Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

     Brian was called upon for duty even though he was retired. Wolfe was getting ready for the largest battle ever. He felt irritated with everyone who voted for him. He also felt a bloodthirst to kill those who bombed his country.

     He was in Iraq, again. While he was there, he heard the news that his home country was attacked. Brian felt homesick and was worried about his family. He had to return home.

     Just when he was getting ready to head back, he was given a different assignment. Despair and distress overwhelmed him. He was unable to reach his family to make sure they were okay.

     “My family needs me,” he argued. “They were nuked.”

     “You are going to do them justice by going on this secret mission,” he was told.

     Next thing he knew he was flying a B21 to North Korea carrying a bomb. He knew that he was on a suicide mission. Brian was possibly about to take his own life, but he thought about the possibility that his family might be dead.

     He gathered all of the courage that he could muster and boarded the plane first thing in the morning. Brian took the long way to North Korea. Just when he was halfway to his destination a tesla ball lit up in the middle of the ocean. A ball of electricity waved through the airplane.

     The plane shook aggressively. He wanted to let go, but the current had him in its grip. Suddenly, the B21 went up like a ball of fire as the bomb inside detonated. The other planes around him exploded.

     Olive shook awake and forgot where she was. She realized that she was sitting in the passenger seat of a pickup truck. She opened the window and the cold air poured in.

     “Is the heater up too high?” Bradley asked.

     “No, I had a nightmare about my dad,” Olive felt a tear roll down her cheek.

     “Do you need me to stop?” he asked.

     “No, I think the Norco is getting to me,” she said.

     “I didn’t know that they were dispersing Norco to their patients,” he muttered.

     “You need some?” Olive asked.

     “No, I am looking for loved ones and I can’t do it if I am on opioids,” he said.

     They stopped at an intersection at the bottom of the mountain. It was dark outside and it gave Olive an eerie feeling. She was just here not too long ago and she knew that she would not see a deer again.

     Bradley turned onto the road leading to Crouch, “Seems to be cleared for the most part.”

     They drove up the hill in silence. The only thing that could be seen was the headlights leading the way and the light on the cassette player. The radio was on, but there was no sound.

     “Do you have any tapes?” she asked.

     He blinked and looked at the radio, “There’s a tape in there.”

     Olive shivered, “You’re not going to die right now are you?”

     He smiled, “There’s music on there. I didn’t realize this side was blank until just now. I have music playing in my mind I guess.”

     She pushed the eject button and flipped the cassette over. Steppenwolf began to sing from the speakers. The darkness seemed to go on forever as Brad drove cautiously. She remembered how the locals would get road rage for encountering drivers like Brad. Nobody was going to be there to run them off of the road.

     Brad turned up a couple more roads and stopped. Olive looked around after he parked the car. This couldn’t be it.

     “Are we there?” Olive asked.

     “Yeah, it’s dark, but I can see a few houses are still here,” he opened the door and exited the car.

     “Look over there,” she said. “There’s a campfire.”

     “Let’s go check it out,” he turned on his flashlight and walked in the direction of the fire.

     There was a group of people standing around the fire. There were trucks from the rescue team parked across from them. The group saw Brad and they waved them over.

     “Finally got it cleared?” Bradley shook one man’s hand.

     “For the most part,” he said. “There’s enough room to drive through it. We are evacuating everyone from here in the morning. Nobody is allowed up here until further notice.”

     “Dale, this is Olive,” Bradley introduced them. “She is related to the Perkins family. Did you find them here?”

     Dale looked solemn, “Yeah, they are this way. They will be relieved that you made it, Olive. I have to warn you that they are not in the best shape. Nobody is up here.”

     “I want to see them,” she told him.

     He looked at Bradley as though he didn’t know what to say. Bradley nodded and they walked up the road to a house. There was a soft glow of a fire lighting the inside of the house.

     Dale knocked on the front door. There was a faint, “Come in!” He opened the door and they entered the warm house.

     “Hello,” Dale called into the dim home.

     “Come in; we are in the living room,” Olive heard her mother’s voice.

