Rise From the Ashes: Lena's Story Read online

  He lifted his brown robes up so he could run; he mumbled a prayer as he covered ground back into the town and up the 5 blocks to his church.

  It was a short journey as Steve was in excellent shape. Perhaps the best shape of any priest in Rhode Island, probably any priest in the entire country. He had been a personal trainer (of all things) before he took his vows and he looked on the body as a gift from God - a gift that it was a duty to keep as healthy as one could. He ate organic, worked out and still benefited from being only twenty-seven. He still stretched and went for a small jog every morning.

  The ill-health of the former priest at his church put the whole parish in his lap last year. He was a wonderful leader, he loved every aspect of this life.

  It had also been a challenge where the women were concerned. He kept his brown hair fairly long and wavy, he was always pleasant and helpful and looked like he got the best of his Mediterranean heritage. In short, he was flat out handsome. It did bring in the younger women to church, but it also brought some serious flirting and he had to be careful to not insult anyone while also making sure he never got cornered alone so that gossip would not start. His interacting with younger guys and playing soccer and football seemed to go over well also. The numbers in his first church had kept going up since he took over nearly a year ago.

  As he reached his church parking lot, Steve could see Rt 4 which headed toward Interstate 95 and now knew why the beach was deserted, it was packed with cars evacuating the city - it looked like the eve before a hurricane was set to hit. There didn't seem to be any destruction he could see - so he walked into his office to turn on his small TV and his radio. There was a loop message playing on the TV; calling for an evacuation inland. The whole eastern coast was in danger, dirty bombs had gone off and the Taliban had hijacked some ships and were heading toward the coast - no known target city - so any town close to the beach was in danger.

  “Pastor Polus?”

  “Ellie! Thank God you’re ok. Come in here and sit down.”

  Steve pulled out a chair for one the oldest parishioners in his church. Ellie had to be in her 80’s and came every Sunday to service. Her pure white hair was in unusual disarray. She had a strange look on her face, almost a totally emotionless expression. She was normally the fussing grandmother-type. She took in a loud, shaky gulp of air.

  “Frankie is dead.”

  “What? Dead? What?”

  “Yes, with so many others. I couldn’t take it so I walked back here. Kyle is dragging them all to our cemetery. We will need to say Grace over them, Father.”

  “I don’t … what do you mean dead, others?”

  “Where have you been, Father?”

  “I was knocked out on the beach. I just came to and rushed here.”

  “Oh.”

  The pause stretched out, Ellie had her head hung in weariness. Steve couldn’t bring himself to ask more right now, he was still processing the fact that there were dead, plural.

  In almost a whisper Ellie went on, “After the bomb, the stuff drifting down must have been poison. It killed so many within a few hours. You’ve been out a full day now. We’ve had time to check the homes of our people and taken the ones who died to our cemetery. Kyle is checking the last of them and Glenn and Herb are digging,” she broke off in a sob.

  “Oh, dear God help them. Help us.” Steve hung his head. “Ellie, are you alright? Can I get you anything?”

  “No. I’m just going to rest here, I can’t go back there. Seeing them, I just … I don’t have the strength to do that anymore. They were my friends. They need you, Father. You better get going.”

  “Yes. I’ll be back when I’m done. Rest, Ellie.”

  The scene at the cemetery was worse than he was prepared for. All the dear people he had laughed with, played with, taught and cared for. Laid out next to a huge grave. The survivors standing around sobbing, dirt streaking their faces and dirt still being tossed up from deep down inside the grave.

  With a deep breath, Steve put his emotions on autopilot and walked into the group to take charge.

  The day left him stunned. His small group of about a dozen people headed back down to the church as the sun was sinking. He felt like sinking into nothingness with it. Once they were all sitting around holding hot coffee thanks to Ellie, they didn’t know what to do. The radio was still playing in the background and prompted them with what was next for the small group to do. Now the talk turned to the evacuation.

  They were all behind the crowd because they had felt it was there duty to bury their friends and family. It had been. Yet now Steve felt they were in danger. The TV was no longer playing the warning loop, it had gone to static. The only radio stations that were coming in were the ones from further inland, the ones near the coast had gone to static too.

  That was simple, but scary.

  “Ok everyone. Be careful and head to your homes tonight. Pack a backpack if you have it – if not, see if you can find one or find anything you can strap over your shoulder. Pack just a change of clothes and whatever is precious to you. The roads seemed blocked, we are going to have to walk. At least until we get past the cars that ran out of gas.”

  “I’m staying.”

  “Ellie! I’ll carry a bag for you. Get going!”

  “No, Father Polus. I’m too old. I’m not leaving my home.”

  “You heard the TV, there are terrorists landing here now, we have to get inland and find places where the army is guarding.”

  “I’m too old.”

