The Lost 20,000

“20,000 dollars?” I looked down into the beaten suitcase, “What am I supposed to do with 20,000 dollars?!” My voice echoed through the bank halls.

. . .

12 Hours Earlier

“We have to go out again.” A gruff voice sounded from the doorway.

I immediately recognized the voice belonging to Luke and blinked against the dim yellow coming from his flashlight. I rolled over in my sleeping bag and tucked the taffeta around my head.

“We just went out two days ago.” I mumbled through the bag.

“Yeah, well,” He hesitated. “That was before the Doc said Nora's going to pop any day. We need more supplies.” Luke grunted, I could hear the concern choking him.

I shoved the sleeping bag off my body and rolled over to my pants and boots. More supplies, I thought, going out into the wasteland again, great.

“Okay then. Let's go.” I pushed past Luke and walked down the abandoned factory hallway.

. . .

Leaving the compound was never wise. Ever since the “great blast” it was better to stay underground or surrounded by thick concrete walls. The world had changed drastically in only three years. War leading to famine, leading to more war, which inevitably lead to the end of society. Now we scavenge, hunt, and forage for what we need. Small towns are avoided because of raiders and unless you desperately need medicine, hospitals in big cities are death traps waiting to happen.

Luke and I headed out in the dark, our dim flashlights barely giving us enough light to see past our feet. We continued out of the compound in silence, our feet silent against the soft dirt. By the time we left the outer gates of the factory the sun was beginning to rise behind us. The burning orange light spread our shadows into the depths of the forest we entered. It would take us two hours to get to the main road from the forest, another hour until the first abandoned town, then five hours to the city.

Luke kept glancing at me as we trudged through the forest, stopping only for a few seconds to pick some berries to eat. You had to take food wherever you found it nowadays. After the first hour of silence, between us keeping quiet and the dead silence of zero wildlife in the area, I couldn't take the glances anymore.

“What?” I snapped at Luke, looking at him for the first time in weeks.

His beard had grown longer, there were some grey hairs despite him being only thirty-two, and the bags under his eyes looked like they could carry his weight back at the group. He looked at me shocked, the last time we really talked ended in me yelling at him, and now here I was yelling at him again.

“Cal... I just...” He hesitated. “Nothing. It's nothing.”

“Why did you bring me?” I asked. “Of all the capable people in the compound, why me?”

Luke didn't respond, he continued on silently for the rest of the hour in the forest. By the time we made it to the main road all the stiffness of sleep had worn off and I felt ready to make the trek into the city. A scavenge party had gone out two days ago for basic supplies; more blankets, food, batteries. It didn't occur to me that Nora was going to have her baby so soon. She looked huge, but she had looked huge for the last three months, I hadn't realized it had already been so long. Luke already looked like a sleep-deprived parent, but despite being one of the leaders of our group I didn't think he was ready at all.

“I think we should case the town before we head to the city. I could use some more arrows and there might be some extra food.” I said to Luke as we followed the main road.

He looked at me for a moment. “That's why I brought you...” He said so quietly I thought I misheard. “Because you always find exactly what we need.”

We made it into the old town around hour three of our journey. The day was warm, which was good for now, there were some clouds roaming in from the west. The town was quiet, as usual. We cleared it out from bandits two months ago, it was pretty much picked clean from them and from us. I liked the town thought, it was old even before the great blast. Resembled one of those cowboy towns from movies, with the same architecture from the time, there was a saloon and everything. Luke and I split up to search some of the houses, the old store, and clinic.

“No more than twenty minutes, okay? We have to make it back to the compound tonight.” Luke tapped his watch and walked into one of the townhouses.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. It takes five hours to walk to the city, we've been out for three already, not to mention the hour or two it will take us to search the hospital. All of that time minus any interruptions from bandits or blast creatures. There was no way we would make it back tonight, unless we pushed through in the dark. I scoffed again and pushed past a beam of wood and into the old clinic. The clinic used to be part of the cowboy town back in the day too, it still had some old apothecary bottles. Unfortunately, the place was tapped clean. Side tracked by the stupidity of Luke thinking we could make it back tonight, my foot caught on one of the upheaved boards and sent me face first to the ground. I barely caught myself.

