“Goddamn you!” Barrow screamed as he fired off several hundred 20mm rounds at the creature as the monster opened its hooked beak and let loose with another lightning blast at him.
As the white energy surged all around him, Captain Barry Barrow screamed in pain and rage as he pulled on the handle of his ejection seat. He didn’t hear the explosive bolts in time, blacking out as the searing white heat was engulfed him.
12. The Road
Arizona
When Tara Weiss woke up it was already mid-morning. She noticed that Larry was still at the wheel and it looked like he had driven all night. As they left Phoenix, they had to take a number of detours because most of the main roads were blocked by burning and abandoned cars. They could see rioters clashing with police, a few punks even threw some stones at them, but they narrowly missed the van, as Larry was able to get over a divider and drove away on the other side of the highway. As night fell, there were plenty of clouds as well as flashes of lightning and thunder that gave her the creeps; she felt them so close to the point where she would silently count the seconds between the flashes of lightning and the cracklings of thunder. Tara even got surprised once when she saw a lightning bolt hit a bare tree just ahead of them at the side of the road and rip it in two. The ear-splitting sound of thunder felt like a sonic boom; it even startled Larry and he inadvertently swerved just to dodge it, but what was really strange was not a drop of rain fell even after all that.
The little Chihuahua lay curled up in her lap as it slept. Tara still didn’t tell Larry about the talking dog. She felt she might need an ace in the hole just in case things got ugly between them. She kept telling herself that he was kind to her so far and she could probably trust him. Larry kept twisting the radio dial all night as he drove to see if there were further updates, but it was mostly static. Most of the stations had already gone off the air due to a lack of power. He was able to find the occasional Emergency Broadcast System that pretty much just said to stay indoors and not to leave your homes as help was coming. Larry would start to scoff every time he heard that pre-recorded message. Other times they would hear stations that were evidently commandeered as all sorts of people would go on air and complain about how the government was to blame for everything and the lack of any help. As she drifted in and out of sleep, Tara started to nickname those kinds of stations Complaints FM or Ranters AM … it got so bad that she finally asked Larry to just turn the radio off so she could sleep.
But as she finally washed the sleep from her eyes using a wet handkerchief, she realized that Larry was listening to the radio once again. “Who is that?” she said. He appeared to be listening to a calm and compassionate voice that seemed to be delivering a lecture of some sort.
Larry kept his eyes on the road. “Good morning.”
“Good morning,” she said as she shifted her weight slightly so she wouldn’t drop the sleeping dog from her lap. “Who’s that that you’re listening to?”
“Oh, that’s just a message from Pastor Burnley. Seems a lot of radio stations that are still working are now carrying his gospel hour show all of a sudden.”
“Who’s he?”
“You never heard of Pastor Burnley? He’s got a whole TV channel just dedicated to his shows. You watch JBN?”
“JBN? What’s that?”
Larry laughed. “The Jesus Broadcasting Network, silly.”
Tara shook her head as she took a sip of water from a plastic bottle. “We never had cable in the house.”
“Oh, it’s not just on cable, you can get it on regular TV too, it’s on UHF, I think. I think Burnley even has shows on TBN too.”
“I don’t watch those things. Boring.”
Larry played with the dials again since there was static on the radio once more. “Damn, seems like we’re outta range again.”
Tara stretched her arms and yawned. “Well that’s good. Last thing I wanna hear is some preacher talking all morning. That’s just boring.”
“I would’ve thought you were used to being bored since you hung out in that strip mall for days with just your dog as a companion.”
“I was more hungry than bored. Anyway, it gave me time to think.”
Larry glanced at her briefly. “You want to go back to your parents?”
Tara shook her head. “No. I don’t know what I want to do.”
“Well, just stick with me for now, Sweetpea,” Larry said as he grinned. “We make one helluva team and I’ve got a plan.”
“What’s your plan?”
“While you were asleep, I was listening to Pastor Burnley and his words made sense to me. You know, with all that’s happening right now I’m beginning to believe in him.”
