“So how are we supposed to find our little lost sheep?” Lenny asked.
“Tim says they headed down 95 to stop at some food station. We’ll take the same route and hopefully you two bloodhounds will pick something up,” Mark responded.
Lenny nodded and leaned his seat back. The sun was directly overhead, beaming down on the topless Jeep like a laser beam. They were doing anything they could to escape the suns lethal rays.
Grumbling, Mark pulled a camo hat over his head and squeezed on a pair of Oakleys. Lenny poured some water in his hand and splashed it onto his face then rifled his fingers through his graying, black hair.
“This is why we always leave at night,” Lenny complained.
“Or those ass clowns stop misplacing the damn top,” Mark added.
“I kinda like it,” Rebecca giggled.
She was stretched out across the backseat like it was the deck of some yacht in the Caribbean. Her pants and shirt were rolled up, her long, black hair twisted into a bun exposing her neck.
Mark laughed and glanced back at her with hungry eyes. Sweat rolled down Rebecca’s neck into her tanned cleavage like a stream through a valley. Mark licked his lips as fantasies of her popped into his head.
“Watch the road!” Lenny stammered.
The Jeep swerved and Mark jumped then whipped his head around, but he was too late. The front end barreled into a rusted out truck and then bounced back into the road. They slid to the other side and mowed down a call box before Mark finally brought the Jeep under control.
“Asshole!” Rebecca shot from the backseat.
“Yeah, yeah,” Mark griped.
Cars lined both sides of the four lane road. Burned, broken down or just plain busted, vehicles had been discarded like trash. The entire highway looked like a war zone.
“Tell me they didn’t take this all the way to Atlanta?” Lenny said as he sat up and started watching the empty cars they passed. “What the fuck was Tim thinking?”
“He was probably thinking we were down to our last hundred gallons of water and looking even worse on food. Time to stop being so cautious,” Mark responded.
“Lot of good that did him. Didn’t get any supplies and now we’re out here playing rescue squad.”
Lenny sat up and started to scan the roadside. He was holding his rifle in his lap with his trigger finger tapping on the side anxiously. As they zoomed past the demolished cars he eyed each one, straining his ears for the smallest sound.
Mark grunted and turned back to the road. He stomped his foot on the pedal and started to whistle some out of tune country song. The Jeep howled as it tore down the highway.
Minutes ticked by into hours and before long the sun was starting to dim. An eerie, orange haze stretched across the sky, an ominous sign of the night to come.
“I don’t like this,” Rebecca called from the back. “Not one sign of them, not a thing.”
“Guess you guys aint as good as Tim thinks,” Mark spat.
“She’s right. We should’ve seen something. I’m not getting a good feeling.”
“Look I don’t give a damn about your feelings. And as far as I’m concerned that bitch of yours is only good for one thing.”
“You fat fuck!” Lenny shouted. “I warned you didn’t I?”
Before Mark could respond Lenny drove his fist into the side Mark’s head like a runaway train. Mark’s head slammed into the side of the window then fell forward onto the steering wheel as the rest of his body went limp.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Lenny said in astonishment.
“You idiot!” Rebecca screamed as she jumped up and lunged toward the steering wheel.
The Jeep veered to the left and smashed into a row of cars. A high-pitched screech reverberated through the air as the metal vehicles rubbed against one another. They rolled for another fifty yards before the Jeep finally stopped.
“Why on Earth Lenny? Why on Earth would you punch the Goddamn driver?” Rebecca asked.
“Like I knew this giant bastard was going to sleep with one punch. Guess he should learn to keep his mouth shut.”
“Oh…well that’s just great. Now what?” Rebecca mumbled and threw her hands into the air.
Lenny shrugged his shoulders then thumped Mark on the forehead. He looked back at Rebecca and smiled. She sneered at him hiding her amusement when out of nowhere a rattling sound echoed in the distance and then faded away.
“Did you hear that?” Rebecca asked.
“Hear what?”
Lenny’s mouth hung open as he looked around with a blank face. Rebecca started to respond, but the rattling sound shrilled again then stopped.
