Fracked

by Campbell, Mark

After running for two straight miles, he was finally out of the blackened ghost town which used to be Tres Rios and started walking along the long, dark road that led to the Love’s Travel Station towards I-37.

  As John pushed the wheelbarrow along the road, he kept glancing nervously over his shoulder, but nothing except impenetrable darkness surrounded him.

  Nevertheless he couldn’t help but worry what might leap out at him.

  Despite her earlier protests against needing assistance, Rebecca closed her eyes and lay limp in the wheelbarrow. She was pale, sweaty, and her breaths were shallow.

  In the distance he saw the flickering glow of flames coming from the travel center.

  “You’re going to be alright,” he assured in-between his frantic breaths. He leaned down and kissed the top of her damp head as he ran. “Past that gas station is our freedom.”

  She didn’t respond nor open her eyes.

  John’s heart sunk.

  He knew he didn’t have much time.

  Chapter 19

  About a half-mile away from the Love’s Travel Center, an abandoned police barricade blocked the road. It was evident that a vehicle crashed through the blue wooden barricades, and John had a good idea who was responsible.

  John frowned as he maneuvered the wheelbarrow around the barricade; Greg’s betrayal was sickening, but he didn’t have time to think about it.

  He looked down at Rebecca and gently stroked her feverish cheek.

  Rebecca opened her eyes and gazed up at him. She gently placed her hand on his.

  “Thank you…” she said weakly, lowering her hand.

  John smiled at her as he kept pushing.

  “How are you holding up?” he asked.

  “I’ve been better,” she answered softly.

  “Just keep fighting, okay? You’re going to be fine…” he said.

  “How much time do we have left before they release the bombs?” she asked as she closed her eyes again.

  “Plenty of time,” he assured. “We’ll be far away from here by then.”

  Rebecca closed her eyes.

  John glanced down briefly at his watch…

  They had a little over fifteen minutes.

  It wasn’t nearly enough time.

  He wheeled her faster, struggling to ignore the deep ache in his arms and his general fatigue.

  Just past the police barricade, they came across another abandoned barricade made from concrete highway dividers and barbwire. Powerless halogen floodlights sat on the side of the road and an empty machinegun nest created from sandbags stood in the middle of the street.

  The barricade had been smashed through and the barbwire was snapped.

  “Well it looks like we don’t have to worry about any resistance from the soldiers,” John said as he surveyed the area carefully. “They already tucked their tails and ran.”

  Rebecca didn’t respond.

  John hurriedly wheeled her around the barricade and stopped as he looked at the side of the road.

  “Dear God…” John muttered as his face paled.

  The armored vehicle that Greg had stolen had been torn to pieces and flipped into the ditch; a small fire was burning through the shattered grille of the vehicle and the air reeked of diesel fumes. Every door was pried open and blood covered the wreckage. Both of the girl’s backpacks were lying on the pavement.

  Despite the horrific scene, there wasn’t a single body to be found.

  Even after Greg’s betrayal, John’s heart broke at the sight.

  As John tried to comprehend what could’ve caused such devastation, a thought crossed his mind.

  The weapons.

  He had to get the weapons.

  He sat the wheelbarrow down and started to walk towards the armored vehicle.

  The mangled vehicle erupted into a fireball as the diesel fumes finally ignited.

  John threw his arms over his face and stumbled backwards as smoldering debris rained down all around him. Aggravated and still weaponless, he ran back towards Rebecca, grabbed the wheelbarrow, and rolled her towards the Love’s Travel Center with ringing in his ears.

  The powerless travel center had a fire ravaging the rear of the store; the attached McDonalds and Subway restaurants were both engulfed. Abandoned vehicles were clustered around the station’s fuel pumps and wrapped around the building. Traffic on the street was gridlocked by an overturned tanker in the middle of the road.

  Gasoline was pooled around the ruptured tanker and hundreds of infected corpses were gathered at the spill, greedily sucking up the gasoline as they twitched uncontrollably.

  The corpses barely looked human anymore. They were bulky, towering giants with black appendages wriggling from their grotesque body. Instead of skin, their bodies were covered with a translucent oily substance that bubbled and dripped from their burly limbs. None of the creatures had hair and their faces were swollen with cancerous pustules, covering their eyes and nose completely. Each of the creatures had their mouths hanging open and their teeth appeared to have fallen out.

  The more they drank the larger and more monstrous they became.

  It became immediately apparent to John what happened to the armored vehicle.

  John glanced down at Rebecca and frowned.

  Her complexion looked ghostly white and her breaths were labored.

  “Becky?” he said gently, tapping her shoulder.

  She didn’t respond.

  He shook her harder as he squeezed her shoulder.

  She still didn’t wake up.

  John placed a compassionate hand against her forehead and gently stroked her sweaty hair back. Her skin felt clammy to the touch.

  “Please… Hold on a little longer,” he whispered as his eyes started to tear. He looked towards the dirt parking lot next to Love’s where the vanpool met every morning.

  Most of the Triburton vans were gone, but the employee cars were still there from the morning. Many of the cars had their windows shattered and their contents looted, while some of them were burnt to a crisp.

