The Way Back (Book 1): The Way Back

by Giancioppo, Danny

  As he did, Nolan hastily remembered what was said to him, and his eyes grew large with both an intense fear and unwavering concern.

  “Chris, shut up,” he threatened, though with a nervous shake to his hand.

  “And…And I told him… I–!” Chris tried to continue.

  “I said shut up, Chris!” Nolan shouted, getting very red in the face. The others looked at him, confused at his overly dramatic reaction.

  “What is wrong with you?” Adam asked.

  “It's not that weird anyway! People say they'd practice and stuff all the time in the movies!” Nolan insisted, then looking back to Chris. “Chris, say one more word and that’s it, I’m taking this outside,” Nolan warned. “Seriously.” Chris paused, and then smiled deviously, catching his breath and seemingly returning to normal.

  “Okay, I’ll save it. Use it as some good blackmail. And hey, don’t worry man, you're right, lots of people do that when they’re younger. Or, you know, almost a legal adult. But hey, practice is practice,” he taunted, Nolan somehow got even more red in the face than before.

  “Right... well hey, why aren’t we moving?” Luke asked, moving on.

  “Ran out of gas at like 4:something,” Adam said.

  “Which was why I was trying to get up,” Chris jumped in, “so I could look to see if there were any cars around we could siphon some gas from. Then little Lannister here wanted to play kissy with si–”

  Nolan shoved Chris while uttering a loud “Uuuuuuuup!” To overplay his taunts. The others looked around and smirked suspiciously, beginning to piece together what had happened.

  “Okay, well, let’s go looking then,” Luke decided, opening his door. The others filed out one by one, and Chris was once more thrown into a fit of laughter, much to Nolan’s chagrin. Chris was then thrown out of the car, much to Nolan’s pleasure.

  They walked out, and searched around. What Adam and Derrick failed to notice last night– with nothing to blame but the vast darkness surrounding them– was that they were parked on the top of a bridge. At least, it was a bridge now. Cody was the first to realize, and without a second thought, he immediately called the group over.

  “Guys! Guys come here!” he yelled from the edge. Chris and the others hastily ran to his side, and looked off the edge of the degraded concrete fixture.

  The entirety of the town-life below them was drowned away in water. Down about twenty-or-so feet below the bridge, yet the tops of ten-story buildings were just barely peeking out from above the shimmering stillness of this newly founded lake.

  “Huh, this must’ve been a highway before. Some kind of an overpass…” Adam said, amazed at the spectacle before them. The water glistened, and seemed to remain totally calm; void of any outside disturbances. It almost looked peaceful. Intoxicatingly welcoming even.

  “Yeah, I guess it must’ve come from Lake Erie…” Luke assumed, trailing off. He suspiciously peered over the edge, and tilted his head as to better hear.

  “What, Luke? What is it?” Cody asked, looking at him skeptically.

  “You hear that?” Luke questioned, still looking below the bridge. Everyone else sat and listened as intently as they could.

  There was a faint, light chirping of sorts. There were multiple, and it they came from somewhere below the bridge. It was inconsistent, without any kind of rhythm, and made an almost distorted sound with each subtle outburst. Chris remembered that noise, it was the same thing he and Jeremy heard months ago, with that man on the road. They shared a glance, and both knew it must have been below them. Whatever “it” was.

  As a whole, the group had a slight idea of what it could be, but they never knew enough about them to be sure; really all they had were Jeremy’s notes, and Chris’s memory. All that mattered though, was that if it was what they thought it was, they knew it wasn’t normal, and it wasn’t safe.

  “What… what is it?” Cody asked, looking back at the others, unsure.

  “I don’t know… but it doesn’t sound good, and it doesn’t sound alone. They might be...” Luke stopped, turning from the bridge, and seemingly walking further down.

  Chris and the others continued to look down for a moment or two, almost completely disregarding Luke’s lack of conclusion. Granted, they knew what he thought anyway.

  “So what do you think, is it worth us still looking around for cars?” Chris refocused, beginning to turn back around himself. As he did though, he froze, in total shock. “Oh my God,” he said, terrified. The others all picked up on his tone and immediately turned as well, they too then locked into place.

