Ryan Westfield - Final Panic

“There’s not enough space for us in here. There are four of us.”

“We’ll have to make it work,” said Jim.

“But why? Why not just find some house somewhere.”

“Hear me out,” said Jim. He felt much better now that he’d slept, and his mind was working rapidly, piecing together the plan as he spoke. “Now what’s the main disadvantage of a house?”

“The disadvantage? I don’t know if there are any. All I can think of are the advantages. Like shelter, warmth, a place to sleep. Walls and doors that help us defend ourselves. Keep the bad guys out. Way more security overall than an RV with tinfoil walls.”

“Well, here’s one huge disadvantage,” said Jim. “A house stays in the same place. All the time. It doesn’t move around.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty obvious. But you were just saying that we’re not going to have gas to simply drive the RV from one location to another. And that’s too dangerous and all that.”

“I’m not explaining myself well,” said Jim. “What I’m suggesting is that we hopefully make it down to Pennsylvania, scope out a good spot far out in the woods where no one goes, and then park the RV there. And live in it.”

“OK, I think I’m seeing where you’re going, but…”

“The thing is,” said Jim, cutting her off. He was starting to get excited about the idea. It seemed like it really might work. “With a house, everyone knows it’s there. It’s going to be on various maps, city plans, all sorts of papers that people can find. And people remember. They know where a house was. Sure, you can try to hide it. You can try to obscure the driveway with branches or something, but that really only goes so far.”

“Wait,” said Jessica. “Are you saying that what we do is park an RV out in the woods, and the advantage over a house will be no one knows it’s there, or ever was there?”

“Exactly.”

“You know, that’s really not such a bad idea. We’d be invisible, essentially.”

“As long as we get far enough out. I’d want to avoid places like state parks. Those are on the map.”

“Then what do we want?”

“Maybe some private land that’s not used. Someone who had too much land than they knew what to do with. Let it overgrow. Let it go to seed.”

“Private land? You really think that’s a good idea?”

“Definitely. It’s even less likely now than ever before that the owner would use it.”

“I guess the property deeds don’t really mean much now.”

Jim shook his head. “It’s a shame,” he said. “People worked for what they had, and now? Nothing. They’ve got nothing. The strongest will take what they want.”

“You’re getting off topic a little bit.”

“Breakfast is ready,” called out Rob, sounding a little overexcited, probably because he’d never been much of a cook.

“And I think it might actually be edible,” added Aly. “Thanks to my help.”

“Couldn’t have done it without you, Aly.”

Breakfast was a plate of fried sandwiches. Rob had combined canned ham and fried eggs, one of Aly’s makeshift recipes. He’d fried the pieces of white bread in so much oil that it was almost like deep frying, with the slices of bread completely submerged in the oil.

“Here you go,” said Rob, handing Jim a sandwich.

Jim reached back and grabbed the incredibly greasy sandwich, getting grease all over his hand.

“That’s delicious,” said Jim, taking his first bite, unable to stop chewing long enough to speak with his mouth closed.

And it really was. He hadn’t eaten anything in so long that the sandwich really could have been anything and he would have found it delicious.

But the sandwich really was good. The huge hit of fat, protein, and carbs was just what he needed. Jim knew that fat had more calories per unit of weight than carbs or protein, so deep frying the bread for the sandwiches really was a good idea. A good way to get some extra calories.

“We’re lucky to have all that coconut oil,” said Jessica.

“I just don’t want to know what they were doing with it in this RV.”

“Gross.”

“Don’t worry. We’re all too hungry for it to matter anyway.

“You’re right.”

A few minutes later, they’d reached the stash of stolen supplies that Jim had left. He stopped the RV, made a mental note of the fuel gauge position, and everyone except Aly set to work hauling all the gear into the RV.

It took them about ten minutes of many trips back and forth. It wasn’t hard work, and it was nice to have his stomach full for the first time in a long, long while. The food made his body feel warm and whole again. He made a mental note to keep eating plenty of coconut oil. It was an easy way they could get calories, and it would keep them warm in the winter. And after the coconut oil ran out? Maybe they’d be able to render deer fat for a similar product. After all, it wasn’t like they’d ever get any more coconut oil again. It was just one of countless food products that were shipped daily from far-off countries to the United States, and as far as Jim knew, that entire shipping system was as dead as disco, which itself now had absolutely no chance of a comeback, given that there was no electricity.

With the gear in the RV, there was considerably less space than before, but there were still places for everyone to sit. Aly, though, needed more rest and lay on the bed, which was permanently installed, compared to those folding types.

Everyone agreed with the plan that Jim and Jessica had come up with, but there was some concern that they wouldn’t actually be able to reach Pennsylvania. After all, even smaller RVs like the one they had were notorious gas guzzlers. Jim estimated that, at best, it might get something like twenty miles per gallon, and that was really pushing it. He could make sure to drive slowly, keeping off the accelerator as much as he could, but the RV was heavy, and his efforts would really only amount to so much.

So if they couldn’t make it to Pennsylvania, they’d settle for somewhere out of the way in the southeastern part of New York state. How far they got depended on the availability of gas, and the condition of the roads.

They really didn’t know what they were getting into. There was no traffic report. No news channel to watch, telling them that such and such a highway was clogged up with cars sitting bumper to bumper.

They’d just have to try it out and go from there. There was only so much planning they could do without any more information. And when the time came to make the decision on where to park the RV, they’d just have to go with their gut instincts.

Rob was OK with the plan. He figured that they’d done the best they could, right after the EMP. Heading to the lake house had been a good decision. Just because it hadn’t worked out in the end didn’t mean it’d been the wrong thing to do.

They were still alive. And they had a chance to keep living. Those were the things that mattered most.

Rob also figured that Jim knew better than he did. He didn’t totally trust himself. He’d improved somewhat, and at times he’d felt like he’d been on the right track. He’d done some good. He’d saved Jessica, but then again, he’d frozen up at the wrong moments, crucial points where he could have been more useful, like when he and Jessica had been escaping in the Subaru.

It hadn’t been that long since the EMP, but it had felt like a lifetime. Things had changed. For all of them. But for Rob in particular. He knew that his thoughts were different now. He thought about things in a completely new way. Instead of scrambling to pay his bills, or avoid getting his car towed, he was thinking about the really crucial things in life: food, shelter, and friends.