what we are looking for in the way of supplies for the winter.”
“So, what you’re saying is we look at the DC and, if it meets our needs, we level and clear the area while the crews assigned to work details continue with them. After that, then head out to look for families?” Drescoll asks.
“That’s what I’m thinking,” I say. “Lynn, what do you think?”
“You know how I feel about you heading off again but I agree with the plan. Distribution center, clear the area, and then families,” she answers.
Black, Blue, and Red Teams — yes, again not my favorite colors for a team selection — prepare for the journey north to one of the distribution centers after the morning’s training. I think about giving the teams a day off but I feel time is running out with the coming winter. We have a month or two of nice weather as we usually have an Indian summer but we can’t count on it. We have to secure our supplies to help us through the long Northwest winter, especially with the influx of people.
The teams are outside loading our gear up as Bannerman, Lynn, and I head towards the front door ready for our trip. The interior is a chaotic movement of people. The ones who have just arrived are trying to find their way and others are preparing for their day’s tasks. Kathy catches up to us as we are about to head out of the front door.
“Jack, the guards arrived at the front gate and said you might be interested in what they found,” Kathy says.
“What did they find?” I ask.
“I don’t know. They just said to find you and see if you or Lynn could head there,” she answers.
“Okay. We’re heading that way anyway. Thanks,” I say and look at Lynn questioningly.
She shrugs and gets on the radio contacting the guards. “This is Lynn, what do you have?”
He is startled awake. The darkness is complete and he blinks to make sure his eyes are actually open. He’s not sure exactly where he is and feels disoriented. He should be lying on his couch in his living room having lain down to try and sleep his headache away. The hard surface under his back and hips is nothing like his comfortable couch. He brings his hand to his face and can only see a ghostly outline even though it’s close to his face. With his mind waking more, he becomes aware of someone breathing nearby. The more he listens, the more he notices it sounds like several. It’s like the deep breathing of sleep but it’s coming in quicker inhales and exhales than he would expect.
He feels exhausted and sits up still feeling confused and disoriented trying to make sense of his surroundings. His eyes adjust to a degree and he makes out forms lying on the ground close to him. He can also dimly see other objects in the room but can’t make out what they are. A very dim line of light is low to the floor to his left and his mind registers that it must be a door.
He becomes aware of the strong smell of body odor and realizes some of that is coming from him. It’s the kind of smell that can only come about from a number of days wearing the same clothes. This confuses him more and he draws his knees to his chest feeling his bare feet on a cold, hard surface. What the heck am I doing barefooted? He thinks still trying to comprehend what is going on.
Something stirs next to him as if rolling over and he hears a growl. He feels the need to get out into some light to orient himself. The thought goes through his mind that this is just a dream but it feels too real. He knows something has happened but hasn’t the faintest clue as to what that could be. He stands a little unsteadily feeling dizzy for a brief moment. His muscles ache and it feels as if every joint in his body pops. He hears a rustling in the dark coming from somewhere close. A growl emits from the inky blackness; not the growl of someone sleeping and rolling over but the growl of something alert and dangerous.
Adrenaline floods his system. He rushes for what he assumes is a door above the thin line of faint light. The line is only a shade lighter than the surrounding blackness. Not having any sense of depth perception, he slams into a metal object which gives with his pressure. The door opens but the light is only marginally better in the hall in which he finds himself. He instinctively knows he is in a building but that’s it. A piercing shriek fills the air behind him. He senses something large moving rapidly toward him.
Fuuuuuck! He thinks pausing and trying to analyze the best way to go. No answer readily comes to mind so he darts left down a hall. He barely registers the cold, slick feel of linoleum under his feet. Thrusting his hands out in front, in order to get some indication if he is about to plow into something, he takes off at a run only knowing he wants to get away from whatever screamed.
He drifts his hand to the side and comes into contact with what feels like a wall. Keeping his hand on the wall, his mind searches for a solution out of whatever he is in. He just knows he needs to get out and away. Other howls fill the air behind. Feet pound behind and he senses they’ve entered the same corridor from the room he just fled. These thoughts compartmentalize in his mind; that he was in a room and now a hall; that he needs to get away.
His fingers brushing the wall come up on empty space. The air is filled with shrieks and the sound of feet slapping the surface of the floor; close and getting closer. He slows just for a moment putting his foot into the empty space and not coming into contact with anything until below the level of the floor. Stairs, he thinks and turns into the empty inky space. Throwing caution to the wind with the screams almost directly in his ear, he tears off down the stairs holding one hand in front of him. A part of his mind knows that stairs end and he doesn’t want to slam into whatever is at the end. The other hand feels a wall to his left.
His hand pounds into what feels like concrete. He turns right groping on the run for another set of stairs leading down. His foot comes into open air and he feels himself falling forward.
“Noooo!” He screams.
The sense of several large things on his heels penetrates his awareness. With his heart racing and fear overwhelming his senses, his foot comes into contact with the edge of a step and slips down to the next one. Still off balance and falling forward, he thrusts his other foot out feeling it contact another step. Whatever is behind him is right behind and he knows he doesn’t have time to regain his balance. He keeps his off-balanced run down the stairs. Shrieks fill the enclosed stairwell.
He barely notices the change from concrete to linoleum once again. The sudden shift from the stairs to level floor causes him to stumble even more and he lurches forward. His outstretched hand, flailing to keep his balance, contacts something solid. There is no way to avert the collision with him being off balance so he turns his shoulder to minimize the impact. His shoulder impacts the heavy object but he feels it give. Sensing he just opened a door, he stumbles through feeling the end of fingers rake through his hair.
His fear escalates to the extent that he thinks his heart is going to either burst or stop. He screams. The light becomes more pronounced as he finds himself in a wide hall. There is light streaming from a glass doorway to his left. He turns instinctively toward the light. He can’t make out anything but the brighter light of the outside. A hand brushes against his scalp just above his left ear but slides off. The light grows beneath his feet revealing the green and cream checkered floor of an entrance lobby.
He makes for the outside. There is nothing soothing about the fact that he will be outside but it will enable him to better fight what is running and clawing after him. Sight is imperative. With the hand brushing against him twice, he knows that whatever or whomever is just behind him is faster or at least knows the interior better. A loud chorus of howls and screams causes him to lose control of his bladder. He feels the warmth but doesn’t care. The sharp pain of his feet being cut on broken glass lying on the floor also registers but doesn’t slow him one bit. He is through the broken glass door in a flash.
Finding himself in a parking lot, he turns knowing he can’t run any further with the pain coming from his cut feet. Expecting to be hit immediately by that which is directly behind him, he raises his arms to protect himself from the impact. Nothing. He lowers his arms and is confused at seeing nothing. He touches the back of his head remembering the feel of fingers and a hand expecting something to still be there. He knows he didn’t imagine it as he can still hear screaming emanating from within the tall building he is now standing in front of.
With his heart racing, he looks at the unfamiliar building. He racks his brain for a clue as to how he got here but comes up blank. There are images in his mind but none form a coherent pattern. His feet sting so he sits on the paved lot watching the door for signs of anything heading his way. He can’t go further until he stops the pain in his feet and the bleeding. Feeling along his bloody feet, he finds no embedded glass shards.
Taking a good look at himself for the first time, he notices he is covered in blood; his clothes are caked in it. Fear rises again thinking he has been greatly injured. His outer shirt is shredded, barely even on him, as are the
