ISS Read online

  Chapter Three

  The Outback station wagon was perfect for the trip he only wished he had more practice driving with a stick shift. He bumped along slowly, grinding gears, entering the ramp for the freeway heading north to Phoenix. He did not have to worry about finding gas his mom was always a freak about keeping the tank full. He could easily make it to the city and back on what was in the tank.

  Though he had been alone for more than a month it was still weird seeing the freeway with no traffic. He drove carefully avoiding derelict vehicles and various bits of debris including the bodies of people. After two hours of slow cautious driving he came to the outskirts of the city and what he saw did not boost his confidence. A towering column of black smoke rose above the city high into the dead calm desert sky. As he got closer he could see whole sections of the city had been destroyed by fire. He put up the windows; the smell of the burning city was unbelievable, like burning hair and dog shit mixed with vinegar. It was like nothing he’d smelled before, worse than the rotting corpses back in Eloy. It made his skin itch when he imagined what it was that was burning and making that smell.

  He kept driving, slowing to a crawl when the smoke thickened making it difficult to see. He tried turning on the windshield wipers but it did not help. After ten minutes of slow choking progress a breeze shifted the smoke away and he saw an exit for the Shamrock Mall ahead. Looking down from the overpass he estimated that more than half the mall had been consumed by fire that was now out. The portion that remained looked okay and luck was with him the Radio Shack was in that part of the mall.

  He drove onto the sidewalk and parked as close to the entrance as possible. Turning off the engine he rested for a while before picking up the gun and flipping off the safety; he would not have time to look for it if he ran into trouble. He put the window down and listened, watching to see if his arrival had attracted any attention. There was nothing moving, at least not that he could see; the whole city, just like Eloy, seemed to be dead. He put the window up and opened the door and stepping out locked the car with the remote. His back ached from tension and his eyes stung from driving through the smoke.

  “To boldly go where no man has gone before”, he mumbled and, with the gun leading the way, he walked a few paces into the building. He stopped and waited while his eyes adjusted to the dim interior. What he could see of the mall looked normal, he had expected signs of looting and damage but the stores looked like they usually did, except with no people. Walking in the direction of Radio Shack he grew tense worried about the deepening gloom.

  He had watched too many horror movies and his mind was not his friend. His thoughts naturally turned to those scenes where the zombie lurches from a dark corner and bites some poor slob on the neck. As he walked deeper into the gloom he made a promise to himself, if he survived this, he would never watch another. The Radio Shack was in perfect condition, the doors were wide open, there was no sign of damage, and they had a clearance sale on. He began by looking for a flashlight. He found one and tore off the packaging and loaded it with batteries.

  When he turned it on the light helped to dissipate the hordes of zombies lurking in the shadows of his imagination. He roamed deeper into the store and found the section with radio equipment and discovered that the letters C and B in the astronaut’s message stood for Citizens Band. He picked out two CB radios opting for the higher priced ones reasoning that they would be higher quality. He found a cart in the back and loaded parts onto it. He took lots of batteries of all types, a high end GPS, and all the other components he would need including two extra-long whip antennae.

  He wheeled everything out to the car. One item he could not get at Radio Shack was a gas powered generator. It had not been on his shopping list but he was tired of pedaling that damn exercise bike to recharge the battery and he would need reliable battery power for the radio. He drove around looking for a building supply store or equipment rental company; figuring they would probably have what he was looking for. He found a Builder Barn and went in through the open roll-up door driving up and down the aisles pushing stuff out of the way until he came to the tool department.

  It was fun driving inside a store and there was no point in lugging the generator any further than he had to. He found a Honda gas powered generator in aisle seven. It had wheels and he rolled it to the back of the car then found two wide planks in the lumber section to roll it up and into the hatchback. He was hungry by the time he finished but it was getting late and the sun would be going down soon. With darkness coming and with all the smoke in the air he did not bother to look for food, not that he would be able to eat with that smell in the air.

  As he was climbing into the car he heard something. He was not certain what he was hearing but it sounded like a human voice. He backed the car out of the Builder Barn and turned off the engine to listen. He heard it again and drove in the direction the sound was coming from. He turned the corner by Wal-Mart and saw a someone standing on the roof of a brown delivery van in the middle of the empty parking lot. As he drove nearer he could see that it was a young girl and he also saw the reason she was screaming. There were eight dogs pacing around the base of the van looking for a way to get to her. He pulled up to the delivery truck and was not surprised when the dogs did not pay his car any attention. The most menacing dog in the pack was a bull terrier and while Jack was thinking about what to do the bull terrier jumped onto the hood of his car, he felt the full muscular weight of the animal in the depression of the car’s front suspension.

