Clutch held onto me as we walked, and I held onto him. With every explosion, I cringed. When we finally reached the silo, before walking through the doorway, I turned around to see New Eden burning behind us. Numb, I blankly walked into the dark cavern where we would be safe. Most of us, anyway.
Chapter XV
The next two days went by interminably slowly. At first, a team went up every hour to check the status of the fires and to look for any of the twenty-six missing residents—though at least three were confirmed dead. Stragglers arrived within the first few hours, including Dr. Gidar and the two kids. A riot ensued to keep the kids out of the silo, but Justin allowed them inside, assuring everyone that they would be secured in a locked room along with the doctor.
The fires continued to burn but had not come closer to the silo. From the higher floors, I could hear explosions and crashes as more and more houses succumbed to the fires. Once it was clear we were safe in here from the fires, Justin had teams go up only every four hours.
The lower levels still had standing water in them, giving the silo’s air a cold dampness. Our clothes were saturated with smoke. Coupled with the heavy air, the smell of smoke hung everywhere. People coughed in the dimly lit corridors. Deb—and others—cried softly. It was dark enough that no one saw me cry.
Even after working every day, crews had only managed to repair the silo’s flooring, lights, and vents. No rooms were ready in the silo yet, so everyone had to camp out on the metal grid floors, with only blankets for cushioning. Buckets were lined up in cordoned-off room, which served as toilets. Diesel, Boy, and the other dogs in the town had nowhere to go. Thankfully, most of New Eden’s supplies were stored in the silo. Plastic bags quickly became the most useful resource.
At mealtime, each person was given an open can of beans. No one complained. We’d all been through tougher times and were thankful to be safely tucked inside a building when we could be out in the middle of a Nebraska winter with no shelter. Few spoke. After all, what could be said that didn’t make matters even worse?
Unlike Clutch, Griz, Jase, Hali, and me who wore our backpacks everywhere, most had nothing with them—anything they’d owned was burning to ash outside. We still had our weapons, a change of clothes, and some basic survival supplies. I spent a lot of time curled into Clutch, and it wasn’t just to stay warm. He grounded me. Griz sat with us, but he spent as much time doing sit-ups and push-ups as he did sleeping. Hali and Jase were inseparable, and our small group stayed within ten feet of one another. I guess we all felt the same. We’d been through homes before. When we had nothing else, we still had each other.
Frost had found a nice corner for Benji and his dogs. The boy was resilient, but he needed routines, and he exhausted easily. Deb hadn’t fared as well. Contractions started during the first night, and Dr. Edmund was at her side every moment he wasn’t helping the injured. Vicki stayed with her constantly. I made the mistake and mentioned that Dr. Gidar could help, but with the backlash I received from the New Eden residents, it was clear they weren’t ready for “that man” to be out among them yet.
I didn’t offer any ideas after that and rode out the time. I tried not to make eye contact with anyone while we took our hourly walks through the silo for exercise. When I failed, I’d see the exhaustion and despair in their soot-covered gazes. Hell, I probably had the same look.
I watched Clutch. We could carry on an entire conversation without speaking, and I know I gave him strength like he gave me.
New Eden’s citizens stayed days in the silo before Zach returned to say the fires were just smoldering embers now. After Justin saw for himself, he gave the green light for everyone to venture out.
“Watch out for dogs and zeds,” he’d said. “Everyone, analyze what needs done today to secure New Eden. But, be back to the silo before sunset.”
Some rushed outside. Others dragged their feet. I was somewhere in between. Shit, I was beyond stir-crazy, but I dreaded seeing what awaited us outside.
And, I had good reason to dread.
Armageddon had come to New Eden. I could see all the way across town. No buildings obstructed my view. Sure, the skeletal remains of houses stood like splinters, but the fire had been thorough. Not a single house came through unscathed, but at least five houses were still usable. Surprisingly, much of the fence still stood. It had been built far enough out the fire hadn’t consumed it. Sections were charred, and boards pressed against the wire, but it was better than standing out here naked to the world. There were clearly still some holes in the fences, because animal tracks dotted the snow.
