Ravaged Land - A Post-Apocalyptic Novel (4 page)

It was a woman speaking as if she was reading from something. It was difficult to make out what she was saying with so many words disappearing into the crackles of the radio fuzz. But it was definitely the voice of a woman.

“The bible? Is she reading the bible?” Ryan asked squinting at the radio.

I wasn’t sure, I wasn’t familiar with the bible, it sounded like it could be religious literature, but I didn’t know for sure. I waited and tried to make out her words but to me it was just gibberish, it made little sense. She stopped reading and spoke.

“We are here sitting in the church basement waiting for help. Oh dear Jesus, please send us the help we so desperately need at 48 North Church Street here in the blessed city of Orlando. Dear Lord we haven’t much, some are hurt, many have passed and are on their way to join you in your glorious heaven above. If anyone hears this please send help, in Jesus’ name we beg for some kind of assistance.” Her voice was old or simply worn out from all her readings, it cracked as if she had been crying excessively and was in need of water.

“Orlando?” Ryan whispered.

“That’s hundreds and hundreds of miles away, is that even possible?” I asked.

With that the woman started reading scripture again. I pictured her sitting there with others gathered around her holding hands, sobbing and praying for their lives and the lives of their loved ones to be saved. It made my stomach flop as my thoughts drifted to my mom, but I pushed the thoughts back down, deep into the part of my brain where they needed to stay hidden. Until I was ready to confront them. I couldn’t go there, not now, not in front of Ryan. Not like this, even though he could relate, just like everyone trapped down here could, it wasn’t right.

I wondered how many people were trapped with the bible woman and what their situation was like. Was it as bad in Florida as it was here? Was it this bad everywhere? They likely weren’t in an underground shelter filled with food, comfy beds, and a warm shower. Maybe not even a toilet. The good news was that other people had survived, at least for now. Hopefully it was just a matter of time before help arrived for them, and for us too. Just as quickly as the voice had come in, the voice vanished back into the fuzz of the radio.

“There must be some radio towers that remained standing through all of this,” Ryan said hopefully, “maybe we’ll get more answers or help soon.”

“If only someone knew we were down here under that stupid giant pond above us,” I said sweeping my eyes up towards the ceiling. I hoped I hadn’t sounded ungrateful.

“Well, if my family made it, they might think to check down here for me,” Ryan said, sounding as if he was trying to convince himself.

“Sure, yeah, maybe,” I said not sounding as comforting or confident as I should have.

* * *

I guessed roughly a week had passed since being down in the shelter. Every day we waited for help, but the water above us hadn’t evaporated. Each morning we’d argue as to whether it looked like it was less or more than the day before. It didn’t matter, all I cared about was that it was still there, because while it was there we were stuck down here. And I was more than ready to get out and breathe some fresh air, walk around or just to be out of this little space. Each day the shelter felt as though it was shrinking. The more I thought about it, the worse I’d feel, so I made an effort not to think about it. When the claustrophobic thoughts crept in, I’d shove them deep down into myself. Into that dreary place you stick all the yucky things that would immobilize you if you thought about them too much. They were next door neighbors to the thoughts of my mom that I kept tucked away, and I had to be careful that when I was putting other anxious thoughts away I wouldn’t let those sneak out.

When I was bored I exercised. I’d do crunches, squats and other things that would get me moving but wouldn’t get me too sweaty. I wanted my heart to pump and it helped make me feel stronger instead of powerless, but I had to be careful so I wouldn’t need a shower and waste the water we did have. I didn’t know when we’d run out of water. We had loads of bottled drinking water, but as for the toilet, shower and sink water, I didn’t know. We stopped using plates if we didn’t have to so there was less dish washing. The trash was building up, but we’d be OK awhile yet. Thankfully the smell hadn’t yet permeated the living spaces.

The tornadoes were less frequent, yesterday we hadn’t seen any while the cameras were on. I hoped that was a sign these storms were losing steam.

