Chapter 12
One Week Later - North Side of Greater Cincinnati
There was a small road sign that had its original message spray painted over in white. In black words, it read, "Ohio Confederation Post. WARNING: Show Your Hands!"
"Look," Terri said, "there's Confederation troops up there!"
"That's good, right?" Pam asked.
"Maybe," Elijah said. "But we better do like the sign says." They raised their hands.
They could see one guard watching them, then a half dozen more popped their heads up behind some fortifications in the middle of the road.
Dale said, "Those guys are pointing their guns at us. I don't know."
Elijah said, "I guess we should expect them to act that way, right?"
A soldier advanced toward them, "Where you folks planning on going?
"Cincinnati," Pam said.
"Fairfield," Elijah said.
The Soldier looked them over. "You can put your hands down. I have to advise you that this is the southern end of the Confederation. Beyond this is unorganized territory. I can't recommend going to either of those places. Especially Cincinnati."
Pam said, "We gotta try and find out son." Her voice was breaking a little, fearing the journey would end without finishing.
"Ma'am, I'm not going to stop you, I'm just advising you. Just be advised that we won't even go down there ourselves. We would like some information about what is going on down there, but we have seen quite a few people go south beyond this point and have not seen a single person return."
Pam started crying. Dale held her close.
"Pam," Dale said, "at this stage of the game, we gotta go. If we go down, we go down together."
"No Dad!" Terri started crying. "You'll both die!"
Dale said, "We made it this far." He told Terri, " I want you to stay here and wait for us to come back."
"No, Dad! Is Bobby more important than me?"
"No Terri. Please don't say that."
Terri said, "What if Bobby's not there, or . . ."
The soldier spoke up, "We don't provide any provisions or special protection for people who choose to stay here, sir."
"Never mind that!" Dale said, "Just make sure no one tries any funny business with her!"
Dale pulled Terri's head close to his. "I love you."
Pam joined them in the hug.
"Elijah," Dale said, "I want to ask a favor of you."
"What's that, Dale?"
"When you come back this way, if Terri is here, I want you to take her back with you to that fake town up north."
"Crawfordton."
"Yes, Crawfordton."
Elijah asked, "What if you are just a bit behind me?"
"Never mind that, we'll come up to Crawfordton and get her. I want her to stay safe. She's our treasure."
"Okay. I promise."
Terri started crying as if she believed she would never see her parents again.
Pam said, "Thank you Elijah, for all of your help."
"You too," Elijah said. "Hope you find Bobby."
"Good luck with your Daughter," Dale said.
Elijah shook Dale's hand and hugged Pam. Then he turned to the west toward Fairfield, Ohio.
A feeling of exhilaration pulsed through Elijah's old body. He was a half day away from being at Rene and Matt's. One minute he was happy, the next minute he was totally afraid.
Now was not the time to get careless. It was time to heed the warnings of the Confederation soldier at the end of the line checkpoint. Fortunately, this area was largely undeveloped. This was the main reason Rene liked it here so much.
The topography was flat with small hills in places. There was not much tree growth covering the hills. The bottom line was that there was not too much of a threat of being bushwhacked in the area at point blank range.
It was starting to get late. Elijah was thinking about finding a cozy spot to hide out for the night. He could not approach any homes in Fairfield at night.
He had a can of Beefaroni in his pack he had carried all that way. He was thinking about opening it. Maybe this would be his last chance to partake of such a delight.
A bullet whizzed by his head and he heard a pop. He immediately went to the ground and was trying to look around. "Dang it!" He could not see where the shooter was. There were so many possibilities. That shooter was going to get another shot at him and he couldn't do anything to stop it.
Elijah ran down the hill towards a single tree next the road. He could only hope he was running in a favorable direction. He tried to zigzag enough to make another shot as difficult as possible, but still maintained some speed. He made it to the tree. He was looking around, waiting for another shot. He couldn't see anyone anywhere. His line of sight was clear in all directions. He waited for the longest time. There was no one. Now he wasn't sure it was a gunshot in the first place. He feigned leaving the tree sanctuary a couple of times then jumped back to see if the assailant was still trying to get a bead on him. Nothing. Just to play it safe, Elijah started running off toward his originally intended destination. He was concerned about expending too much energy, since he did not have much in the way of food, except the Beefaroni.
Elijah came to a small cluster of intentionally planted trees and ran into it to try and scramble his trail, just in case the ghoul was stalking him. Once among the trees, he decided it was a good opportunity to get reacquainted with the Beefaroni. He pulled the tab and ripped the lid off of the can. Even at room temperature the aroma was exquisite. The pasta texture was a little soft from being so old, but it was still commercially sterile.
Elijah savored every nostalgic bite. After finishing the treat he reflected on years gone by. How people took their daily meals for granted. How America was blessed with so much, yet chose to throw it all away by their neglect.
Finishing the can was another small weight off of his pack that would no longer need to be carried. Also, it was another bit of loot that someone else would not be rewarded with if the next bullet found its target.
It was getting very dark. Elijah wanted to finish the journey so bad that he couldn't contain himself. But it was too risky. He would have to sit in the trees until morning.
Now Elijah was wide awake. He thought he would never be able to get any sleep. It turns out that he made a huge pile of pine needles and burrowed into it, and it was comfy warm. The next thing he knew it was morning.
All this way Elijah came. He was within a couple of miles from the destination. He started passing some apartment buildings on the edge of town. One was burned out. He could see people looking down on him. Potential trouble lurked all around him. Elijah knew that some might try to kill him just for a chance to see what was in his pack.
As usual, the side of the road was lined with abandoned cars. The last thing he wanted to do was to get off of the street and be attacked by either fearful or opportunistic assailants.
He saw human remains in the middle of the street. Not all of each of the body's remains were there. He looked up at the apartments and condos to see if there were any imminent threats.
He was in the neighborhood. It was incredible to think that he accomplished it. He wished he could phone Aliyah right now. Was this the building? They all looked the same, but a little different. Hmm. . . not yet.
There it is! Apartment 413! Their apartment was on the second story. Elijah went up the walkway. He saw a sign on the door, but it was too far away to read. He went up the stairs on the side and was at the door he had been looking for, and thinking about all this time. The sign read, "Keep Out!" It was written badly. It looked like a third grader had written it.
Elijah knocked on the door. He did it harder and harder. "Dang it! Rene! Open up! It's me!" He hated to make so much noise and end up drawing unwanted attention.
He beat on the door some more. Whawazat? He thought he heard a voice. Maybe it was an animal. Elijah couldn't just stand outside and let everyone in the neighborhood contemplate the best method of robbing or killing him.
Guess it was time to act like a cop and bust down the door. Busting doors was a lot easier with the proper equipment. Here goes. . .