“Oh yeah, what’s he saying about what’s happening that explains all of this then?”
“He’s saying that Jesus is now coming back in a few days and he will judge us all. This is the day of judgment.”
“Come on, you really believe that?”
“Why not? Have you got any other explanation for what’s going on?”
Tara shook her head. “Uh, nope.”
“Okay then, so it looks like Pastor Burnley is right.”
“Are you sure?”
“I can’t think of any other explanation, can you?”
Tara looked away. “Not really.”
“Okay, so we stick with the plan.”
Tara looked at him blankly. “What’s the plan?”
“Pastor Burnley says for all honest Christians to come join him in Kansas to await the coming of The Lord together. He says he can feed and shelter hundreds of thousands of God’s chosen.”
“So we’re going to Kansas then?”
“That’s the plan.”
For the next few hours, they took a number of detours around Flagstaff as they could see barricades and burnt cars out in the distance of the city limits. As they drove along a side road parallel to Route-40, they noticed a group of Mexicans along the road frantically waving at them to stop, but Larry stepped on the gas and accelerated instead as he nearly drove over a frantic old man waving a dirty handkerchief at them. Tara could see their anguished faces as the van passed them by; two wrinkly old women sitting on their suitcases looking dejected by the road along with a gaggle of small brown children who cried and screamed at them. She wished she could have helped them, but Larry had told her the night before that they couldn’t take anybody else with them because they just didn’t have enough food. As she looked down, she could see the dog was awake and stared back at her. Tara wanted to say something to it, but she didn’t want to break cover or make Larry think she was crazy if the dog didn’t answer back, so she just looked out of the window again and sighed.
Larry glanced at her. “You know we couldn’t take them with us.”
Tara bit her lip. “I know. It’s just that I feel sad at not being able to help people.”
“This is a new world we live in, Sweetpea. I’m not happy about it either, but we have to think of ourselves for the time being if we want to survive.”
Tara didn’t answer as she just kept looking out of the passenger side window. Half an hour later a loud beep began to sound on the dashboard. Larry took a look at it and cursed.
“What’s wrong?” Tara said.
“We’re starting to run low on gas,” Larry said. “We need to find a gas station soon.”
By this time, they had mostly passed by Flagstaff as they took the mountain roads near Humphreys Peak and were now close to the historic Route-66. Another hour passed and Larry was getting agitated as he kept looking at the fuel gauge.
Tara kept peering forward as she noticed something out in the distance of the road. As they got closer, it looked like a gas station alright. “There’s a pump station,” she said as she pointed ahead to the right.
Larry grinned at first because of their newfound luck, but then he began to frown a bit just as they got closer. “It looks like there’s people there, lots of them.”
Tara shrugged. “We ai
n’t got no choice. Maybe they’re friendly.”
As the van slowed they could see that the gas station billboard had been torn down and that there were half a dozen men standing near the fuel pumps. They were all armed with rifles and shotguns. They quickly signaled the van to stop in front of the station. Larry did and then turned off the engine. Two men approached the vehicle, one on either side.
Larry looked at her as he put his hand on the door knob. “Whatever happens, stay in the van, okay?”
Tara just nodded as the two men faced them by the side windows. Tara noticed the older man had a white beard, flannel shirt, and a baseball cap with the confederate flag stitched on it. The old man stood by Larry’s side while a younger, bare-chested man in blue jeans and a shaved head walked over to the right side of the van and looked closely at her with a bucktoothed grin. The older man had a scoped hunting rifle slung over his shoulder while the younger one had a semi-auto pistol tucked in his waistband.
Larry grinned at the older man who was near to him. “Howdy, do you have any gas to spare?”
“Where you from?” the old man said.
Larry kept smiling. “From Phoenix, sir. We’re just looking for some gas and we’ll be off.”
The younger man just kept looking at Tara and kept on grinning. Tara smiled back before looking away, keeping eyes peeled forward.
