Gorge, a novel in progress by Michael Gullo (2026)
“Who knew the Armageddon could be so fun.”
“I would have given away thousands of dollars years ago if I knew it felt like that.”
“I would have got addicted.”
“Where to?”
“I need to stop in at Bill’s – Take a left.”
“Need cameras?”
“No. But if anyone’s got something setup, it’s him. Except he won’t have supplies.”
“Like, bring him something?”
“No. We’ll just stop in, make sure he knows to ask.”
“He’s not the asking type.”
“No, but, you know.”
“All the times I’ve visited, we’ve never been down this way.”
“This is Chapman Highway. It’s the road I was telling you about.”
“You’re right. It’s just like Central Ave.”
“Uncanny, ain’t it?”
“It is. Right down to the 1970s era storefronts – everywhere.”
“Old stuff’s got use left in it.”
“Pretty soon –”
“Go on, say it.”
“If this hadn’t happened, pretty soon the whole country would have been one uniform stucco architecture.”
“Not everywhere.”
“Michael. I’m all over the country. If you kidnapped someone and dropped them off somewhere, they could be anywhere. It’s all the same.”
“Take a left at the Walmart.”
“See? This is exactly what I mean. Walmart, food, coffee, oil change. All the same.”
“Jesus! That’s a madhouse.”
“Definitely don’t want to be in that store right now.”
“People are figuring it out, for sure.”
“The stupid shit they used the Emergency Alert for all those years, and now we need it, and there’s nothing.”
“This is not only a test.”
"Had this been an actual emergency, the attention signal you just heard would have been followed by official information, news, or instructions."
“Wow, there’s a blast from the past. I haven’t heard that in years.”
“That’s a lot of years testing to finally need it, and we get nothing.”
“I haven’t heard one of those tests in years though. Maybe they did away with it.”
“I mean, I get Amber Alerts and Weather and stuff.”
“Nothing for this though.”
“Looks Emergencyish to me.”
“I wonder if they have a 911 category for emergency-ish.”
“It’s 912, Michael.”
“No, that’s Southeast Georgia.”
“I’m confused. Are we still talking about the guy with the propane tanks in his cart’s got three dudes around him pointing guns?”
“Take another left.”
“I wanna see this.”
“You gotta drive, man. I don’t know what’s going on over there, but they’re starting to notice our ride, and I don’t know how you pull your eyes from that to this, but I don’t want to be that interesting.”
“Is that guy cutting his lawn?”
“Well, let’s see. Tube socks pulled up. Khaki shorts. Belt. Shirt tucked in. Boonie hat. Wind chimes. Bird Feeder. Yup.”
“You gotta be kidding me. There’s Mrs. Socks coming out with a sweet tea.”
“He’ll be here tomorrow if you wanna see him again.”
“Dude, it’s April.”
“It’s sixty-seven. They start early around here. Take a right.”
“Do you think he knows?”
“Hard to miss two blocks in back of Walmart.”
“Surprising though, all the old trees and houses been here for years.”
“I always imagined like back in the old times these were like the shopkeeper’s houses or whatever.”
“Probably so.”
“Take this left, and he’s two doors down on the left.”
“That one?”
“Pull in.”
“Oh, this isn’t Socks’ place is it?”
“Nope. Bill does tuck his T-shirt in, though.”
“I didn’t expect this.”
“Cool, isn’t it?”
“The stream running through the front yard. That’s a nice touch.”
“I’m pretty sure that came with the place.”
“I bet this is gorgeous when the leaves are on those trees.”
“It really is.”
“Wait – why’s he carrying a gun?”
“I guess he knows. Where’s the window button?”
“Crank it down.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful – I haven’t see… Cool, that was like two cranks.”
“Three.”
“Bill, it’s me. And James. Seriously, how’d the whole window come down in two cranks?”
“German engineers.”
“Oh boy, what the hell is that thing?”
“Hang on, man. Getting out of this thing’s like rock climbing.”
“Hey, buddy. I didn’t see you the last couple times I was here.”
“Heya, James. That’s one heck of a ride.”
“You never saw this one?”
“No. Last time I saw you it was like a white Lexus or something.”
“Joan’s car.”
“Well, this is cool. Is it bullet proof?”
“You’d be surprised.”
“No I wouldn’t. I’d start out empty the clip and check after.”
“Bro, maybe you could get a ladder on this beast or something.”
“Maybe you could quit smoking and get a little exercise. You wouldn’t need a walker to get down out of a truck.”
“That’s what I told him.”
“Actually, Bill. James here is one of those people I met in one of those smoker huddles. Junior year, 1987. Forty years, Bill.”
“I didn’t know you smoke, James.”
“I quit when Andrew was born.”
“Nobody likes a quitter.”
“This is a nice place, Bill.”
“Three and two-thirds acres.”
“Two-thirds, ha?”
“Is that your Boxer?”
“That’s Jackson.”
“Joanie has had two of them. They’re our favorite dogs in the world, but I gotta say – ours never ever sat patiently on the porch while we greeted the visitors.”
“Always been like that. Don’t go near the door though. He’ll bite you if you’re not with me.”
