by Pond, Simone
“Where?”
“Just trust me.”
Critter skated through the smoke-ridden back streets, zipping around the flipped over cars, piles of bricks, and telephone poles. He turned onto Clover and cruised down the steep hill at top speed all the way to the bottom. They hit the grass and propelled forward, rolling on top of each other until they came to a stop. Critter’s elbow throbbed and Mona curled up in a ball, holding her face. She had a gash on her cheek. He reached over and pressed her bandana against the bleeding wound.
“You gotta keep pressure on the cut. Okay? Come on, we gotta keep moving.” He pulled her up.
“Where are we going?”
“To the caves. We’ll be safe there.”
Mona trailed behind Critter, crying non-stop, while he navigated through the woods. He veered off the main path and they went deeper into the dense forest. After twenty minutes of trudging over fallen branches and heavy brush, Critter stopped and pointed to a hillside of boulders.
“We’re here. Come on.” He took her hand and helped her as they climbed over the rocks until they got to the edge of a cliff.
“Now what?” Mona asked, terror skirting around in her pale blue eyes.
“We have to scale down to the bottom. The cave opening is down there.”
“Scale down how?”
Critter went to a nearby rock and pulled out a mound of rope. He took one end and secured it around a large rock, making sure it could hold his weight.
“I’ll go down first and wait at the bottom.”
She peered over the edge and scooted back. “No way. I can’t do this.”
“Looks worse than it is. I’ve done it a hundred times. You can use the rocks to wedge your feet. I’ve seen you climb up a stack of humans and let them flip you around in the air. You can do this.”
She smiled. “I knew you were watching. Even though you pretend like you don’t care about cheerleading.”
He held the rope and edged his way over the side of the cliff. He glanced up at Mona. “I don’t care about cheerleading,” he said. “I care about you.”
Despite her fear or the pain from the cut on her cheek, she smiled and the light returned to her face. There was no denying the feelings were mutual. Finally, the moment had arrived. Critter went down as fast as he could. At the bottom of the cliff, he untied the rope from his waist and shouted up for Mona to start making her way down. She was still in her blue and yellow cheerleading uniform, with the ass of her bloomers in full view.
“Don’t watch,” she yelled to Critter.
“I have to make sure you don’t fall.” He laughed. “And you don’t have any trouble showcasing your ass around school.”
“That’s different! It’s my job.”
Critter kept the rope taught, his palms burning. Mona got to the bottom and dropped to the cold ground, where she stayed curled in a ball.
“You coming, or staying here?” he asked.
“I’m scared. What about my friends? And my family?” She started crying again, sniffing and slobbering into her hands.
Critter helped her up and let her cry into his shoulder. He held her close and patted the back of her head. “We can go back and check on them after it’s over,” he assured her.
“After what’s over?”
“Whatever they’re doing. Burning Colorado to the ground . . .”
He put his arm around her shoulder and led her toward the rocks. After moving away some of the smaller boulders, they reached the small opening of the cave and crawled through the crevice. Inside, the cave was black as tar. Critter took out a glow stick from his jacket and cracked it open, creating an eerie greenish glow. He walked to a narrow tunnel and motioned for Mona to follow. They crawled through the space until they reached a large opening. It was cold and damp inside, but they were able to stand up and walk around. Critter went over to a pile of bags against the wall and pulled out the one with his initials. He took out the portable lantern and lit up the space.
“Now what?” Mona’s tears had streaked through the blood and dirt on her cheeks. She trembled from the cold.
Critter took off his jacket and wrapped it over her shoulders to keep her warm. “I need to clean out that cut,” he said.
He found a first-aid kit in his bag and went to work, fixing up her face.
“I need to sit down,” she said.
He helped her over to the row of duffle bags and they sat down.
“Now what?” she asked.
“We wait.”
“For what?”
“The others. John, Trevor, and Dave. Once they’re here, we can discuss the next steps. We have a car hidden in the woods. We’ll need to hike over to it and drive the hell out of here. I heard about an underground group of people living deep in the San Juan Mountains. We’re going to meet up with them and make our way toward the coast before winter.”
“Before winter? What the hell, Critter? How long are you planning on living out in the wild like animals?”
“Like animals?”
She stood up and started walking over to the tunnel. “I can’t do this. I have to get back to my house and see if my parents are okay.”
Critter kept quiet, stretching out on the ground. He rested his head on the back of his duffle bag, watching and waiting––like always when it came to Mona Hendricks. She got down on her knees and crawled back through the tunnel with the ass of her yellow bloomers in plain view. He closed his eyes, chuckling to himself as she disappeared into the blackness. She’d be back . . .
###
“Critter, dude. Wake up,” someone said, shaking him awake.
He opened his eyes and waited until they adjusted to the dim light. “Trevor,” he muttered, sitting up and looking around to see who else was there. “Where’s everyone else?”
“Don’t know. I bailed the second that first one hit. That one over there was crying on the rocks near the opening.” Trevor pointed to Mona, who was sitting on the ground with her scraped up knees bent into her chest.
“You okay?” Critter asked Trevor.