“Where you going to?” the old man said. He had a droning voice that betrayed no emotion.
“We’re going to Kansas, sir,” Larry said.
The old man’s face was like chiseled rock. “What are you gonna do in Kansas, boy?”
Larry giggled for bit to take the tension off. “Well isn’t that our business, sir?”
The old man began to squint at him. “I’m gonna ask you again, boy. What’re you gonna do in Kansas?”
“Look, sir, we don’t want no trouble,” Larry said. “We’re on our way to Kansas to meet our friends there, they are with Pastor Burnley’s congregation, and they asked us to join them there, that’s all.”
Another man, sitting on a folding chair by the store got up and walked over. He was heavyset and his long white hair was tied up in a ponytail underneath his cowboy hat. He wore a leather vest and jeans and carried a pump-action shotgun. “They just want fuel, Abe,” he said to the old man standing beside Larry.
Abe looked at the other man before turning his gaze back to Larry again. “There ain’t no government anymore so we’re here guarding this station against looters. Are you a looter, boy?”
Larry straightened up in his seat. “No, sir.”
Abe glanced in the inside of the van from the driver side window. “What’s all that stuff you got in the back of your vehicle there? Did you steal all that crap?”
Larry shook his head in rapid succession. “No sir, that’s stuff I bought and other stuff is from my house just before I boarded it up. If you want money for the gas, I got some.”
The long haired man walked over and stood beside Abe. “Money is useless now, son. You got anything to barter with? Like food or medicine?”
Larry smiled as his tension was relieved. “Yeah, I got some food, hold on,” he said as he got out of the driver’s side and walked over to the back of the van and opened it. The two older men followed him as Tara turned her head backwards to observe.
Larry took a few cans of beef stew and handed it to both men.
Abe looked at the can. “How much gas you need?”
“A full tank,” Larry said as he gave the other can to the other man.
The other man shook his head. “You’ve gotta give us more than just two cans for a full tank of gas, son.”
Larry put his hands on his waist and looked down on the dusty concrete tarmac. This wasn’t going to be easy. “How many cans do I have to give you?”
“Looks like you got a few cases there so we’ll take two,” Abe said.
Larry shook his head. “I can’t give you two cases, we need the food or we’ll starve on our way to Kansas. I’ll give you a case, okay?”
“If you ain’t willing to part with two cases then you only get half a tank, boy,” Abe said.
The other man looked at Abe. “Just give ‘em the gas, Abe,” he said before turning to look at the dejected Larry. “You said you got money, let’s see how much you got.”
Larry took out a wad of bills from his sweater pocket and handed it to him. “That’s all I got left, I swear.”
The man with the cowboy hat looked at him closely as he pocketed the money. “I think you’re lying when you said you ain’t no looter, son. But we’re giving you the gas anyway. Abe, take one of the cases.”
Another man who wore a Diamondbacks baseball cap came out of the store and started working the pumps. As the fuel gauge began to rise, Larry saw that they were using a portable diesel generator to power the station. He also noticed a fat woman in shorts and two kids looking out at them from the inside of the store.
The bare-chested man who kept looking at Tara finally spoke. “Hey, guys, she don’t look like that driver at all.”
Abe walked over to Larry as he was beside the van watching it being filled up. “That your daughter, boy?”
Larry answered without looking at him. “Yes, she is.”
“You need to look at me when I talk to you, boy.”
Larry turned. Even though he was scared, he was starting to lose his temper. “Look, what do you want from us? We already gave you the food and the money! Can’t you just leave us alone?”
The bare-chested man pulled out his pistol but didn’t aim it as he walked over to them. Tara noticed that he was barefoot.
“You need to be taught some manners,” Abe said as he unslung his rifle.
“Abe, knock it off,” the man with the cowboy hat said. “We made a deal with them, fair and square. Let them take their gas and they can go.”
Tara leaned her head out of the window and looked at Larry. “Daddy, let’s go!”