“What the hell is that?” Rebecca asked.
“No clue, but it’s time for us to move,” Lenny said as he turned back to Mark. “Come on buddy, rise and shine.”
The rattling started again, but this time much louder. Rebecca grabbed her AK and frantically looked from side to side. She couldn’t see a thing moving, but the noise continued.
It sounded like the tail of a rattlesnake, but amplified. It rose and fell sporadically, sending chills through their bones.
“Mark, wake up,” Lenny said as he shook him.
The noise was coming closer and closer. It was moving in from all around them. It was like they were slowly being encircled by some invisible force.
“Wake up…come on man. We gotta go!” Lenny shouted and slapped him across the face.
Rebecca started unravel in the backseat. Her hands trembled and her breathing increased to short rapid breaths. Standing up, she tried to compose herself and leaned on the crossbars of the Jeep. She shouldered her rifle and took aim towards the back, but there was no target in sight.
“Um, Lenny, Lenny, move this thing!” she screamed desperately.
Lenny glanced back at her and shrugged. Then just as suddenly as it started, the rattling stopped and everything went silent.
Lenny took a deep breath. He calmed his nerves for a second then jumped out of his seat and grabbed Mark by the shoulders. He shook him furiously and smacked him across the face over and over.
“Wake up!”
CHAPTER 2
WELCOME TO ATLANTA
“Ugh. Get the fuck off me,” Mark grumbled. “What the hell happened?”
He sat up and squinted as he rubbed his face. Yawning, he grabbed his jaw and winced. He shot Lenny a suspicious eye, and then looked at the tangled cars the Jeep had come to rest on.
“No time to explain,” Lenny said.
Rebecca stuttered from the back, rambling incoherently. She furiously patted Lenny on the shoulder, but couldn’t seem to formulate a complete sentence. Her mumbling was drowned out as the rattling returned, this time louder and closer than before.
The Jeep jerked forward like someone had run into it. Mark and Lenny turned around at the same time. The row of rusted cars behind them was toppling over one by one, like a wave crashing towards the beach. It was like an invisible bowling ball was heading straight for them, destroying anything in its path.
“Shit!” Mark yelled.
He turned the key in the ignition and the loud engine churned, but didn’t start. Anxiously he patted the gas with his heavy foot, desperation etched across his face. Rebecca was trembling and scampering across the backseat. Her arms squeezed Lenny’s neck as she clawed her way forward.
Whatever was coming for them was less than twenty yards away. The shrieking of tearing metal pierced the air as the vehicles were tossed to the side and crushed.
“Come on…come on!” Mark shouted.
With a rumble the Jeep finally fired up and Mark breathed a sigh of relief. He clumsily fiddled with the shifter and then jabbed it into 1st gear. He stomped on the gas just as Rebecca jumped across the seat and landed in Lenny’s lap. Her leg kicked the shifter into neutral and the engine growled.
“Move you fucking psycho!” Mark screamed as he desperately tried to get the Jeep back into gear.
Suddenly, there
was a loud crack and the back of the Jeep lifted into the air and slammed back into the ground. The windshield shattered into pieces as fragments peppered Mark and Lenny like tiny darts.
Rebecca screamed and covered her face, burying it into Lenny’s chest. “Get us out of here, get us out of here!” she yelled over and over.
With a pop, the rear tires exploded and the Jeep rattled violently as the back sunk to the ground. A loud, screeching noise erupted like the sirens on a fire engine. They covered their ears in pain and gritted their teeth.
The sound was immobilizing. It felt like a hand was squeezing their brains. Like they’d been dropped to the bottom of the ocean and their eardrums were going to explode.
Blood trickled down Lenny’s hand as he tried to fight the urge to pass out. His face was contorted in pain. His body trembled from the intense pressure.
A moment longer and they would all lose consciousness, but suddenly everything stopped. The deserted cars behind them settled to the ground. The crushing feeling evaporated. There was a chilly silence in the air only broken by the few pieces of glass still falling from the Jeep.
