Displacement Day

CHAPTER 14 - Working the Problem

This time Chloe got the car, so she dropped off Darren at the Public Safety Center at around 9 AM, as near as Darren could tell. Sergeant Whitney was in there already, walking around the truck. "Sergeant Whitney, how long have you been here?" "Oh, I just got out here. Is that really the device?" He waved at Chloe as she drove away. He opened the gate with a little help from Darren. "Yeah, I guess that's what a portal generator looks like. Our depressed van driver left instructions." He nodded toward the truck's cab. "I'll show you." "On an unrelated subject. Any possibility of getting more gas for civilians?" Sergeant Whitney shook his head. "We have two police cars, one fire truck, and one ambulance that all need fuel. We have like 100 gallons of gas and a few gallons of diesel available, that I know of." "So, what do we do when the fuel runs out?" "We'll have to figure that out when the time comes. Now, let's focus on this portal generator." Sergeant Whitney opened the driver's door and got in. "I'm going to take off the tarp." Darren did so as Charlie looked through the van driver's notes. The device in back looked even more bizarre in full daylight with the back doors open. "Wow!" This view revealed a hoop suspended vertically between two devices that looked like slim computer towers, both set on a thin base. Darren tapped it, confirming that it was made of hard plastic. It had multiple holes in the back, possibly for ventilation. Sergeant Whitney looked over his shoulder. "Oh, yeah I looked earlier. No idea what to make of that thing." "It looks like someone was playing mad scientist and caught in town with one of their gadgets." "How does it work though?" "I have a feeling that's over our heads. Let's just hope we can turn it on and reverse whatever it did last time." "And, better question – why did the driver commit suicide in the desert next to this van?" Sergeant Whitney shook his head."Yeah, I don't buy it either.""Hello there." Darren couldn't see Cat but he recognized the voice.He climbed out of the van. This time, Cat was back in her traveling clothes and carrying a bottle of water.Sergeant Whitney looked back at her. "Hello.""Can I come in and take a look?""Sure." He reached out to open the gate. She helped, rolling it easily with one hand and almost no help from Darren. He hoped she couldn't see that he was pretty impressed."So, this is the machine that caused so much interest?"She took a short walk around the van, without seeming to focus on anything in particular. Then she came back to stand near Darren."What is it?"He could see her watching him. "We don't know. I've personally never seen anything like it.""What about the owner?""Dead. He seems to have killed himself out in the desert near where we found the van.""That's unfortunate." She looked back at the van. "Do you know how to operate it?"Sergeant Whitney got out of the truck. "The driver left instructions, sort of"He checked it."So, Cat, have you had any thoughts on what might have happened? You must have noticed something was odd here." "I have seen trees and other green plants before, but not the animals. Dogs, right? But, I have no idea how you ended up here.""Do you believe in magic?""What is that? Do you mean card tricks and things? I know about that."Darren shook his head. "Never mind."Sergeant Whitney walked over to join their little conversation. "Know what I think? This whole van affair was a huge waste of time. We have to worry about food and water, not some oddball and his abandoned invention.""It is a bit late in the game to give up on this thing.""I read the notes that guy left. I studied criminal justice at a community college and I haven't read a science article in years. It all seems like nonsense."Darren disagreed. The rambling notes included instructions on how to activate the machine, buried in some rambling pseudoscience and scratched out words and corrections. He'd have to check. "Are you going to try to activate the portal generator?"Charlie shrugged at the same time Darren nodded. "I think we have to." He wanted to say more, about the food situation and the fuel. "We will. We need to get back to earth, desperately." Again, he wanted to say more but some impulse stopped him. Cat was staring at him. So was Charlie."We'll let you know Cat."She looked away and sighed. "Please do. I don't want to miss this."**** Darren talked Chloe into going down to his apartment complex, to see what they could scavenge. He assumed he had some non-perishable food and perhaps some soap. He also wanted clean clothes, he realized. The smell of unwashed clothes and unwashed bodies quickly became easy to ignore but sometimes like being in a closed-up car, a person couldn't help but notice. Chloe expressed her opinion of this idea staying silent with arms crossed most of the way. "I hope no one broke in." "Same here. But what would they take, your Murphy bed?"