     “Mom?” Olive tried to hurry despite the cast that was weighing her down.

     “Olive?” her mother shrieked and rushed over to the door. “You’re alive!”

     Her mom showered her with kisses and hugged her. She grasped Olive’s face and looked at her with affection. She led her into the house that was warm from the fireplace.

     Her grandparents and Jason were sitting next to the fireplace. Jason got up and hugged Olive as though he was never going to let her go. Her grandparents turned to see what was going on, but their eyes were covered.

     “Sit over here,” Jason fluffed up a cushion. “You can rest your foot on the foot stool.”

     Olive sat on the couch as Jason brought her a foot stool. Her mom brushed her grandparent’s hand and whispered into their ear. They smiled and laughed with joy.

     “You finally made it over here?” asked her grandfather.

     “Yeah, I had no idea where I was,” she answered.

     “The rescue team brought her to a facility in Wyoming,” Bradley added.

     “How did you end up here without me?” asked Olive.

     Her mom sat next to her, “We looked for you after we were rescued from the rubble by the neighbors.”

     “When the rescue team arrived they told us to move to a further location,” said Jason. “We thought that the safest place to go was up here so we came here after telling them that we had one more family member to find.”

     “One more?” Olive asked. “Where are Martin and Sheila?”

     Jason looked at their mother and she looked away. Olive had a bad feeling about wanting to ask where her brother and sister were. She wanted to ask about the blind folds on her grandparents, but was reluctant to.

     “We all made it here,” said Jason. “They got very sick and they died after a few days.”

     “Those damn Koreans,” grandpa muttered. Grandma hushed him and patted his hand. “We need to nuke every single one of them.”

     “I know grandpa,” said grandma.

     A tear rolled down Olive’s face. Her mother hugged and kissed her. They sat there in silence.

     “How did you get here?” Olive asked.

     “We got a ride with some of the survivors. The rescue team brought us up here. After we arrived there were fires. The emergency team tried to evacuate us, but there were landslides that trapped us in here,” mom said.

     “We all fought the fire the best we could,” said Jason. “Many homes and lives were lost battling the fire. Many lives were lost from people dying from the radiation.”

     “Do you know any of the Lovett’s?” asked Bradley.

     Grandma perked up, “Oh, she is across town. I saw her before Thanksgiving.”

     Jason sighed with grief, “Their house burned down.”

     “We don’t think that they survived,” said mom.

     “I told them that they could stay with us, but they felt that it was more important to stay in their home,” grandma said in a sad tone. “They said that they did not have anywhere else to go since the landslides trapped us.”

     Olive looked at Bradley, “I’m really sorry.”

     Bradley sighed, “Well, I’m going to go over where the house was.”

     “Are you coming back?” asked Olive.

     “I can,” he said. “I don’t know how your family feels about a complete stranger in their home.”

     “Greta Lovett was a good friend,” said grandma. “You can come back here if you like.”

     “The more abled bodies the better,” said grandpa.

     Bradley grinned and shook his head, “I’ll see if I will return. Please don’t be offended if I don’t come back.”

     “Okay,” said grandma. “Soup’s on the fire if you do.”

     “Thank-you,” Bradley waved at Olive and headed out the door with Dale.

     “Are we going to be staying here now?” Olive asked.

     “Yeah, until we receive any other information,” said mom.

     “How are we going to leave?” she asked. “I haven’t seen any other vehicles other than the rescuers. I understand that all of the cars have been breaking down.”

     “My truck probably won’t start,” grandpa muttered with disappointment.

     “Where are we going to go?” asked mom.

     “I’m not sure, but we will need to figure it out,” said grandma. “It’s a matter of time.”

     “I hope it’s soon because we are not safe here,” said mom. “I don’t know how long it will be before there is a flare up. I’m especially concerned about winter.”

     “Well, we should come up with a plan in the morning,” said Jason.

     “On that note, I’m going to go to sleep,” mom said. She looked at Olive. “Do you need anything?”

     “No, I’m good,” said Olive.

     “Okay, good-night,” she kissed everyone on the forehead and retired to a room in the back of the house.