Staying Alive

24

Georgia had tried to stay awake. After all, she’d needed to protect James and Sadie. And the rest of the group needed her too. But she’d pushed herself past her limits, and finally fallen asleep in the van’s passenger seat.

“Did anything happen?” said Georgia, finally opening her eyes.

The first thing she did was turn around to look at James and Sadie. They were sound asleep.

The night was dark. It was only because of the headlights that she could see the road stretching out in front of the minivan. The trees on the road side looked eerie in the off-white glow of the headlights.

“Nothing,” said Mandy, sounding tired herself.

“There weren’t any other cars?”

“Well, I saw one,” said Mandy. “I was really worried. I saw the headlights coming towards us, and I almost had a heart attack.”

“You should have woken us up,” said Georgia.

“Nothing happened,” said Mandy. “They just drove right on by.”

“Something could have happened,” said Georgia.

“I guess you’re right. So what’s the plan?”

“Well, for one thing, it’s my turn to drive. You need to get some sleep.”

Mandy slowed the van down, and she and Georgia switched places.

Max stirred in the backseat. “I’m not going to sleep anymore,” he said. “I’ll take the passenger seat. Mandy, you can sleep in the back with the others.”

It felt strange to be behind the wheel of the minivan. This was the sort of vehicle that Georgia had always hated, even though she was a mother herself and could understand its practicality. Georgia had always preferred trucks.

Georgia had to admit that the minivan was serving them well now. A truck wouldn’t have fit all of them.

And the minivan ran without problems. At least so far. The engine hummed quietly. The accelerator felt smooth, and there didn’t seem to be any problems with the automatic transmission.

“Mandy saw someone else on the road,” said Georgia. “Another car.”

“She should have woken us up,” said Max.

“That’s what I told her.”

Mandy was already fast sleep behind them, her soft snores barely audible.

Max handed Georgia a bottle of water from the Millers, as well as a bag of beef jerky. She took a bite of the tough home-made beef jerky and felt a little stronger almost instantly. It was good beef jerky, made with a mixture of just the right spices. It was too bad they didn’t have more food like that. Who knew how much they could withstand with good food in their stomachs. Then again, they’d already withstood a lot.

Soon enough, Georgia would be able to hunt again, and they wouldn’t have to worry so much about food. All she needed was a place where she wasn’t likely to get ambushed. Unfortunately, a place like that was proving hard to find. Harder than they’d thought.

“So what’s the plan, Max?” she asked.

“Well,” said Max, leaning over to get a better look at the gas gauge. “We’re going to need gas soon. At least by dawn, at the rate we’re burning through fuel.”

“You think we’ll be able to get it?”

“I hope so. It’s either that or get another vehicle.”

“One that can fit us all?”

“Two cars, if we need to,” said Max. “One would be better.”

“How are we going to get gas? Will the gas stations work?”

“I doubt it,” said Max. “The pumps are powered by electricity. The EMP will have fried everything.”

“I remember reading that some gas stations had generators,” said Georgia. “That way, they’d keep working during a natural disaster.”

“Right,” said Max. “I think in parts of Florida, where they kept getting hit with hurricanes, some gas stations had generators installed. As far as I know, they’ve never done the same thing in Pennsylvania. Not that it would do us much good anyway. The generators will have been fried as well.”

“Shit,” said Georgia.

“Shit is right,” said Max. “And it’s not like we can just suck the gas out of there. On the internet, people always used to talk about siphoning gas from a gas station with a hose.”

“That wouldn’t work,” said Georgia. She had enough common sense to understand why.

“Right,” said Max. “It works with gravity. So if the tank is in the ground, the gas isn’t going to magically travel up the tube against the force of gravity.”

“So gas stations are out?” said Georgia.

“I guess,” said Max. “Unless we can come up with some physics-defying brilliant plan. But for now, I think we’d better focus on finding another car.”

“An abandoned one?”

“Preferably not a car with an occupant,” said Max. “But we’re desperate. I’m not going to go around checking to see if anyone still needs the car or not. Call it stealing. Or whatever you want. But that’s what we’re going to have to do. If we want to get out of here, that is.”