Today when we turned on the cameras to check the water levels, none of us could believe what we were seeing. The rain had stopped. There were no flashes of lightning. No tornadoes and no hail pelting the ground and splashing into the pool above. The storm appeared to be over, but what was happening was both terrifying and depressing. What was visible of the water above was frozen solid and the amount of white fluff falling from the sky was unreal. Visibility was practically zero, just enough for us to realize it was an epic blizzard like nothing we’ve ever seen.

Ice sealed us in as if we hadn’t been already sufficiently trapped. Now there was absolutely no way out, even though my thoughts of swimming out to the ponds surface were probably illogical anyway. Sienna dropped her face into her hands sobbing while the rest of us stared at the TV screen in disbelief.

“Maybe this is a good thing,” Ryan offered.

“How can this be good?” Owen said pounding his fist against his leg so hard I had no doubt he’d bruise.

“Maybe it’s a sign that it’s all coming to an end.”

“Or maybe it’s only just the beginning, storm after storm after storm,” Dean said putting his hand on his sister’s back.

“We’re trapped down here… forever!” Sienna bellowed.

“Well not forever,” Owen muttered under his breath. I guessed he was hinting at the fact that eventually we’d run out of food and water. It wasn’t worth arguing about, but even dead our bodies would still be trapped. I kept my mouth closed and my morbid thoughts to myself.

“We’ll get out. We just have to let these storms pass,” I said trying to sound reassuring, but of course I didn’t have any idea what was really going on. Hell, the temperature dropped to freezing overnight— I was just as clueless as the others when it came to understanding the storm. For all I knew these storms could go on forever. Maybe once the ice melted we could try to open the doors and let the water flood the shelter so we could escape. Or maybe we could chip a tunnel through the ice, although if the whole pond wasn’t frozen and too much water got inside we’d risk drowning. I shook those ideas out of my head. There had to be something we could try. We’d have to talk about it when the time came. It was probably best to wait, since we were safe and had plenty of food, water and other supplies.

The day passed with everyone pretty much keeping to themselves. Everyone was depressed and turning inward, the negative vibe made me even more anxious than I already was.

Ryan continued to fiddle with the radio most nights, but I think I was the only one that knew about that habit and I never mentioned it to anyone else. Once in a while I’d sit up with him listening to the fuzz but I’d fall asleep pretty quickly on the couch with the constant white noise. Sometimes, very rarely, we’d catch the bible lady reading and pleading for help. She’d report that the people with her were dying, she’d mention when they lost someone, their name. She’d say something nice about them and ask for Jesus to take them up to heaven and far away from their pain and suffering. Their group was small now, she never said how many were left and sometimes I wondered if it was just her.

On occasion we’d all get together and watch a movie, those nights were almost fun. There would be smiles and laughs, and I think for just a little while we’d forget. The nights were never planned, someone would just randomly start up a DVD, and then everyone would siphon into the living room to settle in to watch the movie. Comedies were always the best. Even Ryan would smile once in a while. Otherwise the only other time he smiled was when he was trying to make everyone feel comfortable, but I think everyone had picked up on that and it wasn’t working as well as it had at first. Sienna was getting more depressed, very depressed, with each passing day. She’d sleep a lot, going as far as to take some of the sleeping pills and pain medicines when she wanted to force her body to sleep when it wasn’t tired. It bothered Dean, he was worried, and he had no idea how to deal with it. He tried to spend time with her when she was awake even if it just meant sitting with her until the next round of sleep found her. At first, him being in our room was awkward, I had a hard time falling asleep, worried I’d be breathing heavy or worse, snoring. Some of the time I’d wait in the living room until he left, but now I liked having him there, it helped me fall asleep too. Most nights it was him that turned out our lights as he slipped out of the room. I had fallen asleep one night while reading a book, but when I woke up it was on my nightstand and my blanket had been pulled up to my shoulders. It was kind of sweet but of course we never talked about it.

