fun?” Johnny said. “They had a special place for havin’ fun?”

Grandpa grinned. “They had lots of places. Amusement parks, circuses, zoos, and others. I understand they have a few animals left at the zoo in Los Angeles. We’ll visit it, if you want.”

“I’d love to see it!” Johnny declared.

“I know of only one zoo left, the one in L.A.,” Grandpa stated. “But amusement parks and circuses are things of the past. They died with the war. People had more important priorities, like merely staying alive.

California had it pretty easy, compared to the rest of the country. But even here there were the looters, the Raiders, the mutants, and assorted killers.”

“You still haven’t told me what an amusement park is,” Johnny observed, his mouth full of jerky.

“They were filled with rides of all kinds, tiny cars and trains and boats and…” Grandpa paused, pondering. “Roller coasters.”

“What’s a roller coaster?” Johnny asked.

“I don’t really know,” Grandpa said. “I’ve never been to an amusement park. Like I said, my father told me about them fifty years ago, and he learned about them from his father. You’ve got to remember it’s been one hundred and five years since the war.” He sighed. “My age must be showing. I don’t recall details like I once did.”

“You do fine,” Johnny mentioned affectionately. “I hope I’m in as good a shape as you are when I’m your age.”

“Thanks,” Grandpa said, smirking. “I think.”

“You know,” Tess interjected, “sometimes I wish there had never been a war. I think we would be better off if those assholes hadn’t decided to blow up the world.”

“They didn’t blow up the world,” Grandpa stated, “but they came awful close.”

“Do you think there will be another big war?” Tess inquired.

“World War Four?”

“Yeah,” Tess said.

Grandpa shrugged. “There might be. As far as I know, we don’t have any major countries left in the world. None of what they used to call superpowers.”

“What’s a superpower?” Johnny questioned.

“A country with people egotistical enough to believe they were super, and with enough military power to destroy their enemies ten times over,” Grandpa replied.

“Were there a lot of these superpowers?” Tess asked.

“A few,” Grandpa responded. “And I don’t believe there will be another world war until superpowers are formed again.”

“Why’s that?” Johnny asked, delighting, as always, in his grandfather’s entertaining explanations.

“I have this theory,” Grandpa said. “World wars are caused by countries getting too big for their britches. A superpower is a war waiting to happen. So long as we have individual countries or nations trying to be on top, to control everybody else, we’ll have world wars.”

“We’ll have wars forever,” Tess commented.

“Maybe not,” Grandpa said. “Not if we could set up a global government.”

“A what?” Johnny said.

“A government of all the people on the planet,” Grandpa stated. “It could be set up like this country used to be. There were fifty states before the war, and they lived in peace because they were presided over by a central government. Well, it could work on a global scale, too. We could have all the nations, or what’s left of them, agree to create a world government.”

“You’re dreaming,” Tess said.

Johnny looked out the window. “You sure come up with some weird ideas.”

Grandpa stared at his grandson. “You don’t think it would work?”

“How should I know?” Johnny responded. “All I know about government is that I don’t like anyone tellin’ me what to do.”

“The Free State of California isn’t a dictatorship,” Grandpa remarked.

“Oh, yeah?” Johnny retorted. “Then what’s this I hear about them making every kid go to school for five years, whether they want to go or not?” He frowned. “I’m glad I’m too old to go.”

Grandpa laughed. “Before the war everyone attended school for at least twelve years.”

“What?” Johnny said in surprise.

“That’s right,” Grandpa affirmed. “The school system, like almost everything else, fell apart after the war. They didn’t have enough teachers, and there was no way to keep all the school buses running.” He paused.

“Besides, the state government was too busy trying to restore order and maintain control. They didn’t get the schools operating again in Los Angeles and the other big cities until about forty years ago, and it’s been a slow process for them to organize schools in the smaller towns and rural communities.”

“Well, I don’t think they should have the right to force you to go to school,” Johnny stated emphatically.

“I agree,” Grandpa concurred, grinning.

“You do?” Johnny asked.

“Certainly,” Grandpa said. “If you want to be dumb all your life, that’s your prerogative.”

“My what?” Johnny queried.

“I rest my case,” Grandpa said.

“I don’t need school,” Johnny declared. “I learn everything I need from you, just like you learned from your dad.”

“I’m afraid it’s not the same,” Grandpa disagreed.

Johnny, hoping to change the subject, gazed out the window. “It sure is dark out there.”

“See anything?” Tess inquired.

“Only a mutant,” Johnny answered.

Tess glanced up in alarm. “A mutant!”

“Yep. A giant rabbit breakin’ branches from the trees,” Johnny said, and cackled.

“You’re not funny,” Tess told him.

“Will you relax?” Johnny advised her. “There’s nothin’ out there to worry about.”

The window suddenly exploded inward, showering shards of glass over the floor. Johnny was flung backwards, his arms flailing, and tripped over a chair, crashing onto his back.

“Johnny!” Tess screamed.

Grandpa drew his revolver, aiming the gun at the shattered window.

The wind tore into the room, stirring the dust.

“Johnny!” Tess leaped to her brother’s side. “Johnny!”

There was a ragged cavity spurting blood and brains in Johnny’s forehead above his right eye. A pool of crimson was spreading around his head, soaking his hair. His mouth was twisted in a cockeyed grin.

“No!” Tess wailed.

Grandpa scrambled over to his granddaughter and grabbed her right wrist. “Tess! Tess!”

Tess was gawking at her brother, her eyes wide and frightened, her breathing loud and irregular.

“Tess!” Grandpa shook her. “Listen to me! We’ve got to get out of here!”

“But Johnny!” Tess cried.

Grandpa glanced down, frowning. “We can’t do anything for him. And we can’t stay in this house. Whoever did this has us hemmed in here.