Larry turned around and headed back to the driver’s side. He noticed that the tank was full as the guy with the Diamondbacks cap put back the fuel tank lid on his van. As he got back on his seat and closed the door, the bare-chested man tried to make a grab for the little dog as he put his spindly arms through the window.
“No!” Tara shrieked as she held on to the Chihuahua. “This is my dog!”
“You won’t be needing it anymore, miss,” the bare-chested man said as he kept pulling at the dog, but the Chihuahua immediately bit him so hard that he yelped and instinctively drew his hands back.
“Go!” Tara screamed.
Larry had already started the van and hit the gas as the vehicle drove out of the station tarmac while the bare-chested man kicked at its side while screaming that he had rabies. Larry maneuvered the van and got it back on the road with a screech of the tires.
“Goddamn it,” Larry said as he gripped the wheel tightly. “We lost over half the food we got.”
Tara looked at the dog. It seemed to be okay as it settled back in her lap. “Be glad that’s all we lost.”
They kept going on the highway until late afternoon when the sun began to set. The radio was able to catch a short EBS broadcast that said a number of oil refineries in the Southwest would be nationalized.
Tara turned to Larry. “What does ‘nationalized’ mean?”
Larry let out a big yawn as he kept driving. “It means the government is taking them over.”
“Why though?”
Larry snorted. “Look around you, a lot of dams broke and there’s no power and very little fuel. The government wants it all so they can control it.”
As he said that, the van nearly swerved off the road.
Tara instinctively grabbed the handle above the side window. “Whoa!”
Larry shook his head. “I’m sorry, haven’t had much sleep.”
She pointed to the left of the highway. “Look there’s a house with some trees.”
Larry squinted his tired eyes. The girl was right, there was
a house up ahead and it seemed to be all by itself right up next to the highway. He didn’t see any cars parked around it so he slowed and brought the van over to the front and stopped. As they looked, it seemed that the house had been abandoned. Larry maneuvered the van until it was behind the house in between two pinion pines so that no one would see it while driving along the highway. They got out of the van as Tara carried the dog with her and slung her backpack over her shoulder.
Larry got to the front porch and knocked on the door. No answer. He looked through the front windows and past the slightly transparent lace curtains. There didn’t seem to be anyone home so he tried the front doorknob, but it wouldn’t budge. Tara just stood there as he walked around the back and tried the backdoor, but it wouldn’t budge either, so he went back to the front. The main door had a small glass window above the door knob so he smashed it with a small hammer that he took out from his pocket, then reached in and unlocked it.
As they went inside they noticed that the previous occupants must have left in a hurry. There were a few cardboard boxes sitting on the kitchen table with some dirty clothes. Larry went over to the fridge and opened it. All that was in it was an open carton of baking soda and a plastic squeeze bottle of yellow mustard. He then went to the cupboards and rummaged through them as well as the other cabinets.
“Damn,” he said. “They took all the food when they left.”
Tara half heard him as she went into one of the bedrooms. It looked kind of like a girl’s room since the wallpaper had flowery prints. There was a set of six cloth dolls arranged neatly on top of a high dresser in front of a mirror. She put the dog down and unslung her backpack as she looked at the half-made bed. Sitting in the car for almost a whole day made her back ache. Tara searched through some of the drawers and found some used red lipstick and clothes. It looked like the one who stayed in this room must have been a girl, whether it was a teen or an adult she couldn’t be sure since there weren’t any pictures around. She sat down beside the bed and stared at the lamp on the nightstand before opening the drawers underneath it. There were a bunch of handwritten letters, a half used bottle of some cheap perfume, a few pennies and a rainbow-colored pen. Tara got back up and moved to the front of the mirror and applied some lipstick. After puckering her lips and seeing her handiwork, she immediately felt guilty for using somebody else’s property and promptly put the lipstick back in the drawer. That was when she smelled something cooking.
The Glooming (Wrath of the Old Gods Book 1) Page 14