Andy nodded and reached for the still-lit keypad. He punched in the code.
"Andy, I can"t," Emma told him. "I can"t. It"s been fine in theory. But for real? I can"t."
He told her she had to, it was the only way; it had to be done. It was the smart thing to do when civilization would fall apart from stupidity.
The metal door opened.
"Jesus," Del whispered. "She really went all out."
Andy said nothing; he turned on his flashlight, started to race down the twenty-foot hall and, halfway there, he stopped. He froze. His heart broke, and Andy couldn"t move. He physically couldn"t do anything but drop to the floor.
The box.
The "history of Emma" box that Emma had made sat in the hallway.
"You found the box," Del said. "Oh my G.o.d."
Andy shook his head.
"What"s wrong?"
"Andy, if I don"t make it, if I get sick, I don"t want you finding me," Emma had told him. "I"ll leave the box in the hall. That is my sign that we didn"t make it."
"Andy?" Del questioned.
Andy took a moment, and then he stood. Slowly and emotionally, he stood with that box in his arms. He held his tears, sniffed once, and turned.
Shift.
The sound of a shotgun being pumped caused him to stop.
"Who"s there?" the husky male voice called out.
Andy slowly turned around.
"Good G.o.d in Heaven, Andy Jenkins, that you?"
Del"s flashlight beam lit the man"s face. "Mr. Bailey? Holy s.h.i.t."
Andy dropped the box and raced forward. "Tell me ..."
A scream.
A loud, long scream came from the other end of the hall, and out of the darkness raced Emma. Cody in her arms, she ran full speed ahead and slammed right into Andy. Her free arm wrapped around his neck.
Her scream turned into an emotional cry that was deep and heartfelt. "I thought you were dead."
"Oh, G.o.d." Andy held her tight, stepped back, and looked at her. "The box. It"s in the hall."
Emma shook her head. "When we heard the bombs, we thought ..." Another shake of her head. "We were trapped, Andy. We thought we were gonna die down here or be here forever."
"Your girl," Mr. Bailey waved a finger. "Her and her planning. It saved the rest of us."
Andy rested his hand on her face, kissed her and then Cody. "She got big." Andy"s eyes lifted. Everyone from the shelter gathered in that hall, led by Richie.
Richie grinned and ran to him.
Andy reached out pulling him into him.
Del cleared his throat. "Um, h.e.l.lo. I"m here, too." He reached out and grabbed hold of Cody. "And I am not letting you out of my sight, little one." Then Del did something else; he signed to Richie. "I"m not letting you out of my sight, either. Get used to it." He embraced his son.
Richie laughed and replied. "You learned to sign?"
Del pointed to Andy. "We"ve been together."
Emma asked. "This whole time?"
Andy nodded. "CDC had us in lockdown while things went bad. They cured my stutter for a spell. We have time to talk about that."
Bailey interjected. "We were able to get a radio signal about two weeks after the bombs were dropped. We lost that a couple weeks ago, thought everyone in the world died."
Del stated. "Not really. But most did. It"s a different world up there."
Emma inched to Andy. "How is it up there, Andy? Really?"
"Better now." As best as he could, Andy brought Emma and Cody close to him. He closed his eyes tight and inhaled a warm gratefulness. "Much better now."
Time Stamp Final.
Andy"s Journal.
September 2nd.
I know I had said I wasn"t going to write another entry, but I felt the need to add closure to it all.
There were eleven people in The Hole. All of them in good health, good spirits, and their weight was good. Not only did Emma have a ridiculous amount of stock, her hydroponics were unbelievable. Canning and preserving what she grew pa.s.sed a lot of the time.
The last I spoke to Emma, I had called from her father"s house and told her she needed to go into The Hole. It had its own safe air system that filtered for a month. But she was so far out that I didn"t think she needed to do that, or she and I would have been infected already.
She didn"t have a heads up on Richie"s arrival. I knew the inner door would be sealed, but apparently, Emma just let them in. She didn"t make them wait it out. According to her, it didn"t matter. She took a gamble and it paid off. Incidentally, Del"s lady friend and her son never made it to Bailey"s RV.
But after the bombs were dropped, debris trapped them down there. They were able to retract the outer air pump and use the in-house ventilation. After a radiation readout showed that the air was safe, the design allowed them to drill the pipe upward. The hatch in the barn was completely covered and so was the other exit. The only way out was to redesign my ventilation drill and constantly drill a way out.
Bailey was making some progress when we arrived. They had to be careful, because they used up all the in-house ventilation.
After everyone was out, me, Mr. Bailey, and another man headed into Miles City. It was the nearest town that wasn"t hit. We were able to jump start two vehicles. We lucked out, and the reserve tank at the local station was untouched. We filled as much as we could and headed back to Emma"s and packed up.
We packed up everything including fresh produce, canned products, and the remaining stock in The Hole.
We headed east and aimed for Brookings. Our gas ran low about fifty miles away in the middle of farmland; we had one vehicle that worked. I headed there for help.
Thankfully, they came for the rest of us. They welcomed us into their small town and were happy about the food we brought. Not that they were short, it was always nice to have more.
The small city of about twelve thousand people had dwindled down to about one thousand. Those who remained were loyal to their town and didn"t migrate like the rest of the west.
They honestly believed their remote town would have remained intact, had it not been for the three businessmen who brought the virus into the Holiday Inn.
We"ve been here about five months now. Making her father proud, Emma registered her agricultural skills with the Twin Falls branch of the Sustainability Project. Her degree, knowledge, and hands on experience was put to work right away. She actually is one of three people that oversee the farming in this division.
Thank G.o.d for her skills and a surviving Brooking teenage boy with a stash of marijuana. I won"t have to worry about that stutter anymore.
Richie is doing well; he"s just being a teenager. Cody is adjusting and is growing at an astronomical rate. Del is the town"s weekly entertainment and, like me, will teach at the school when it starts in two weeks.
Recent migration of workers upped the Brookings population. We have forty students.
The United States is restructuring and rebuilding, and, I guess, so is the rest of the world. We don"t hear much about the rest of the world. Power is back with limited phone communication and radio. Television and internet are a lost luxury. China, as promised, dropped off shipments of the cure.
I never heard from Edward or Chad again. I can only hope and a.s.sume they are doing well.
Things seem to be moving forward but in a different direction. Survival, growth, that seems to be the number one plan.
There is an air of peace that is odd. I can"t explain. You wake up every morning, do your thing, and it"s peaceful. No tension.
Even though every single person that has survived carries with them memories of the old world, memories of pain, suffering, and loss, we all wear these things proudly like a red badge of courage. It was an experience that brought us to a different place.
In reality, the earth received a cleansing; we have a fresh start. A new beginning, a new world, and a new chance at it all. I hope we do it right this time.
end.