Renewal 2 - Echoes of the Breakdown Read Free

road in the other direction. According to my dad’s rambling words, they were most likely trying to walk back to Manchester, where they expected the opportunities for help to be better. They were still thinking in terms of delay rather than disaster, hotel rooms instead of wandering homeless through the end of the world.
    Dad was wondering out loud if anyone would notice the escape hatch he had cut into the fence wire, when someone finally did. We saw a short, stocky Hispanic man and his young boy emerge from the brush behind the school. Dad whispered for everyone to get down and be quiet. The man looked around, and apparently came to the same conclusion my dad had. He and the boy trotted across the small field of tall grass and into the woods where we were hiding. The man was looking over his shoulder, back toward the school the entire way, so it was no surprise to us when he almost tripped over Dad’s shoulder. He didn’t make contact, but the shock of seeing us was enough to make him lose his footing, falling in the dead leaves just behind my father, dragging his young son down with him.
    My dad rolled over quickly and was trying to bring his rifle to bear on the man. The man held up one hand while trying to scoot backwards away from Dad with the other.
    “No! No! We’re ok. We’re just trying to get away.” The man said, the hand still in the air while the other was now trying to get his little boy behind him.
    My dad had the rifle aimed by then. He held it on the man for a few seconds, saw that the man was scared, unarmed, and that the boy was clinging tightly to his father, and let the muzzle swing away.
    “Sorry. We’re a little jumpy... Sorry about that.” Dad said.
    The man dropped his hands to his sides to support his awkward position on the ground. “You think you’re jumpy? You should see what it’s like in there.” He pointed toward the schoolyard with his chin.
    “Yeah, I can imagine from the sound of things. I wish we had a better view. Anyway, sorry about the gun. I had no idea who might come out of the bushes. My name is David.” Dad set the rifle down and held out his hand to the man.
    “Arturo, and this is my boy Jimmy.” Arturo shook Dad’s hand and let little Jimmy take Dad’s hand as well.
    “This is my family. Beth, my wife, Lucy, Kirk, Bill, and Tommy.” Dad pointed to each of us in turn.
    “Pleasure to meet you all.” Arturo smiled and nodded all around.
    “Well, you’d better get behind some cover with us. No telling who’ll come out next,” Dad said.
    “David, I don’t know if you need to worry too much. Not too many people left in there.” Arturo said with a grim look.
    “What happened? We’ve been out here for hours, trying to decide if it’s safe to move.”
    “When did you guys leave?” Arturo asked.
    “We snuck out the back, right after the lights went out. We saw the crashes at the gate, and the guys trying to climb the fence. When things seemed to be getting really crazy, that’s when we left.” Dad replied.
    “Good move. Me and Jimmy have been hiding behind the building all day, inside the fence where they keep the dumpsters. A couple of times, I was tempted to get in the dumpsters, but no one ever really looked. Must’ve been the smell.” Arturo made a show of sniffing himself, and we had our first real laugh of the day.
    Arturo continued, “Anyway, I didn’t really see much until a little while ago. When it got quiet, I looked out and saw no one in the yard. Jimmy and I were heading around to the front, on the side with the playground. There was an elderly couple sitting on the see-saw, swaying back and forth. The man spotted us walking over and waved to us. He told us they were from Atlanta, and that they were going to wait for a while, to see if help was coming. His wife looked a little more alert, and she shook her head as if to tell us she thought that was a dumb idea. They told us what happened while we were hiding.”
    Mom was listening