"Don't kid, those things make a lot of sense." "Okay, let's focus on scavenging now." Chloe pulled out a list of things to collect, if possible. She'd insisted on brainstorming a list before they came over. The complex looked pretty normal, aside from no lights being on anywhere and bags of trash lying in the yard. He assumed the dumpster was filled to overflowing by now. A couple of people were outside at a little plastic table. They looked tired and their clothes looked rumpled. Neither one acknowledged Chloe and Darren as they walked by.Inside, the hallway stank. He couldn't place the bad smell, but at least it wasn't that strong. The door to his apartment was still locked, a promising sign. He paused for a second and listened before unlocking the door. No one was inside, of course. Inside, everything was undisturbed. He went to the bathroom, guessing that he remembered everything he needed to look for. There was about half a bottle of bleach concentrate under the sink. He took that. The remains of his soap were dried up there in the shower. He wrapped the bar up in a piece of plastic and pocketed that. "Towels and detergent." Towels weren't on the list, but they might need them for warmth if not for cleaning. "How are things going?" He heard Chloe put something in the cloth bag she'd brought. "Okay." He popped his toothpaste and the half-roll of remaining toilet paper into the bag and came out. It smelled worse than before, rotting food smell. "How'd you do babe? I didn't have any first-aid stuff." "Not good. I checked the fridge in case there was anything we could use." She wrinkled her nose. "That's what I was afraid of." "Well," he paused and looked around. "I guess we're done here." They were the only vehicle on the road as they headed back to Chloe's place. Other than the town looking like it had emptied out for some national holiday, the day was not unusual. Then they drove past a group of trees and saw a man siphoning gas out a car into a bucket. Darren had time to see him suck and spit. The man was still wearing a motorcycle helmet. Darren thought he'd seen both the car and the motorcycle at that address before. Darren stopped the car. "Hey, excuse me sir."
The man looked up and frowned. "Please stay inside after dark unless you absolutely have to be outside." The man went back to siphoning gas without saying anything.**** That night lying in bed, a scream pulled Darren back from the edge of sleep. Another scream got him to sit up. Chloe looked up at him but she was half-asleep. The screams weren't loud. Maybe someone had been attacked. That seemed likely, but there was nothing he could do. Mike or that other guy would be on patrol on the north side of town, probably. "Go back to sleep babe. Nothing we can do." Chloe poked him the ribs. He fell back in bed and pulled up the blanket. It was chilly in the apartment with no heat. He felt more than heard Chloe roll over next to him. "We should head south toward that town Cat mentioned." "We don't there is a town babe." "What do you mean? She said there's a town, probably like this one. Right?" "Chloe babe, there may be something. How can we know what the place is like? I mean, I'm not against checking it out." She patted him on the arm. "Let's do it, while we can have enough gas."**** Even before eating breakfast the next morning, Darren got on the radio to find out what he could. "Did someone up in this area get killed overnight?" Iris answered. "Yes, a 50-something female on Palmetto Way. Looks like a home invasion. Two individuals broke in." "Are we sure it was local people?" "Yeah, the next-door neighbor saw them run off into the night." He hadn't heard of this before. Burglaries, yes. Home invasion robberies. No. "Shit. We need to circulate a warning to anyone who isn't on high alert already." "Language please." Darren hadn't known Sergeant Whitney was monitoring the channel, but logically, he would be. "Also, there's been another development. We need to meet at the Center as soon as you can get there." "Roger that." "Bring your weapon Darren." "Of course." Chloe frowned. "Shit. Do what you have to do babe." Before he could answer, she stuck a peanut butter cracker in his mouth." He removed the cracker and kissed her. "How are we doing on water kiddo?" "Enough for a drink now and a bottle for later." "We need to rig up a way to boil water." "Well, I have a 2-quart sauce pan and maybe some matches." She went in the kitchen and opened a drawer. "We can just put the pot on bricks or stones with a little fire underneath." "Ah ha!" She held up a matchbook. "I was afraid we were running out." "Shit. I hadn't thought about matches." He looked around at the two candles that Chloe had left. He probably had no candles but had forgotten to check. "What else do we need?"