Escape from the Ashes Read online

  “I’m Jenny,” the woman Jim had pushed into the house said, stepping out to stand beside him. “I’m a nurse. I’ll check on the other men.”

  “Thanks,” Jim replied as the other two women walked into view in the dim light.

  “I’m Peggy and this is Pam, my cousin,” a woman said. “I want to thank you for what you did.”

  “No problem,” Jim said. “Glad to have been able to help.”

  “The three out here are dead,” Jenny called. “I’ve collected their guns. I guess we’d better keep them. We’ll need them.”

  “You sure will,” Jim called. “We’ll check the trucks for other weapons and ammo after we have some coffee.”

  Jim lit a camp lantern, and the living room of the old house was filled with light. Then he dragged the unconscious Lou into the room. While Jim made coffee, Jenny checked Lou.

  “His nose is broken and he’s got some teeth knocked out,” she said. “But other than probably a slight concussion, he’s all right.”

  “He’s a pig,” Peggy said. “If I ever see him again, I’ll kill him. I swear I will.”

  “Did the men . . . ah . . . sexually assault you ladies?” Jim asked, clearly embarrassed at having to ask.

  Jenny smiled at him. She was really a pretty woman, Jim thought.

  “No, they didn’t,” Jenny replied. “This is where they planned on raping us. What is your name, mister?”

  “Jim. Jim LaDoux. I’m sorry, I forgot to introduce myself.”

  “Well, you were sort of busy there for a couple of minutes. Where did you come from? You’re not from around here.”

  “Idaho. And I still don’t know exactly what is going on in America. Do you?”

  “Germ warfare,” Peggy told him. “That’s what the newscasters said.”

  She grimaced. “When we had newscasters, that is.”

  “Who started it?” Jim asked.

  The woman shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t think anybody does.”

  “I heard on the CB that it came from somewhere out in space,” Pam said. “And that the government knew they were coming but didn’t tell anybody about them.”

  “I was told they came from out in space,” Jim said. “By someone who should know.”

  “Who?” Jenny asked.

  “General Ben Raines.”

  The two older women looked at him, Peggy blurting out, “Ben Raines! The Ben Raines?”

  “Himself. In person.”

  “Where did you meet him?” Peggy asked.

  “West of here. He was dying from the virus. I stayed with him until he died. He talked to me a lot. Told me about the space capsules. Told me that some people have a built-in immunity to the disease. He gave me his personal vehicle and a lot of supplies. He gave me his Thompson.”

  “What’s a Thompson?” Pam asked.

  “Yes,” Jenny said. “What’s a Thompson?”

  Jim pointed to the weapon. “That. A submachine gun.”

  “I’ve seen those in old gangster movies,” Pam said. “Is that supposed to be something special?”

  “It saved your lives,” Jim said. “You saved our lives, Jim,” Peggy corrected.

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  While the women were opening and heating packets of MREs, Lou staggered to his feet. He stopped staggering when he found himself looking square into the muzzle of a pistol, a .45 auto-loader, in the hands of Jim LaDoux.

  “Where’s my buddies?” Lou mumbled the words past swollen lips.

  “Dead. You want to join them?”

  “Not if I can help it. We wasn’t gonna harm them women. We just wanted some pussy, that’s all.”

  “What you were planning is called rape, you stupid bastard.”

  “I reckon. I hurt something awful, mister.”

  “Would you rather be dead?”

  “Hell, no!”

  “Then shut up and sit down on this porch.”

  “Yes, sir.” Lou sat.

  Jim tied his hands behind him and then tied him to a support porch.

  “Are you gonna leave me like this all night?” Lou asked.

  “Yes.”

  “It gets cold out here! I’ll freeze to death.”

  “Good. Then I won’t have to fool with you, will I?”

  Lou said no more.

  Back in the house, Jenny asked, “Where are you going, Jim?”

  “I really don’t know,” Jim admitted. “I thought I’d just travel around, see what-all has happened.”