“I don’t think Mandy’s going to be happy about that.”

“She’s going to have to deal with it,” said Max.

They drove in silence for a while, heading through the dark night. There were no other cars on the road.

“How’s the leg?” said Georgia.

“Fine,” said Max. He fished in his pocket for his bottle of antibiotics, and shook a pill out into his hand. He swallowed it without water.

“I don’t get it,” said Georgia. “There were so many people in our area. But I don’t see any cars out here. You’d think people would be traveling by car.”

“I think what happened,” said Max, “is that most people are coming from the cities and the dense suburbs. The roads must have become impassable shortly after we made it out. Traffic jams, military blockades, accidents… a thousand things could have prevented the use of the roads. This is a small two lane road that heads east and west. We’re not seeing a lot of cars on it because most of the cars are stuck in the cities. And most of the people who live out here are probably staying. They’re getting ready to defend their homes. They’re more likely to be prepared for an event like this than the people in the cities. It’s a mindset kind of thing.”

“Unfortunately,” said Georgia, “that’s going to mean that we’re less likely to find a car out here. If most of them are stuck in the cities and ‘burbs.”

“We’ll find one,” said Max. “There are still cars out here.”

“We’d better find one soon,” said Georgia. “Or else we’re not going to be able to make it much farther. Look at the gas gauge.”

“I know,” said Max.

“Too bad we don’t have any gas cans with us,” said Georgia.

“I was thinking about that,” said Max. “I think we might be able to use the plastic sack meant for extra water.”

“I guess that could work. But we might get into a situation where we need to store extra water.”

“We’ll have to go thirsty,” said Max.

“It’s one of the basic life necessities,” said Georgia. “It’s the most essential thing…”

“Getting out is the most essential thing,” said Max. “At least for now. It’s a risk. And it’s one we might have to take.”

Up ahead, in the dark night, there was a house in the distance. The clouds had parted, and the moonlight shone down on the lone house.

“Look,” said Georgia. “I think that’s a car out front.”

“It is,” said Max, peering through the windshield. “Now’s our chance.”

Georgia slowed the van down, giving them a chance to figure out what to do.

“You sure you want to do this?” said Georgia. “It’s someone’s gas, after all.”

“We don’t have any choice,” said Max.

“Maybe we could head off into the woods somewhere,” said Georgia. “Maybe we’ll be able to get out of the way…”

“You know that’s not going to work, Georgia,” said Max. “Do you want your kids to be safe? Or do you want to stay awake every night in the woods, wondering if someone will find us that night or the next?”

Max wasn’t the type to use cheap manipulation tactics. He wasn’t playing a trick on her, trying to change her mind. He was being genuine, asking her a real question.

Georgia, of course, already knew the answer.

She turned the wheel and pulled the van over to the side of the road. She switched off the lights and the engine.

“So what’s the plan?” she said.

“Let me think,” said Max, peering towards the house.

The car was visible now. It was an early ‘90s Jeep. Georgia had actually considered purchasing one for herself, many years back. Instead, she’d gone with the pickups she’d always had. Georgia remembered that Max had had a similar car. She wasn’t sure of the model, though, because by the time she’d seen it, it had been smashed, its metal twisted and its form unrecognizable.

“All right,” said Max, speaking loudly. “I need everyone awake.” He rapped his knuckles on the glass.

“What’s going on?” came Chad’s sleepy deep voice. The others groaned and yawned as they woke up.

“Are we in danger?” said Sadie, sounding worried.

“It’s fine, Sadie,” said Georgia. “We’re just going to get some gas.”

“Everyone awake?” said Max, turning around to see.

Max waited until each person answered.

“OK,” said Max. “Here’s the plan. We need gas. There’s a car up there at the house. We’re going to siphon it into our tank. James, I need you with me. You can move faster than I can with this leg. You OK with that, Georgia?”