  “Nah, it’s not really worth your time,” he said. Whoever he was.

  It was a man, a grown man. Probably in his 40’s. He looked disgusting; even dirtier and grimier than they did. He was wearing baggy and ripped up clothing, he had a military helmet on, and he was holding a rifle with a silencer on it. It was aimed at Luke from only a small distance.

  Everyone was quiet; nobody knew what to say. He gazed around at them, almost… analyzed them, and then chuckled a little bit.

  “Wow, you it?” he heckled. “Just, what? Seven? Seven kids?” He paused, looking at them some more, still inspecting them, trying to assess something. Then he laughed mockingly again. “And, you’ve only got two guns on you. Handguns at that.” The others all gawked at him, baffled.

  “H-How did...?” Cody stammered, shaken.

  “The curve in your shirt, right by your upper right hip,” the Stranger explained, gesturing at him with a head nod. “Same with your captain here.”

  “He’s not our captain, asshole,” Adam spat, taking a step forward. “And you don’t know who you’re dealing w–!” The Stranger immediately changed his aim and shot right past Adam’s head. The bullet pierced right through the top of his right ear, taking a chunk of the helix and antihelix off with it.

  Adam wailed in pain, grabbing the side of his head. Everyone else jumped back, terrified. Cody and Chris moved closer to Adam, to which he shoved them away.

  “I’m…I’m fine, quit crowding me!” he shouted. He pulled his hands away, his palms now dyed a deep, crimson red. The blood poured down the side of his head, and he snapped his fingers up next to his ear, trying to check for any kind of hearing loss.

  “Fearless muscle, huh? Standing up to seemingly insurmountable danger for your friends? I like that, good man. Listen kid, I don’t like wasting bullets, and I don’t miss,” the Stranger said, focusing his aim back on Luke’s head. “Got that?” Adam didn’t move, but he didn’t say anything either. “What are you deaf now? I said got that?” he repeated.

  “Yeah,” Adam answered, after a short moment of hesitation.

  “There we go. A little manners never hurt anybody,” he said.

  “Listen, sir, what do you want? We’re not looking for any trouble,” Luke said, his hands open and slowly moving to show he wasn’t going to pull anything on this Stranger.

  “No, nobody ever is, are they? Looking for trouble? I mean, what kind of person would be? Maybe a suicidal, I suppose,” the Stranger said, thinking aloud. “Well, here’s the thing uh… What’s your name?” he asked. Luke paused.

  “Luke,” he answered, not breaking his gaze with the man.

  “Luke. Well, Luke, here’s the thing: I’ve been here for a while, on this bridge. I used to live down there, in an apartment complex. Got it after I came back from the Middle East; tried to live quiet, you know? Get on with my life. And you know what? I hated every god damn minute of it. Lucky for me, the whole god damn world fell apart not too long after; June 24, 2017, if memory serves.”

  Chris looked at the others; they were standing just as still as he was, carefully eyeing both Luke and the Stranger with a frightful cautiousness. No one knew what to do, and Chris was very seriously doubting the possibility of a good turnout for them here.

  “So… you moved up here, where it was safe,” Cody said, inferring the rest of the man’s story. “You watched everything down there flood; watched and he
ard people dying, being… taken… and what, you just lived alone for months after all that?”

  “Smart kid! Essentially, yes, but you’re missing something,” the Stranger corrected. “I didn’t just watch. I didn’t just listen. I took part. I picked off. I chose without prejudice, and I made them fall. And you know why?”

  “Because you’re sick?” Luke said, breaking their guise of politeness, disgusted at what he heard, as were the others.

  “‘Because you’re sick?’ he says! Ha! Well aren’t you Captain God Damn America!” the Stranger spat, now far more venomous in his tone. “Because what was waiting out there for them was much worse, and considering you’re still here, you know exactly god damn why!”

  Chris was looking all around, trying to think of something to do. There was literally nothing around that they could use, nothing that could get them out of there. The bridge was totally void of any objects, vehicles, or life. All he could hear was a gentle breeze of wind, and the light, inconsistent chirping beneath the bridge.