  “We’ll walk with you, now come on,” anger and fear were seeping into his voice.

  “Father, it’s not that I think I will hold you all back. It is just plain and simple that if this is the way the world is going, I am done. My time is close and I’m not going to leave my house.”

  Glenn broke in, “Ellie’s mentioned this earlier, she’s pretty set. But we can’t stay with her, Father.”

  “I’ll stay with you Ellie.”

  “Father! You have to lead us to safety. It is your duty!” Kim nearly screamed.

  Steve could detect the panic in her voice. Her cool manner shattered, she was no longer that together business owner, but a scared girl clinging to others for help. He could see in her eyes that her thinking had shut down.

  Kim was normally such a pretty woman, like a stereotypical cheerleader grown up – long, bright blonde hair and blue eyes. Tall and slender. But panic had taken over her face and she looked needy and ugly right now.

  “I can’t leave Ellie here by herse…”

  “Yes you can, Father. I’m an old woman. My work is done. Kim is right, they need you. Please go, I don’t want anyone’s death on my head.” She was watching her young priest shake his head – seeing the fear in his eyes. She smiled. “Father, I am at peace. I am ready. Bless me before you go and lead our friends to safety.”

  There was a heaviness that hung over Steve’s spirit and a physical heaviness that started in his left hand, at his small quartz ring and seemed to weight his whole body down. He looked down at the small ring, a gift from his mentor when he was in his last year at the seminary. The small white stone seemed to be growing darker and heavier.

  Glenn spoke up again, “Father, we need you. I know it’s hard, but she’s made up her mind. And we don’t have time to debate all the parts of this. I don’t even think we have until morning.”

  At this, his ring seemed to lighten again, Steve felt his brain clear a little. It was like he was being guided and this was a sign that this choice was the one he should make.

  But to leave an old woman behind?

  Was this a trick of the devil? Did he believe in the devil? Or was this a sign that God wanted him to lead these people away from danger?

  He had no way to know if evil was trying to trick him. He had to reach out for his faith and see where it would lead him.

  Then his decision was forced. In the distance came the rat-tat-a-tat of gun fire. Alarmed looks were shared.

  “Righ
t. No time for us to go back to our homes now, we have to get out now. Ellie, please?”

  “No.”

  “I love you, you old woman.”

  “I know. Go and be safe. Go and do what you were meant to do.”

  There was not a dry eye as the small group left – moving along side streets and easing away and north of the gun fire. Ellie lived only a block from the church. She was able to watch her friends for a few minutes until the distance merged with the dark and it looked like they just faded into the air. As they were making their way out of the city about an hour later, Ellie settled down on her bed with a glass of water and a handful of pills.

  “I know you will forgive me for not wanting to feel the pain of being shot or stabbed. Thank you for my life here. I’m coming home now.”

  Chapter Three

  Mick ducked even though he was inside his Humvee. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust from the flash. He was used to the sounds of combat.

  It was the drifting dirt or whatever that made his blood run cold. It was some kind of fallout from the bomb. All he could think of was, Dirty Bomb. He was only a mile or so from the point of impact.

  Damn.

  He ground the gears and jumped the Humvee into overdrive and headed back to base, Natick Soldier Systems Center, in Massachusetts a little west of Boston.

  It was useless; now there was artillery fire coming down ahead, right where the base was. Someone was targeting the army base. Not only had the bomb hit right on the base, the artillery fire was chewing up the road and even bouncing the rubble. There was no return fire. It didn’t look like there was anyone to save, no one to help. Time to bug out and meet at the prearranged location, Lowell, to the north. The Humvee was a gas guzzler, but it would make it to Lowell with some to spare.

  Mick called out on the 2-way and the radio as he sped away, but there were no responses. There was no gas mask in his vehicle, Mick figured he was going to be a goner soon from exposure to whatever was in the air, but he wanted to find out who did this and see if he could help provide intelligence for other army divisions to strike back.

  He was going to be true to his soldier training until he died from radiation. And he hoped he could take whoever did this down with him.

  Lowell was chaotic and already filling with people running from Boston. They reported that Boston had people dying in the street and men were swarming in the harbor and shooting anything that moved. God knew how the commuter rail was still running – but it was and it was jammed with terrified people. Terrified people who saw him in an army uniform and were thronging around him for help and information. He had to push them away and keep plowing forward towards the meeting point which was a small brick warehouse. There was no one there. There were some 2-way radios, some bug out equipment and other odds and ends that had been tossed here as an afterthought.

  Mick locked up his Humvee and went inside to try the bigger radio and wait for reinforcements.

  By the time the second full day after the bombs rolled around he finally picked up some radio traffic. While the heaviest attacks had hit on the east and west coasts, it seemed that once that first wave was over, a second wave hit about 24 hours later and targeted military bases and large cities everywhere. Not only that, but the drifting cloud of debris was able to kill over 75% of the population.

