March 18th, 2013
Somewhere in Missouri
1
They were lost in middle-America. The storm battered their vehicles, lashing out at them violently. The rain came in sporadic bursts, cold droplets that set skin on fire, and thick, orange clouds rolled menacingly overhead.
Marc and Angela had been making good time until they'd gotten to Kirksville, Missouri, but getting past the tangled piles of wreckage was impossible. Stretching as far as they could see, even to her untrained eye, it was clear a massive flood had destroyed this town.
Boats were on front porches; heavy river barges piled against a Don Pablo's restaurant like firewood. Homes and businesses were collapsed and scattered, ambulances and fire trucks crushed together, and for the first time, Marc wished for a navigation system, forgetting for an instant that they wouldn't work without access to the satellites.
Their way blocked, they had doubled back, but the route was closer to the North Fork Salt River, and when the storm broke over them, the water had begun to rise, blocking their way. As Marc moved them to higher ground, he jumped from one unknown street to another in order to escape the churning water, and now they were lost.
Marc surveyed the area with a careful eye and a thumping heart. He didn't want to stop now despite all the debris flying through the storm. He hated how low this area was.
"Let's try that parking garage," Angela suggested.
Marc frowned. "It's kinda low."
She pulled around him to take the lead, trying not to react to the Santa hat that blew by her windshield as she looked for a marker or a name. They were driving over glass and jewelry, passing downed telephone poles. The signs that they could see, they couldn't read because the paint was too faded. "Sturdy though," she finally answered.
The four-story garage sloped gently upward in circles and they were surprised to see only half a dozen cars in the whole place as they did a drive through check first. The vehicles were dusty, a couple with notes still taped to the inside of the windows and there was a lot of garbage cluttering the lanes, including broken neon bulbs and the shredded exit sign on the first level.
Marc didn't like it that they couldn't see out once they were inside, but although there were bodies all over this town, there were none in here. The smell of them however, was under the salty, smoky rain.
"Up here should be okay for tonight, right?" Angela turned to face the exit and backed in, frowned when he didn't answer. "Brady?"