Lenny slowly lifted his head and tried to catch his breath. His chest rose and fell like a hummingbird, as he surveyed his surroundings.
Shoving Rebecca to the side, Mark rammed the shifter into first gear and floored the gas pedal. The Jeep plowed into a car and then veered onto the highway. With a loud hum they sped off.
They drove for several miles before they started to regain some since of what was going on. The flat tires wobbled and grumbled as the Jeep increased its speed, causing the entire cabin to shake vigorously.
“We gotta change those things,” Lenny said mechanically.
“Not around here we don’t,” Mark shot back.
Rolling faster than they should, Mark tried to put as much distance as he could between them and whatever was back there. The Jeep protested angrily as Mark pushed power to the disintegrating rear wheels. Loose tire tread smacked against the undercarriage, the sound echoing across the empty highway.
They drove for half an hour before the rubber had completely burned off. The engine was smoking like a chimney and the radiator hissed like an angry snake.
“You gotta stop this thing Mark,” Lenny finally said, afraid the engine had already suffered irreparable damage.
“Just a little bit more,” Mark mumbled like a zombie.
“Stop the fucking Jeep!” Lenny snapped.
Mark glanced at him and shook his head. Begrudgingly, he downshifted and the Jeep started to slow. With a long, high-pitched screech the metal wheels ground to a halt in the middle of the road.
“You two girls set up a perimeter. I’ll change the damn tires,” Mark said dismissively.
Lenny cut his eyes, but didn’t say anything back. Nodding at Rebecca he stepped out of the Jeep and skeptically looked around at the deserted canvas that had once been the main artery to the city.
Five lanes stretched from side to side covered in dirt, a desolate highway to hell, eager to funnel its travelers into the belly of the beast. There were no more abandoned cars, just empty fields of dead grass intermixed with the concrete. It was a wasteland and the last place you wanted to be broken down.
“Fucking paradise huh?’ Lenny asked.
Rebecca made a puffing noise and stared down the scope of her rifle. With great effort she steadied her hand. She’d been on edge since they left, but now she was literally bugging the fuck out.
The silence was nerve-racking. It was only pierced by Mark’s constant grunts and the clanking of metal as he pulled the wheels from the Jeep. Minutes crawled by which felt like days to Rebecca. The anxiety was driving her insane. She wasn’t one for waiting around.
“Listen,” Lenny whispered as he moved closer to her. He shot a cautious gaze in Mark’s direction and then pressed his face right next to hers. “I don’t know what the fuck that was back there, but Mark knows something and he’s not telling.”
Rebecca whipped her head around so they were face to face. She slanted her eyebrows and opened her mouth. Words started to flow out, but she swallowed them back, imploring Lenny to continue.
“Tim and that ogre are the only ones in the camp that have ever claimed to see aliens. Mark knows what really is going on. I’m starting to think this is more than just a fucked up rescue mission.”
“What else could it be?” Rebecca mumbled.
“Girls and their damn gossip!” Mark yelled as he marched over. “Tires are done. Let’s get outta here.”
Lenny gave him a dirty look then turned back to Rebecca. “We’ll talk later,” he whispered.
Not wasting any more time, they all climbed back into the Jeep. Mark took a quick glance around and then sped off like he was trying to make up for lost time. Lenny settled back into his seat and hung one of his legs out of the door. Rebecca sat upright, her head nervously whipping from side to side at the slightest noise.
The glow of the amber red sun stretched across the road as it started to vanish into the horizon. A cool breeze drifted through the air and for a second the end of the world didn’t seem so bad. It was like a peaceful evening drive, watching the sun set across rolling hills and sprawling acres of…dead grass.
“Stop!” Rebecca shouted, jumping to her feet.
Mark slammed on the brakes and the Jeep started to fishtail. Cursing and screaming he managed to get it under control and stop on the side of the road.
“Back up!” Rebecca yelled. “Back up!”
Mark shot her an angry look as he threw the Jeep into reverse. He slowly backed up until Rebecca screamed for him to stop again.