Owen was easily agitated, often he was on edge but I didn’t blame him. You had to be really careful what you’d say around him, the slightest thing could flip his switch. He never talked about himself or his family, so I didn’t know exactly what his trigger was, I assumed it must have just been the whole situation which was understandable.

Overall, Dean and Seth handled it the best. They were the caretakers, they’d cook, do dishes and even the laundry. They’d clean up after everyone and make sure things ran smoothly. I think Dean mostly did it for Sienna’s sake, while Seth just did it to keep himself busy. The three of them, Seth, Dean and Owen, had been friends before all this happened, so I think that helped them. Sienna had her brother. That had to be nice, but you couldn’t tell by how she acted. They weren’t alone the same way I was alone. I didn’t really know anyone other than seeing their faces around school.

* * *

I started losing track of time. I estimated it was approximately two weeks after having heard the bible lady on the radio that we heard someone new.

That night, when everyone was sleeping, Ryan was twisting his radio dials as usual, while I relaxed on the couch dozing off here and there. My back was to Ryan, and I was letting myself get lost in the white noise instead of watching him. The noise was something I almost needed to fall asleep, so I didn’t hear the thoughts in my head. I was just about to drift off again when he stopped at the voice.

“Anyone out there?” the male voice said, “breaker, breaker.”

“Maybe they are on a CB?” Ryan said, his words soft and fast, waiting anxiously to hear if there would be more.

“Anyone out there?” The voice repeated, this time with a touch of apprehension, “Well the snow is melting here… the roads are clearing. I made it out to town today. Didn’t see a soul. Am I alone out here?”

Then the voice stopped. The fuzz was different, we knew the person was still there, they just weren’t saying anything. If only we had a way to respond, we could let him know he wasn’t alone.

Ryan hopped up and turned on the cameras but it was still too dark to really make anything out. Yesterday, the snow had still been coming down as fast and strong as ever, but wherever this person was, it was letting up. Perhaps it was changing. Where was he?

“Anyone alive out there?” the voice said sounding sad, disappointed and lonely.

“Say where you are, say where you are, say where you are…,” Ryan chanted barely audible. But all we heard was the quiet awkward fuzz of someone hanging onto a line, and no one talking back. Then there was a click, and the fuzz returned to its normal no one’s there crackle.

“That’s good news… right?” I asked trying not to sound excited.

“God I hope so,” Ryan said putting his head down against the table. Tonight he’d sleep, even Ryan could only go so long resisting before falling prey to the sandman. I guided him over to the couch, pulled a blanket over him and he was out before I even stepped away. This could quite possibly be the first time since we’ve been down here that he’s slept. Before I walked away I looked at him, maybe the first time I’ve really looked at him. He was actually very attractive. All it took for me to really notice was him laying here with a relaxed, peaceful expression instead of his usual stressed out, intense, trying to make sure everyone was happy expression. His brown hair was messy, half flopped in his face, I almost wanted to reach out and swipe it away from his eyes, the eyes that when open, were an impossible shade of blue.

“Everything OK?” I jumped about forty feet into the air when Owen appeared standing in the opening that led to the kitchen. He was just staring at me and I had no idea how long he’d been there before saying anything. He yawned and blinked a few times.

“Yeah, yeah it’s great. I was just ah… helping Ryan to the couch… Good night.”

“Right….” He nudged me with his fist as I sped past him and into bathroom. I ignored his tone and what he was hinting at. I didn’t have a thing for Ryan if that was what he was insinuating. It was that I just happened to see him for the first time and couldn’t help but be curious. We’d been stuck in here for weeks together, but I didn’t really know anyone, I hadn’t really seen anyone or let them see me either. Maybe now, now that there was some hope in sight that we might actually get out of here, maybe I should get to really know them. This wasn’t the end. Once we all got out of here we would still be together after what those storms likely did to our neighborhood… the city… the state… maybe the world? We were all going to need each other.