Amazing Grace - the El Nino Legend - Part II

Amazing Grace –

The El Niño Legend

Part II

 

Carl had been suffering from PTSD for a long time now ever since he came home from the war. His mind is not as sound as it used to be and his paranoia of things around him deflects reality and creates suspicion and caused him to take extra precautions around men and those who were bragging about their survival skills and other methods of machismo that utterly disgusted him and caused him to avoid these types of idiots at all expense.

Thus he constructed himself a solid bunker, sort of a sanctuary where he was void of the negative vibes of society and kept his calmness in check as he removed himself from the madness of the world around him.

Some would have called this extreme in manner or thinking but with the El Nino snapping at the world’s feet in Southern California, there were no regrets in Carl’s heart that he had done the right thing and made himself a sanctuary from the insanity around him.

He was still suffering from the long lasting effects of his PTSD and has snapped a few times over the years. Not snapping at people but rather, snapping at himself for mistakes he made in his life.

A war veteran who escaped the fear of artificial legs and arms like his other comrades in arms, he suffered from a survivor’s guilt that caused him more grief than anyone could ever imagine. He meant to break his anti-social behaviors a long time ago. He didn’t want to prolong the isolation and political condemnation forever. Somehow he got distracted and waited forever.

His faith in his government had faltered. His love for his country intact, he went into survival mode and decided that under all circumstances, he would survive. Listening to his favorite Hank Williams Jr. song, a country boy will survive.

The door was latched with three heavy duty locks. One was a keyed device locking with a special key he had made so no duplicates were available on the market. The second lock was an electronic digital lock that used a code sequence to unlock and the third was a simple and old fashioned deadbolt lock that he had removed from his parents’ house a long time ago and kept as a souvenir to always remind him of them and where he lived as a child.

He had never envisioned being a solitary man. His heart was broken a few times by women who took advantage of his loving nature and broke his heart in pieces because they were immature, self-centered and greedy unlike Carl. Carl was the kind of man who would and has, given his shirt off his back to make someone else happy. His compassion for helping his fellow man was everlasting. A real person with real emotions but he rarely showed them to strangers.

He bundled an extra raincoat and tucked it under his arm. He unlocked the door to his hollow and the sound of the rushing water coming off the sloped landscape was immediately deafening to his ears. Steadying his footing in the red mud clay he was standing in, he slowly locked a single lock behind him and went to find that woman under the tree with her child.

He walked carefully around the rustling water carrying debris and flooding the countryside with stones, gravel and heavy mud caked to anything it could cling to before it was swept away in the littered streams of small rivers.

Walking gingerly, he had to be careful and balance himself as his right knee had twisted and torn a few years ago and never felt the same after the surgery by a woman doctor, who claimed to be a surgeon for the Phoenix Suns basketball team, assured him it would be as good as new once he completed rehabilitation and physical therapy.

Of course, the surgeon was wrong as the knee still snapped over time and although he never broke it like he did before, it was not as strong as he expected it to be. Standing there, in the twilight of the darkness, he searched for the woman and the child under the cover of almost darkness.

Not wanting to startle the woman and child, he had to be sure to approach her in a calm and trusting manner to avoid her panic and fear, as he slowly searched the area near the tree he had seen on his camera and knew she was still very near.

Eyes wide and open, he struggled to see through the pouring rain that was unyielding in force and soaking the landscape into a pool of water standing near a foot deep and rushing by his feet.

Suddenly, he spotted the woman holding the child. He stood there in the dark with eyes of joy when he found her; yet a face of apprehension and uneasiness, as he had to sort out the dangers of this encounter.

Unaware of any other strangers, he approached her slowly. The woman, frightened out of her wits, screamed, “Leave me alone, leave me alone!!!” it was like she was in the middle of a nightmare and she was screaming out loud with an echo following her shouts bouncing off the mountain.

Carl was taken by surprise as he did not expect her to panic and trying to fight him off as he was trying to help her. She was acting very stupidly Carl thought to himself. She made a clenched fist and took a defensive stand like a boxer, as Carl tried to calm her down, hoping for this woman to trust him a little bit more than she did when she first saw him.

It must have been terrifying for her to see a man standing there in the middle of the early evening of the day, where the moon was scarcely glowing through the deep and thick dark clouds of the thunderous rainstorm above and the sun had just set not more than a half hour or so leaving nothing behind but blackness.

She was trying to scare him or beat him with her bare fists. She protectively placed her child behind her back and looked around for a stick or something else she could strike Carl with as he just stood there still. He didn’t want to frighten her any more than she already was, her panic was clear and her fear was real and caused Carl some concern that she might do something weird or unpredictable to harm him.

Soothingly, he tried to calm her down. He was reassuring her that he was a friend and not foe. He tried to get her to trust him enough to allow the words to sink in but her face was filled with fright. Carl said to himself, this was going to be a terrible night.

He told her he was helping her. He showed her his hands that were empty of any weapons or objects that could harm her. He even took back a few steps to show this freaked out woman he was trying to help her with her plight.  He didn’t feel like getting hit or shot but he was certain she didn’t have a weapon.

Should he leave her be? How can he convince her to come with him back to the cave? Time was wasting as the rain kept falling and the thunder and lightning was steady and deafening, making talking almost impossible as he kept a safe distance between them while the rain drenched his darkened figure in the now concluding day had turned into night and the rain kept pouring down, making the water the most dominant sound.

He reached out his arm and handed the woman the gesture to come get the raincoat in his hand. Carl said, “if not for you, put it on your child and keep him warm. The storm is not letting up and if you trust me enough to give you shelter for the night, you can move on when the sun comes up and at first light, you can walk out that front door.” 

