William Forstchen - One Second After

“Hey, Pete, busy today?”

“You got that straight, Professor. Figure the stuff is gonna rot. Health inspector won’t let me use the meat anyhow, going this long with no refrigeration, so what the hell, might as well put on a damn good barbecue.”

John smiled. He genuinely liked this guy. Pork barbecue was something John had never really cared for, especially with the spices Pete threw in, but still he’d eat there occasionally just to hang out and chat.

“Professor?” Makala asked.

“Regular brain there,” Pete said. “Professor at the college here, army colonel, too. They were even going to give him a star and make him a general, but he quit….”

Pete’s voice trailed off. Naturally, everyone in town of course knew why John retired early, but Pete was leading into private matters, and a bit embarrassed he stopped.

“All right, Pete,” John said with a smile, breaking the nervous pause. “This lady’s a good friend. So give her double of anything she wants. Ok?”

John started to extend his hand to shake hers and she smiled. “Get it bandaged, John; then we’ll shake.” Sure.

He started to walk back to the car, hesitated, and looked back. She was looking at him and he motioned her to come over. “Look. I guess you’re staying at the Holiday Inn?”

“I guess so.”

“You know how to get back there?”

“Easy enough, turn left at the light and cross the tracks.”

“Well, look, ahh. I don’t want you to take this wrong. You need anything, you walk up this road just about a mile. Turn right on Ridgecrest Drive. I’m number eighteen.”

“Ok, John, maybe I will sometime.”

“Thanks for your advice with the medicine. I better get it home.”

“John?”

“Yeah.”

“You were checking me out when I was leaning over the seat, weren’t you.

He found himself blushing.

“It’s ok. After a high-stress situation, men usually think that way. I wasn’t insulted. I just want you to know it’s normal. It might bother you later, you know, given you should be worried about your girl, memories of your wife, and such.”

Now she blushed slightly.

“That came out awkward. Get home now. I’ll be ok.”

“Thanks, Makala.”

He got into the car and drove off, carefully balancing the bag of ice with one hand, the vials of medication on top.

As he turned the engine off he was delighted to see Jennifer and Pat up in the field, tossing the Frisbee back and forth. Ginger gave him a quick look but then went back to chasing the Frisbee, but old Zach came down, tail wagging in greeting.

Elizabeth was out by the pool, dressed in shorts and T-shirt, sunning herself, Ben sitting beside her, acting as if he was reading a book. The shotgun was leaning against the wall by Ben’s side.

He stood up at the sight of John and came up to the car.

“Could you help me get the ice in, Ben? There’s some cartons of smokes in there as well.”

“Sure, sir.”

Still balancing the one bag with the vials on top, John headed into the house. Jen was in the living room, just standing quietly looking out the window, turning and smiling as he came in.

She didn’t need to be told what he was doing when she saw the CVS bag.

“Get the basement door for me, will you, Jen?”

She opened it. He was suddenly paranoid that somehow he might drop the precious load, and he clutched the bag of ice with one hand to his chest, the other on top of the vials, holding them in place.

Going down to the basement, he looked around for a moment and spotted an old Styrofoam cooler. He laid the bag of ice in and placed it inside the shower stall and then carefully laid the vials on top. He put the lid on but left it cracked open and then with a pocketknife popped a small hole in the bottom of the foam cooler to let the melted water drain off.

It was getting to be a bit messy, blood dripping from his hand.

“How much medication did you get for her?” Ben asked.

John looked back and saw the young man looking at him intently.

“Five vials.”

“Five months, not counting what’s in the fridge?” It caught John by surprise. “Yes, something like that.”

“I see,” Ben said quietly. John stood up.

“Look, Ben. I’m not going to lie to you. The situation might be bad. I suspect we’ve been hit by a weapon that has shut down the electrical grid nationwide. That means it might be months before we get power back again.”

He took it in, nodding his head, saying nothing.

“But not a word of this to Elizabeth or Jennifer. Understood? Let me tell them in my own way.”

Jennifer and again his throat tightened. She was one smart kid, very smart, and when she learned that the power would be off for a very long time she just might figure out that the clock was ticking for her.

He looked back into Ben’s eyes, saying nothing.

“Yes, sir,” Ben whispered.

“Fine then.”

“You’re bleeding, sir.”

“An accident, nothing serious.”

He went back up the stairs and sat down at the dining room table. Jen was already waiting with the first-aid kit. “What happened?”

He looked up. Ben was standing by the door out to the deck.

“Everything’s ok, Ben. But remember, I don’t want those girls worrying about things. Given the way things are, I’m expecting you to be a man and keep a sharp watch on them.”

“Anything you say, sir,” and he left the room.

“You know, John, he really is a nice boy. By the way, while you were gone, we ran out of water.”

“Already?”

“Poor Jennifer. She used the toilet, and well… it didn’t flush and she was really embarrassed. Ben got a bucket, hauled the water in from the pool, flushed it, then filled the tank up again. He’s a good kid.”

John laid his hand on the table and she peered at it.

“You should of stopped to get stitches.”

“No time. I wanted to get the medication home.”

“I’ll butterfly bandage it for now,” and she set to work. “You can have Kellor look at it later.

“Now what happened to you? And fill me in on all the news.”

He told her just about everything… except for Makala and, of course, the Mustang.

The sound of the helicopter, a Black Hawk, after silence for so long was startling. It came in hot, about five hundred feet up, skimming over the interstate pass, leveling out.

He felt an emotional surge at the sight of it, the black star on its side. It roared past his house, which was high enough off the valley floor that he could almost see into the pilot’s side window. Elizabeth was jumping up and down, shrieking, waving.

“We’re saved!” Elizabeth shouted gleefully. “We’re saved!” She sounded like a shipwrecked sailor on a desert island.

John found himself waving as well… and the helicopter thundered on, heading due west, growing smaller, the sound receding, then disappearing, the silence all-engulfing again.

The elation disappeared into a sense of overwhelming depression. Somehow, the sight of that lone bird was now symbolic of so much, and maybe it was a portent that within a few more minutes the electricity would come back on.

He stood for several minutes, shading his eyes, gazing westward. And everything was as it had been.

Dejected, Elizabeth walked over to the side of the swimming pool and sat down, dipping her feet in, Ben came over and splashed her. The water was still cold. Without the pump, there was no circulation into the solar heating panels. The water was still clear, though. John was dosing it heavily with chlorine, since it was, for now, their drinking and bathing water. The kids swimming in it would at least keep the water stirred up. Jen was already waiting in the car.