Days of Anarchy Read online

  It was a strange yet relieving feeling that the first thing he had to shoot was his own U-Haul. He touched the barrel of the gun to the curved metal of the lock. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and fired.

  When he opened them he saw all three of his friends covering their ears. Then he looked down at the padlock, which was relatively unharmed. He’d missed.

  “Maybe just go for the whole lock?” Dustin offered.

  Jeremy nodded, and took a step back. He aimed the weapon at the padlock, and fired three times. He’d fired so quickly that the lock shook a few times back and forth. Jeremy inspected the lock, and was surprised at what little damage had been done to it.

  “Hmm,” Jeremy said, “that didn’t work. Also, we might not want to do that again. The bullet could ricochet and hit one of us.”

  Jeremy could think of only one way to open the lock, and it would take a while. He found a few large rocks in a little park across from the gas station, and began smashing the rocks against the padlock and the latches of the U-Haul door. After ten minutes, Dustin took a turn to hack away at the lock.

  Then Karina, and then Anna, and then Jeremy again. This continued for a whole hour until finally the latch broke off the U-Haul. The lock was still shut tight, but with the latch broken, Jeremy opened the door and looked inside. He grabbed the backpacks and then noticed all their other materials he’d managed to stuff into the U-Haul. The tools, drills, the generator, suitcases full of food and canisters of gas, and water, and much more. All the things they would have to leave behind.

  “We could just try to steal a car . . . ” Dustin offered.

  “Or find one. There’s got to be people that aren’t using theirs, just settling in for Judgment Day, you know.”

  Jeremy eyed the barbeque, which he had thrown in simply because they had the space. The barbeque was an easy thing to leave.

  Finally, the group voted on what to do with the stuff, and decided that full backpacks were enough to carry. Jeremy and Dustin pulled the U-Haul off the road, and tried their best to hide it amongst the trees across from the gas station. They decided stealing a car would be too dangerous. The trailer was still very conspicuous, but figured that if there was a chance they would return, it would be nice to have some supplies waiting for them. He also hid some food under the U-Haul and in other areas in the park, just in case they needed to go back there one day.

  “So, what now?” Anna asked. “We walk?”

  “Now, we walk . . . ” Jeremy answered, grabbing Anna’s hand.

  Jeremy and the gang walked somewhat aimlessly down the street toward the looming Rocky Mountains. They figured that since they had two tents, eventually they’d get out of the city and be able to set up a camp. Jeremy pretended it would be like a vacation. Their phones were unreliable in Denver, but Anna managed to send a “we’re safe” text to her parents. Jeremy said the same thing to his parents when they were on the road.

  Jeremy felt like prey without the Acura. They walked along, four teens wearing big backpacks, almost asking for someone to take their things. They were silent for a while, and Jeremy grabbed the radio he had stuffed in his backpack to see if there were any government signals or announcements. Jeremy had put a radio in each of their bags so they could communicate with each other if they got separated in Vail.

  Jeremy also thought that radio could become the method of communication for the government if their hold over the people collapsed, since satellites might be tied up in tracking the comet. Jeremy turned the radio on, tuning to different stations and trying to find National Public Radio. Luckily, just when Jeremy found the station, a voice was speaking. It was President Chaplin!

  “ . . . and a code-red curfew is now in effect. Anyone out past sunset may be arrested by either the police or the military. The comet J312 is two years away from a possible collision. Anyone who is willing to work in the effort against the comet please call the government hotline 7-1-1. There is work to be done, and you will be paid for your commitment. I repeat, please call 7-1-1. For the separatist states of San Francisco, Seattle, and Denver, I would urge its citizens to call as well, and move to help. We must work together to defeat the mightiest foe in our nation’s—our world’s—history.

  “Our nation has already suffered a great tragedy—Miami. The world’s top scientists are working around the clock to try to save the planet. They need more time in order to make sure there are no more mistakes. We have no more time, but we have more manpower. People like you. People with knowledge and a desire to help. If you are up for the challenge, please call our hotline. I repeat, we need you.”

