James Hunt - Broken Roads

The smell in the room was unbearable. The number of people in the relief center, combined with no showers, no A/C, and the summer heat beating down on the building made the air thick with human stench.

Katie’s hands were dried with dirt and grime. The white paint on her fingernails flaked off in chips. The only jewelry still on her was the wedding band around her left finger. The diamond ring was stolen, but she managed to keep the gold band.

Katie watched the bodies shuffle in between the cots spread out on the floor. The dark circles forming from the sleepless nights weighed heavy under her eyes. All she could think about was her family. She had no way of contacting them, no way of knowing if they were alright, no way of telling them that she was alive.

It had been almost two days without a fight breaking out, but people were getting edgy again. She knew it was just a matter of time before the fuse ran out. The food rations had decreased dramatically, along with access to the water tanks.

Guards armed with automatic rifles kept watch on them. They patrolled the border of the room and two were stationed at the food and water counter.

An elderly man with hunched shoulders and liver spots dotting the top of his bald head, approached the guards barricading the food rations. He looked two steps from death. He pointed toward the counter, his finger trembling in the air.

“Sir, dinner rations will be served at 6pm. We will notify the group when it’s time to approach. Please return to your space.”

The old man didn’t walk back. He inched a few steps forward, still pointing at the counter behind the guards. Each of the guards was a good foot taller and one hundred pounds heavier than the old man.

The same guard that spoke to him let out a sigh. Keeping his rifle in one hand he grabbed the old man with the other and walked him across the room. Everyone stared at them. The guard wasn’t forceful, and the old man didn’t resist, but the sight made everyone feel uncomfortable, some more than others.

“Hey, dick, just give him something to eat.”

The comment came from a young man in his twenties. His shirt was stained with sweat rings. His hair was untamed and his face was smudged with a week’s worth of dirt.

The guard ignored him. He continued escorting the old man across the room.

“He’s hungry!” the young man said.

The guard released his grip of the old man and brought both hands to his rifle. He brought the gun to his shoulder, aiming the barrel at the young man’s head.

“We’re all hungry, and all of us will eat, but not until 6pm. Understand?” the guard asked.

The young man didn’t back down. A few others gathered around him. The other guards converged on them, their rifles aimed and ready to shoot.

Katie gripped the edge of her cot. Her knuckles turned white against the faded blue padding clutched in her hands.

Katie slowly rose from her cot and backed away from the center of the room. She inched her way to the back wall. A few people followed her lead, but most of the room gathered in the center, either out of defiance or wanting to see what would happen.

“Everyone disperse and return to your beds,” the guard said.

“You think you have the right to tell us what to do?” the young man said.

“I’m warning you.”

Katie’s back bumped against the wall. She felt herself trying to push her way through the concrete. Her heart beat faster. She wanted to leave. She had to get out.

The crowd around the young man grew, and with it the young man’s boldness. He stepped closer to the guard. The rifle still aimed at his head.

“You’re warning me?” the young man said.

“Stand down.”

“You gonna shoot us?”

“Stay where you are and stand down!”

Katie jumped as a hand wrapped around her wrist.

“Mrs. Miller, we need to leave,” Sam said.

Sam’s jacket was off, exposing his shoulder holster, his pistol sitting in it. The top button to his collar was undone and his tie hung loosely around his neck. Sweat collected on his forehead.

The young man continued to move toward the guard. Each step was slow, deliberate, testing the waters before moving forward.

“You have enough bullets for all of us?” the young man asked.

The young man reached his hand into his pocket, slowly.

“Put your hands up!” the guard ordered.

Katie felt Sam pulling her along the edge of the wall. She could tell that he was heading for the door. Her eyes kept glancing to the center of the room.

The young man’s hand lingered in his pocket. The crowd around him had grown to fifty plus people. All six guards fingers itched over their rifle’s triggers.

The moment the young man jerked his hand out of his pocket the guards open fired. A spray of bullets sent him hurtling backwards to the floor. Everyone outside the circle of guards ducked to the ground, while everyone inside the circle sprinted toward the closest guard to them.

The gunshots echoed through the room. The massive flood of people rushing to grab the guards’ guns, or raid the food and water, sent the room into a frenzy.

Katie’s arm almost pulled out of her socket once Sam started running. The two sprinted out the door with screams and gunfire exploding behind them.

The two of them ran through the herd of people fleeing the relief center. Outside people scattered everywhere. They put as much distance between themselves and the Red Cross relief center as they could.

The streets of downtown Pittsburgh were dead. Abandoned cars filled the streets. Broken windows lined the storefronts, their shelves completely looted. Trash littered the sidewalk and overflowed.

After running a few blocks Katie ripped her arm from Sam and stopped. She bent over trying to catch her breath. She hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday and was severely dehydrated. Bits of white crust formed at the corners of her mouth.

“Wait… Sam… I need… a break.”

Sam pulled a half-full bottle of water from his pant pocket. He held it out to her. The water was warm, but she gulped it down. She let a mouthful linger for a moment, letting the water splash around her arid mouth. She handed the bottle back to Sam who screwed the cap back on and returned the bottle to his pocket.

“How’d you get your gun back?” Katie asked.

“All of the guards disappeared except for the ones in the food hall. I rummaged through the weapons they confiscated and found my side arm. I figured it was just a matter of time before the other guards took off or the place became overrun.”

“What do we do now?”

“We need to keep moving.”

“And go where, Sam? That place was supposed to be safe. Those people were supposed to help us!”

She threw her hands up in exhaustion, pointing at her surroundings.

“There isn’t anything left, Sam.”

Katie leaned against the vehicle behind her. Her purple blouse was torn and dirty, her pinstriped pants stained with the three-day-old blood she wiped from her hands.

“I’ll get you back to your family, Mrs. Miller. I promise,” Sam said.

A trail of boot prints lay behind Mike. He stopped to kneel in the burnt wreckage of his home. He dug his hands into the grey ash and let it sift through his fingers. The particles formed tiny mounds under his hands, like an hourglass running out of time.

The roof sagged. The stairs were charred and splintered leading to a second floor stained in shades of black. Pictures were burnt. His son’s toys ruined from the heat. His daughter’s clothes destroyed. The house was dead.