  He spotted his car; it was exactly where he left it. Since most of the looters targeted the expensive, newer-looking cars, John’s was untouched.

  John wheeled Rebecca off of the road and pushed her across the desert towards the dirt parking lot. He kept nervously glancing over at the monsters gathered around the tanker, but they didn’t seem to notice him.

  He wheeled her to his car and sat the wheelbarrow down at the driver-side backseat door. Nervously biting his bottom lip, he felt underneath for the magnetic key holder he had hidden underneath the front passenger-side wheel well.

  After a few seconds of frantic searching, he found it.

  John took the key from the compartment, tossed the holder aside, and ran towards the back door. He unlocked the door and scooped Rebecca up into his arms; her body felt heavy and cold. He stopped a moment when he realized who was parked next to him…

  It was a Toyota Camry with its windows smashed open and the radio torn out of the dash.

  It was Mike’s car.

  John frowned and quickly looked away. He put Rebecca in the backseat and closed the door. As he ran towards the driver-side door, he bumped against the empty wheelbarrow.

  The wheelbarrow tipped over and struck Mike’s Camry.

  The car alarm started blaring and the lights started flashing.

  Suddenly, the gargantuan monstrosities that were gathered around the tanker retracted their tentacles back into their abdomen and turned towards the noise…

  John paled.

  He hurried inside the car, slammed the door shut, and pulled down the visor.

  The keys fell onto his lap.

  With a tremendous roar, the beasts started charging towards John’s car. They knocked abandoned vehicles out of their way like they were merely toy cars.

  John shoved the key into the ignition and cranked the ignition.

  The engine turned, but it didn’t start.

  “Come on goddammit!” John sa
id as he cranked it again.

  The car sputtered and finally started, throwing a plume of black smoke out of the tailpipe.

  John floored the accelerator and spun out of the dirt parking lot, striking two parked cars in the process.

  Rebecca’s unconscious body was tossed around in the backseat.

  Going back onto the street was out of the question; he turned into Love’s parking lot.

  One of the creatures ran underneath the awning that covered the gas pumps, ripping the awning apart. The creature blocked the car’s path, opened its mouth, and spewed an enormous amount of the toxic black substance towards John’s vehicle.

  John threw the transmission into reverse, but he was too slow.

  The oily concoction splattered the windshield and coated the hood. It started to squirm and slither as it tried to find a way inside the car…

  John reached over and quickly closed the vents while simultaneously turning on the battered windshield wipers and driving in reverse.

  The back of his car slammed against one of the parked cars; the parked vehicle’s horn started blaring.

  John’s head was snapped forward and Rebecca was tossed onto the backseat floorboard. Dazed and sore, he looked through the streaked windshield and saw the monster charging towards him.

  He shifted into ‘D’ and floored the accelerator once again, making sure to turn away from the advancing creature.

  Barely missing the car as it pulled away, the creature slammed against the row of parked cars and sent them sliding across the pavement.

  John sped towards the back of the travel center, weaving in-between rows of haphazardly parked abandoned vehicles. His rear bumper was dragging across the ground, throwing a shower of sparks as it went across the asphalt.

  Behind him, the towering horde knocked vehicles out of the way as they pursed. They snarled and let out garbled cries, spewing the noxious substance everywhere.

  John took a hard left, narrowly dodging the dumpsters in the back of the store. The tires squealed in protest and Rebecca went tumbling across the backseat like a ragdoll.

  A group of the behemoths slammed against the dumpers and sent them skittering off into the darkness. As the creatures struck each other, the tentacle-like appendages that covered their bodies started to fuse together, forming a coagulated organic mass of flesh…

  The others started to climb onto the roof of the travel center.

  John wove the car around the wrecked diesel pumps and trashed semi-trucks that littered the lot behind Love’s. He glanced at Rebecca in the backseat and frowned.

  “Hang in there, I’m getting us out of here!” he shouted at his unconscious wife.

  He turned his attention back out the streaked windshield and narrowed his eyes as he raced through the lot.

  As he reached the edge of the pavement and turned the corner, one of the creatures leapt down from the roof of the station and landed right in front of the car.

  John swerved and slammed on the brakes, but it was too late and he was going too fast.

  The car skidded sideways and struck one of the creature’s massive, swollen legs.

  John’s vehicle spun out of control, jumped the curb, and came to a stop in the dirt.

  His damaged bumper plopped to the ground and his tires were smoking.

  The creature made an agonizing screech as it stumbled forward and fell to the ground. Its belly ruptured and hundreds of humanoid ghouls poured out of its stomach. The sexless, hairless ghouls were covered in black slime and slowly got on their feet as they started to stumble towards the car.

  John’s gaze widened as he stared at the creatures in disbelief and horror.

  More of the giants started to leap from the roof of the burning building while countless others emerged from behind the travel station; the group barreled towards John’s car, crushing everything in their path.

  John turned the vehicle around and spun-out in the dirt. He sped across the barren landscape towards the I-37 North onramp in the distance, flattening thorny shrubs and crushing a few infected coyotes.

  As he sped off into the darkness, the group of monstrosities fell further and further behind.