  Jeremy stopped listening to the radio as his mind turned to Denver. So, he thought, we are officially not in the United States of America. It actually made sense since, in addition to the road signs covered in graffiti, he hadn’t seen a single military van or police car since they’d reached the Denver suburbs.

  It was getting dark quickly. The most difficult thing about their new life was the uncertainty about the future. Jeremy tried not to think about their lack of stability, but it felt like a fly at his ear, buzzing all the time. Even when he’d forget about it, soon enough the fly would return, and he would remember that the government was crumbling, and the world was about to end.

  “Hey, look!” Dustin exclaimed, pointing forward.

  Jeremy shook himself out of his reverie, and when he looked up he saw an open city park just ahead. The park was large, maybe three square blocks, and a fair amount of it was occupied by tents, creating a kind of tent-village. People milled about inside, and there were cooking fires with smoke climbing to the sky.

  “You guys think we should set up camp? I think I have the gas stove in my bag. We could make some rice and beans?” Karina offered.

  “Maybe we should camp alone instead of with these people?” Anna asked.

  They all thought for a moment, until Jeremy replied, “I think it might be better to kind of meld in with the herd. If looters come, it would be easy to pick us off if we set up alone, you know?”

  The group nodded collectively and walked into the park and toward a wooded area for a bit of cover. Inside the trees, Jeremy saw the expanse of the tent city. It was much larger than he originally thought. Furthermore, the tents were all new—like they were just bought from REI. The same could be said of the barbeques the campers were using. The group walked up to the edge of the encampment and picked a spot to stay the night.

  Dustin and Jeremy worked on setting up the tents in the dusk while Karina and Anna cooked. People were looking at them. We are probably twenty years younger than every person here, Jeremy thought.

  With the two tents erected, Dustin leaned against the trunk of the tree. Then he felt lazy watching the girls cook food for everyone, and decided to go look around for some firewood. As he walked around he thought about calling the 7-1-1 number that President Chaplin had mentioned. He replayed in his mind the part where Chaplin had said, “If you want to help . . . ”

  “Oh!” Dustin exclaimed.

  Lost in his own world, Dustin had neglected to watch where he was going, and had tripped over a woman crouching on the ground. The woman had been looking for firewood as well, and both of them fell to the ground in a heap. The firewood she had collected was pinned under both of them, and Dustin awkwardly apologized for essentially body-slamming her.

  “I’m so sorry!”

  “Oh, that’s alright, don’t worry,” the woman replied, looking over and smiling at Dustin.

  The woman looked to be in her late twenties, and wore very expensive clothes for being in a homeless encampment. She had on an expensive-looking necklace. Twigs stuck to her white blouse.

  “I’m Dustin,” Dustin said, brushing the twigs stuck to his own shirt.

  “Nice to meet you, Dustin. My name is Janice. Janice Effran.”

  They shook hands. Dustin thought her last name sounded familiar, but paid it no mind, asking if she was living in the park for a long time.

  “
I’ve been here about two weeks . . . What about you?”

  Dustin got the feeling she wanted to tell him more, but let it go.

  “I actually just arrived from Houston with a few friends. We just made dinner. Do you want to join us?”

  It looked like Janice was slightly taken aback by his offer, but composed herself quickly and agreed. Together they walked back to their camp with two armfuls of firewood. It was dark by the time they returned, and the group was huddled around the small cooking stove where the beans were warming up.

  Dustin introduced Janice to the group and began making the fire.

  They ate in silence. Having someone eat with them was a lot more awkward than Dustin had anticipated. With the fire going, though, they all fell into the trance of watching the flames dance. Jeremy gave Dustin a look, which said: I thought we were supposed to keep to ourselves? Jeremy looked up every once in a while at the other encampments. In some, people were singing and dancing and yelling.