“That’s why we built this Amazon box out here.”
“You helped him build that?”
“My design.”
“What he means is; when I was building this, he called, and was all pissy I had to run the saw while he blabbered on about a camera wasn’t pointed just right.”
“Who built the pyramids, Bill, the masters or the slaves?”
“Actually…”
“Don’t say it, Fernandez.”
“Well, it’s true. Most Egyptologists agree that the pyramids were built by paid labor. In the 1990s, a team excavated the workers' town, with bakeries, barracks, and enough cattle bones to show they were well fed. Their graves sit right in the shadow of the pyramids they built.”
“Oh boy. I’m so glad you’re here, put this guy in his place.”
“Pleasure’s all mine.”
“This guy been building bunkers so long I dread the barrage of I-told-you-so’s he’s got cued up.”
“Solar Mechanical Room.”
“Buddy. I built the server and I installed the cameras. James, he had me run all the wires along the foundation walls rather than right through the middle of the basement ceiling – like double the wire.”
“Why?”
“He’s got this plan…”
“Bill.”
“He’s got this plan. The whole house is designed so he can collapse it.”
“What the hell?”
“Go on, tell him. Don’t stand there all bashful. The whole place is supported on hidden steel stilts that hold up the beams for the trusses. Tell him.”
“I didn’t design it that way.”
“He did. And he’s so proud too. You shoulda seen him as he’s describing it to me.”
“No, Bill. He’s bullshitting you. What happened was, the house plan off the internet was planned from a very rough foundation drawing and all of the detail from the top of that foundation up. When we got the builder, he used his engineer to design the actual in-place basement. What’s all this matter anyway. We came over here to touch base and say hey.”
“It matters because it looks like time to use it.”
“It’s a one-bedroom safe room, Bill.”
“Bunker. But at least you didn’t call it the mechanical room.”
“The solar gear is in there, Bill.”
“Yeah, and a futon and a full bathroom. This guy forgets I was there while he’s teaching Tanner to install the backup water heater. The backup, James.”
“Oh, I been in there, Bill. I kinda like the cedar walls though. It’s a nice touch. I didn’t see these stilts though.”
“Yeah you did. Those exposed steel beams across the ceiling. They’re on steel beams, not in pockets on the wall.”
“I didn’t design it that way.”
“He did.”
“I didn’t. The engineer told the concrete guy – I was standing right there – that he needed to build in beam pockets and set the LVL beams into the pockets. She’s discussing with Michael – the builder – How and where to install the separation walls for the segments of basement, and Stefanie jumps in, she wants an open floor plan.”
“Now he blames it on Stefanie.”
“Okay, look. I got no reason to lie. I did not design the house to be collapsed. It’s a side effect. What I did is what I do. I got on the phone and got the pieces and arranged the cutting and the crane and my guys worked with Michael’s guys, and we put installed the beams…”
“And the stilts.”
“And the stilts, and one day while Bill and I were running wire for the cameras and the TVs and the cell phone antennas, it came to me. The whole first floor – the trusses – are all sitting on these beams, and if just one beam was pulled out, and that wouldn’t be hard, if one beam was pulled out, the whole house would collapse in a pile.”
“Wait. What good does that do you – no house, no bunker.”
“Oh, no, James this guy’s got that covered too. Says it’s for battery fire safety. Tell him. It’s time you hear how crazy this sounds.”
“I’m not ashamed of this, Bill. The bedroom is directly above the batteries. And even if I didn’t do it myself, the building department would never have issued the permit without it.”
“What’s “It?””
“It is a concrete roof over the mechanical room.”
“And a concrete wall separating the space from the rest of the basement.”
“Yes. So, it’s a concrete box, floor, walls, ceiling. And that’s why we call it a bunker.”
“See? He calls it a bunker.”
“Sometimes.”
“I mean, sounds like a bunker to me.”
“So, anyways, this guy’s got me running wire along the tops of the concrete walls instead of in straight lines across the ceiling so that when he sets up the skid steer in the garage and attaches the chain to the beam and pulls it out the house collapses, and it’s less interesting to scavengers in a shit hits the fan situation.”
“Told you so.”
“Dude, Jackson’s little nub starts wiggling every time I look over there.”
“He’s been sitting there the whole time.”
“He won’t move. Been like this since I got him.”
“Ours would already have had muddy foot prints all over your clothes, and you’d probably have a fat lip from all the jumping by now.”
“He’s a good boy.”
“So, I gotta get headed back to Hammond soon.”
“Yeah, buddy. We were out and about, and I thought we’d stop in, like before, or whatever.”
“Oh boy, it’s gonna get ugly. Are you sure you wanna drive eight hours in this.”
“Got no choice. Joanie and the guys will be hunkered down at the house worried sick, and Skid Steer over here clearly doesn’t need my help.”
“You got everything you need, Bill?”
“We’re good.”
“When’s Cindy get home?”
“She’s in there now. Taking a nap while I set up the UPS for the radio.”
“Well, you know where I’m at. I told you you needed solar power.”
“Plenty of time for that later.”