**** A skinny man in his 50s was standing by the road near where Sergeant Whitney paused to turn a corner. The man waved, without much enthusiasm. He could hear the man say 'help' but his voice seemed weak. Sergeant Whitney turned the corner and stopped. The man was walking toward him, shuffling really. "Officer, my wife and I are in some trouble. Our water ran out yesterday and our food the day before." "I can't help you with food or water right now. Have you..." "Sir, my wife hasn't been able to get a drink since yesterday afternoon. She has diabetes." "Okay." Sergeant Whitney turned off the car and followed him to the house. It was dark inside and it stank, though with conditions as they were, the smell didn't much bother him. Empty bottles and jugs were scattered here and there around the house. The man's wife was sitting up in bed when they entered. She was a little on the fat side and looked exhausted. Her skin also seemed pale, even white. This might be worse than low blood sugar and lack of water. The man coughed and Sergeant Whitney heard something rattle in the man's lungs. "Let's get her in the car. I think both of you need medical attention." "So you have any extra water in the car?" "I have half a bottle. Have you been filtering or boiling water before drinking it?" On the way to the hospital the man coughed two more times. Sergeant Whitney wondered about two things. How contagious is cholera, and how many people are out of water or close to it?**** Chloe watched while Darren tried to siphon gas from his tank. He was almost empty, and Chloe had about 2 gallons left. If Cat wasn't completely making stuff up, they'd have plenty of gas to get there and back. Or they might stay. He got the gas to flow. "Nasty!" He spit a little out after sticking the hose in the big wine bottle. The gas was hardly flowing, but it was the best they could do. "Didn't Charlie promise more gas?" Darren shook his head. "He won't give us any now. I asked two days ago and didn't get anything." They both watched the fuel flow. It slowed to a drip just before overflowing the wine bottle."I guess this is it. Still sure you want to make this little expedition?" She nodded. Darren got up and went to gas up her car. "Let's pack and go."**** They set out about 15 minutes after gassing up Chloe's car. "So, if it looks like nothing is out there, when do we decide and turn back." Darren had fixated on the mission and didn't know. "Well," he looked at her. "obviously we drive until just before we reach the point where the gas would run out and strand us outside town." "What if we just drive for an hour or so and see if it looks promising?" Darren thought about that while they drove out of the parking lot. He'd insisted on letting her drive so he could have two hands free for the shotgun. "Fine. Let's see how things look." Chloe nodded. "We'll find the town. I think." The drive through town looked about normal, still. Darren didn't quite know what to expect though. They passed a few people who had planted vegetable gardens. Lots of plants were turning brown after almost 10 days with very little water. Lawns needed water and they needed mowing. He was 99% sure he spotted a couple more shoots from those bushes, and of the grass. The purplish blades of grass stood out. "The desert's claiming the town, little-by-little." "Don't be so negative. You're getting me down, even more." "Sorry." He continued with that line of thought. Water was running low, plants were moving in. Dust was settling over everything. Their own food was running short and the sad little vegetable gardens people had planted over the past 72 hours would not produce enough food to make up the gap. They'd have to start hunting the hell hounds and bird things, with something. Between bandits and dangerous animals, the ammo couldn't last a month. "Hey, let's make one of those rain collectors." Chloe nodded. "Yeah, let's do that today, before the sun goes down." No one else was out on the road. Maybe they had better sense, not burning any more fuel than necessary. Who could say what they were doing? They reached the edge of town, where they would be able to reach the salt flats in a few minutes, at most. Chloe drove out onto the sand without hesitating. Darren felt a little bit of pride, because they did not know if the car would get stuck in the sand that was between them and the salt flats. The sand