When Clutch and I came across Romeo’s body—New Eden’s vagrant—all that was left was his coat and boots. Wild animals had eaten everything else. Most of the bodies of the missing residents were never found, like that of Jase’s partner, Dick. Or the woman who always smiled when I met her on the streets.
Or Marco.
It was like he’d vanished, leaving no trace behind. Maybe it was better that way; then we could all pretend that he hadn’t suffered.
The fires had raged in the area for days, and they weren’t completely gone. Smoke rose in the distance, and an explosion was heard that had to come from fifty miles away. Evidently, the gas line was still seeking out new victims.
We walked the fence line and made notes of needed repairs, though Clutch and Griz thought it would be better to focus on reinforcing the fence that encircled the silo to make a smaller area more defensible. Besides, there wasn’t much out here left to protect.
Everyone congregated around the few buildings that still stood. Justin had a table set up, and his assistants were taking down notes as people spoke of what they needed. Dr. Gidar, sans kids, had his hand raised. “I need assistants. I need to continue my work. That is more important than anything.”
Someone punched him—I couldn’t remember the resident’s name—and people cheered.
Dr. Gidar held his bloody nose. “Fool,” he said, his voice muffled as though he had a cold. “If I can’t find a vaccine, we’re all only one bite away from death.”
People quieted down, but their gazes were murderous. Dr. Gidar needed to learn that empathy was still a valued trait. People weren’t being naïve. They simply couldn’t fathom looking ahead to tomorrow when they were struggling to get through today.
We didn’t stick around. We headed back to our house to find it about halfway burned. Some of the windows were, amazingly, intact. Still, Frost wouldn’t let us sift through the debris for fear the floor would collapse. So, we stood there and stared through the broken living room window. Still sitting on the coffee table was a melted and charred baby seat.
Chapter XVI
For the next several days after the gas lines blew, new fires popped up from old embers. After we buried the dead—those we could find—in the frozen ground, we worked frantically to repair fences and turn the silo into New Eden. With over three hundred people working in the silo, we had indoor plumbing in three days, and had the water drained from the lower levels in ten days.
Within two weeks, we had the fences repaired so the wild dogs couldn’t get through. But, they didn’t give up. Once the smoke dissipated, the numbers of wild animals trolling outside the fences grew. One of the best parts about the silo was that we didn’t have to hear the animals’ howls at night.
The silo was huge, but much of the space was open air and not set up in any kind of livable configuration, at least not yet. There were nowhere near enough rooms for any semblance of personal space. At least the dormitory rooms had been completed, and we had enough beds to require only two sleeping shifts. Three weeks after the gas line explosions, we fell into a comfortable routine of living in the silo.
Everyone stayed in the silo with the exception of Dr. Gidar, his assistants, and the two zed kids. They were set up in one of the few remaining buildings—a tiny, old house—using a generator to power their medical equipment and lights. The only heat in the house was from a wood fireplace. No one liked taking fuel from the silo generators for Dr. Gidar’s house, but New Eden’s residents liked the idea of the zed kids in the silo even less.
The busyness of working in and around the silo helped take our minds off what we’d lost, but it wasn’t nearly enough to make us forget. If Clutch wasn’t barking out orders, he didn’t speak. Losing Marco threw Clutch back into that dark place where he’d close himself off from everyone. He developed a knack at not coming to bed until after I’d fallen asleep and getting up before I woke.
Deb acted much the same as when she lost Tack, the father of her unborn child: she buried her emotions and went on. She had contractions nearly every day, and Dr. Edmund told her she needed to lower her stress levels. I imagined that was tough for Deb to do when she watched her fiancé burn alive a few weeks ago. Her gaze revealed the losses she’d suffered, and I prayed she’d be able to keep it together long enough to carry the baby full-term.
“Here.” Zach handed me a box of toilet paper before grabbing one for himself.
We were on duty, but things had changed because New Eden had shrunk from a town sitting on three square miles to a town of two city blocks, with each block—the silo and the buildings—sitting nearly a quarter mile from each other. The squadron and security forces had been merged, and our shifts were as much working on the silo as keeping the peace.