“What now?” Mark asked in an annoyed tone.
Rebecca didn’t respond. She grabbed her rifle and jumped out. Before Lenny could react she was half down the off ramp heading to the surface streets.
“Rebecca!” Lenny yelled as he grabbed his gun and took off after her.
Mark leaned his seat back and watched as they both vanished into the darkness. “Yeah…go find me something little bloodhounds. Maybe big daddy will be here when you get back,” he screamed after them.
Lenny had to run all out just to catch up with Rebecca. She sprinted down the off ramp and turned onto a street behind a row of vacant buildings.
It was dusk now and the dimming sun did little to cast light onto the shadowy road. Burned and demolished cars lined the curbs, most with skeletal remains still sitting in the seats. A small, dented, green sign lay twisted on the ground, beneath the rust you could hardly make out the words, “Welcome to Atlanta.”
What were once shinning and pristine skyscrapers now loomed in the sky like dead giants. They towered over the empty streets like an omen to anyone who dared enter this city of the damned. But this was now the norm, desolated capitals and death.
“Rebecca!” Lenny screamed as he came to a stop behind her. “What the hell are you doing?”
“It’s…it’s their truck. I saw it from the highway,” Rebecca mumbled in a child-like voice. She was standing with her arms dangling at her side, her eyes locked on a truck in the middle of the road. “Lenny, the body, the body in the front seat…who’s is it? I can’t look.”
Lenny frowned. He slowly edged closer and closer to the dark blue Dodge Ram. The windows were smashed out and the doors hung open, but aside from that it appeared to be in working condition.
Someone’s leg stuck out from the front seat. It dangled out of the door, no hint of life left in it. All Lenny could see was the bloody combat boot and green fatigued pants. The rest of the body was laid out beyond his view.
Lenny peered around the side and bit his lip. Hesitantly, he leaned around the truck and stared into the cabin. He shuttered and shook his head as he soaked in the devastation.
Stepping back he grabbed his rifle and swung around. He glanced up at the buildings and the surrounding area. He couldn’t see anything, but he had a feeling they were being watched.
“Becca, look alive,” Lenny y
elled back.
Swallowing her fear, Rebecca shouldered her rifle and started to scan the perimeter nervously. Her heart was racing like a train, sweat dripping down her hands.
“Who is it Lenny? Who the fuck is it?” she screamed.
Lenny quickly moved back to her position and crouched down. Turning on the light attached to his gun he stared towards a decrepit office building. It was dark inside and the front door was barely clinging to the hinges. It swung open slightly in the wind then shut back against the decaying frame.
“Lenny!” Rebecca said, punching at him with her free hand. “Who is in that truck?”
“Not sure,” he mumbled.
“What do you mean?”
“Head was gone, so were the arms. Too much…too much blood to tell,” Lenny looked at her then back towards the building. “We’re heading over there.”
“For what?” Rebecca said in shock. “We need to get out of here.”
“Guns and ammo are gone from the truck. Someone got out and judging by those boot marks, they went that way.”
Rebecca swallowed hard then nodded. Lenny smiled at her trying to instill some sense of confidence. Truth be told, he was scared shitless.
With a deep breath he darted across the road, following the shoe prints. He stopped outside of a cream colored, brick building and leaned his back against the wall. He flashed his light at Rebecca and she followed him over.
“I’ll go in first, you cover right,” he whispered.
She shook her head in agreement. Lenny silently counted to three then turned and kicked in the door. The shabby square of rotting wood tore from the hinges and fell to the ground with an ominous clap.
Lenny jetted inside, his cheek tucked against the butt of his gun, his finger hovering over the trigger. His heart was beating ferociously, pounding so hard that he swayed with every convulsion.
Rebecca swung in behind him and slid to the side of the room. She stumbled over a rug, but quickly regained her footing as she swept back and forth with her gun.
The room was basically empty. It appeared to have been the waiting area for some type of medical office before the so-called invasion. Now it looked like a tornado had ripped through it.
Countdown: The Wasteland Chronicles Book One Page 9