2. "I think we should head to those hills. We have the maps, we can make it."
"Alright, then. Let's put it to an official vote!" David says, a small undercurrent of sarcasm in his voice. "I agree with Wolfy. Let's head to the hills."
"I suppose I'll cast my vote for the hills as well," Jacob says.
You halfway expect Nicole to say something, but she only continues to stare out the window.
"Well, looks like we're changing course. The highway junction is right up ahead, if I remember correctly, actually," you say.
David opens the glove compartment and pulls out the maps. After a minute of fumbling around with them, he confirms what you thought. "Yeah," he says. "Should be seeing it anytime now."
A few minutes later you come to the turn off. There's a gas station and a small diner here in the middle of nowhere that you remember from trips in your past, but both are now skeletal, burnt remains.
"How'd the fire get out here?" Jacob asks. "Look, the grass around the structures is hardly burnt. It's like someone set fire to the buildings."
"I don't know," you say, as you turn left past them. A few cars are on the road here. They look abandoned. You peer into them as you drive slowly past, but see nothing. One has blood on the windshield. The wiper is standing up, smearing it across the glass.
Suddenly, there is the sound of shattering glass. You look back and see two crawlers have emerged from the window of a car and are rapidly closing with your vehicle. You accelerate as one launches an incredibly long vine at the back of your car.
Jacob is looking back out the rear window. "We lost one, but the other is latched on!" he says.
Nicole starts to climb forward into the front of the car. David roughly pushes her back and sights his rifle. "Get down," he says.
In your rear view mirror you see tentacles reaching up over the back of your car, and then the crawler flips up onto the back and smashes itself against the rear windshield. David seems to be unable to get enough room to properly aim.
The crawler is continuing to smash itself into the glass. Cracks are starting to appear.
"Fuck it," you say, and slam on the brakes. A horrible screeching fills your ears as your tires lay black track onto the pavement. The crawler again crashes into the window, but this time it continues to roll across the top of your car. You head it thud right above your head.
"What the fuck are you doing!?" David yells.
You quickly open your door, and, ducking, step outside. The crawler is still on top of your car. Vines hold it in place. Some of these vines look to be over five feet long. You reach into your pocket and bring out the 9mm.
The crawler stirs, and the vines tense, then start to writhe. It picks itself up, a small ball of flesh and horror and rot.
You blow it off the top of your car with one well aimed shot. You hear a wet thud as it lands on the pavement across the car from you. Vines trail after it.
Checking the road behind you, you see the other crawler rolling along at a brisk pace toward you. Still quite a ways back. You get back into the car and press the gas.
David shakes his head. "That was stupid. You could have gotten yourself killed," he says.
"It worked, didn't it?" you say.
He smiles. "Yeah, I guess it did. You're a pretty good shot, you know."
"I must have been a sharp shooter or something in a past life, because I know fuck-all about guns," you say, then look over your shoulder back at Nicole. "Sorry, kid."
She only smiles at you. "You were a knight," she says.
David laughs. "Fancy that. Sir Wolfy. Next she'll be telling us Jacob is a prince."
"He is not!" Nicole says. "Jakey is a doctor."
Jacob, for his part, seems afraid but coming down off it. "I am. And as a doctor, I advise your friend Wolfy to not ever do anything like that again. Scared the heck out of me. For a moment I thought he'd lost his --"
He suddenly stops talking, realizing what he was saying. You glance at him but say nothing. A moment passes in silence as the road continues to roll under you.
"He's not far off the mark, you know," Benny says from behind you.
Surprised, you look up into your rear view mirror to see him sitting with both arms stretched out to his sides, along the back, draped over Nicole's and Jacob's shoulders. He's grinning at you with his one eye.
You turn, and he's not there. Jacob and Nicole sit alone, only looking out the windows.
You check the mirror again, and he's still grinning at you.
"Nope, they can't see me, bro. Not even little miss mystery here," he says. "That was nice going, by the way, with the crawler on the roof. Nice footwork. Quick thinking. These fools you're with don't appreciate you, I think. All they do is nag nag nag."
Steeling yourself, you ignore him.
"Heading to the hills, eh?" he says. "Not a bad move, I'd say. I mean, from your perspective. Once you get up there, well, you might realize it's not so smart of a move."
Benny leans forward, and in the mirror, you see his mouth is almost in your ear. But you don't actually see him there.
"I'll bet you're just dying to ask me some questions," he says, his breath hot on the nape of your neck and ear canal. "But what would your friends think? Eh? Talking to yourself in a metal cage hurtling at seventy down the sun baked highway? You think Jacob might get worried, maybe ask you to pull over? Could you blame him, really?"
You stare back at him in the mirror, grim faced, willing him to go away.
"Oh, relax, bro. I'm just kidding ya," he says, and grins again. "I'm sure you're quite sane. I mean, hell, I used to see dead people all the time, too. But then, I was infected with some sort of flesh worm parasite that was eating my brain."
As you stare at him, his face next to yours, you suddenly notice something.
His eye. His remaining eye. It's brown.
Just like yours. Exactly like yours. Even down to the tiny flecks of black.
Benny leans back and laughs hysterically. "You finally noticed!" he says, wiping away tears from his remaining eye with one hand. "Man, what did you think, you got that new eye for free from Princess here? Nah, nothing is free in this world, bro, and you'd best remember that."
Benny winks at you (blinks?) and runs a hand through Nicole's hair. It looks like he can actually touch her. He brings a lock to his nose and inhales. "Ahhhhhhh," he says. "The sweet smell of innocence. Or... was that the sickly sweet smell of decay? Hard to say, really. With a nose like mine, I mean, I can hardly be trusted, either way."
He grins one last time and vanishes. Nicole's hair abruptly goes back to where it was.
The noise of the engine suddenly comes back. You didn't realize it had gone until just now.
You pull over, suddenly.
"Everything OK?" Jacob asks.
"Yeah," you say, breathing hard. "I just... I'm alright. I just need to get some air."
"That's one thing there's still plenty of," David says.
You push open your door and step onto the road. It's empty, both ways, as far as you can see. The foothills lie ahead, maybe a mile or two.
You think about what Benny said. Are the hills really safe for you? Is he just a figment of your imagination? Can he know something you don't?
Nicole touches your waist. You look down at her.
"What's wrong?" she asks. You see Jacob listening in from the other side of the car.
"Nothing, kid," you reply, smiling. "I'm fine. Just a bit... carsick."
"You want me to drive?" she asks seriously.
You laugh. "Don't you think you're a bit young for that? Can you reach the pedals?"
Nicole looks indignant. "I bet I could!"
"How old are you, anyway?"
"Eleven," she says, looking down and circling a foot.
"Really?" you say. "Are you sure you're not twenty? You look so grown up."
Nicole gasps. "Never! I never wanna grow up! Grown ups are dumb. I'm a Toys R Us kid."
You shake your head and pick her up, lifting her above your head. She screeches and you spin her around once, then set her down. Her cheeks are flushed, and she hugs you around the midsection, looking up at you.
"Come on, Wolfy," she says. "We have to get going. It's not safe here."
it's not safe anywhere
"Yeah, OK," you say. "Let's go."
The four of you get back into the car, and you drive with a heavy heart under the yellow sun into the golden hills.
Behind you, cities burn, and worse.
End
Act 1
To Be Continued
Author
Topic: The End (Read 57536 times)