~ 19 ~

The Silent Observer

Date:  May 22nd, 1999

Place: Philadelphia, PA (2 days after the emergency landing)

Time: Sometime in the morning

+ Howie +

I woke up disoriented, unsure of where I was and what was going on. It’s weird when you open your eyes to see people’s feet walking by. I sat up and felt a horrible kink forming in my neck. It’s been a very long time since I’ve slept on the floor. I have a feeling it’s something I’m going to need to get used to though.

“Did you sleep well?”

I turned my whole body towards Kevin who was sitting back on the crates and rolling up one of his pant legs. Seems like our new friends gave him a change of clothes and the jeans he was wearing were a bit too long for him.

I stood up and made my way past a still sleeping AJ, Nick and Brian and took a seat next to Kevin. “Surprisingly well, yes.”

“Me too, I think we’re all just exhausted.”

“So, what’s the plan?” I smelled something cooking in the background. It might have been sausage or ham, definitely a meat of some kind. Instantly my mouth started to water. We really haven’t eaten much since we landed here. I was hungry, thirsty and most of all still tired.

“I don’t know D. I really have no clue what the hell is happening. I don’t want to sound like a crazy person but I’m starting to think we aren’t where we’re supposed to be.”

I laughed at that, like really? What clued you in to that one Kevin?

He smiled when I laughed, “I’m going to try to get some answers from Charlie today. Find out a bit more, like what year it is.”

“What year?” I was confused now although, not completely because I was thinking the same thing deep down. We weren’t in Kansas anymore Toto.

He shrugged at me just as Charlie’s father walked over towards us with plates. They were stacked high with eggs and sausage and of course some toast. “I bet you guys are hungry. I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself to you yesterday. Alan Epps.”

I grabbed the plate from Alan and shook his hand, “Howie.”

“Kevin.”

“Nice to meet you boys, we have some coffee over there, help yourself.”

“Thanks.”

He smiled and walked away just as Brian and AJ woke up, probably because of the smell of food. Nick was still passed out in the corner in a fetal position.

“Oh fuck, so this wasn’t a crazy ass dream?”

“Sorry AJ.” I felt for the kid. I think we were all kind of hoping we’d wake up in our hotel rooms in NYC.

Alan waved the guys over for some food and Charlie and his brother Don walked over. At least I think that’s what his name is. I overheard a few people talking before I fell asleep last night and the name Don came up more than once. Supposedly he was an FBI agent before the attacks.

“We’re going out to find some food. Where exactly did you say you crashed that plane of yours?” Don asked almost jokingly. He didn’t even introduce himself to us or anything. He seemed like kind of an ass.

“About 10 miles or so heading away from Philly in a field.”

“Would you be interested in bringing us to it?”

I gave Kevin a warning glance. I didn’t think it was a good idea to leave with this guy.

 “Kev…”

Charlie cut in, “Actually I think I’d like to go if that’s okay with you?” He asked his big brother who nodded after a few minutes of contemplation.

“I don’t like you going out, what if someone…”

“Don, I’ll be fine. I learned from the best.”

Seeing how much he cared for his little brother, made me rethink my dislike of Don Epps.

“So, you want to show me this plane of yours?” Charlie asked Kevin. I was really hoping he’d say no.

“I’ll go with you.” Kevin nodded and stood up.

“Great, we leave in about ten minutes.”

Charlie walked away sensing I wanted to talk to Kevin alone. “This is a dumb idea.”

“I need to show them we aren’t lying. Maybe that’ll finally get us some answers. They need to know they can trust us D.”

As much as I hated it, I knew he was right. “What should I do while you’re gone?”

“Keep the others calm but also play silent observer. Try to get as much information as you can without asking too many questions.”

I was good at that game. Better than anyone else. “Okay, please be careful.”

“You too!” He grabbed my shoulder in a reassuring way and then headed to the front door where Charlie was waiting.

“Where is Kevin going?”

I sighed before answering Brian, “To prove that we aren’t lying about the plane.”  Before he could object I cut in, “He’ll be okay.”

Nick finally stirred himself awake and just like AJ, I could see the disappointment on his face when he realized where we were. “Hey buddy, how are you feeling?”

He looked over to me. “Okay I guess.” Brian helped him off the ground and led him to breakfast.

“He doesn’t look good.”

It’s not a good sign when AJ notices things like that. I was trying to ignore it myself. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, I have a mission. “I’ll be right back.” I stood up and made my way over to Alan Epps who had just given Nick his breakfast and was standing over by the sink cleaning up.

I walked over and poured myself a cup of coffee, even though I didn’t really want one. When Alan made eye contact with me I thought I’d ask, “Not to sound stupid but what’s today’s date?”

“Believe me, that’s not a stupid question. It’s hard to keep track these days, but I’m pretty sure it’s May 22nd or there about.”

“1999” I said under my breath but just loud enough that he could hear me.

He laughed, “Yup, still 1999. They haven’t changed the way the calendar works yet…and I stress yet!”

