Kat and Andrew

Part 4

Andrew woke to an odd silence. It was not the silence you would expect out in the country or the hush you hear at a golf tournament. This was a different silence, as if the entire city had gone to sleep. He slid out of bed from beside Kat, giving her a gentle kiss on the head as he did so. From the window of the apartment he looked down upon the street below. No cars moved, no horns sounded their dreadful noise, no people. NO PEOPLE? Where was everyone? Another nightmare, he was getting tired of these. He reached down and pinched himself. It hurt, but he did not wake up. He turned and looked at Kat. She was still sleeping, beautiful as always as her chest rose and fall with her breathing. He looked back to the street and saw a man jogging down the sidewalk. Andrew slid open the window and screamed at him, "HEY! Where the hell is everyone?" The man started and nearly fell down as he skittered to a halt.

"Are you retarded?" the man retorted. Andrew was taken back, but figured yelling at someone from a fourth floor window while naked was a bit odd.

"Seriously, where is everybody?"

"Turn on the TV," the man said with a shake of his head as he began trotting back down the street. Andrew watched him as he turned at the corner and disappeared. He hadn't even noticed that the fog had lifted until now. Andrew walked out to the living room and switched on the TV. As he stood there and watched he dropped the remote to the coffee table where it banged into the empty pizza box and sent a couple beer cans clattering onto the floor. He fell back onto the couch in aww. A mousy sound came from the door way behind him and he felt soft small hands on his shoulders. "What is happening?" she asked through a yawn.

The picture before them was of a city burning to the ground. People were running and screaming as the smoke and fire chased them through the streets. A disheveled anchor woman came on with tears in her eyes, "It has been 4 hours," she said through a choked voice, "since the first missile hit. It is chaos. There is no way to know how many people have died here today. The military has sent troops in, but they don't know where the missiles are coming from so they are of little comfort." The woman broke down in sobs, "I would tell you to get your loved ones and get out, but I have no idea where you need to go. Cities all around the country have experienced the same fate." Images from Los Angelos, New York, Denver, and Miami came across the screen. The chaos was the same. Andrew winced as the lady came back on the screen, "This is Kathy Jones, signing off for channel 12 in Washington, DC, for likely the last time." The TV went to the tone alert system, assuring its viewers that their government was doing everything necessary and to stay in their homes. The same message repeated three times in the five minutes that Kat and Andrew sat staring.

Andrew sat up with a start, "we need to go." Kat looked at him bewildered.

"Go where?" she asked.

"Away from the cities. As soon as the shock wears off from the original attack, people are going to go nuts." She knew he was right, but still stood unsure.

"Andrew, where are we going to go? We have no supplies. Certainly nothing that can prepare us for this." Kat began to cry. Andrew walked up to her and wrapped her in his arms.

"Do you trust me Kat?" She looked up into his eyes. They were confident and sure, she had never seen him like this.

"Of course I trust you."

"Then get dressed. Good solid shoes, long pants, and a long sleeved shirt. We need to get to my car, quickly." They set about getting dressed. Andrew was first out of the bedroom and hit the kitchen. He grabbed a small bag and filled it with any non-perishables he could get in it. Kat came out clutching Fritz in her arms, "what about him?" she asked in a mousy voice. Andrew turned and looked at the two of them. "Do you think he will follow you?" he asked.

"I don't know. He has never been outside." Andrew reached up and scratched Fritz on the head.

"He will have to hold his own. If he follows and keeps up then he can come." Kat perked up a little at this, though she was not sure if he would follow. They left the apartment standing vacant and alone as they skittered down the stairs.

When they got to Andrews car he quickly opened the trunk and pulled out two backpacks. One being considerably larger than the other. "What are those?" Kat asked.

"These are our oh shit bags."

"Ours?"

"Yes," Andrew paused for a minute and turned to Kat, "I love you Kat, and I vowed I would never let anything happen to you. Everything I setup for me, I did for you as well." Kats eyes welled with tears, she had known Andrew cared about her, but she had never known how much. "These bags will get us by. With luck we can get to my place and get to the other two bags. They have more supplies." She looked up at him with her tear streaked face, "Okay love. Thank you for taking care of me."

Andrew leaned in and kissed her on the forehead, "It is an honor."

The battered Toyota fired up with a small puff of smoke and raced away from the curb with a chirp of its balding tires. Kat sat in the passenger seat with her knees pulled to her chest and her face buried in Fritz's fur. Her world had been turned upside down.

They arrived at Andrews's apartment without incident. There were no cars on the roads to speak of, though there was one particular Honda Civic that came screaming out of nowhere and disappeared as quickly. A few people were wandering about like they had not a care in the world. Andrew was concerned that if they did not get moving before the realization hit everyone they would not make it out of town. Everyone would try to leave at the same time like animals. There would be accidents that would block the highways and freeways and they would be forced to go it on foot. He looked over at Kat as she was drying her eyes on Fritz. The cat was doing very well, he thought, for never being out of the apartment.

"Come on," he said softly, "we need to gather the rest before we head out."

"Head out where?" She asked quietly, "where do we go?"

"I know of a place.  My family had an old homestead out of Heppner.  The land is still in the trust."

"Do you think we will make it that far?"

"I hope so, and right now all we have is faith, hope, and each other."

It took Andrew only 15 minutes to grab the few things they needed and they were on the road.  As the sun was burning off the fog and spreading its warmth upon the city, they watched it fade in the mirror.  Andrew looked at Kat.  The tears were still running down her face but her expression was resolute as she held tight to Fritz.  Andrew reached out and took her hand, she squeezed tighter before easing up and falling asleep.

The little white Toyota barreled down the highway at nearly 85 mph.  Law enforcement had better things to do than pull him over for speeding right now.  Out of habit he slowed as they came to the always congested Multnomah Falls.  There was only a single individual wandering the parking lot.  He was a dirty vagrant whom Andrew was certain this event would effect the least of all.  The man just stared at them as they accelerated back to speed and moved on.  

For nearly another hour they motored down the interstate.  As they closed on The Dalles, Andrew saw the column of black smoke.  They had made it half way, he supposed this was better than it could have been.