  “Eventually, people who I’d let up here– let pass– they started using me. Trying to get shit, steal shit, kill shit, like me. I realized we were devolving, going primal; back to the stone age kind of shit, you know? So, I decided to get with the picture.” The group gazed upon him, horrified. “Oh don’t look so surprised; don’t you know the law of the land?”

  They had seen people like this before. At least, for a little while, before the tv went out. People so quickly just began to turn on each other, like animals, and the news would film it all. The guys had thought it had just been in certain areas– pockets of unprotected cities and towns– but now, Chris could see that they were wrong.

  “Law of the land? You mean started killing just for the hell of it?” Jeremy asked, a scowl on his face. “How? I don’t see any bodies; any blood.” The Stranger smiled wickedly.

  “Well, now we’re getting somewhere, aren’t we?” he continued. “You hear that chirping? I assume you at least somewhat know what they are, huh?” He awaited a response. Luke hesitantly nodded his head. The others nervously reciprocated, and the Stranger chuckled again, mocking their lack of knowledge. “They call them Chirpers, accurately I guess. You ever heard of the ophiocordyceps fungus? With the ants? Little brain-controlling, vegetable-making things?” Luke nodded again, his eyes growing just a bit wider in fear. The Stranger continued to grin deviously. “Imagine that, mobile.”

  He walked over to the edge, still holding the gun. He dipped his head over just a little bit, and glanced over at the guys, chuckling.

  “Too much noise,” he whispered, “and you’re gone.” He walked back to his previous position. “Mix that with a fifty foot drop into buildings and water infested with who knows what the hell, and it makes for a pretty quick and easy kill. Pretty neat. Not as neat as the Ships; you ever see them? They’re some massive sights to behold. Heard they were even alive; some weird kind of mechanical-synthetic mesh, but anyway, I’m getting off task…”

  Chris and the others peered over at the edge of the bridge once more from where they stood, while Luke kept staring at the Stranger. They had an idea of what the Chirpers were, but they had never been given that much information before. That had explained quite a few questions.

  “So, here’s what’s gonna happen,” the Stranger continued, pulling out a radio, and turning it on. Ain’t That A Kick In The Head started playing softly; Chris had heard that before, his grandfather used to play that kind of music all the time at family parties. “I’m gonna play this, and you’re gonna walk over to the edge, one by one. I’m going to turn it up a little each time, and you’re each going to jump off. Either you get vegetized, or the fall will probably kill you. You try and test me, challenge me in any way, and I take this silencer off, fire off a few rounds into your stomachs, and they all come out to play, understand?”

  The others all stood petrified. No one had a clue what to do to get out of this situation. Chris knew he didn’t at least. He looked around at the others, and they were shaking immensely; like a tree being torn from its roots by a tornado. Some, like Nolan, and even Cody, were trying to hold back tears; Chris was pretty close himself, truth be told. He gazed over, and he noticed something strange.

  Adam and Luke weren’t shaking. They weren’t crying.They were both almost perfectly still. Neither of them seemed phased at all. Even despite the blood still running past Adam’s head, he seemed oddly calm.

  Chris knew that up until this point at least, Luke was essentially dancing with this man. He was trying to read him just as well if not better than he read their group. If he could find a way to outsmart him, then he’d do it; he just needed to find the pressure point to hit. What blew Chris away though, was that Adam was doing the same thing. They were both trying to play games with this guy.

  “Okay, well that’s… something,” Adam said. “But would you mind if I threw in a different idea?” The Stranger scoffed.

  “Please,” he offered, “be my guest.”

  “Right, thanks,” Adam replied, looking around them vaguely. “Here’s the thing… How badly do you want to live?”

  “W-What?” the Stranger asked, actually taken aback by Adam’s statement. As were the others.