Okay so, now we at least knew that we hadn’t lost any time. It was still the same year and day it was supposed to be. Thought I’d try something else, out of curiosity.

“Has anyone heard from Clinton?”

Alan looked up, “Who?”

“Bill Clinton, the President.”

“The President of what?” Okay, now I know why Kevin asked me to be a silent observer because I had no idea how to get out of this one.

“Um… so how long have you guys been staying in this place?”

He seemed fine with the change of discussion. “For about three months or so, you know how it goes we have to just keep moving.”

“Yeah…” I decided to make my way back to the guys before he could start asking me questions.

My head was spinning with this new information. He had no idea who Bill Clinton was, unless he was joking but he didn’t seem to be joking about anything. Do I tell the guys about this or do I keep it to myself? Why freak them out for no reason. I will tell Kevin when he gets back but these guys I’m keeping in the dark.

I went back and sat down beside my friends. As they all ate I just looked around and tried my best to listen in on any conversations I could. There were two guys sitting rather close to us talking about that club Delilah’s.

Just by eavesdropping I was able to tell that it was actually Don that was telling everyone to show up there as a trap for the bad guys. He was hoping to lure as many of them to the club as possible and then take them out at all at once. Apparently they keep that message going on a steady loop and every night like clockwork they show up hoping to take out the enemy. I guess they went last night and found nothing. It’s a good thing we didn’t go there.

AJ and Brian went to go help Amita, one of the only women here, help move some boxes of supplies down to the basement to make more room and Nicky stayed with me, dosing off once more on the floor beside me. I kind of wanted to hunker down for a nap as well but I needed to continue to find out as much as I could so I decided to stroll around the room, introducing myself and seeing if anyone needed any help with anything at all. I ended up helping three people with the dishes and just stayed quiet while they talked. First they went on about how tired they were of the snow and how much they missed the spring and summer weather. They made it sound like they haven’t seen a change in season in quite some time.

Next they talked about a makeshift memorial put up in honor of all of the people they have lost. How much they missed their families and in that conversation Donald Trump’s name came up more than once. I wasn’t sure why but whatever the reason, they hated the Donald. They kept blaming him for something they called the united front.

Finally talk went on about the gallows and how just last week alone whoever ‘they’ were, hung about ten people they considered traitors of the united front. I walked away with goose bumps forming on my arms. If I wasn’t so afraid I probably would have just kept walking out the door and as far away as possible.

“It gets easier.”

I turned towards Don as he followed me into another room where people were just spread out on blankets on the floor making small talk.

“Does it?”

He nodded, “I didn’t think I’d be able to handle it at first, all of us living together like a pack of rats. It’s funny how quickly you adjust to your situations.”

“How long have you all been together?”

“It’s been a long time. I’d say for at least 8 months. Before we took over this space we lived in a farmhouse outside of the city. How have you managed to keep him hidden?” He pointed over to Nick who was once again sleeping on the floor.

“What do you mean?” I was starting to panic thinking that maybe he had figured out Nick was famous and that’s why he looked so familiar.

“It’s hard to keep the young ones without getting caught.”

“Oh, it wasn’t like that in New York.”

“Well you guys are lucky,” He said after a really long pause, “The first thing they did was take the kids. Anyone under the age of 15 had to leave.”

“Where did they go?”

“Somewhere safe, at least that’s what Trump said.”

“Trump.”

“Yeah, before he abandoned us.”

He took a deep breath and sat down, “Then came orders for anyone under the age of 21.”

“Oh.”

“Of course when you’re 8, you don’t put up a fight, you just go, but when you’re 20 it’s a different story.”

He paused for a second to put on the sweatshirt he was holding, “Anyway, as the kids fought, the united front came in and started killing people. If they tried to put up a fight they made the teens watch as they killed their parents or anyone they happened to be with.”

“Jesus…”

“People decided they didn’t want to die and just started willingly giving up the kids, letting the UF know where to find them and ratting on people who helped them hide.”

“That’s terrible.”

“We had a few younger ones with us for a little while.”

“What happened to them?”

Don looked at the people in the room “We were out on a food run about a month ago and were surrounded by the UF. When IDs were checked, they found the under aged kids and we had to give them up.”

Seeing my apprehension Don put a hand on my shoulder, “It’s a scary place, no matter how nice people are. You’ll see that those types of decisions are going to have to be made every day, whether you want to make them or not. We do what we need to do to stay alive. The kid will be safe as long as he doesn’t venture outside, especially alone.”

I smiled at him, “Thanks.”

“Now, I want to ask you something.”

“Okay, shoot.” I was hoping I’d be able to bullshit my way out of anything that came out of his mouth.

“Why are you guys lying to my brother?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you’re clearly not from New York because this all STARTED in New York! All of the things I’m talking about, they happened there before they happened here so, tell me the truth now or I will send your little friend out the door. Remember, we do what we have to do to survive.”

I just sat there staring at this man not having a clue what should come out of my mouth next.

“You have five minutes…”

I changed my mind once again about Don and what an ass he was.