Chapter
4
FirstEncounter
WhileWesley slept, a recollection from his past played in his dreams...
Igassed it down Interstate 65; the speedometer didn’t seem to wantto go over one hundred and twenty miles per hour.
Iheld the wheel so tight that I felt the accumulated sweat ease thetension without my consent. My eyes remained glued to the road thatthroughout our course from Alabaster, Alabama, and now nearingMontgomery, was barren and completely isolated. Not a stray car onthe road, nothing… absolutely nothing.
Iglanced to my snoozing passenger Ronald, his head against the glass,and hands still caressed his M4 rifle. And in the backseat Andrew, mybuddy from school, stared out the window as he twittered his thumbs.
“Wesman… this is some f*cked up shit bro.” Andrew muttered.
Igrinned and nodded. “Yeah dude, I agree.”
Ading took my attention down to the display. Below the speedometer thefuel light turned on… less than a quarter tank left.
FifteenMiles Until Empty.
Scrolledthe icon on the dash over the CD tray.
Ronaldyawned. “Well f*ck, glad this piece of shit car has an alarm systemtoo.” He flicked the dash and pressed the little Informationbutton. “Might as well patch up and get some gas and grab some grubwhile we’re at it.”
“YeahI’m pretty hungry.” I said.
“Samefor me… I have to take a piss too.” Andrew said.
“When’sthe next exit?” I asked Andrew.
“Shitif I know.”?
“Dudeyou’ve been staring out the window the entire time”—
“Whatthe f*ck Andrew, you’ve been staring out the window and couldn’tlook at a god damn sign?” Ronald said.
Ilaughed.
“Hey,hey, who the f*ck made me the sign watch guy?”
“Practicallyeveryone. Wes is driving, I was snoozing, you, apparently with yourhead up your ass”—
“Wellshit, look ahead right there, a f*cking sign.” Andrew said.“Happy?”
Ronaldloosened the seatbelt strap and straightened. “About time.”
Islowed down.
“Oneand a half miles until some bull shit junction, there better be a gasstation in that little exit, just take it.” Andrew said.
“Mightas well.” I said.
Itake the exit and stop at the crossroad, to my left nothing but roadand to my right a Chevron.
Iturn right and make my way towards the Chevron Lounge Station, someextra large Gas station with some diners built into it. This one hada Subway and Taco Bell.
“Ohf*ck yeah, I’ve been craving a soft taco!” Andrew said.
“Hopeyou’re craving to make it yourself kid.” Ronald said.
Iparked the car next to a gas pump, pressed the fuel eject button, andgot out of the car.
“I’llpump the gas.” I said.
“Lookslike this place was abandoned.” Andrew said.
Ronaldstepped out of the car and closed the door. He crossed his arms. “Wemight have to break in there Wes, I think these shitty pumps areactivated in there.”
Igroaned. “Ugh, yeah.”
Ronaldopened the door and grabbed his M4. “Load your weapons kids, wedon’t know what’s in there.”
“Ohyeah, this is the time where those f*cking zombies come out and tryto eat us.” Andrew said as he rolled his eyes.
Ronaldturned to Andrew. “Shut the f*ck up and do what I asked, best to beprepared.”
Iwent into the glove compartment and pulled the nine-millimeter pistolRonald gave me.
Andrewdug in his coat pocket and pulled out his small handgun.
“Pullthe keys out of the ignition and lock the doors.” Ronald said.
Idid as he asked.
Ronaldaimed the rifle ahead. “Shut the fuel intake, we’ll break in,eat, and then pump the gas.”
Itwasn’t really breaking and entering the doors were opened. Theplace was just abandoned.
Subway'smake your own sub seemed easier the other way around since they lefteverything already out and ready inside the cooler beneath the glassdisplay. I made two one-foot long chicken breast subs one smotheredwith sweet onion sauce and the other with honey mustard.
Ronaldnibbled on some chocolate pretzels and Andrew ate his own style softtaco.
“Goingto go see if I can find a big bag of some sort to take a bunch ofthis shit to go, we’ll need food and water”—
“Seeif they have a couple of gas canisters too.” I said.