Zach and I carried our loads up a flight of stairs, I dropped off a half dozen rolls of toilet paper at the first bathroom, and we continued up the next two floors.
“We’re lucky Justin thought to store everything in the silo,” I said while Zach placed rolls by the next bathroom.
He chuckled. “Yeah. Good thing he didn’t listen to me. I told him he should’ve stored everything in a building. I kept telling him that, with our luck, this silo would probably flood in the spring and ruin everything.”
“Unfortunately, we didn’t keep enough in the silo,” Justin said as he walked up the stairs and overheard us. “We had only one radio with the range to reach the capital, and it’s a melted mess of wires and metal. Being separated from everyone else is a bit unsettling.” He sighed. “I know, I have to be patient. I’m sure they’ll send someone down here to check on us and get us hooked back up.” He looked at the boxes we carried and then looked back up at us. “Are you heading topside?”
“Yeah,” I replied.
He smiled. “Can you bring this to the lab? Dr. Gidar said he needed more Q-tips.”
I took the blue and white package of cotton swabs, and Justin tipped his hat before heading up the next flight of steel stairs and disappearing. We continued restocking our toilet paper until only a few rolls remained. I stuffed them into my backpack, zipped my coat, and pulled on my stocking hat and gloves. “Hopefully, it’s warmed up a bit,” I said. “It was frigid out there this morning.”
“I haven’t been out yet today,” Zach said. “Fresh air sounds nice right now. Even if it is freezing.”
I pushed open the door, and a cold wind blasted my face. I pulled my neck gaiter up over my mouth and nose.
“Good afternoon.”
I looked to my left to see Frost leaning against the downwind side of the silo’s concrete entryway. His arms were crossed tightly over his chest. “Dog duty?” I asked.
“Yep,” he replied before glancing at three dogs hopping around the snow. A smaller black and white dog bounded under the bigger dog’s legs.
“So you’ve adopted Boy and Buddy now, too?”
Frost grunted. “Buddy comes and goes. But, poor Boy was forgotten after the fires. Benji found him hiding under a burnt porch and decided we needed another dog.”
I could only imagine the evil looks Frost would get now. First, one dog eating precious food. Now, two? Though, I suspected all the animosity of New Eden was far easier for Frost to stomach compared to the displeasure of his grandson letting a dog go without a home. Not that he was the only dog without a home. But, those still alive outside the fence were either sick, feral, or both.
I looked at the fences surrounding the silo. Only a few feral animals hung around today; evidently the weather was too cold for even them to stalk us.
I turned back to Frost. “See you later.”
Zach and I headed to the small wood enclosure, which served as the guard station at the gate. The fence, connected to the gate, encircled the silo with a narrow, fenced path wide enough for a truck drive through. At the end of the path was a second gate that opened to the old New Eden. There, the fences had been somewhat repaired, enough to close gaps against animals but not strong enough to hold off a vehicle ramming it or a sudden crush of zeds.
Jase and Hali were at the guard station, cuddling in the cold. When they saw us walking toward them, they awkwardly separated. Hali waved, and Jase opened the gate. “Have a nice walk,” he said as Zach and I passed through. “Bring me back something from Burger King.”
“I’ll get right on that,” I said sarcastically, and started to jog down the path.
When Hali found out Jase and I left to go after the squadron, she’d made up her mind then and there that she wouldn’t be left behind again. She was still learning how to use a machete and had never fired a gun before, but she had spunk. And she’d been relentless in asking Justin for the transfer to the security team, so he’d finally relented.
Now that the squadron and security forces were merged, Zach had stepped down to have Clutch be leader of the new, combined force. Zach and Griz were Clutch’s seconds. Everyone had partners except for Clutch, who worked much of both shifts to drive things. He was working too hard and not sleeping enough, and it showed in his face. But, I knew it was his way of coping—of avoiding having to think of those he’d lost and blamed himself for. There was nothing Clutch could’ve done to prevent Marco’s death, but I knew Clutch. That fact wouldn’t have stopped Clutch from blaming himself, anyway.
I did the only thing I knew that seemed to work with Clutch. I gave him space and made it clear I was there when he was ready to come back.