We’ve got to get out in the open where we can maneuver.”

“I can’t leave Johnny!” Tess protested.

“You must!” Garndpa hauled Tess to her feet and pulled her toward the doorway.

“No!” Tess objected, digging in her heels.

“Get a grip on yourself!” Grandpa snapped. “Come on, girl! You can do it! I don’t want anything to happen to you too!”

They moved to the top of the stairs and Grandpa paused, listening.

“Johnny is dead!” Tess said softly, sniffling.

“Quiet!” Grandpa ordered. The lower level was quiet, seemingly safe.

His grip on Tess tightened and he started down the stairs. One of the wooden steps creaked and he froze, waiting with baited breath, but nothing happened. He wondered how many enemies were lurking outside.

If there was only one, he stood a chance of escaping with Tess. But there were few solitary Raiders abroad in the countryside. Most of the slime traveled in gangs, and usually they roamed the less-inhabited areas and retreated into the mountains if Free State soliders went after them.

The ground floor was plunged in inky blackness.

Grandpa stopped at the foot of the stairs, surveying the front door and the porch beyond. The door was suspended to the right of the doorway, and two strides past the door was the collapsed section of the porch.

“We’re going out. Are you ready?” he whispered.

“I’m ready,” Tess responded gamely.

“Good girl. Stay with me,” Granda advised. He released her right wrist and crouched, then darted to the left side of the doorway.

Tess was right behind him.

Grandpa leaned against the jamb and peered outside, the cool air tingling his skin. He found himself wondering about the weapon used on poor Johnny. What could kill so silently? He had not heard a gunshot, not even the muffled retort of a firearm firing from a distance. And the weapon couldn’t have been a bow, because there had been no arrow.

“Grandpa?” Tess whispered.

“What?” He looked at her.

“Why don’t we stay in here until morning?” Tess inquired, her tone strained.

“Because if there’s more than one out there,” Grandpa said, “and if they decide to come in after us, we’ll be trapped like sitting ducks.”

“I wish I’d never bugged you about taking a shortcut,” Tess remarked.

“Forget about that.”

“Johnny would be alive right now if it wasn’t for me!” Tess lamented.

“Tess, you’ve got to put Johnny from your mind for the time being,” Grandpa instructed. “You need to concentrate on what we’re doing. We have to make it into the trees on the far side of the road. We’ll find a place to hide until daylight.”

“I’ll be okay,” Tess said unconvincingly.

“And if something happens to me,” Grandpa stated, “get to Los Angeles and find my sister. Betty will take you in.”

“We never should have left the farm,” Tess mentioned.

“Concentrate,” Grandpa said. He slowly eased around the jamb to the porch, the Astra cocked in his right hand. The yard was a jumble of shadowy vegetation. He led Tess to the left, past the hole in the porch.

They slid over the edge into a patch of waist-high weeds, ducking below the tops of the plants. Stooped over, they started toward the road.

Tess followed in her grandfather’s footsteps, prudently endeavoring to tread as lightly as possible. She cast apprehensive glances at the murky woods, deathly afraid they were being watched by hostile eyes.

An owl hooted off to the north.

Another owl answered to the west.

Tess nearly collided with her grandfather when he abruptly halted. She saw him stare to the north, then the west, and suddenly he was sprinting to the east, toward the road. Tess took off after him, startled by his unexpected haste, dreading he had seen something behind her.

Grandpa reached the road and paused, looking over his left shoulder to verify Tess was still with him.

There was a pronounced swishing noise and a sharp thump, and Tess saw her grandfather hurled from his feet, his head jerking back, and her face was splattered with a spray of liquid. He was slammed onto his back by an invisible force. Heedless of her safety, Tess was next to him in one bound, kneeling alongside him and clutching his right shoulder.

“Grandpa?” She leaned closer, and that was when she spied the fleshy hollow where once his right cheek and eye had been.

A third owl was hooting, this one to the south.

Tess, petrified, bolted, fleeing mindlessly to the east, into the forest on the far side of the road, exactly as her grandfather had directed. Branches tore at her clothing, impeding her progress, lashing her skin. She sobbed hysterically, unable to control her seething emotions.

A bulky shape rose in her path.

Tess shrieked in terror. A hard object clubbed her on the left side of her head, and she collapsed onto the dank earth, overcome by dizziness. She struggled to stand, but couldn’t.

“What do we do with her, mate?” a gruff voice asked.

“Can we have some fun and games?” inquired someone else in a falsetto tone.

Tess became aware of figures looming above her. She raised her head, counting four of them.

“No fun and games,” stated the tallest of the figures.

“Why not?” responded the man with the unnaturally high-pitched voice. “What can it hurt?”

“Yeah, guv! I could fancy a bit of the fluff,” commented the one with the gruff manner.

“Are you disputing my leadership?” demanded the tallest figure.

The other two men simultaneously answered with a prompt, “No!”

Tess rose to her elbows. She sensed the two men were wary of provoking the tall figure.

“No distractions until the job is done,” the tall one said imperiously.

“You knew my requirements before you signed up.”

“I was just, you know, wondering,” the man with the high voice mentioned obsequiously.

“You can stop wondering,” the tall one said.

Tess was perplexed by their apparent lack of interest in her. Not one of them had acknowledged her presence.

“Nightshade,” the tall one commanded.

Tess saw the fourth figure, the silent one, lift his arms and point something at her. She realized she was about to suffer the same fate as her brother and grandfather, and she opened her mouth to scream, to vent her shock and dismay.

The cool air was rent by a loud, inarticulate screech, a cry abruptly curtailed, fading to an odd gurgling whine and expiring as a gagging cough.

Unperturbed, the forest resumed its nocturnal pattern.