“Smartidea kid, extra fuel wouldn’t hurt,” Ronald glanced over thecounter. “Too bad they don’t have ammunition. Anyways I’ll beright back.”
Andrewtook a seat on the booth next to me and nudged me in the arm.
“Sowhere’d you meet this guy at?”
Iwiped my lips and took a sip of soda. “Bumped into him in myapartment complex. Without him I’d probably be dead.”
“Gladyour still here man, my parents didn’t give me a phone call, f*ckman, I almost thought it was that rapture thing and I was leftbehind… but seeing that neither of my parents haven’t been tochurch in years, I had to question their faith a bit.” He laughed.“But still, its spooky, this is some seriously scary shit… I’mscared beyond scared, I’m terrified. My hands never shake and lookat them man.” He outstretched his hands. “They’re f*ckingshaking.”
Isnickered. “Dude I’m with you right there.”
ButI’m alive and that’s all that matters. I just hope my parents areall right in New York. The rest of my family is out somewhere acrossthe Atlantic, so I’m not too sure about their well being since Irarely talk to them... something I regret now.
“Dudedid you see any transports around your area?”
Andrewshook his head, “No, why?”
Mybrow slumped. “You didn’t hear the loud sirens going off?”
“Shit,”he hesitates with his jaw-dropped, “I-I thought it was some f*ckingaccident or something so I didn’t pay attention to it. Speaking ofwhich, I did hear loud bangs on my door, but I just kept sleeping anddidn’t think anything of it.”
Isnickered. “Yeah, I slept in today to, didn’t really want to goto Anatomy and stupid Western Civilization class.”
“Yeahman, f*ck that shit. Western Civ. is complete and utter bull shitanyways… I honestly thought I’d grab a piece of paper, slab abunch of random shit about history and staple it on my history book.”
“Yourcrazy man.”
“Seriouslythough, what if Dothan is our best bet. My parents are down there,and it’s a random ass town in the middle of nowhere, screw going toMobile Bay.”
“Butthat’s where the transports are being taken, maybe we can connectwith them”—
“F*ckthat man, w-what if whatever’s causing this shit knows about MobileBay, what if Mobile Bay is a ghost town by now just like Birmingham?”
Irubbed my face and shook my head. “Let’s hope not.”
Andrewbit a chunk off another soft taco. “Well man,” he chewed andgulped it down with some soda, “If all else fails Dothan can be ournext destination.”
“You’rethat worried about your parents?”
Andrewgave me a pissed off look, “Dude, what the f*ck, aren’t you?”
He’sgot a point. Stupid question.
Inodded.
“Whatbull shit you kids talking about?” Ronald said.
Hisloud voice and footsteps made me jump. Ronald walked around thecorner with two large duffle bags and threw them on the floor.
“Andrewwas saying about heading to Dothan.” I said.
“No,we’re on route to Mobile Bay.” Ron said. “Those we’re myorders and I’m going to follow them.”
Andrewcleared his throat. “And what if Mobile Bay is deserted likeeverything else?”
“Thenwe’ll drive to Alaska."
“F*ckthat!” Andrew said.
“Youcan stay behind if you’d like, but I’m not going to stand aroundlike a sitting duck.” Ron said.
“He’sgot a point Andrew.” I said.
Hedidn’t reply.
Ronglanced at me and tapped the duffle bags with his foot. “I got abunch of snacks, food, a couple of sodas, and a lot of water. I alsoturned the pumps on so we can get gas now.”
Andrewrose. “Did you get a bunch of candy and potato chips?”
Ronrolled his eyes. “This isn’t a god damn road trip kid… but yeahI did.” He smirked and winked.
“Awesome!”Andrew said.
Iwent ahead and took one of the duffle bags and made my way towardsthe car. The air felt brisk. I glared at the sky to see the overcastof thin sheets of clouds making its way across the sky.
“Whatthe f*ck is this!” Ron tossed the duffle bag on top of the hood andplanted his arms on his hips. “Isn’t it May and its this cold?”
Ishrugged. “You know, this wouldn’t surprise me… the weatherhere is sometimes spontaneous, heck, tomorrow it might be one hundreddegrees again!”