  A sense of relief washed over him.

  John hopped another curb and peeled out onto the street towards the onramp. He passed underneath the interstate and glanced out the cracked passenger window; his relieved expression quickly faded.

  The tentacles that covered the grotesque creatures shot outwards. The monstrosities started to fuse together and form a large deformed humanoid abomination created from the corpses of the deceased and fallen.

  The towering abomination was over four stories tall and grew with each new body it consumed. It started sprinting after the car with remarkable speed. As it ran, corpses were flung off of its elongated, monstrous appendages and splattered on the ground.

  John took the onramp onto the interstate and pressed the accelerator to the ground.

  Surprisingly, the earlier quarantine measures managed to keep the interstate empty for miles in both directions.

  The car’s engine was shaking and the temperature gauge indicated that the car was starting to overheat. Nevertheless, he pressed onwards and watched the rearview mirror with uncertainty.

  Suddenly the abomination erupted from underneath the overpass and leapt up onto the highway, sending chunks of concrete and pieces of steel raining down all around it. It honed in on the vehicle and started sprinting towards it at full-speed, flinging slimy pieces of its body and corpses everywhere.

  John panicked and kept his foot on the accelerator. The steering wheel started to shake in his hands and steam started to fog up the windshield from underneath the hood. The black substance that covered the vehicle started to form into small beads and rolled off the vehicle’s surface as it picked up speed.

  The towering creature gained momentum and started to close the distance. It reached one of its gangly hands out towards the vehicle; its fingers were made from human corpses and black tentacles started to come from the corpse’s gaping mouths.

  The engine started to sputter as the temperature gauge climbed into the red.

  An alarm chimed and the ‘CHECK ENGINE’ light illuminated.

  Determined, John didn’t let up off of the gas even as the creature closed in.

  He heard a noise approach from the distance.

  John glanced out the windshield and narrowed his eyes…

  As the tentacles started to near the rear of the vehicle, a squadron of low-flying helicopters passed overhead headed towards Tres Rios.

  The noise of the passing craft captured the abomination’s attention. It lowered its hand, turned around, and started sprinting after the helicopters; the ground shook as it ran along the interstate.

  John kept barreling down the middle of the road, distancing himself as far from the city as he could. He kept glancing up at the rearview mirror in a panic.

  Suddenly, it happened.

  A series of orange fireballs erupted across Tres Rios with tremendous force. The entire area was bathed in light. Dirt, rocks, abandoned vehicles, and the air itself was sucked towards the light. Abandoned homesteads and derelict oil rigs near the edge of town broke apart and caved in as the vacuum ripped them apart.

  The gargantuan creature was pulled helplessly towards the light and made a monstrous howl as it tumbled across the interstate and broke apart into smaller pieces.

  Blinded, John covered his eyes and slammed his foot on the brake as his car was pulled backwards towards the light.

  His tires squealed and the frontend of the vehicle started to rise into the air.

  Without warning the light expanded and sent a concussive force outwards. An enormous wall of fire extended from the heart of the town out in all directions for many miles, scorching everything in its path.

  John’s car was pushed forward by the blast and slid to a stop in the interstate. He looked over at the approaching shockwave as bits of concrete and chunks of earth were hur
led through the air like missiles. The flames that traveled with the wave were practically gone, but the sheer force of the blast still posed an ominous, unavoidable threat. He dove over into the backseat and shielded Rebecca with his body as he covered his head with his hands.

  He kept his eyes squeezed shut and tried to brace himself.

  It didn’t do much good.

  The violent shockwave struck his car with tremendous force and shattered every window. The raggedy car spun off of the edge of the interstate and crashed against a guardrail.

  The vehicle stalled out as steam rose up from the damaged engine.

  After the wave passed, John slowly sat back up in the seat, coughing. He brushed the bits of broken glass off of himself and looked over at Rebecca with concern. He ran the back of his hand across her cheek and looked down at her bit leg.

  Her leg was grotesquely swollen, but at least she was still breathing.

  “I’m going to get you help,” he assured as his eyes started to tear. “Just hold on a little bit longer.”

  He cranked the ignition.

  The starter whined but the engine didn’t start.

  He bit his lip and tried again…

  The engine started to shake and sputter, but it still didn’t start.

  “Come on…” he muttered as sweat beaded across his forehead.

  On the third attempt, black smoke started to rise from the engine block.

  John’s eyes widened as he shook his head.

  “No, no, NO!” he shouted, slamming his fists against the dashboard. “Goddammit! NO!”

  Orange flames started to rise from the grille of the car and the smoke became darker. Smoke started to inundate the interior of the car as the flames grew larger and the fire spread throughout the engine.

  Coughing, John tried to open his door, but it was too badly dented. He pulled frantically on the plastic handle as he slammed against the door but the handle snapped off in his hand. He scooted over across the shards to glass towards the passenger door and tried to open it.

  It was stuck.

  Screaming, John brought both feet up and started kicking the door repeatedly.

  The door flew open and the shattered side-view mirror fell off.

  John clamored out of the vehicle, gagging on the smoke. He stumbled out onto the interstate, coughing.