Home Coming (The Survivalist Book 10) by A. American (ebook reader .TXT) 📕

gym. “Then all this happened. The world ended, and I’ll be a cripple for the rest of my life.”

“The world hasn’t ended,” Jess tried to assure him. “Sure, it’s changed. Different from what it once was. But we’re all still here and life goes on.”

Still staring at the ceiling, he replied, “That’s easy for you to say. You still have both legs.” Then he turned his face away and didn’t speak again.

They finished the job and moved to the next patient. As they walked, Jess asked, “How can you do this every day?”

The young man didn’t hesitate in his reply, “Someone has to. And I have the skills to make a difference. Besides, what else would I be doing? I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I were at home while these people suffered. Here, I can make a difference.”

They stepped over to another cot where an aged man sat fanning an equally elderly woman with a piece of cardboard. She had several bandages on various parts of her body. When they approached, the man looked up and asked, “Can you help her?”

The young man looked at the woman, then leaned in close to Jess and whispered, “Take him outside. Get him some water or something.”

Looking at the old man, who was still watching them, Jess asked, “Why?”

“His wife is dead.”

It was a long, very long, day for them in the gym.

The battery was dead on the Harley. I checked with a meter to confirm and decided to just jump-start it. I pushed it, with much effort, over to the trailer where the solar system was housed. Mel had the Suburban, so I couldn’t use that; but the solar setup also had twelve-volt batteries, so it would do the job. After hooking up the jumper cables, I stood for a minute looking at the bike. I remembered when Jeff rode up on it. Thinking of him made me smile.

I opened the saddlebag of the right side and looked in. There were two pieces of Bazooka bubble gum in a plastic bag and it brought me back to the day he choked on that massive wad of gum at the end of the road. The look on his face when I dropped my boot on his chest and the image of that wad of gum shooting up into the air. Then the smile faded as the other image from a later time of his lifeless body lying in the road came to me. I slowly unwrapped both pieces of gum and stuffed them into my mouth.

Turning the key on, I hit the start button and the bike rumbled to life. After removing the cables, I tossed them aside and straddled the bike. I worked the throttle, revving the engine for a few seconds. Then, without thinking about it, I dropped the bike into gear and rode it around the house, down the drive and out to the road. Being careful in the loose dirt, I turned the machine and headed down the road towards the bunker.

When I hit the paved part of the road, I opened the bike up and roared past the bunker to the bewilderment of the two men standing there. As I passed the road to Sarge’s place, I saw Mike and Ted walking down the road. Mike shouted something as I raced past them, pushing the beast of a machine even faster, but I didn’t respond. I was thinking of Jeff and was taking a ride, for him.

Slowing to navigate the barricades at the end of the road, I turned onto nineteen and really opened the bike up. It was exhilarating to go so fast and feel the rush of the air, the vibration of the machine beneath me; and I pushed it still faster. When the market in Altoona came into view, which only took a minute or two, I looked at the people gathered there as they passed in a blur. Several of them seemed genuinely surprised at the sight of the machine as it roared by. The same thing happened when I passed the market in Umatilla.

Maybe it was just the machine they were looking at. Maybe it was the speed at which I raced by that caught their attention. But it didn’t matter, and I was enjoying thrill of it all. I did wave at Baker and Terry as I passed them. Baker had a huge smile on her face as I blew by them and Terry was waving wildly, grinning like an ass eating briars. Scott ran out into the road, waving his arms frantically with a look of excitement on his face. He wanted a ride. But I didn’t stop.

But I couldn’t bring myself to go into Eustis and instead, I turned onto forty-four and headed east. I hadn’t been past the farm on this piece of road and as it passed by on my left, I could see Cecil out there working the tractor. He didn’t see me, and I didn’t stop for a chat. Instead, I continued down the road. I was seeing places I hadn’t been to since all this shit started. Even though I was only a mile or two off a track that I traveled all the time.

It struck me how my world had shrunk. In the Before, I would travel anywhere without a thought. I often went to the beach to surf fish, or to Orlando for something or another. A trip which is now unthinkable was undertaken with no more consideration than turning the key in the truck. Such a trip now would be an expedition on par with those undertaken by those that settled this land. But when you considered most folks had to walk everywhere they went, we were essentially in the same place those early settlers were. Actually, they were ahead of us for the most part. Most people back then had horses or mules and could use them to travel on. Such animals were rare