“Pleasedon’t f*cking say that, it’s been the hottest summer ever… if Ibreak a god damn sweat as I stroll to my car from the parking lot,that’s when its too hot.” Ron said.
“Hey,where’s Andrew?” I asked.
Ronglanced back towards the station. “I thought he was behind me…maybe he’s just in the toilet.” He turned to me again. “Makesure you go too, I want to get to Mobile Bay with this food and threegas canisters.”
Inodded. “Yeah I’m fine, don’t worry about me. I think Andrewhas the canisters.”
Iunlocked the car, opened the door, and popped open the gas intake.Strolled towards the gas pump, pick the premium, and stuck the nozzlein the hole.
“Ifyou want me to drive I don’t mind kid.” Ron said.
“No,no, I’m fine. I’ll drive all the way to Mobile Bay… if I gettired I’ll just hand the wheel over to you.” I said.
“Theoffer is there, and by the way,” he paused and connected eyes tomine. He seemed grave. “I found a f*cking iPhone charger, hah!”He dug into his pocket and pulled out a car charger. “Now we cansee if we can contact your parents… I’ll call my commandingofficer and see what the f*ck is going on here.”
Ismirked and shook my head. “That’s a relief.”
Thenozzle clicked and trickles of overflowing gas rolled down the sideof the car.
“Pullyour gun out, Andrew isn’t back yet.” Ron said as he clicked thesafety off his M4 and raised it up to his line of sight.
Ohgreat… a random and unneeded search and rescue quest to find mybuddy who’s probably sitting in the pot.
Afterreturning the nozzle back to the clasp, I took the pistol and aimedit, but I refused to remove the safety.
Ronaldstrode towards the door. “You know, does this really happen?Honestly, what the f*ck Wes… shit, shit, shit.” He whispered.
Ronaldkicked the doors opened and hurried through.
Iwalked casually inside. “Aren’t we supposed to be discrete?”
Ronaldrose. “Goddamn it kid… I’m trying to make this a specialmoment.”
Ilaughed.
Aquake occurred. I raised my gun and hurried towards the door andglanced outside. A black blot in the sky had my jaw dropped.
“R-Ronald,look!”
Ronaldshoved me through the door and then pushed me aside. “Holy shit…I-I don’t think it’s a NASA cruiser, unless they’ve beensecretly manufacturing it,” his dumbstruck face glanced over at me.“A field test?”
Agargantuan aircraft hovered overhead far, far South. Even with itsdistance the aircraft looked bigger than anything I’ve ever seen,bigger than the biggest cruise ship I’ve set my eyes on…
~
Thehum of the engine soothed my anxiousness…
Italso ruined the vision that played in my head. I didn’t evenremember falling asleep. I rub my face and wipe away some accumulatedsweat.
Itake a sip of water and think. Think about that vision of my pastthat I had. My heart aches so much just thinking about Ronald andAndrew… seeing their faces, hearing their voices… can my body’ssoul comprehend that they’re gone and that I’ll never see themagain? Can my inner me, the part that remembers my past, know thatthey’ve been erased?
Idon’t know and I sure as hell don’t want to believe that. I can’tcope with any more stress than I’m already bearing.
Isit back and sigh.
Mindysleeps soundly across from me. Her head is snuggled on a pillow andbody wrapped with a blanket. Even while she sleeps she remains asflawless as a polished diamond.
NineHours Later…
Theplane’s turbulence wakes me.
“Pleaseforgive the turbulence. We’ve arrived at our course and are fourminutes from arrival.”
Aman in the intercom says.
Mindyyawns and outstretches her hands. “Finally, I was getting antsy”—
“Youknow you were snoozing the entire time right?” I mutter.
Shesmirks. “Really?”
“Yeahsleeping like a baby.”
Mindygiggles. “I wouldn’t take it that far but,” she pauses, takesthe glass of water on her armrest, and takes a sip, “It’s thisatmosphere, it’s so—just, I don’t know, I can’t reallydescribe sleeping and flying… I mean it’s so serene and calm.”She rises and leaves towards the back somewhere.
“Yeahit’s calm until this turbulence shit begins to mess with mystomach.” I whisper.
***