  “Well, you’re a war vet who has a seriously bad case of PTSD. You tried to live peacefully but you couldn’t, and you had to listen to people dying, even killed them for ‘mercy,’ but you’re not gone yet yourself. You wanted to help people escape, but you never got to. We only do unto others what we want others to do to us, right? So, what if, oppositely, you and I have a little duel. You know: old timey, ten-or-whatever paces, turn, and fire kind of shit. You kill me, and they die too. If I kill you, we go, obviously,” Adam proposed.

  Aside from Luke, Chris and the others were flabbergasted, to say the least. Were they not in such a dire situation, and intense feeling of fear, Chris would have started berating Adam for saying something so stupid, and he knew the others would too. Instead, they said nothing; Luke just stared at Adam in an odd mix of intensity and… confidence, maybe? The Stranger, after some time spent mulling over his options, laughed, and put his gun down from it’s tightly aimed position on Luke.

  “I gotta tell you, I really like you!” he complimented. “Nobody’s ever done that before, I’ll tell you that! Huh, damn! What an offer…!” He thought for another moment, weighing out his choice. “Here’s the thing though: you may be right, you may be wrong, either way, why risk doing that when I could guarantee taking you all out right now?”

  “I’m willing to bet the number of young men you stumble upon is even rarer than the number of people in general,” Adam said. “You called us kids yourself; you really have it in you to just kill seven kids, and not even let them put up a fight?” the Stranger paused again, then shaking his head.

  “You know, I think I do,” he said, pulling his gun back up. Luke then jumped forward a little, and held his hands out.

  “If you wanted to die you could just jump off the bridge, right?” Luke asked hastily, trying to get the man’s attention away from Adam. He stood in front of Chris and the others like human shield, even though he blocked maybe only Cody. The Stranger just stared at Luke confusedly. “That’s probably you’re reasoning, right? Why you’re not suicidal yourself. But that’s not true, is it?”

  “What are you talking about, Cap?” The Stranger impatiently asked.

  “You’re a soldier,” Luke said. “You’re a man who lives with honor, and a strict set of codes and values. You know that suicide’s the wrong way to go, for a number of reasons; not the least of which being the aftermath on anyone around you. And believe me, we know the aftermath firsthand.”

  Chris grimaced, not having thought about Zack for quite a while. It made him feel guilty even realizing he hadn’t felt guilty in a while.

  “But if you take this bet, duel against us– against me– it’s an honorable way out. After all, maybe you still win, but if you don’t, at least you finally get to go
out with dignity,” Luke finished. The Stranger slowly let the gun drop down from his tight grip, and thought again on his options.

  He was twisted, they all knew that much, and Chris would even go so far as to say he really was batshit crazy. If anything though, that may just help their case further, because really, what Luke and Adam were saying made no sense at all, especially if the guy wasn’t actually suicidal.

  “Alright, tell you what, I’ll do it. I’ll even take off my helmet!” The Stranger decided, unclipping and tossing away his military-helmet, revealing his head. He had long and shaggy, dirty blonde hair. Somehow in every passing moment, this guy became even more foul to Chris than before.

  “Okay… You got any more silencers?” Luke asked, pulling out his pistol.

  “Nah, nah I don’t,” the Stranger said, actually sounding disappointed in himself. He paused again, staring intently at the ground. Then, he shook his head and smirked, unscrewing the silencer on his rifle. “I gotta admit, you’ve really taken my fancy, kid.” He tossed it off to the side, and walked over to Luke, who also made his way over to the man.

  “Wait, stop!” Adam said. “This is my deal, Luke. I’m doing it.”

  “No. I’ve got it,” Luke insisted, stepping closer. Adam huffed, but knew better than to interfere in the moment.

  “Okay, how about ten paces, turn around, and fire?” Luke suggested.

  “Sounds good to me!” the Stranger agreed. He got ready to enact their performance, but then Luke opened his eyes a bit, and made an expression that he had just thought of something.

  “Wait, let me say my possible goodbyes first, huh?” Luke asked. “Please.”

  “Alright, go ahead, Cap,” the Stranger said, waving him off to the others. They all gathered around him as he hustled over.

  “Luke, are you fucking crazy!?” Adam asked, terrified, but still managing to slap Luke upside the back of his head. “Let me do this! I’m a better shot than you!”