  “Millions of people dead is what has happened,” the nurse told him. “The hospital where I worked in Elko was swamped with dying people. Then the doctors and nurses began contracting the virus and dying. The place became a death house.” She slowly shook her head. “There was nothing I do for them. There is no cure. I couldn’t take it anymore.”

  “I watched my whole entire family die,” Pam said. “All my neighbors except one died.”

  “What happened to that one?” Jim asked.

  “I don’t know. He was still alive when I got in my dad’s car and drove away. I was hysterical. I don’t even remember why I left the car, or where. I guess I ran out of gas. I don’t know. I don’t remember.”

  “You suffered what a lot of the survivors I’ve spoken with did,” Jenny said. “A fever, a rash, a loss of memory, then complete recovery.” She looked at Jim. “How about you?”

  “I’ve never been sick a day in my life,” Jim replied.

  Jenny nodded her head. “I’ve spoken to a few who were like that too. Had no symptoms at all.”

  “I didn’t have no symptoms neither,” Lou called from the porch. “But I sure would like to have something for the pain in my head right now. Can’t you all give me something?”

  Jenny walked out onto the porch and looked down at the trussed-up man. She touched the butt of the pistol stuck behind the waistband of her jeans. “Yeah, I can give you something that can end all your pain.”

  “Aw, come on, lady!” Lou hollered. “Lighten up, will you? Nobody said nothing about killin’ you women. You could have give us some pussy and we’d have turned you loose. Hell, who knows, you might have enjoyed it.”

  “I really, really doubt it,” Jenny said. “Now you shut your damned filthy mouth and keep it shut.”

  Lou shut his mouth.

  The four of them ate their MREs and then had some coffee. “I wish I had a Coke,” Pam said.

  “Honey,” Peggy said, “you better get used to doing without a lot of things. Once the current supply is gone, there’ll be a lot of things we’ll all be doing without.”

  “But everything will be all right pretty soon, won’t it?” the teenager asked. “I mean, the government will have it all fixed soon, right?”

  Jim and the two older women exchanged glances. Pam picked up on the looks immediately.

  “What do those looks mean?” she demanded.

  Jenny took the girl’s hand in hers. “It means, Pam, that this is something the government can’t fix. Because there is no government. I’m old enough to remember the Great War, as many called it. I was just a girl, but I remember it. It was years before things got even halfway right. And that was due in no small part to a man named Ben Raines.”

  “And now he’s dead,” Peggy said.

  “Yes,” Jim said, stirring a packet of sugar into his coffee.

  “And you don’t think the SUSA survived this?” Jenny asked.

  “No. No government in the world did. That came from Ben Raines’s own mouth.”

  “Then what are we going to do?” Pam asked.

  “Survive, honey,” Peggy told her. “Band together and survive. Right, Jim?”

  “That’s the name of the game,” Jim said. “And it’s the only game in town.”

  As had long been his custom, Jim was up at dawn. He was careful not to wake the others as he stepped outside for a moment. It was early spring, but the morning was chilly. He had draped a blanket over Lou’s shoulders before they all went to sleep, and the man now
looked at him with pleading eyes. His face was swollen, and the area around both eyes was a combination of deep blue, dark green, and black.

  “What are you gonna do with me?” Lou asked.

  “That’s up to the ladies,” Jim told him. “They’re the ones you kidnapped.”

  “That Jenny is a mean bitch. She’d like to kill me.”

  “She might just do that.”

  “And you wouldn’t interfere?”

  “No.”

  “You’re as sorry as them bitches.”

  Jim chuckled. “You kidnapped women to rape them and you’re calling me sorry?”

  “They could have just give us some snatch. It wouldn’t have hurt them none. I ain’t never heard of no pussy being worn out by humpin’.”

  Jim shook his head in disgust and walked back into the old house. Jenny was out of her blankets and dressed.

  “You heard Lou’s remarks?” Jim asked.