He repeated twice or more, “I won’t harm you or your child, I came here as a friend and apologize for your fright.” Slowly the woman came closer. Child hiding behind her back she shuffled her soaked feet with torn and worn out sneaker kind of shoes she wore, and came close enough to grab the raincoat and wrapped it up around her kid. Carl gave a sigh of relief as he felt he was making progress with this petrified and hostile woman.

Crying, trembling and shaking of the cold wet air and near exhaustion, the woman finally gave in and almost fainted causing Carl to lunge forward to catch her. The kid moved aside as Carl grabbed the limp body and held her up holding her tight.

Slowly the treaded the water soaked landscape and made it down the uneven terrain towards the cave. She was barely conscious to know what was happening and her kid was clinging onto to her for dear life.

Once they made it all the way to the entrance of the hidden cave, the unlocked the door and carried in to one of the nearest chambers he made out to be a bedroom. He put her on the bed and told the child to find some dry clothes he had put in boxes near the door so they can sleep tonight and figure out what they can do tomorrow.

Quietly, he left the room as the woman, sill unconscious and out cold for the night, was hugged tightly by her child at side as the night drew closed and with hopes that for a while they would be safe and alright.

It ended up to be quite a night for Carl as he had an unexpected guest for the night. Being sure she was no zombie he turned out the light to the hallway and headed for his own master bedroom down at the end of the hallway, as he ended up doing what he does every night.

He said a prayer as he fell on his knees and thanked God for his blessings his safety and his life. He had put the plugs of Satan in his ears many years ago as he decided to follow the light. Thinking to not to think at all, he went to the bathroom and took a hot steamy shower.

The rain was so cold, it wrinkled his skin and he knew he should have changed the woman’s clothing but he didn’t know where to begin. He figured he was safer if he just left her alone and if she awakened during the night, the kid would tell her there were clothes in the box, he left right there by the door.

He put on pajama bottoms as he came out of the bathroom. He never wore pajama tops; it was a habit he’d acquired even before he went off to war.  His physique was nothing to be ashamed of as he was neither fat nor skinny. He briefly looked into the mirror and saw a reflection of his past drift by as he had put on some pounds since then but always in shape to survive the tests of life.

A small shoulder tattoo reminded him of his high school sweetheart. A name almost forgotten if not for this constant reminder he was wearing to bed that night and all those other times he has endured, since he graduated from high school in Ohio and serving in the army.

Since the cavern was soundproof and untouched by nature’s wrath, the amount of damage done was undetectable and as he took a good solid deep breath, he laid down to fall asleep as he hooked up his CPAP machine and drift away into the rest of the night. Once addicted up to the plastic shaped mask, he fell asleep within minutes and hoped he didn’t dream of the war he fought and tried to leave behind, inside his head.

During the night, the El Nino rains never stopped. The night was drenched as the houses below the man-made mountains were being carried away by the muddy waters of the flooded areas of this valley about fifteen minutes from the coast but inland enough to make it to the city.

The crazy thing about this disaster was the debate between climate change and earthquake theories created by man and the emissions of our global warming trends. All those things that Carl considered hog wash but was smart enough not to ignore the advice to prepare and deliver himself.

What a fool those people were who never prepared themselves for this disaster, what a fool they were for not making plans to go up high and avoid being washed away by the drowning drenching torrents or forceful and power packed rains, coming from the sky.

The night went quickly, the mood was somber and the cave dwellings were quiet. Too quiet for Carl who would have expected the woman or the kid to cause some kind of noise or rumble inside the modernized but hollowed out cavern. Getting up slowly, he headed for the bathroom and as he had just begun to brush his teeth, he heard a loud screaming sound coming from down the hall.

He ran at a quick pace to reach the end of the hallway where the sound came from. His heart was racing and beating quickly as he scanned the rooms for threats or dangers that might have caused this fright.

A dimmed lighted setting to conserve as much electrical usage as possible, he found the woman and child, hugging each other tightly as they stopped and trembled on the sight of Carl’s favorite pet snake, Anaconda, a twelve foot yellow colored with black spots slithering python that guarded the cave at night.

Anna for short, this giant of a snake was the designated guardian of the bunker kept rodents out and strangers at bay until it was deemed to be friend rather than foe.

Carl tried to take good care of the woman and child. It was the right thing to do. Walking back at a more leisurely pace he asked them if they were hungry as he went into his kitchen and made his some of his favorite food – three eggs over easy, two strips of bacon and wheat toast on the side.

Knowing it would be rude not to ask them if they wanted to have breakfast, Carl offered them the hospitality of the entire bunker and showed them where the cold drinks were and any other food they desired. The woman nodded her head in a thankful manner and got up to make them something to eat.

The woman and child were thankful and hungry. Carl told her where the eggs were, the bacon and the bread was already on the counter. He told her to get up off her chair and make breakfast and for the kid as he sat down at the table and peaceable ate his breakfast.

Sitting there quietly, another sound came into the room as Carl’s Rottweilers, Reyna and Axel came in from the bedroom where he slept and joined the rest. For the moment, all was good and Carl explained to the woman that the two dogs were not vicious and were also protectors of the nest and that they were brother and sister from a champion litter born and bred in New Mexico.

The air was quiet as the bacon sizzled in the cast iron pan – the stove was propane fed and as the blue flame was lowered to keep the bacon from burning, the kitchen slowly heated up and removed the overnight dampness that was created by the constant rain outside.

The sizzling bacon spread an aromatic sense in the air that resulted in the two Rottweilers drooling from their mouths. After breakfast, Carl stood up and told the woman she was welcome to stay another day or night.

Sensing they were still a little shy and afraid of the entire scenario that played out the night before, he gave them both some space and walked away a little bit to make an excuse to leave them be for a while and let them relax a little.