  “They’re all on drugs,” Janice muttered, noticing Jeremy looking around.

  “What? Really?” Karina chimed.

  “They used to all be white-collar workers, you know, just working the nine-to-five every day, and once they learned about the meteor, they decided to leave it all behind and party until the world ends.”

  “Wow.”

  More silence and flickering flames.

  “So,” Janice began, “have you run into any trouble? I’ve heard there have been a lot of car accidents lately.”

  Jeremy looked briefly at the others to ask if he should be honest or not, but they didn’t help. “A few, actually. We got our car stolen today.”

  “What? That’s awful! How did that happen?”

  “It was actually just a few miles from here.”

  Janice sighed. “I can believe it. Things haven’t been particularly good here the past few months. Denver has known about the comet for a while now.”

  “How?” Jeremy asked, intrigued.

  “I’m not exactly sure, but I do know that the hippy and conspiracy theorist culture has something to do with it. People have always thought something crazy was going to happen, so when it did, they looked at the dots and found them relatively easy to connect. Chile, Project Mars, the increase in military presence, all of it. When Anonymous released the data about the meteor, everyone just believed it.”

  “And the military?”

  “We pushed them back up to Fort Collins pretty quickly . . . ”

  Jeremy got the feeling Janice wanted to say more, but he didn’t push her.

  Janice ate her beans slowly, one at a time. By the time the rest of them were done with dinner she had barely eaten half of her bowl.

  “There were other signs about it, too,” Janice began.

  “Signs about what?”

  “The coming end of the world.”

  They stared at the fire awhile. Jeremy glanced through the dark haze at the other campers, who were getting raucous. At least no one will come to harm us tonight; they’re probably all too drugged up, he thought. But he couldn’t be sure—these white-collar workers had given up hope in life and turned to drugs. Jeremy made a mental note to assign a rotating watch for the night.

  “What other signs did you see?” Jeremy asked.

  Again, Janice hesitated, but then she spoke, asking a simple question. “Do you know who I am?” she asked.

  When none of them replied, she continued, “Well, I guess I’m not really somebody, but my father, Elliot Effran, owns Dish Network.”

  She waited for a response. “So?” Jeremy asked. “That means he’s kind of rich or something, right?”

  “Forbes says online that he has seventeen billion dollars, but it’s more like thirty. My father is one cutthroat businessman. And if the world is going to end, you better believe he’s going to be one of the first to know. So, he told me.”

  “When did he know?” Jeremy asked, curious to see if he knew before he and Anna found Dr. Miller and confronted him in that dingy bar.

  “One of his former business contacts in Russia spoke to him about it. My father is heavily connected, and since he works a lot with satellites, the Russians spoke to him shortly after they found out.”

  “Oh! They found out before we did then, Jer,” Anna said.

  Janice looked confused so they filled her in on their little adventure. She listened intently to Jeremy, while the fire lighted her face.

  “Wow! What a story!” she remarked. “You guys are pretty gutsy.”

  Jeremy looked over at Anna, and they smiled at each other.

  Janice continued. “After my father got the call from his connections in Russia, he called a few of his friends. These are all people who are at least as rich as my father, like several of his Russian oligarch friends, and the old money types, like oil billionaire heirs. A group of them all got together right when they found out and discussed what to do. When they realized that the world was going to end in . . . two years from now . . . they figured that they should get off of it.”

  Janice paused to catch her breath, and Jeremy spoke up. “Get off it? What do you mean—leave for Mars or something? They don’t believe that NASA can stop the comet?”

  Janice shook her head, dismayed. “They don’t. And the Miami disaster proved it. A lot of uncertainty is going on in the world right now, and even the scientists don’t know exactly what’s going to happen. I mean, they have their calculations and their assumptions, and even though they definitely know more than us, even they aren’t sure. The government couldn’t even stop three major cities from revolting; maybe they aren’t as strong as we think. The meteor is going to hit us if we don’t do anything to stop it. The rockets being sent up to hit it might change its course. Or they might do nothing.”

