Jacqueline Druga - Protocol One

Even though it wasn’t safe, Tony took the unit, looked at it and drove. “The fuel one is missing. Maybe he emailed them to her as a safeguard.”

I searched the unit. “There’s no email attached. These were downloaded.” Then I saw the message folder and opened it. “Whoa, she had quite the text conversation happening just before she arrived with a contact named ‘D’.”

“Read them.”

“Just back and forth. She didn’t want to talk in front of the driver. ‘D’ said understandable. She said she will send them over as fast as she could. It was barbaric. She hates him.” I lowered the unit. “Who does she hate?”

“Maybe the driver?”

I shrugged. “Then ‘D’ said to bide her time. It won’t be long. Soften the sources and find SJN135. Then it is over.”

“SJN135?” Tony asked.

“Soften the sources. What does that mean?”

“It means…. Damn it!” He slammed his hand against the wheel. “She hates him. The Giltator. She is here to get information and break down our barriers, soften the sources, get in, get trusted. SJN135 is the fuel location. The biggest asset he has. Somebody wants the fuel depot!”

“Who knows the location?”

“Gil, me, and who ever drove the first run out there.”

“Duke and Spencer.”

“Yep.” Tony said. “We make sure we take that directly to Gil, no one else… as soon as we get back.”

I wanted to radio him, but I didn’t. It would be too risky. I should have known Gwen had other reasons for coming to the bunker than just to be with her husband.

We also knew we had to save our conversation for later, because we saw the skyline of Pittsburgh come into focus.

Get in, get out, but it was starting to snow much harder.

It was hard to see against the densely cloudy sky, especially with the snow falling. But there wasn’t a speck of light in the sky, and most of the tall buildings, from what could see, had been damaged heavily by fire.

Sector One was right off the main highway, up a slippery ramp. We were on the north side of the downtown area. Tony’s plan was to drive around the circumference of Sector One and see if we found anything. There was a lot of traffic consisting only of parked and abandoned cars. We tried taking three different roads shown on the map and each one was a dead end.

We pulled out along a smaller river road. The river was frozen over with chunks of debris frozen solid in the surface.

It was evident that the first sector was a barren wasteland. No signs of life.

Tony turned on the windshield wipers. “So much for Peter’s weatherman skills.”

“It’s getting bad. We should turn around and head back.”

“Yeah,” Tony said. He paused and I saw him looking at the buildings around him. A football stadium was a block away. A frozen flag remained, oddly unscathed.

“There was supposed to be an underground shelter around here,” Tony said. His window was fogged and he rolled it down. When he did we heard the call.

“Help! Over here!” A female voice called out. “Please.”

“That’s odd.” Tony commented.

“Should we help?”

“Wonder if that’s the shelter?” He asked, as he pointed to a woman about fifty feet away standing in the doorway of the city’s casino.

“Why is she standing there?”

“I don’t know.” Tony opened his door.

“Please. We have an injured man. We need help!” She cried out. “In here!”

She then disappeared inside the doors.

Tony walked to the back of the Humvee.

I put on my coat and gear, and stepped out. “Tony.” I walked over to him. He handed me bags. “This is gonna sound odd coming from me, but I don’t trust this.”

“Yeah, me either.” He checked his revolver, placed it under his coat, zipped up, then shouldered a rifle.

“Why are we bringing everything?”

“Grab Gwen’s party bag.”

“Why?”

“Never leave anything in the vehicle. Just in case.” He shut the hatch. “We check. We look. We leave. Look in only, at first.”

I nodded in agreement and walked toward the building. With each step I was troubled more. If there was someone injured, why wasn’t there any smoke for heat? There was no light emerging at all.

Just about there, I stopped. “Okay, this isn’t good.”

Tony looked at the doors ten feet away. “Yeah, I’m getting that eerie feeling as well. Like why didn’t she wait for us?”

“Exactly.”

“Head back?” he asked.

“Yes.”

No sooner did I say that, and we turned when I heard the scariest thing of all. The sound of an engine revving.

Just as we realized what it meant, we watched as the Humvee slid, back end first and then turned and peeled away.

“Fuck!” Tony raced toward the Humvee.

“Oh my God.” I closed my eyes.

“Son of a bitch!”

“How… how?” I asked. “You were worried about our stuff being stolen. Did you even think it would be the Humvee? Why did we leave it running?”

“So it wouldn’t freeze and would start again. But I locked it. I locked my door and the hatch. I don’t know.” Tony flung out his hand. “Gwen is gonna be so pissed.”

“You think?” I exhaled and immediately I was hit with a panic feeling in my chest. I peered around the dark, empty north side. Snow was falling hard, piling up fast and furiously. “So we’re stuck.”

“For now.”

“What do we do?”

Tony peered up to the sky as the snow smacked him hard in the face. “Right now.” He swiped it away. “We find shelter. We’ll figure this out.”

We both looked at the casino.

After walking the few remaining feet back to the entrance, Tony opened the door.

I looked back hoping to see the Humvee return, but it was gone. We were stuck. Even though we were only forty miles from the bunker, it might as well have been a thousand. We left the bunker fully prepared to help survivors. Little did I realize, we would end up the ones needing help. The entire situation was an instant motivation to rethink my plan to be the Good Samaritan.

We had a lot of time to think.

It didn’t turn out as expected. A massive snow storm, no transportation. Tony and I were stranded. We were now trapped in the world that we had diligently planned to avoid.

We had three goals… be safe, be smart, and eventually make it home.

Thank you so much for taking time to read this book. I invite you to visit my website, and as always feel free to contact me at any time.

Protocol One

By Jacqueline Druga

Copyright 2014 by Jacqueline Druga

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any person or persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

For all her help, always, Linda K. And special thanks to Kira R. for being an extra set of eyes.

COVER ART BY ELOISE J. KNAPP

ELOISE J KNAPP DESIGNS

http://www.eloisejknapp.com/

Stock photo of survivors provided by http://hiddenyume-stock.deviantart.com/