He didn’t pry into her business and ask her how she ended up on this side of the mountain when in fact, it was time for him to go outside and check out any damage due to the rain and see if any of his cave had been affected by the rains that were still coming as predicted by the weather forecasters in the upcoming days and nights.

He checked the landscape with its miniature streams and gullies filled with whooshes of water. Every arroyo in sight has water rushing through their chasms and channels as the water was driven by the gravity of the height and sloped landscape that was hiding a man-made cavern out of sight.

Amazingly, not a stone was out of place as he checked his cave so carefully and meticulously examined and inspected. Checking every nook and cranny, even checking under the fallen rocks, Carl made a thorough inspection without any waste of time or effort to allow any weakness in his structure forming.

Coming back into the cave he saw the woman and child doing some cleaning up inside the kitchen. As a gentleman would, he stated that he would do them later but the woman insisted on cleaning up after themselves and thank him for his charity and saving her from the storm outside last night.

Carl, coming in wet from the misty and still concealing wet murkiness that was hanging around like low clouds swallowing the cavern, was wondering if she was all right. Suddenly, a silence fell in the room.

The woman had never introduced herself and the kid. She was a complete stranger. Carl had no idea how she ended up near his hidden cavern and wasn’t going to ask her any questions unless she volunteered to talk about it herself. The silence in the cavern was daunting.

There needed to be a break in the tension so Carl asked the kid if she wanted to watch television or play a game on the big screen television. Reluctantly, the kid said yes after her mother nodded and Carl gave her the directions to the sanctuary room where the TV was.

Suddenly, without a warning, the woman started talking. “The violent attacks were horrible,” she blurted out loud. Taking a deep breath, she began to tell Carl of the horror stories she saw from the day before and how she ended up being stranded up in the mountains. Her description of the zombies roaming the streets in knee deep water was vividly terrifying and frightening.

It was a tale that was repeated over and over after the torrential rains drowned the city and all that surrounded it from the flooded roadways on the coastline to the highways that were washed away or covered with deep mud from the mudslides rolling off the mountains.

Taking a deep breath and adjusting the wrinkled clothes she found in the bag by the door, she drew another breath and stated, “I lived about six blocks or so away from the mall where I shopped at the Albertson store. I was headed there to see if they had any more cases of bottled water and batteries for the upcoming storm.”

“There was a liquor store located across the street and people were lingering around the front of the store and the parking lot by Albertson was crowded. It seemed everybody was out getting supplies for the emergency and I wanted to get as much drinking water that I could find before the storm really got bad.”

Choking on her words, she said, “I didn’t want to risk running out of stuff so I loaded up the SUV with supplies and food to keep me over when suddenly, out of nowhere, a huge wave of water came down the street sweeping everything in its way down the road as it was powerful and undoubtedly the result of the heavy rains we were getting in the valley, with so much flooding so many places.”

“I tried to steer the SUV to the side of the road but the water was so strong, it carried the SUV and many other trucks and cars down the road like matchbox toys and as I was trapped in the SUV with my six year old daughter.”

“It seemed the elevation of the rushing and torrent aquatic rainmaking was rising creating fierce rushing metal crushing streams now forming into a lashing flowing body of water down the streets like a raging river. It was getting bigger and took the cars trapped in the flowing water, down the hills and into the chasms of the water filled valley as the creeks had overflowed and the rivers were all rising.”

Finally introducing herself as Heather Chase, the woman was still shaking as she told her story. “I saw dead bodies floating and animals and people drowning around me. I couldn’t do a thing as I was trapped in this giant water slide downhill and picking up speed rolling with the landscape and growing.”

“I was wearing shorts and sneakers and the water was rising up to the windows of the SUV.”

 

“I was frozen with fright and panicking, screaming for help, nobody heard me and I was completely helpless. As the SUV was floating with the rushing waters, I saw underwater zombies popping up and reaching out at me trying to grab me.”

“I saw some of these blood covered slow moving human shaped mindless zombie like creatures trying to climb onto the SUV and fall off with the raging currents pulling them down and leaving them somewhere underwater.”

“I was being ripped from the streets and rolling with the water bobbing like a boat hoping that the SUV will remain above water and stay afloat. Truly, I was scared to death as this nightmare ride took me down the road for miles as the water followed the interstate highway that had turned into a river. I remember this well but I could clearly recall being ripped and dipped like a human bobber on a fishing pole line and I didn’t know where we would end up but suddenly, the level of the rushing water subdued dramatically and the flooded water was /low enough to stall the movement leaving me stuck in the mud somewhere close to here.”

“Around me were slow shambling kind of moving zombies staggering and being lost in the middle of nowhere. The mud was so deep, they couldn’t move well but they were standing there upright in the mud looking like statues and acting like scavengers, guessing they were looking for people to eat. Covered with blood on their hands and faces, they were inclined to bite those unfortunate bodies floating down the highway as the flood was subsiding.”

Heather took a deep breath and continued to tell the horror story as she explained that the last thing she wanted to do was to provoke them and draw attention to herself and her daughter. They knew if they were spotted to be warm blooded beings, they would turn into instant prey for the animal like zombies who were plentiful and rather than dying, walking in the water.

Barricaded inside her SUV, Heather sat there still and motionless, until the zombies passed her car and let her be. She told of an invasion of hundred in the bloody hordes and how they all seemed to be headed back to the area where she came from as if they were attracted to the mall area, where mass victims laid there helpless and severely injured and likely die from their wounds unless they are found by the emergency medical teams out searching for survivors.

Visibly shaking, Heather told Carl there were no signs of cops, no law enforcement and no medical EMT’s available to help those wounded. It seemed the world had been abandoned and nobody was around to help the survivors.