wasn't a problem, and it only took a minute at under 15 miles per hour before the reached the salt flats that Cat had mentioned. So, the big lake she talked about was 100% real. Darren watched the sky and then switched to watching the horizon. "Don't go too fast babe." She had only sped up a little, but Darren wanted her to go easy on the gas. There was no bonus for getting there in a hurry. "Darren, what is that?" She slowed down. A small oasis was ahead on the right. The low hill holding bushes and grass may have been an island at one time. That's the impression that Darren got. What Chloe noticed was the tent and the trash scattered around. Darren squeezed the shotgun a little tighter. This was all the sort of stuff a few hikers in Ridgeway might take. The blue and green dome tent was halfway collapsed. A small Styrofoam cooler had been smashed. Some clothes and a backpack were out on the salt next to the tent. They had traveled about five miles past the edge of town at this point. "Chloe, keep your eyes open. Darren was expecting to see bodies near the camp site, but there were none. So, they drove on. What Darren took to be the shore of the old lake was nearby. He watched for any signs of trouble. Nothing except a pot that must have fallen off a truck. Now Darren noticed faint tire tracks in the salt. It looked like another set ran parallel to that set. Whatever made the obvious tracks was a large truck or SUV, Darren thought. "Well, we know people made it this far. Are we okay on gas still?" They'd only gone about nine miles since leaving town. Chloe just pointed at the gas gauge. They had about an eighth of a tank as near as Darren could tell. In a couple of miles, Darren could see what he thought might be the south side of the flats, or perhaps it was a mirage? He couldn't tell. He could tell it was pretty fucking hot. The breeze coming through the car windows dried things out rather than cooling things off. He also noted a couple of pieces of trash that must have come from Ridgeway residents heading south. More importantly the "shore" was now out of sight. He looked back and saw exactly what he expected – not much. The thin clouds and blue sky extended from horizon to horizon.**** They drove on in silence for another twenty minutes. Darren was watching their right flank. "What is that?" He felt her tapping the brake pedal. "Is that a body?" As near as Darren could tell, it was a body. "Don't stop Chloe." The old shore of the lake was uncomfortably close here, about 100 yards from the car and about 200 yards from the body. A shiny tool or device caught Darren's eye. "On second thought, swing around so we can take a closer look." Chloe had passed the body so she slowed down even more and made a U-turn. Darren was on high alert now. There is no way a man from town just collapsed and died out here. Chloe stopped the car. "Make it quick, whatever you're doing." The body was definitely that of a man, in jeans and blue windbreaker. The shiny object near him was a pistol. Darren got out and looked around, only for a second. He wanted to recover the gun and any ammunition. He picked up the gun. It was a nickel-plated .380 automatic. The magazine probably held eight rounds originally. He would check later. Instead he knelt down next to the body. "Sorry pal, but we need your ammunition." A quick search of the man's pockets and waistband revealed one more magazine. "Looks good." Darren went back to the car. Before he could get in, movement about 250 yards away on the shore caught his attention. "Babe, let's go!" Four or five men in desert colors were standing on the old lake shore, watching them. He checked the safety and set the pistol on the floor. She made another U-turn to get them going on their original direction. "Oh my God!" Darren had the same reaction. Four men in familiar desert garb had emerged from cover and started jogging toward the car, bows in hands. One of the men paused long enough to loose an arrow at the car. It hit Darren's door with a metallic clunk. The other three kept running. They weren't gaining on the car, but they weren't falling behind either. Another guy loosed an arrow while running. That arrow hit the back window and bounced off. The gang lost interest seconds later. "Ease up babe, we got away." The old shore receded as they cruised onward. They would be around 30 miles south of town at this point. Darren was beginning to relax. Then he saw the wreck just ahead. It was a small four-door sedan on its roof. The rear tire had been shredded by something. "Go left and give this thing a wide birth." Darren