  The dog jumped up to give it a better shot at leaping onto the roof of the Purolator van. Jack picked up the gun from the passenger seat and buzzed the window down just enough to allow him to stick his hand out. He saw the dog bunch its rear leg muscles preparing to jump and, using his left hand and without actually aiming, he flipped off the safety and pulled the trigger. The sound of the gun was deafening as it bucked in his hand. The bullet slammed into the dog tearing a sizable chunk from the back of its skull. The animal flopped over onto its side with mouth agape and all four legs twitching. Jack and two of the smaller dogs watched the animal’s progress as it slid off the hood its blood providing lubrication. He heard it land with a meaty thud on the pavement. The other dogs watched their friend hit the ground but did not run away. They were all of differing breeds and had clearly been family pets and as a result did not fear humans.

  He aimed a shot at the brown lab standing with its paws up on the hood of the truck barking at the girl. This shot clipped a hind leg knocking it down and that is when the other dogs got the message and ran off. He rolled the window all the way down and aimed carefully shooting the crying animal in the head silencing it. Looking around carefully in every direction he opened the door and put one foot on the pavement and stood up staying well inside its swing radius of the door ready to dive back inside. He watched the retreating dogs until he was satisfied they would not be coming back then turned his attention to the girl. She had stopped keening and except for the distant sound of the burning city the parking lot was quiet. The girl did not immediately climb down as he expected; she was staring at him blankly.

  “Are you okay?” he said.

  If she was infected like the others he did not want anything more to do with her. He watched as she slowly nodded her head up and down and he figured she must be in shock. He looked around again and got back in the car.

  “Come on, are you coming?” he said.

  He was not looking at her he was scanning the area for dogs. The girl did not move and he looked up at her through the windshield and wondered if she understood English. She was really beat-up looking and maybe only eleven or twelve-years-old; way too young to be on her own, he thought. He remembered a line from an old movie he liked and he stood up again and yelled at her to get her attention.

  “Hey!”

  The sound startled her and she lost her balance and almost fell but it worked she made eye contact with him.

  ”Come wiss me if you vant to li
ve.”

  She made a weird throaty sound that could have been laughter but also sounded a little bit crazy. At least it worked to break her out of her daze, he thought. As he waited for her to climb down from the roof of the van he continued scanning the area.

  She slipped and fell the last few feet landing on her butt and immediately sprang to her feet with a terrified shriek. After being chased by dogs her instincts told her if she is down she is dead. He studied her a moment before unlocking the door on her side. He hoped he was not making a mistake she looked like everyone else he’d seen in the last thirty days, disgusting.

  She was covered from head to foot in filth. He could not even tell if she was wearing long pants or shorts, her legs were caked in so much muck. When she came closer he saw blood oozing from a gash on her forearm. A dog bite, he thought. Her face was covered in so much dirt he knew he would not recognize her if he saw her cleaned up. He could not tell what she looked like or even make a reasonable guess at the colour of her hair. He’d never seen a dirtier more pitiful looking kid in his life and, the truth was, he’d never been happier to see another human being. She got into the car and he began driving immediately it was beginning to get dark and he did not want any surprises. He glanced at her after he got them on the freeway headed back towards Eloy.

  “What’s your name?”

  It took her a long time to answer. It seemed like she was searching her mind for the answer.

  “Sara” she whispered.

  “I’m Jack. Are you alone?” he asked though the answer was obvious.

  He glanced at her but not being a confident driver did not take his eyes off the road for long. He saw her eyes well with tears; the drops making muddy tracks down her cheeks. Her thin shoulders hunched together as she hugged her arms tight to her body and trembled.

  “My dad,” she said, her voice a hollow whisper of disbelief,” left me.”

  He saw by the look on her face that she couldn’t believe that her dad would do that to her.

  “It wasn’t his fault Sara, something happened to people, something really bad,” he said trying to explain the unexplainable. She struggled to control her emotions and when she relaxed her shoulders clumps of dirt fell from her to the carpet.

  “Your arm looks bad,” he said.

  It took her a while to respond and look at her arm. At first she looked at the wrong one then at the injured arm and she moved her head a tiny bit nodding in agreement.

  “Does it hurt?”

  She stared at her injured arm but did not answer, they drove on in silence and when he thought of another question to ask he glanced over and she was slumped against the door asleep. He checked her every few minutes but she was completely out of it. He wondered how long it had been since she felt safe enough to sleep. After a few miles he had to put his window down to let air into the car because she smelled. It was dark when they got to Eloy and he parked the car up close to the door on the lawn. He looked around carefully before getting out and running to the front door. He unlocked it and went inside and found a candle to light. Exhausted from the trip he stood at the window looking out at the car.

  He did not want to go outside in the dark but he was torn. He wondered if she would be okay in the car or if he should go out and bring her inside. His decision to go out and get her was ultimately a selfish one, he was worried she might die or runaway, and he would be alone again. He ran to the car and opening her door slowly so she would not fall out he shook her shoulder to wake her but she did not stir. He didn’t want to touch her, she was filthy, but he was worried about being outside, so he reached in and picked her up and ran with her in his arms back the house. He was breathing hard when he kicked the door closed behind them as he went through but it was not because she was heavy it was from fear and adrenaline in equal measure. She seemed to weigh too little for her size and he wondered how long it was since she’d eaten. He set her down on the sofa and when he let go she startled awake and let out a shriek.