  What the impact of the bombs didn’t get, the drifting dirty clouds did.

  Mick couldn’t believe it. This was like a bad movie. He walked out each day to talk to people and started just wearing a normal T-shirt and jeans because he was constantly being looked to as some kind of leader. He had not had time to think about a scenario this huge. Each night he would go over any new bits of information he got that day.

  It became apparent to him that if whatever virus or poison this was, if it was going to kill someone, it usually only took hours after exposure for that person to die. Nothing was hinting that long term radiation would be a factor. Looked like he was going to live through this after all.

  There was an army Major who passed on some basic information and plans to Mick via the radio. Cops, local National Guard and even firemen were fighting back, but now the criminal element seemed to be looking at this as a free for all, it was time to fall back to the Canadian border to re-group and then move south reclaiming the land again as they could.

  Major Brent Morna told Mick that Keene, NH had been hit by a bomb also, but there was a supply depot ten miles south of the city. Major Morna wanted Mick to get there and refuel his Humvee then load up on supplies before he headed to the border to rendezvous with Major Morna.

  Mick figured he might just have enough gas to make it to the supply depot. He promised Major Morna he was on his way; he would make it to the meeting spot in Burlington, Vermont as soon as he could.

  There was no way he could transport a few hundred people with him in the one vehicle, so he told the people who had been hanging around the brick building the basic plan. They could choose to hunker down and wait for the army to make its way south again, or they could make their way north also.

  “Grab any guns you have, and for God’s sake, make sure you don’t shoot any of the good guys when we come back! You need all of us you can get now.”

  That didn’t make Mick any new friends, but he had no idea what else he could do. He was only a few months out from basic training, was just 19 and had no idea what to really do. He couldn’t babysit a whole city!

  His best bet was to head to where other soldiers were gathering and regroup and work under someone who had actual fighting experience. He felt just a small twinge of embarrassment, like he was being a coward. Still, he just couldn’t see how staying here with these people could really help them and it would just be wasting his time and training.

  He had checked in via radio and given out as much information as he could to Major Morna. Now it was time to leave it in someone else’s hands.

  The road to Keene was fairly clear. A few broken down cars, but it was easy for Mick to weave around them. However, this caused him to slow down and the weaving started to add up mileage-wise. He was too close to empty and he was still miles out from the depot. There was no way he was going to make it all the way, so he found a spot down an overgrown lane where he could hide the Humvee. Hopefully no one would strip it down until he could get back to it. Mick flung his pack over his shoulder and set off on foot.

  Mick was tasting sweat dripping into his mouth as he finally reached the depot. Set up like the Lowell meeting spot, in a non-descript brick warehouse-type place, there were no other vehicles in the parking lot. He punched the key code into the door pad and walked into the gloom. Mick radioed out to report his new position.

  “Bad news, Private Buckner. We’ve now got the power grid going down in sections. Charge up everything you have and prepare to get your ass up here anyway you can, fuel pumps won’t be working long.”

  “Yes Sir,” Mick groaned.

  Major Morna’s voice boomed out of the radio again, “Gets better, be prepared for a full nationwide blackout within days. Weeks to months before we get the grid up and running again. Over and Out.”

  “Damn,” he cursed out loud. Then, with a deep breath, Mick started plugging in all the sets of 2-ways he could find. He also had a portable car charger with one outlet plug and a light. Once they were all charging up, he wandered outside to take a look around before the sun fully set.

  Lovely and lonely. The sky was colored with oranges, pinks and reds. But all was still. Since the night was going to be warm, Mick had no desire to sleep inside that gloomy, stuffy warehouse. He wasn’t even going to bother to put up a tent, he just rolled out his sleeping bag next to a boulder at the side of the parking lot. Used his pack as a pillow and tucked his pistol between layers of his sleeping bag. It was way too hot for him to get in there. Nature was sending out the last of the nice weather before autumn rains and chill set in. Mick was going to enjoy it because he had a feeling that this winter was going to be the ha
rdest one he had ever lived through.

  Mick started running his travel plans through his head. If he could find a gas container tomorrow, he would fill it and walk back to the Humvee – drive back here and fill it up and go as far as he could in the Humvee. If the electric was out – then he couldn’t pump any gas from the reserve tank underground. He may as well start to walk from here. Perhaps he could find a motorcycle or even a mountain bike. As he drifted off making and rejecting plans, the last of the light played off of some flecks in the bolder above his head. This was called the granite state, must be some flecks of mica in there. Or quartz, wasn’t that part of it? As he thought this, it just felt right. Yeah, it had flecks of quartz all through it – that is why people liked to polish it up and use it in their new kitchens. And with these thoughts he drifted off to sleep.