  “Comet,” Anna said, “It’s a comet.”

  “Oh, okay. Anyway, deep in the Rocky Mountains, north of Vail in a deep valley, the world’s elite are building an ark. It’s basically a really big spaceship. It’s not like those big ships in Star Wars, but it’ll be the biggest thing to leave Earth. I know this because I was helping with it, and I’ve watched it get bigger for the past five months. The wealthiest people in the world made billions of dollars exploiting the Earth—its natural resources and its people—and now that it’s going to be blown up by a big comet, they’re leaving it.”

  Jeremy sat in silence for a minute and looked at the fire. Then Dustin spoke up. “Are you going with them?” he asked Janice.

  “I was . . . but I don’t know. They are going to orbit the Earth for as long as they can. They’ll take readings of the Earth before, during, and after impact. Then, when they figure it’s safe to return, they will.”

  “Wow,” Karina muttered.

  “So that’s their plan,” Janice said, “and I decided that it wasn’t for me. I wanted to at least see what the rest of the world was doing in the face of disaster. So far I’m not too impressed.” Janice looked over at the revelers in the campsites next to them. One of the larger guys, a rotund, balding man with glasses, stumbled around his campsite, almost knocking over the barbeque.

  “God has a plan for us,” Karina said confidently.

  Janice didn’t hear Karina, and asked, “And what is your plan?”

  “Well,” Jeremy began, “we are on our way to Vail, where my girlfriend Anna’s family has a cabin. We figure it’ll be safe to live there. I don’t want to be in the big city if something bad happens. Our parents are still down in Houston, and our cell phones have stopped working. We were supposed to drive up there today, but now that our car got stolen, we don’t really know what we should do.”

  Janice was silent for a moment before answering. “I could give you a ride if you really need one.”

  Jeremy and the group looked at each other, trying to communicate telepathically to see if everyone agreed.

  “You don’t have to take me up on the offer. I mean, you’ve only just met me. These are dangerous times, and I’d understand completely if y
ou didn’t want to accept, but I just figured I would offer. I’m sorry you got robbed . . . ”

  “No, no,” Karina answered. “I think I speak for all of us when I say we would love a ride to Vail.”

  The group looked back at Karina, unsettled that she would make the decision without consulting everyone. Janice noticed the hesitation on the other three, and shifted uncomfortably before responding. “It looks like maybe you all might want to discuss this amongst yourselves. So, if you guys want a ride, I’d be happy to give you one. I’m quite tired now, and will head to bed. My tent is about five tents away over there, so let me know what you guys decide. And thank you for the food. It was very kind.”

  “Do you want someone to walk you?” Jeremy asked.

  “No, I’ll be alright. I’ve been here two weeks already. I should be fine. Thank you, though.”

  Suri and Robert sat in the conference room speaking to Dr. Ivanov, the nuclear physicist who had come from Russia to help stop the comet. He was a tall man, and well built. Robert thought he would make a good villain in a Rocky movie. Dr. Petrov was also in attendance—another Russian physicist—and so was Dr. Campero, a Chilean astronomer and expert in comets. Secretary Brighton and General Diaz, leader of the U.S. Armed Forces, sat in the background listening.

  “Ve have ze use of ze American military . . . ” Dr. Ivanov intoned.

  “I agree,” Robert replied, looking back to General Diaz.

  “I vould also like to see zem in action,” Dr. Petrov agreed.

  “To do what, exactly?” General Diaz asked.

  “Well,” Robert explained to Secretary Brighton, “Chile is one of the best places in the world to view space. It has a very high elevation, and is extremely dry. Chile recently built something called the LSST, or Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, which will allow us to make short movies of the night sky. If we can gain access to it, we can train it on Shiva so we can look at it at all times. We’ll basically have a live feed, which will be very important in projecting its trajectory toward Earth for precision targeting.”