“I almost cracked a rib coming down that hill, but I’m good. My hands and legs are in good shape. Dude, I don’t think Dave or John made it.” He sat next to Critter and lifted his T-shirt to examine the dark purple bruising along the side of his body.
“You know the plan. We wait here for two days, and if nobody else shows, we head out.”
Mona looked up. “We have to stay in this cave for two whole days?”
“Quit whining. I don’t even know why you’re here.” Trevor glared at Mona, then over to Critter. “Sucker,” he said under his breath.
“I couldn’t leave her behind,” Critter said.
“Nope. You never could.”
“Shut up, man. Otherwise it’s gonna be a couple of really long and uncomfortable days in here.” Critter nudged Trevor in the ribs.
Trevor howled like a kicked dog. He took out his sleeping bag and scooted off to the back of the cave to get some sleep. Critter took out his sleeping bag and got inside. He put on his headphones and closed his eyes, wondering how much longer before his batteries died. Somewhere in the middle of Zeppelin’s “In Through the Out Door,” Mona came over and sat on the sleeping bag. He remained still, and after a few minutes, she scrunched her way down inside and nestled her head against Critter’s arm. Gardenias. He turned on his side and they faced each other.
“Everything’s gonna be fine,” he whispered.
“I hope so.” She closed her eyes and snuggled up against his warm body.
Everything about the way their bodies melded into one another felt right, as though all the orbits had aligned. Took you long enough, Critter thought.
“What’d you say?” Mona’s voice sent chills up his back.
“It took you long enough.”
She opened her eyes and touched his cheek. “I don’t know why. I’ve always wanted this.”
“Have you? Or are you just saying that because I might be one of t
he only guys left on the planet?”
“I’m saying it because it’s true. I pushed you away because, well, because . . . I don’t know. I guess I wanted to be popular, and being with you seemed like it’d get in the way of that.”
“At least you’re honest. As stupid as you sound.”
She smacked his chest and they laughed. “It seemed so important. And then I got caught up in it. You know how peer pressure goes.”
“Actually, I don’t.”
“Yeah, you’ve never been one to follow the crowd. I guess that’s why we’re here in this cave.” She looked at him and smiled. “Thanks for saving my life, Critts.”
He leaned in closer and softly kissed her mouth. The taste of salt and dirt made the moment even sweeter. He’d waited a long time to kiss Mona Hendricks. After they were all kissed out, they scooted down into the sleeping bag and fell asleep, with Trevor’s snores reverberating against the walls.
###
They waited for two days in the cave, but nobody else came. Critter went into John’s duffle bag and found Mona a pair of pants, a flannel shirt, and some boots that were a couple sizes too big.
“It’s time to go,” Critter said.
He wondered if they should leave Dave and John’s bags behind. What if they showed up later? Deep in his heart he knew they weren’t coming. He took Dave’s bag and tossed John’s to Trevor.
“Why doesn’t she have to carry anything?” Trevor asked.
“I can carry one of the bags if you’re not strong enough,” Mona said.
Critter had grown weary of their bickering.
“I’m hoping the two of you can learn to get along, or at least keep it to yourselves. We’ve got a long way to go before we hit the San Juans. We don’t know what’s out there and we need to be vigilant. So grow the hell up and work together.” His voice hit a peak and echoed off the cave walls.
The two jumped back a bit and looked at each other, nodding reluctantly. Then they crawled through the tunnel toward the main opening. Golden rays of late afternoon sun pierced through the crevice. They stood by the opening, waiting until it was dark to travel by night. They’d go through the switches that Critter had mapped out months earlier. The “getaway” car was hidden in the woods about two miles away. When it was dark, they squeezed through the opening and started their hike.
The air was heavy with smoke from the fires burning throughout Colorado. At certain peaks they could see across the basin to Denver. The whole place was on fire. Downtown, the surrounding neighborhoods, and the far-reaching suburbs.
“They’re burning every friggin’ thing down,” Trevor said, looking out across the horizon.
“The final phase of the Repatterning.” Critter pulled his bandana up around his face.
After the two-mile hike through the woods, they reached the spot where the Jeep was hidden in the bushes.
“You sure that thing still runs?” Mona asked.
“It’s old, but it works. And Trevor knows a thing or two about mechanics.”
Mona smiled at Critter, clearly impressed. “How long have you been planning this out?”
“A while.” He tried to play it cool, but he was beaming from her approval.
Trevor got behind the wheel, Critter took the passenger seat to navigate, and Mona sat in the back with the duffle bags. Nobody said a word as they drove through the brush, cutting through the woods. Trevor maneuvered the old Jeep through the trees until they hit one of the switchbacks, which took them down the side of the mountain to the road that would lead to the San Juans.
They decided not to look back at their burning city. Instead, they focused on the road ahead. The road that would take them to their new life. A new beginning. Critter was grateful Mona Hendricks had finally come around. All those years waiting had paid off. He looked to the backseat. Although the dark blue bandana covered her nose and mouth, he knew she was smiling.
Books By Simone Pond
THE CITY CENTER
THE NEW AGENDA
THE MAINFRAME
THE TORRENT
VOICES OF THE APOCALYPSE: SHORT STORIES
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