“Yeah,” said Georgia. She had her doubts and worries, but she knew that James was the best person for the job. He was young and quick. And he knew how to siphon gas. Georgia had showed him how once.

“Good. I’ll keep guard. I need everyone else with their eyes peeled. I need someone looking in every direction, not just at the house. If anything goes wrong, we’re getting out of here as fast as possible.”

“We’re just going to steal gas from someone?” said Mandy. “I don’t think that’s right.”

“Those are the breaks,” said Max. “We don’t have any other options. If we don’t get gas, we’re stuck.”

“But it’s not right,” said Mandy. “We might be preventing someone else from leaving, and saving their own life. Or their family’s lives.”

“That’s right,” said Max. “But we’ve got to do it. We’re not going to take it by force. We’ll be thieves in the night. Trust me, I’m not proud of it.”

Mandy didn’t say anything more.

“All right, Georgia,” said Max. “Keep the lights off and creep up to that house. Get us right next to the Jeep. The gas cap is on the left side, facing the road.”

“How do you know?”

“I had the same Jeep,” said Max.

With the lights off, Georgia drove as slowly as she could. The van was almost silent. A Prius would have been ideal, but the van wasn’t bad for keeping quiet. Not that Georgia would have ever been caught dead in a Prius in her past life. It just wasn’t her scene. Now, though, everything had changed, and she’d drive anything if it meant keeping her family safe, from a Prius to a tractor.

They were going so slowly that it seemed to take forever. Finally, though, they were there. Georgia got as close as she could to the Jeep. She didn’t need to worry about leaving enough space between the vehicles to open the doors. Max was already in the back. The sliding door would work no matter how little space there was.

“Perfect,” said Max. “Keep the engine on in case we need to make a quick getaway. You ready, James?”

“Ready,” said James.

Georgia knew her son well. She could hear the nervousness in his voice, even if the others couldn’t. And she could tell he was trying to act brave and do the right thing. Georgia was proud of him, but she wished that his life could have become something else. A life where he didn’t need to put on a brave face. He was just a teenager, after all.

“You have the hose?” said Max.

“Got it,” said James.

Max had his gun in his hand as he slid open the minivan door. There was determination on his face, seen through the harsh shadows that the moon cast.

“Leave the door open,” whispered Max. “Don’t speak above a whisper, everyone.”

The last thing Max did before getting out of the van was hand his multi-tool to James. “They might have put a lock on the gas cap door. But you can pry it open with this.”

Georgia’s job was to watch the house, to see if anyone came out. But it was hard. It was hard not to try to keep an eye on James, with the hose in his mouth.

Georgia heard James coughing and sputtering. He must have gotten the gas into his mouth. That was good. It’d be flowing by now, filling the plastic water sack.

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” whispered Mandy.

“Everyone watching?” whispered Georgia, ignoring Mandy’s comment. “Everyone still awake?”

“Yeah,” came all the replies.

“I’m worried, Mom,” said Sadie, in a hushed voice.

“It’s OK, Sadie,” said Georgia. But they were empty words, and she knew it. Nothing was OK. But there was nothing else to say.

“Mom!” said Sadie, too loudly.

“Quiet,” hissed Georgia.

“No, Mom, look! The house.”

Georgia had been looking back at Sadie. She turned towards the house.

There was a light on in one of the downstairs rooms.

But that was impossible. The EMP had taken out everything. Not just the electrical grid, but the generators too.

At first, Georgia was too shocked to act.

The light shifted in the room, changing brightness. Then it hit her. It wasn’t a normal light bulb. It was merely a high-powered flashlight. Someone was in there, moving around.

“James!” hissed Georgia, probably too loudly. “Max! There’s someone coming.”

No answer.

“Max!” hissed Georgia again.

“Just a little bit longer,” came Max’s reply.

“We’ve got to go. Now!”

“Just another moment… We’ve almost got it all.”

Georgia was furious. Did Max really think a couple gallons of extra gas were important in a moment like this? After all, her son’s life was on the line. All their lives were on the line.

The door to the house swung open. A near-blinding beam of light swung over the van.