She added she looked for cops who were supposed to keep the peace whenever disasters strike or in this case, the valley flooded quickly from the El Nino created superstorms and rising waters.

She said everyone she saw looked dead or almost dead. Some were dismembered and bleeding profusely and many were infected. This invasion of zombies was something she hadn’t been prepared for and if your know anything about struggling people against infected people who in turn became these senseless or mindless zombies.

She mentioned the mall and how it was full with people when she left. The zombies hitting the mall would be horrible as it left the people helpless. The worst place a person can go is crowded places and some ended up there because of the rain, seeking shelter and falling into the hands of these swarming zombies. She told Carl, “I suspect no person could get out of there alive.”

Amazing Grace - The El Nino Legent Part III

Amazing Grace –

The El Niño Legend

Part III

(photo by Tim Richardson)

 

Carl had a lot of chores to do. He had to check the caverns for structural strength and leaks of the pouring rain. The mountain had been saturated and the fear of leaks was based on the relentless of the rain and the copious amounts of precipitation that had fallen in the past twenty four hours. Sometimes, the structure might be weakened of its rain catchers are bent or broken off giving the water no recourse to drain off as designed.

He was certainly interested in Heather’s story and wanted to hear more about her horrifying ride down the hill and into the valley on a sheet of high rising water that ended up marooning her somewhere close to his cavern and making it possible there were other survivors around there.

Satisfied the cave was undamaged today, he went back to the kitchen to fix himself something eat and drink some ice cold water. Suddenly he heard a loud crashing sound. It was Heather screaming and as soon as he heard her shriek, he came running. It was strange to hear another sound inside the cave as he had been alone for so long, he had forgotten what it was like to have others around him as his Rottweilers paced his run and followed him into the guest bedroom.

As he pushed the bedroom door open, he looked at the distorted reflection of himself standing in front of a cracked mirror. It must have come loose and came crashing down when the door was accidently slammed shut and since the room was hardly ever used, the mirror had never been tested before.

A frightened look on Heather’s face told Carl the broken mirror had frightened her badly. Her hand was shaking. In almost an instant moment, he bent over and picked up the jagged silver pieces of the broken glass and tossed them into the waste basket. He calmed Heather down and said to her, “don’t worry, it wasn’t your fault, I must not have fastened it too good.”

He asked her if she was up to going to the city to find some places that had survived the storms and selling essential supplies that were needed now that there were more than one mouth to feed and the kid had a weird taste of her own.

At the same time, he offered Heather a chance to leave the cave and find her family or friends who may have survived the rising El Nino waters and hordes of zombies roaming around out there without any cops in sight to fight the good fight.

Reassuring Heather she was welcome to stay until the storms were over and the zombies were contained or killed, he passed by her slowly sensing a deep sensual sexual vibration as he got close to her and slowly walked through the blurred silence of the bedroom and turned left into the narrow hallway and left her out of sight stepping into his bedroom.

His bedroom had been cordially decorated for a single man’s taste in furniture as everything in the room was functional and practical when chosen. In his own taste, an Oakland Raider logo covering the wall and the pillows holding up the pirate’s skull and bones, he had converted the room into a bachelor’s pad that was sports oriented and simple.

For a while he stood there facing the wall and remember the words a frightened Heather had spoken. Her tale of zombies floating underwater and grabbing at her from the rushing waters while trapped inside her SUV were intriguing to say the least but it gave him concerns that he might need to take extra precautions.

Maybe this time around, he would take some weapons with him when he goes into town. Perhaps a few guns, a baseball bat and other blunt objects that could help fight off the zombies if attacked. Carl was a medium size man. Not standing as tall as his brother, he was stocky in stature and his features were distinguishing salt and pepper hair with the long Fu Manchu mustache covering his small but thick lipped mouth and brown eyes which moved with deliberate caution.

Licensed to carry concealed and proficient with a firearm, long or short, he had enough ammunition in his cave to hold off an army for months at a time. He had predicted isolation and defending his dwelling with force if the time ever came where his government would fail to protect him thus he equipped himself with weapons that could inflict mass destruction.

After standing there thinking for a few minutes, he took a long slow breath and went back into his bed room where he entered the closet and opened up a secret compartment. Once open he gathered up some boxes of .40 caliber S&W ammo to fit his Glock semi auto pistol he favored over the others.

As a precaution, he picked up a smaller .38 revolver that he put in his back pocket in case he needed something small to take care of any threats that encroached him in close quarters. Packed and ready to head into the city, he went to a hollowed out space on the exterior of his well-structured cavern and check his vehicle for fuel and started it up as a door opened to allow him to exit the hollow.

He had not shared this place with Heather and didn’t want to worry her since he had been gone for over ten minutes now so he drove his truck out of the hollow and parked it near his entrance to the cavern.

Entering his front door, he surprised Heather as she didn’t expect him to come in from the outside thinking he was still inside his bedroom. Smiling Carl said softly, let’s get ready to go to the city and get some supplies and find something for you to wear. He had noticed the clothes Heather and the kid were wearing were old and wrinkled and compromised their fashion style somewhat.

They headed for the mall where Heather had said she had seen zombies headed that way as she floated down the flooded streets in the opposite direction. The first thing Carl wanted to do was to find a hardware store and gather up some equipment he needed to outlast the storm.

His eyes keen and sensed for zombies, he strangely found the streets scattered with debris and at some locations littered with dead bodies but there were no signs of any zombies, dead or unalive.

His four wheel drive F250 supermax truck was strong enough to get them through the debris and mud that had gathered when the rains subsided somewhat and lowered the water levels down far enough to travel the roads.