  “I heard him. What are you going to do with that worthless piece of crap?”

  “Probably tie him up in the shed with his dead buddies and leave him. He’ll eventually work loose. I’m not going to kill him.”

  “No. I wouldn’t do that either.” She smiled briefly. “But let him continue thinking I will. How about you, Jim?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “What happens to you?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll just wander, I guess.”

  “Good way to get killed.”

  “I can’t just stick my head in the sand and think nothing happened and nothing is wrong.”

  “You could come with us. Peggy and I talked last night. I know of a little community just over the line in Utah. Several of those people survived the plague. We’re going to take Pam and head over that way.” Again she smiled. “Why not come with us? At least guard us till we get there.”

  “Good idea. Okay, I’ll head over there with you. Check it out. But I doubt if I’ll stay.”

  While they were packing up to leave, Jim asked, “Which truck are you taking, Jenny?”

  “The newer one. The one with four doors.”

  “I saw some extra gas cans in the others. I’ll transfer them for you. And I’ve got a siphon pump. I’ll top off the tanks, then disable the remaining trucks.”

  Lou watched as Jim filled up gas cans and topped off the tanks. “You gonna leave me a truck to get gone in?” he called from the porch.

  “I’ll leave two trucks,” Jim replied. “How you get gone is up to you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Watch.” Jim popped the hoods and began ripping out wiring while Lou sat on the porch and cussed him.

  “How am I supposed to get out of here?”

  “Once you get loose and out of the shed, you can walk.”

  “You’re about a sorry bastard, you know that?”

  “If you don’t close your mouth, I’m going to leave your fate up to Jenny. You want that?”

  Lou shut up.

  All the gear loaded, Jim led Lou to the rear of the house and shoved him into the shed.

  “These guys are beginning to stink!” Lou griped. “You can’t leave me in here with them. That ain’t right.”

  “You’ll be able to work loose in an hour or so. Have fun.”

  Lou was still shouting and cussing as Jim and the women drove away, heading east.

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  The gathering of men and women in the northwest corner of the state greeted Jim and the three women cordially if not overly warmly. Jim understood their standoffish attitude. It was not smart to take people at face value while chaos ruled the world.

  The attitude of the small gathering softened considerably when the women had finished telling their story of how they’d met Jim LaDoux. A man stepped forward and offered his hand to Jim.

  “John Stanley, Mr. LaDoux. Glad to meet you.”

  Jim shook the hand as the others came forward to greet him.

  “I’m Loris Stanley, Mr. LaDoux,” a woman said with a genuine smile. “John’s wife. How about some coffee and a sandwich?”

  “Sounds good, ma’am,” Jim replied.

  Over coffee and sandwiches, Jim was questioned extensively. He didn’t object to it; he understood the reasons behind it. But when he got to the part about Ben Raines, the group fell silent.

  “The general is really dead?” John asked.

  “Yes,” Jim replied. “I buried him.”

  “For years I thought about pulling my people out and traveling south to join the SUSA,” John said.

  “But . . . we’ve always done things pretty much our own way here, without much interference, so I never did. But I always greatly admired the man.”

  “I only knew him for a few hours really,” Jim said. “But I really liked him.”

  “And now, Jim, your plans are?”

  Jim shrugged his shoulders. “Travel on, I suppose.” He smiled. “Like my grandpa used to say: See what’s around the next bend and over the next hill.”

  “Trouble, I would imagine, Jim,” John said. “Why not stay here with us? You’d be more than welcome.”

  Jim slowly shook his head. “No . . . I’ve lived a very isolated life, John. Sometimes I went to school in town, but most of the time my parents educated me at home. I can build things. I can work on any combustion engine. I can hunt and fish. I know my way around any wilderness area and I can survive in it. But I haven’t seen anything of the United States. I’ve never seen a city except in picture books. I’ve never ridden in an elevator, or flown in a plane. You understand what I’m saying?”

