Steven Konkoly - The Perseid Collapse

“Holy shit! Will the two of you get the hell going? I’ve got it under—Oh, hold on! Let me give you the thermal scope,” Charlie said, fumbling with his rifle.

“I really can’t do anything with it,” said Alex. “It’s not zeroed for my rifle.”

“You can hold it in your hand and look through it, right? Damn. Maybe we should spend the next fifteen minutes building a litter so you can carry me along to do all of your thinking.”

“Now that would be a sight,” said Ed, laughing.

“Funny,” said Alex. “You sure you won’t need this?”

“Nope. All set. Night vision goggles should do the trick,” said Charlie, patting one of the pouches on his backpack.

“Thanks, bud. This should come in handy,” said Alex, wrapping the scope in a T-shirt and stuffing it into his pack.

“So—we’re off?” he said, extending a hand.

Charlie took it, and Alex pulled him to his feet, hugging him for several seconds.

“Stay out of trouble,” uttered Alex.

“Same to you,” said Charlie, pulling Ed into the huddle.

“You’re not going to kiss me, are you?” inquired Ed, his head on Charlie’s shoulder.

“Well, now that you mentioned it—no. Get out of here before I change my mind,” said Charlie, releasing them.

Alex saluted him and followed Ed down the path, glancing back at Charlie a few times, until the trail veered left and their neighbor disappeared.

“We can slow down now,” said Alex, taking the lead.

They walked in silence for fifteen minutes, pushing their way through broken branches and climbing over fallen trees, until the trail intersected “Red Cross Path.” Alex shifted his rifle to a ready position across his chest and slowed the pace, peering through the trees. A few minutes later, he spotted the faint outline of a neighborhood ahead. He crouched behind a tree on the left side of the trail, signaling for Ed to get behind him.

“I thought we had another hour and a half,” whispered Ed.

“What was I supposed to say? We’re almost there? We made better time than I expected from the Jeep. GPS has been coming in and out with the trees blocking the signal. I almost choked when I saw how far we had made it on the first half hour.”

“Shit. I really thought we had at least an hour to go,” said Ed.

“You can walk back and forth for another forty-five minutes if it’ll make you feel better.”

“That’s quite all right. So now what?”

“We move about a hundred yards off the trail and very cautiously approach the edge of the neighborhood. We’ll wait there until 7:30 or so,” he said, checking his watch. “Eat dinner, take a nap. We have some time to kill.”

“You sure we can’t press on? Doesn’t look like an urban kill zone up there. More like Durham Road,” said Ed.

Alex scanned beyond the trees through his riflescope. “White, two-story colonial with attic bump-outs. Red garrison. Three-car garage. I see what you mean,” he said, lowering into a crouch and listening.

Dead silent.

“Charlie gave me the impression that this gets crowded really fast as we move south. Hold on,” he said, activating his handheld radio. “Charlie. You there?”

“Miss me already?” Charlie responded immediately.

“Not exactly. Quick question. Where does it get really crowded on our route south? We’re thinking about pushing through when we get to the edge of the forest.”

“You’ll probably exit the forest at the top of Governors Avenue. It’s pretty swanky all the way to High Street. Nice little downtown area along High. Expect people. The Mystic River is just past High Street. It really starts to get busy over the river. You’ll have a lot of people displaced from the areas closer to the coast. Shit. Come to think of it, you might have some trouble getting across the Mystic because of the tsunami.”

“Seems like plenty of bridges to get across,” said Alex.

“Yeah. Those can be fun,” said Charlie.

“Not looking for that kind of fun. Any other places to hole up on the way?”

“Lots of athletic fields and small parks. Tufts University has a fairly large campus. Nothing you can get lost in like the Middlesex Reservation. Once you cross the Mystic, you’re in the city.”

“Got it. Thanks, Charlie. Let’s use call signs from now on. Lots of Eds, Alexes and Charlies out there. Use our former street name followed by street number. If you need to authenticate a transmission, ask for the other person’s wife’s name, or one of the kids. That should keep any impersonators busy. Durham three-zero, signing out.”

“Solid copy, three-zero. Durham one-seven standing by,” said Charlie.

Alex shook his head. “Sounds like a no-go on leaving the reservation. Charlie didn’t think we’d find anything like this on the way. I miss him already. Never thought I’d say that.”

“Me either, but you made the right call. No way he could have made it. Not to Boston and back,” said Ed.

“The Best Western parking lot sealed it for me. I knew he’d have trouble once we ditched the Jeep.”

“I would have taken off if you hadn’t jumped out to help him,” Ed said.

“That’s why I jumped out. I couldn’t leave him like that, and I knew we’d need him later. It was a calculated risk. Sort of.”

“Hell of a risk,” said Ed.

“We would have been fine,” said Alex.

“I didn’t mean you and Charlie.”

“I know. I wouldn’t have blamed you if you hadn’t waited. Family first.”

“I’d really hate to catch a glimpse of how your mind works,” said Ed.

“It isn’t pretty,” said Alex. “Right now I’m wondering why this neighborhood is quiet when I can hear commotion east of here. I’m thinking there must be a serious roadblock set up at the hospital. Something we want to avoid.”

“The Special Forces story feels a little thin to you too?”

“We need a more chaotic environment for that to work. A focused roadblock in a quiet residential area probably isn’t the best place to test our new identities. I’ll have to carry your rifle when we roll.”

Ed shrugged his shoulders. “Why?”

“Because it doesn’t look right as a primary weapon. If anyone asks, or looks at it funny, I can say that it’s part of a specialized load-out. A .22 equipped with a suppressor can be extremely quiet. Either that or we leave it behind,” said Alex.

“How long did it take you to make that up?” said Ed.

“I started plotting this trip when you told me Chloe was going to Boston College,” said Alex.

“Chloe?”

“You didn’t think I’d let you make this kind of a trip on your own?” said Alex.

“Amazing. You have this whole thing planned out in there. Don’t you?” said Ed, poking Alex’s hat.

“I’ve put a lot of thought into it.”

“Do any of those thoughts include ditching me along the way?”

“Not yet. Let’s find a spot out there and rest up. It’s going to be a long night.”

EVENT +38:10 Hours

Limerick, Maine

Kate set her beer on the wooden coffee table in front of her and collapsed into the cushioned chair between Linda and Samantha, the constant pain from her quadriceps and thigh muscles governing the discordance of complaints her body had lodged against her. Shoulders, lower back, wrists—all vying for her attention but failing to take her mind off the fact that she could barely walk. The sun had dropped below the tree canopy, casting a shadow over the screened porch and dropping the temperature a few degrees—not enough to bring any real relief to the humid evening. She closed her eyes and thought about Alex. He’d set out with Ed and Charlie soon.