Looking at the sky, he knew that had a couple of hours before the next rain storm arrived and drench the area all over again. It was the way the valley funneled the water from the high country. It was destined to be flooded if the rains didn’t stop and the sun disappeared for more than three days at a time.

The El Nino was a three month long prediction with endless rain falling on the once drought countryside and now filled with mudslides, pools of standing water and mass destruction of water damaged buildings and structures without electrical power.

The first store they saw was a Big 5 store that was also a sporting goods store. The place was empty but their merchandize was out there on the shelves and floor ready for anyone who came in to grab. Carl told Heather to take her child and grab a cart and pack a big backpack, a couple of rain proof coats, some baseball bats, and a tent, a big tent. Looting was not a becoming trait of Carl but under the circumstances, he felt compelled to survive and if that meant to steal what he needed, so be it.

He didn’t explain why he wanted a big tent but she didn’t argue. Along the way she grabbed some shoes and boots as well as some exercise clothing that would fit her and the kid. In the meantime, Carl had grabbed some extra ammunition, a high powered scoped 30 - 06 Remington rifle and some extra flashlights and batteries.

 He figured that although he had plenty of handgun ammo, he needed the rifle for survival if he had to dash into the woods if the zombies found a way to enter his mountain bunker. After taking what he needed from the Big 5 stores he found a ravished partially damaged empty grocery store and pulled more foodstuff off the shelves loading up the carts with perishables and instant foods that would feed an army.

Making sure he hand extra space for candy, he loaded the groceries in the back of his cab and took off down the road to the service stations that still had lights on and power to their pumps. Although parts of the city had lost power, the outage was sporadic and varied block to block.

Searching for a gas station with power, he found a Chevron station and fueled his supermax truck up to make the needle touch the full mark. So far, he had not found any survivors or zombies walking around the stores or areas where he traveled.

 One last to the grocery store so we have as much food as possible. Then we would make our way back to the cave unless Heather wanted to be dropped off somewhere else. Carl gave her a choice, not an ultimatum and she decided to stay with him until the storms subsided and the cell phone system was back on the air so she could contact someone for help and find a place to stay until she got her life back together.

When Carl drove to the mall he passed the townhouse complex where Heather was living. It was destroyed by the raging waters and dark with no electricity and signs of life. She lived about an hour’s drive from the cavern.

He offered to take her to her apartment to recollect or recover some personal stuff but she declined to go there as she was in tears that she had lost everything she had and didn’t want to see it leaving a bad taste in her mouth and even foulest memories in her head.

So as the water was only knee deep in some areas and the power was off, the streets were manageable and open. There were no cop cars in sight and the smoke from the fires was heavy in some places.

Surprisingly, the need to fight off an attack by the zombies had not arrived making Carl a little bit more relaxed and giving Heather a chance to recollect her emotions and sense. She had been a mental wreck on the way down the hill as they approached the mall as she expected hundreds of bodies spread out in the huge parking lot but to her surprise, there was a small body count.

Many of those found out there in the street and parking lot were slowly decomposing and falling apart under the high humidity and the  heat of the day, the water that hastened the decomposition and the flesh torn open by the bites of sub-human species attacking at will when the opportunity was created by the rushing waters.

All and all, the drive down the valley and up the hill was uneventful. Although no cops were seen and no firemen or EMT personnel were spotted, there didn’t appear to be a mass casualty out there but then, they had been gone for hours and anything that happened during their absence from the city.

One could tell by the damage and strewn debris and broken buildings, there was a mass evacuation and most had left the city and headed for safer places under the protection of martial law as streets elsewhere are reported to be guarded by soldiers.

Long before the El Nino prediction, an apocalyptic event was predicted and Carl had done his homework on the possible effects of such a disaster. One thing he certain of was the triggering of zombies by calamities or disasters that were bred by air or water.

It was not through some weird satanic process that zombies were created. He knew it had to be a virus carried by contaminated water or air that spawned the formation of such mutations. Whether or not they were supernatural by design or origin was never in question. They have no super powers.

They are mere undead people who are formed from a virus yet to be determined. Carl had read this virus was very powerful and so far, even the most intelligent and brightest scientists in the world have not found a cure for such mutations.

There have been numerous military experiments conducted on zombies as Carl detected when he was overseas and there were times where zombies appeared out of nowhere but the volume of bombs and munitions used to destroy the enemy from the air or artillery weapons were massive and disturbed much of the air and dirt around such places and nothing they have seen or tried has stopped the mutations from occurring.

Carl knew how the virus worked and infected a human being. The virus, still unidentified and proliferated by wars and disasters, enters the victim through any kind of open wound. Wounds that may have been created by accidents, bullet wounds, knife attacks or even shrapnel from explosives and of course there is the infection by a bite. This infection is said to take place about sixteen hours after the exposure to such an infectious moment.

At sixteen hours, the victim will go into a deep coma. At twenty hours duration, the heart rate will slow down to about a standstill rate giving the infected person a very slight and detectable pulse.

At that time, the brain waves stop to function at their normal manner and the mind is reawakened by the fact that although the person would be legally declared brain dead, this virus resurrects the dead and reanimate to the altered state of being the undead in a living body.

Thus it is safe to say that as twenty four hours passes, the subject, a once human being, no longer functions as a human but instead turned into a zombie where the body organs have ceased to live, perform or function as before and the blood system is completely broken and dilapidated rather than circulating the blood flow through the body.

Any person familiar with the functions of the brain and circulatory system will tell you that once your brain is dead and your blood stops moving, your body does not create a means to deliver oxygen to all its parts but that in this state, the body doesn’t need the oxygen or air to function in slow motion. For this reason Carl knew that in order to kill a zombie, he had to aim for the head.