  The older man smiled. “Yes, I do, Jim. I really do. Well, you stay here with us for as long as you like.” He laughed. “We might put you to work for your supper, but the food is good and the company is outstanding.”

  Jim stayed for the better part of a week, and then, one gorgeous morning just at dawn, he pulled out. He had said his good-byes the night before, and there was no one out by the dirt road to see him off. Jim had spoken extensively with John about the best way to get across the state without running into a lot of people. He and John had gone over many maps, charting out the best route, and Jim headed south, on a county road. He saw no one the first day out. Not one living person . . . or dead person, for that matter.

  On the second day after leaving the group in extreme northwest Utah, Jim was on a county road heading toward I-80 when he saw the body in the road. A pickup truck was parked on the side of the road. Jim pulled over and stopped, getting out of the Humvee and carefully looking all around him. It was then he heard a groan of pain. He stared at the body in the road. It had not moved. He checked the body. A middle-aged man, very dead. Then he again heard a groan. It was coming from the other side of the truck. Jim walked over, the Thompson at the ready. It was a woman. Her head and arm were bloody. Jim knelt down just as the woman opened her eyes and looked up at him. Her eyes grew wide with fright.

  “Take it easy,” Jim said. “I won’t hurt you.”

  “My father?” the women whispered.

  “There is a man in the road. Dressed in coveralls.”

  “That’s my dad. Is he . . . dead?”

  “Yes. I’m sorry. What happened?”

  “My head hurts,” the young woman said, and lapsed into unconsciousness.

  Jim picked the lady up and carried her to his Humvee, carefully placing her in the passenger seat and belting her in. He quickly checked the bed of the truck. No luggage. He dragged the body of the man out of the road and into the ditch, placing him on his back. Jim contemplated burying him, then thought better of it. The body had not stiffened or swelled, and that meant the attack had not occurred that long ago. Whoever did it might be back. Jim pulled out, heading south. About ten miles from the Interstate, Jim spotted several houses and pulled in behind one, tucking the Humvee in close to the rear. He walked through the house. It was empty, and obviously had been looted, probably more than once, from the looks of things.

  He carried the young woman in
side and placed her on a couch that he had righted. Then he bathed her face, washing away the dried blood. The blood on her arm had come from her head wound. There was a knot on her head and a small cut. The cut was not serious, the knot might be very serious. Only time would tell. He was sure she had a concussion. How serious? Again, only time would tell.

  The home used propane, so Jim checked the stove. It worked. He put on water for coffee, using his own water, and walked back into the living room. The woman had awakened and was looking at him.

  “I have a splitting headache,” she said.

  “I’m sure you do.” Jim held up three fingers. “How many fingers do you see?”

  “Three.”

  “Now?”

  “Four.”

  “I put water on for coffee. It’ll be ready in a few minutes.”

  “I could use some.”

  “Feel like talking?”

  “Sure.”

  “What happened back there?”

  “Dad pulled over to help a man standing by his truck, the hood up. That was the truck you saw back there. Then two other men appeared. One of them hit me on the side of my head with a rifle butt. I woke up several times in the ditch. I could see dad in the road, and the broke-down pickup. The next thing I know, I was looking up at you. Are you sure my dad was dead?”

  “I’m sure.”

  “Was he beaten?”

  “He was shot several times in the chest.”

  The young woman tried to get up, and fell back against the cushions. “Whoa!” she said. “I’m dizzy.”

  “Don’t move,” Jim warned. “Just lie still for a time. I’ll get us some coffee.”

  Jim found two unbroken cups and wiped them clean, then filled them with hot coffee. He took several packets of sugar and the coffee into the living room and set them on an end table. He held up the packets of sugar.

  “One sugar, please,” the young woman said.

  “Be right back,” Jim said with a smile. “I forgot the spoons.”

  The coffee sugared and stirred, Jim said, “I’m Jim LaDoux. And you are?”