was thankful they couldn't see anyone inside. That feeling only lasted moments. Passing the car, he could see two bodies, a man and a woman lying in the shade. Both had arrows in them. Both had been stripped down to their underwear. "Don't look babe, just drive." Ahead, a raised area of land jutted into the old lake. They would be passing within 50 or 60 feet of the end, of what looked like a large-ish peninsula. A cracked and dusty boat ramp led down to the old lake bed. There was something that Darren could only identify as a lamp post near the ramp. "What the hell?" "What, please don't..." Darren patted her arm and pointed. She'd probably been obsessed with the lake bed. "That was a boat launch, complete with lights." "How? There aren't any lakes southwest of Ridgeway." "Yeah, in our world there aren't." They drove past the old peninsula and didn't talk until Darren decided to break the silence. "I think we traveled to some future Earth. Maybe climate change ruined the southern United States. Maybe Yellowstone finally blew up." "Yellowstone?" "Yeah, there's a volcano." She nodded in agreement. "Could that have really done so much damage?" "I guess." The drive continued with nothing to see but salt flats and blue sky. Darren knew he might have missed some trash or signs of modern humans, but he didn't care at that point. Then he saw a pickup and the outline of a town. "Wow!" "What in the world." Chloe slowed them down. "Is this the town? It can't be." She had slowed almost to a stop at this point. "Should I park near the SUV?" "I would." He didn't care where she parked because he was busy studying the area for signs of trouble. People or animals moved around in the ruins of that old town. It looked like it was all in ruins. "How far did we go?" He doubted it was seven-days walk. "The odometer says we covered about 60 miles." Darren stuffed the pistol in his waistband and got out of the car. "Turn off the engine and come with me." She turned off the car. "Why? I'm not sure this is a good idea." Darren agreed it was a bad idea, but he couldn't say that. As he passed the SUV, he paused to take a look inside. Nothing was inside, and no bodies either. This group must have done exactly what they were doing, assuming this was the town Cat talked about. They hadn't gone far enough though. He was pretty sure of it. "Are you coming with me or not Chloe?" She got out of the car.**** The roads through town seemed to be crumbling, where they hadn't been covered in dust. What stood out more was the architecture. It looked like adobe and yellowish bricks dominated. Broken metal poles stuck out of the thick dust and sand, here and there. A couple of streetlights were nearly intact, Darren thought they were streetlights at least. "Can you believe this?" He turned to Chloe as he pointed at the nearest lamp. "That's old isn't it." He couldn't tell. The metal was rusted and much of the black paint had chipped away. The glass or plastic around the light bulb was long gone. Chloe leaned in to look over his shoulder. "That's not electric." She pointed at the fat circular thing at the top, below where the light bulb should be. "I think this is a gas lamp." He stood on his toes and look at the point where the light bulb or wick or whatever would go. Sure enough, there was a small hole in the cylinder under a polished bronze or brass plate. It didn't take much thought to realize that a gas light would reflect off that plate and provide at least some extra light in the dark. "Darren, I don't know when these were last in use." "Me neither. But, you know, we could be jumping to conclusions. Over interpreting."He walked on. The roofs seemed to be metal or slate tiles. No signs of advanced technology, like cars, bikes, or electrical wires were evident. "Darren..." Chloe grabbed his arm. "Look."He didn't need to be told what to look at. The remnants of a telephone or telegraph pole were hard to miss. This one even had a cable hanging down. "How is this possible?"Darren realized he had no fucking idea how that was possible. "It looks really old too, like when whatever destroyed the place happened." He kept walking. "Stay close." "How long will we stay here Darren. Let's try not to end up out on the lake or in here at night. "Agreed. Let's give it about 15 minutes and head back to the car." He struggled up the bank to the similarly dusty and dry ground surrounding the old lake. The vegetation here was familiar. But the town was creepy. The buildings are starting to close in a little, and everything was deathly silent – no bugs or birds and almost no breeze. "Let's