  “Hey it’s okay we’re home now.”

  He watched the word ‘home’ work its magic as the terror leaked from her face. She peered around the semi-dark living room as if awaking from a long sleep trying to recall where she was. When her eyes came to rest on the television she turned to him with a look of hopefulness. He shrugged, smiled sadly, and shook his head,

  “There is no electricity,” he said and she sagged a little lower on the couch at this news.

  “My mom and my sister are gone too. I’ve been waiting for them to come back home,” he said.

  He spoke the words though he no longer believed what he was saying; he knew his family would not be coming back. He saw hope leave her eyes and blank despair take its place as the meaning of his words sank in. They were alone.

  “Are you hungry?”

  He watched with amusement as she tore open a third bag of Doritos wolfing them down with both hands. She washed that down with a second can of warm Pepsi. While she was eating he got the first aid kit from the upstairs bathroom and by the time he returned she was asleep with an open bag on her lap. He knelt on the floor beside her and used wet wipes to clean dirt from the skin around the punctures on her arm. She did not stir when he touched her, she was completely out of it. There was one gash deeper than the others and he was concerned enough about it that he risked going outside again to get the new flashlight from the car. He wanted to look inside the wound because he saw lots of muck and crap. He figured it would become infected even if he did manage to clean it out. He used Q tips dipped in rubbing alcohol to dig out what he could; but it was hard to see inside the wounds so he dripped alcohol directly onto them, flushing them out as best he could.

  He was surprised that the sting of the alcohol did not wake her. His probing had started the wounds bleeding again and he wrapped the arm in a gauze bandage then put the blue quilt from his mom’s bed over her. He checked his watch. He missed the latest pass of ISS but he was too tired to try and make radio contact tonight anyway. He grabbed a bag of chips and a can of soda and went down to his bedroom. He lay on his bed and opened the soda but fell into a restless sleep before he ate any of the chips.

  Chapter Four

  ISS Mission date 2023 09 11

  Mission Specialist Gerry Wright scanned the surface of earth. It was three hundred miles below him and, as the ISS passed by at 17,000 miles per hour, he did not have much time to make contact. He was worried, it had been several passes since they’d initially received the signal from Eloy and the sender was not responding to their signals. He was hoping for something on this pass if only by Morse code but he watched disappointed as Eloy faded and the fires of Phoenix came and went without any sign from below. He was interrupted when Wendy Randall floated into the module and glided to a stop beside him. “Anything?”

  He shook his head but did not take his eyes from the observation port.

  “He is probably trying to find a CB radio. Maybe I shouldn’t have sent that message, I hope he’s alright. It must be awful down there. What if it’s a kid? I should have asked.”

  “Don’t beat yourself up Gerry; Bill is monitoring all the radio frequencies so when contact comes we won’t miss it. I think now is a good time for you to plug in for a few hours, okay?”

  “Okay Commander,” he said pushing himself away from the window.

  “I’ll check the viewport again in exactly,” she checked her watch, “eighty five minutes.”

  “If he makes contact please wake me.”

  “Okay, now get some sleep.”

  ***

  Jack let out a ragged scream when something solid touched his leg. It startled him awake, pulling him from a deep crevice of sleep and he flew off the bed in a dead panic knocking over the bedside table sending the gun flying. In the dark he whacked his forehead on the edge of the table groping for the weapon. His heart pounded crazily he swept his hands along the floor searching for it, he did not find the gun he found the flashlight, and he clicked it on pointing the shaky be
am of light at his bed. In the glow he saw Sara curled up in a ball at the foot of his bed. He had not told her he slept in the basement but somehow she’d found him in the darkened house. He could not see her face but he knew it was her because she still had his mom’s quilt with her. He was exhausted when he came down and forgot to lock his bedroom door. He stared at her wondering what to do. She was deeply asleep, he could hear her snoring, and it did not seem right to wake her. It occurred to him that she might have bugs living on her and the bugs would get into his bed. He shone the light around the sheets and on the floor. He did not see any bugs but he found his bedside clock, it was time to get up so he let her sleep and quietly left the room. He would change the sheets and douse the room in bug spray after she woke. Two hours later, as he finished opening the last of the boxes and was beginning to figure out the various connections for the radio, she came running up the stairs with wide-eyed panic on her face until she saw him then she became shy and a bit wary of him. She sat down across the room from him.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked.

  “Okay. What’s that?” she said pointing to the thing in his hand.

  “It’s a Citizen Band radio.”

  “What’s it for?”

  “I’m going to use it to talk to the crew on the ISS,” he said.

  “What’s that?” she said.

  “The International Space Station, it’s orbiting the earth,” he said pointing at the ceiling.

  He watched competing emotions flit across her almost visible features as she thought about that. He saw her look at his face closely like she was trying to decide if he was crazy and if she should be afraid of him.

  “What do you mean?” she said speaking slowly.

  “There are scientists on the ISS orbiting the planet,” he said.