The virus lives in the brain tissue of the infected host and reproduces rapidly. Though eventually it will spread throughout the entire body, the whole thing will be stopped if the brain is damaged.  Other means to kill or stop a zombie is blunt trauma to the head and cutting the head off the main torso.

The virus is in fact, seemingly specifically evolved to live in human nerve tissue.  This is apparent because it can only kill, but not reanimate in other animals such as dogs, or snakes, or other species that roamed the earth.

This fact has been known for centuries as the long-lived virus is resilient and able to withstand extreme temperatures either hot or cold and survive once the chain of infecting the others around them is not broken.

Arriving at the cavern, he dropped Heather and the kid off at the front entrance and carefully looked around to see if anyone had followed them from the city. Although the road is a two lane highway, if someone was slick enough to avoid detection, they could follow and find out where the hidden bunker was. At this time, he was convinced nobody followed and opened the door to let Heather and the kid in the cavern.

Unloading the food to the side of the hollow and putting the perishables inside the reefer and freezer, he tried to catch his breath as he reached in his cab to retrieve his sporting goods and stashing the weapons and ammunition in his secret closet.

He was worn out by the vigilance the drive had drained from him. Exhausted he wanted to lay down and take a nap but he knew there were things to do before he could take that long earned break for the night. Heather and the kid went into the bedroom and unpacked their newly selected and picked up clothing.

Fitting them fine and making them feel a little bit better how they were dressed and the feeling of their new shoes made them smile and hug each other with a little relieve in their sighs.

Unknown to Carl, they needed a break from the old wrinkled smelly moth scented clothes they found inside the bag as the fashion of the ones who wore them was old fashioned and not even close to the latest style.

He had no idea what the night would bring but having the company of Anna, Reyna and Axel by his side, he took a deep slow breath for a few minutes and then took a slow walk back into the kitchen where he found some fresh fruit and bananas left out there on the table.

Chomping on the large green apple, he realized that he still had some tools in his truck and that he needed to check on his equipment before the night was over. Tools that he needed to make sure his equipment was ready for a long trip if needed or a repair on his hollow as this rain was relentless in punishing his humble domain with all the power it had from the El Nino that had delivered a powerful hurricane force wind just a day before and creating tsunami like flooding all over the valley.

Suddenly the lights began to flicker. Picking up his toolbox he headed for the power room where the generator was located. Tossing the hammer on the concrete floor, he saw what was wrong with the generator almost immediately. The red warning light was telling him the oil level was low and he needed to add some right away before the generator would seize up and stop.

He kept a case or two of the motor oil he needed for this occasion. His mind had prepared him for situations like this as he always played the ‘what if” scenario in his mind to prepare himself for the unexpected.

An ex-soldier by trade, a mechanic at night and a lonely man most of the time, Carl sought different ways to deal with the loneliness and found ways to grind up the time on the clock by keeping himself busy.

Resetting the generator from the power source to switch the caverns to the stored up solar battery power packs, the lights dimmed momentarily and as the generator was off, he took the time to make sure all the settings and associated equipment was in good order.

He had the time to make a quick inspection so he pulled the plugs, changed the oil and checked the filters before switching it back to run on the fossil fuel that was costing him more than he bargained for when the gas prices went sky high without any justified reasons.

Working inside the poorly air conditioned hollow caused Carl to sweat a little. The generator was vented to the outside of the mountain through a well ventilated shaft that reduced the exhaust of the generator to a trace and almost undetectable from the air as a heat source or a pollution device.

A conscientious environmental person, he made sure there was no carbon monoxide and not excessive pollution into the air so he did what he could to make his power sources environmentally sound and efficient.

Carl was exhausted and needed a drink. Something cold and something that would tingle his senses. He forced himself to walk all the way to the relaxation room where he had his stash inside the glass covered liquor cabinet behind the bar. Sipping on his drink, he heard footsteps in the hallway.

It was Heather by herself as she said the kid was laying down and tired from the long day and shopping spree. He forced himself to put away the drink and asked her if she was okay. Heather nodded her head and told him she was thankful for all he had done for her and the kid.

She seemed a bit emotional and made Carl uneasy. For Carl was a man used to solitary moments and not such emotional encounters that caused him to feel uneasy. He was alone most of the time, except for his dogs and the big yellow snake, he kept to himself pretty much most of the time. He was a poor housekeeper and those things were of no importance to him.

It was getting late and he wanted to lay down and rest but Heather kept talking and found herself in a comfortable position as she smiled and even laughed a little as the burdens she had experienced were wearing her down and leaving her vulnerable to her emotionally driven senses.

It looked like she wanted to hold his hand. It sounded like she wanted to talk a little and tell Carl a little bit more about herself. Then as she approached Carl and sat down on the couch beside him, she touched his hand and smiled offering Carl a deep sigh and a blushful smile. It wasn’t clear why she felt embarrassed, it wasn’t anything she had done or said but as soon as she began to tell him how she felt, the lights began to flicker again and it was time to check the generator again.

Carl jumped up and grabbed his laptop that was loaded with the service manual for his generator. The generator was at it again. He’d knew that this time is wasn’t going to be as easy as the last time by merely fixing the red warning light. He had to find the damned service manual and start checking the wiring and other components as he went to the trouble shooting page and started from scratch.

Carl knew if it was too much trouble to get going or to repair, he’d have to install a new high output generator. Somewhat angrily he jerked the tool box off the shelf as Axel and Reyna laid down on the concrete floor away from him, keeping a vigil on the room with Carl’s back towards the door.

As he had entered the hollow he could smell something burning. It smelled electrical and as he checked the wiring harness closely, he found a burnt section of wires that were touching and shorting the generator out causing it to stall and flicker.