I looked back at where my foot got caught and saw the board was uneven. Some of the floorboards were torn up by the blast, some just by time and rot. This was different. I crawled over and knocked, it was hollow. I stuck my fingers into the seems and pried the board up, the rusted nails snapped easily and opened to a small hidden space. I reached inside and found some old money, a few bucks that were water-damaged and outdated, and a small withered black book. I opened the book, the yellow pages cracking under the strain. Inside was a name, “John Moleskine” and a date 1912. I flipped further through and found that the only thing written inside was a map and a discription.

“Luke!” I shouted.

I showed him the map. “It's a map to the old bank in the city. Look what it says at the bottom.”

Luke looked at the book. “All the supplies needed for the town are here.”

“Supplies, Luke. This book was hidden and considering nothing else was written, I don't think anyone made it to the supplies.”

“I don't know, Cal. This book is ancient and that old bank in the city...” Luke trailed off.

“It's worth checking out. This is why you brought me, right? Cause I'm resourceful? It says 'All the supplies needed', that could be medicine, food, tools. It's worth looking in to.” I crossed my arms.

“Fine, Cal. We can check it out.” Luke smirked at me and pulled my arms out. “We need to go now though.”

We left the town and continued out onto the road toward the city. On our way we ran into some packs of wild cats the size of lions and wild dogs the size of small cars. Not wanting to waste time we hid as best we could and snuck past them. It took us a little over five hours to make it into the city. In the distance we could hear the echo of screeching beasts and the screams of people. The city was a bad idea, but we needed medicine and I needed to find those supplies. Luke and I stayed low and quiet and we worked our way past rusted cars and overgrown vines breaking through the streets. Our first stop was the hospital. I studied the map as we walked through a giant hole in the side of the building. It would take an hour to get from the hospital to the old bank.

Luke and I scavenged the maternal ward of the hospital. Not many people are having babies nowadays so there were actually a lot of supplies to be found in cabinets and rooms. I watched look grab some baby blankets and diapers, his face going soft in the dim light. We would never have worked out anyway. He always wanted a family and I lost my family early in the blast. What I needed were those supplies.

“Are you done here?” I snapped.

Luke's head snapped up and all the softness drained from his face, replaced by the hard exterior I knew. “Yeah. Let's go.” He said gruffly and pushed past me out of the room.

After the hour walking from the hospital to the old bank we had already been outside the compound for eleven hours, the sun was cresting its way past the high-rise buildings and threatening to leave the sky soon.

“We're not going to make it back tonight.” I said as we turned a corner, the map hadn't accounted for all the new buildings.

“Yeah,” Luke started, looking up at the sky. “I figured. We could camp out in the old bank if it offers enough cover.”

I thought about the last time Luke and I shacked up somewhere, a little over nine months ago. I let out an aggressive sigh and looked back down at the book. Luke looked over at me, his face softening again. I ignored him, though I could feel him wanting to reach out to me.

“It's around this corner.” I said quickly, moving out of his reach. I didn't want or need his pity, just these supplies.

The bank was old. Older than most things in this city and looked even older after the blast. The left half of roof had caved in completely and the brick was tangled over in thick vines. I sprinted ahead, tripping over abandoned car parts and broken street. Luke called out to me, but he was worlds away. I was hoping for food, enough to keep us fed through the quickly approaching winter. Or, considering the time this map was drawn, blankets and clothes, supplies for fires, or tools to build. We need a greenhouse, but haven't had the right tools to build it. All of that and more is behind those broken brown and red bricks.

I shoved myself into the cracks of the blown away door and climbed over the collapsed roof. The bank had been redone in all that time between 1912 and the great blast. The floors were fancy marble, but blown to chunks. There was a huge glass chandelier on the ground, broken and forgotten by time. I followed the map to the back of the bank and into the old vault, that was never used in modern times. I climbed over the broken metal hinges and into the empty room. Empty. I looked around frantically and began prying open the floorboards. There was a beaten up, old, brown suit case. I pulled it out.

“Medicines. I found the book in the old doctors place, this has to be medicine.” I spoke quietly, as if not to scare the supplies away.

I opened the case, the hinges rusted and broken over time. Inside laid stacked bills, neatly wrapped in twine. I pulled each stack out and ran my fingers through their folds. I heard Luke step into the room behind me.

“20,000 dollars?” I looked down into the beaten suitcase, “What am I supposed to do with 20,000 dollars?!” My voice echoed through the bank halls.

“Oh, Callie...” Luke whispered and dropped to his knees behind me.

I sunk into his arms and wept.