go that way?" He pointed in the general direction of that ramp. "And let me know if you..." He had to stop as a crab-like create the size of a Norway rat scurried across the little street a few feet away. A second and a third followed. Whatever they were, the were silent and they weren't interested in him or in Chloe. Darren moved on. "Darren, I see electrical wires." She patted him on the right shoulder and pointed. Yep, those looked to be wires running from the second floor of one building to the second floor of the next. "Huh, have you seen any other signs of technology here though. I mean electric lights, plastic garbage, stuff like that?" She shook her head. "Never mind I guess." They continued south. The town was being taken over by dust and desert plants here. The style of buildings continued to be the same. The signs of modern technology continued to be absent. "If some people from town stayed here, I'd expect to see evidence now, wouldn't you?" "Yeah, but people were here recently." "The people in the SUV might not have come into town after all. But, if not, where are they?" He knew neither of them could answer that question, so he resumed his little walk. "Hey, I have an idea." Before Chloe could ask about it, Darren yelled. "Hello folks? Anyone here? We're from Ridgeway!" He looked around, not expecting to see anyone or anything. A bigger crab thing ran out of a door on a side street. "Hey, we should kill and cook one of those things." Chloe frowned. "Go for it. But I'm not helping." Darren smiled and started walking. He stopped almost immediately. Chloe walked up next to him and stopped. "Hey, I know what that is." 'It' was a cylindrical lattice of what might have branches from those thorn bushes. The structure rose up from a circular little stone structure – a water well. It looked the branches were tied together or interlaced with thick metal wire. "Do tell." Darren started walking toward. "Because I also have an idea." "It is a water collector. I've seen something like it online." The air was hot and dry, so he didn't expect to see evidence of water. And there was none, until he looked down the base of the thing. A wide and shallow metal bowl was down there, with a ladle in it. A long cord attached the ladle to the branching water collector. There was some water in the bowl. "Shit, I'm thirsty." He picked up the ladle and took a drink. "I know this is risky but neither one of us gets enough water." The water may have been bad in some way but it didn't have a funky smell or color. Chloe took a sip. "I suppose this is a good idea." Then she dipped the ladle again. "What do you suppose happened to the people in that SUV?" "I don't know. I was kind of assuming they broke down and decided to walk here for shelter and maybe food. "They must have moved on somewhere else then." "Or they're dead. Those people Charlie and I encountered might have wandered through here and met our missing travelers. But maybe they're in town, hiding from something." Darren looked around the ruined town. All of the homes and other buildings were missing windows and all or part of their rooftops. Whatever had happened here, it happened long, long ago. "I think our fifteen minutes are up by now. Let's get back to the car babe." Darren made a quick mental calculation. "Close enough anyway. Let's go.
The walk back was just as uneventful as the walk to the well. "Darren, I want to make one of those water collectors when I get back. We can probably do an even better one with the stuff we have." "Shit babe, we need to recruit people and make dozens." They walked in silence for a time. When they got to the SUV, Darren stopped. "I'm searching it for anything we can use. I can't believe these people are coming back." Chloe nodded. "I'll help." The front doors were unlocked so getting in was no issue. Unfortunately, a search of the glove box, back seats and rear storage area failed to turn up anything useful. Darren couldn't even find lose change or a piece of candy. They went to the car. "Let's give it another thirty minutes or so of driving. Okay?" Chloe nodded. They drove on. The salt flats gave way to desert around them and then just ahead. Darren saw the outlines of vehicles through the blowing dust and waves of heat coming off the salt. "I don't like the looks of this Chloe." He started braking before she could response. "Are those the cars from Ridgeway?" Now he could clearly see the outlines of modern vehicles a quarter mile ahead. "Yeah." The car had slowed to under 10 miles per hour. "I think we should stop here and take a quick look at this."