Amazing Grace - The El Nino Legend Part I

Amazing Grace –

The El Niño Legend

Part I

 

It began on a misty low lying foggy hazy day again, the inland vapor clouds had moved inwards towards the empty shore where the remotely located pier was taken a pounding of the El Niño created waves creating a violent backlash of foamy water splashing and trashing its hurricane force waves against the aging and rotted wooden pillars of it long-stretched out structure. 

In the distance, you can see the dimming sunlight set slowly on the western horizon of the Pacific Ocean where it touches the sands of these California shore lines that are usually overcrowded and for an unexplainable reason, abandoned and bare today as the waves began to crash into the shore more violent than before.

The arrival of El Niño was so untimely as Carl knew he had so much more to do before the drenching of the tropical rains settled in and create a soggy water logged landscape out of the grassland and mountains that have been starving for rain for over ten years now and dried out to its lifetime drought conditions that would welcome the precipitation but not without creating havoc and flooding in most of the low lying areas.

The weather forecasters have been over analytical of this upcoming storm, they predicted earthquakes, power outages, loss of lives and mass property damage. They said the streets would be filled with ten foot waters as people and animals float down the highways as carcasses without any life left in them.

A predicted apocalyptic event, El Niño was destined to become the zombie maker of the times as the waters were rising every moment reaching epic proportions in areas where water had been a stranger for decades up to now.

Who would have calculated the risks of such a storm? Who would have guessed the waters would rise so high, even the two story houses would be consumed and the rushing waters would cause massive mudslides all over the valley.

On this cloudy day, the world as we knew it was about to change. California, Baja Mexico and even parts of Arizona would soon be under water as the never ending flow of water coming out of the sky began to consume what was once arid deserts into lakes of earthly passions so long desiring rain and begging for such water-logged pleasures.

Nigh time on this day turned into a lifetime of sorrow. Judging by the rainfall this night was going to be more than an overcast event as the waterfalls nearby crashed their cascading water into solid retaining walls constructed to hold the muddy soils from reaching the streets and highways as boulders roll down the hills, tumbling and destroying everything it touches.

Whatever method those highway engineers used to solve the mud sliding and mudslinging problem was not working. The rains overwhelmed the cold stone concrete walls and broke them up in smaller pieces adding to the boulders rolling down with thunderous momentum of dangers.

Carl has sensed this disaster if it ever started raining in Southern California and had prepared himself and his family for such a calamity by building a bunker of steel and concrete deep inside one of the highest hills around his house as he chose to be prepared for the perfect storms lined up on the western horizon.

A natural disaster was simmering on the heated ocean waves and seeking landfall with a tsunami like generated chaos. Unreal naturally displaced forces created on the ocean floors were pushing up waves of tremors shaking the volumes of large intensely created seawaters up to the surface by underwater currents assisted by underwater volcanic activities making their arrival a Mother Nature’s disaster nobody could have properly prepared for in our time.

In the distance, the FEMA emergency sirens were wailing out a message that were ignored by so many masses before when the emergency broadcasts were tested on our television sets and nobody paid attention. Carl knew it was time for hell to come visit us all and the means to survive would be tested forever as greatly for the apocalyptic event predicted had begun.

Evacuating his house, he tried to notify his family and friends of the coming storm until his cell phone had no power or signal. The storms were destructive and tearing down cell towers all around the valley like match sticks falling creating a blackout of communications for some and darkness for many others.

The bunker had no windows except a peep hole made out of reinforced steel and bulletproof glass. A single view of the world outside him, Carl knew a disaster when he saw one and figured to draw his last breath inside this bunker so strong, secluded and hidden out of the view of many creating his own island of bare comforts while waiting out this storm.

Hours passed by as he kept busy with sporadic sudden pacing of the bunker looking for wear and tear on the walls of the bunker. This constantly checking and paranoid mode of operando was reaching nervous proportions as this walking and thinking was wearing him out. Peeking out of the bulletproof glass window, he saw the rains falling down like a surging and tumbling waterfall out of the sky.

The bunker was a large underground cave, carved and divided into five square rooms and all connected with reinforced lighted tunnels running off a huge emergency generator that had dual power sources available.

Carl had ingeniously designed a method of power for longevity in surviving any disaster or war, in both a traditional old fossil fuel gasoline method of feeding the power creating monster or by an array of solar panels, hard wired from the ground up above but hidden from plain view so those flying above the bunker could not see the power source and tracking it back to the sanctuary haven created to hide from the storm or those enemies who mentioned out oud they had voiced a wicked desire to take our country by force or nuclear power.

One of the rooms carved out of the cave was his relaxation room. A room where he could think and drink while he pondered his next move and deal with his adversity under this natural disaster made situation.

One would think Carl wasted his time creating relaxation room that he turned into his solitary sanctuary to allow him to relax and meditate with soft smooth jazz like music piped in the walls with a surround sound system that if pushed to its fullest, shake the walls with music that rocked the entire cave with a switch of a button.

Herein his sanctuary room, he created a pipeline of sophisticated antennas to the surface that allowed his cellphone to reach a signal if the carrier was still active and spreading the airwaves to accommodate users in the area for such service. In addition, he had hard-wired a digital television disc that received satellite programs from all parts of the world and space to accommodate his need for news and pleasures.

This bunker was better equipped than any fancy hotel could be. The sheets on his beds were crispy freshly laundered. The pillows and comforter bragging Oakland Raiders logos were soft like the clouds. His overindulgent spending for more than comfortable living had paid off for him over the years.

His room was breathable and relaxing just like he wanted it to be under confining and duress as well as anxious conditions on the outside of his other world, now under attack and where survival was his utmost concern.

Carl went over to the bar and poured himself a rarely thirst for a drink. Preferring the rum and coke combination, he softly swallowed a potion that gave him a chance to relax. As he looked up to see the large flat television screen he switched the input channels and watched the terrain surrounding his bunker as he had set up surveillance closed circuit cameras all around his cave, to see if there was anyone else out there looking for help or shelter.

As he turned to the different camera locations, he zoomed and panned each one to see if he could find some signs of life out there. The cave was well hidden with shrubbery and man laid stones to cover up any signs of construction. The roof was a natural mountainside carved from the inside out.

Suddenly as he panned one of his cameras he heard a woman’s voice shouting. Zooming in and looking intensely into the flat screen that was over 72 inches wide, he saw a face of a woman holding a child in her arms and looking frightfully lonely.

Maintaining his vigilance of this young woman with child in hand, he listened to her shouting. “Where are you Neil, stop hiding from me!!” she shouted. It was obvious she was looking for someone else who had strayed from the city streets and dwelled in the landscape where there were man-made mountains.

Unrestful eyes kept searching for life outside the bunker. Knowing there were at least three people outside his cave, made his wonder if he should breach the walls and doors and allow them to enter and share his sanctuary until the storms were over.

He knew his soundproof house could not be detected from the outside and hide his presence from the stranded woman outside with child in hand. His conscious was telling him to open his bunker like house to strangers but common sense told him of the dangers lurking outside with looks being deceiving as man, when desperate, can turn on you and take your life or property without blinking.

 

Irritated, Carl drew himself into a frustration fit and hit his clenched fist into the stone like walls. Feeling the instant pain, he looked at his red-knuckled fists as the blood slowly soothed out with a warmness he could feel as he stood there thinking about his next move about that woman being outside his bunker.

She didn’t hear him yelling out with pain, she was oblivious of his presence as she stood there, outside the walls still yelling and shouting for someone called Neil, and who disappeared from her sight and missing. He turned off the sound to the camera and sat there thinking.

What would the consequences be if he let her into his cave? How would he deal with this stranger and her companions? Would he feel like he owed them something or was he mistaken? The dilemma was too much for him to bear. He started drinking and decided to let time take its course and hopefully she would walk away from his mountain cave and find whoever she was looking for.

The rain kept falling down. The darkness was again falling. It had been a long day for Carl and he was thinking that perhaps all that he prepared for was an overkill and that the world was not ending and the woman he saw was part of a surviving group that had fled the city to find somewhere else to be as a darkened city without light can be dangerous to life itself and cause people to panic and start killing or robbing others under the cover of the blacked out skyline and street lights.

A sense of guilt had overcome him as every minute ticked off the clock. He kept seeing this vision of that woman with child in hand and thought about how sacred his conscious was and how scared she must be out there all alone and in the darkness. He could stand thinking about that woman. He didn’t want to hear her so he muted the sound and turned on his music instead but in his head, he could still hear her shouting.

Minute after minute, almost an hour passed when he decided to pan his cameras one more time and see if the woman had left his man made mountain. The music ended, the mind was focused on the sounds outside as he panned the cameras wide and looked for the strangers.

Although minutes seemed like hours, the drenching rain was still coming and the woman was spotted sitting under a tree that gave her and her child temporary shelter from the pouring rain. Again, his conscious was knocking on his mentally unimpaired mind – should he let her and the child in or should he ignore her.

Panning, zooming and taking up some close ups of the woman he could see how she was shivering from the coldness. Her skin had turned white like hypothermia was setting in and the child was crying. Now he could even hear them both crying as they sat there quietly outside his cave.

Her clothes were soaking wet, she had no overcoat and her skin was clinging to her body like a woman who had just competed in a wet tee shirt contest. He could see what nature revealed to be a most beautiful woman right outside his door.

For a sudden moment his mind wandered. Thinking back on those days when he was the wildest of a group of friends coming out of the Army, he thought about the last wet tee shirt contest he saw in a dark lit bar on the beach.

Surrounded by what appeared to be lingerie models dressed in white tee shirts and alluring transparent bikinis, he soaked up the rays of his younger days with the pleasures of tropical sands and women how had proven assets to be as some of the most beautiful creatures he had ever seen when spending his days at the beach.

A flashback had occurred and suddenly, Carl was back to reality. Harshly punishing himself for the moment of lust and passion driven by the thoughts and desires of the past, he glanced once more time through the lens of the camera that revealed a woman in a sopping wet garment that did little to cover her stunning figure as she shivered from the coldness of the mountain air and holding child in hand.

Stiffening with rage at himself, he decided to let her into his domesticated cave and give her warmth and shelter. He knew she could be a carrier of the plague of people who are consumed by the dead out there but looking at her eyes and watching her closely, he could tell, she had not been bitten and was not displaying any traits of the zombies that roamed the streets and highways, looking for someone to be eaten.

She showed compassion, a will to live, giving her child the comforts of her own body heat that zombies don’t have or possess in traits or manner. She reached out to her child and showed her love for him to the highest point a human being can display.

Surely there was no doubt this woman was human and not one of the undead but caution in the wind, Carl had to be certain before opening the entrance to his cave to strangers. He had witnessed a few radical and extreme acts of the undead in the war when he was overseas. His memory was vividly alive as he witnessed death and destruction by those animal turned once humans who roamed the isolated deserts and torn down war damaged cities with vengeance and lust for blood of those still living.

His eyes filled with tears. He could see her suffering and as he choked a little on his own emotions, he reached for his raincoat and boots to go to find her and bring her into his sanctuary where she could recover and dry up until the morning sun comes back out and give them all a new life and a chance to ponder over how to solve this problem that had found Carl’s cave without a single word spoken.