by Paul Moxham
“You mean steal one,” Derek said.
“Well, yes, but I doubt whoever lived in these houses still need the vehicles. After all, if they did, why wouldn’t they have used them?”
“I didn’t see any cars on our way here,” Molly piped up.
“I didn’t either,” Logan admitted, “but I’m sure there must be at least one.”
“But what about the green smoke?” Kenneth pointed out. “Who knows how far we’ll get before we become like Lucy?”
“It’s a chance we’ll have to take,” Logan said. “Unfortunately, we don’t know how long Lucy was breathing in the smoke, which is why we will take steps to limit our breathing outside.” He checked the front door and then out the nearby window. “Once I find a suitable vehicle, I’ll reverse as close as I can to the door.”
“Would a van be best?” Molly suggested. “It would be easier to carry Lucy into the vehicle then.”
Logan faced the others once more. “Yes, I was just coming to that part. As Lucy can’t walk, she’ll have to be carried.” He looked at Kenneth. “Do you think you can carry her by yourself?”
“I can help,” Derek piped up.
“Well,” Kenneth said, “with Derek’s help, I should be fine.”
“What about me?” Molly asked. “What can I do?”
“You can open the front door, as well as the door of the vehicle,” Logan said. “So, that’s all settled then?” As the others nodded, he started tearing up the room. “If we can all find something to put around our mouths, then that would also help protect us from the smoke.”
“I think I saw some scarves hanging up in the closet,” Molly piped up.
“You did? Whereabouts?” Logan questioned.
“I’ll show you.” Molly led the way out of the living room, down the hallway, and into one of the two bedrooms. It was just as she’d said. Inside one of the closets was a rack of beautiful and expensive designer scarves.
Logan smiled. “Perfect, just what we need.” He took them all in his hand and went back to the others, handing them out in a flurry. “Use this to protect yourselves. Oh, and remember to wait until I blast the horn. Then come running.”
“Will do.” Kenneth glanced over at Lucy. “Hopefully she won’t get any worse until we are able to get help.”
“God, I hope so too.” With that, he put his green scarf around his face, and without further ado, he thrust open the door. He quickly shut it and raced down the driveway. Once he reached the road, he looked both ways. There was no vehicle in sight. None parked in a driveway or on the road.
Knowing that he would have more luck if he headed deeper into the estate, he turned to the left and jogged along the road. He couldn’t manage more, not with his body and soul worn to a nub. Besides, with the smoke as thick as it was, it was hard to see that far in front of him.
Only when he was directly at the front of each driveway was he able to check for parked vehicles. As time passed, he accepted that he’d have to go with the first car he saw. He didn’t have time to be picky, especially with Lucy’s life on the line.
He suddenly skidded to a stop as he passed a driveway. Were his eyes playing tricks on him, or was that a cream-colored van? He took a few strides up the driveway and let out the breath he didn’t know he had been holding when he caught sight of the van.
Rushing up to it, he wondered if he would be lucky enough to find the keys for it. He didn’t want to waste time playing about with the wires. It would be much quicker if he could find the keys hanging on a hook inside.
So he hurried up the porch steps and tried to open the door. He couldn’t. It was locked. Coughing a bit, he bashed a hole through the wood and unlocked the door. As the green smoke followed him into the house, he scanned the three hooks that had been nailed into the hallway wall. There was nothing hanging on two of them, but from the third one, a bunch of keys hung.
Logan grabbed the key chain and hurried outside. He urgently flicked through the keys for one that looked like the one he needed. Spotting one such key, he put it into the keyhole. It worked.
Sitting down in the front seat, he quickly shut the door and started the engine. As it rumbled to life, he catalogued the instrument panel’s digital readouts. The tank was half full. So while it might not be enough to get to San Francisco, at least they could get away from the smoke.
He yanked off his scarf, coughed, and put the vehicle in reverse. As the smoke was still as thick as before, he switched on the headlights to full beam. Even then, it was still hard to see. Luckily, he didn’t have to go far. As he approached the house, he drove up the driveway and then onto the grass, coming to a stop beside the front door.
He pressed down on the horn and waited. Moments later, the front door flung open and the others rushed out. Molly was the first to arrive at the van, and she yanked open the side door. She climbed in and sat down on the farthest seat as the others climbed in.
As Kenneth laid Lucy on the backseat, he screamed at Logan, “Go!”
Logan cranked the wheel to the right and drove across the grass until he was back on the road. Then, with the headlights still blazing, he continued down the road, going the opposite way this time.
He hadn’t been paying too much attention when they arrived at the estate, but from what he could recall, this road would soon merge with another road. He was correct with this thinking as this was what happened.
However, as he looked left and right, he braked and looked back at Kenneth. “Which direction do you think Redding is in?”
“Um, I believe it is to the left,” Kenneth replied after a moment’s hesitation. “But why go there? Won’t it be wiped out?”
“Probably, but that’s where the troops are, if they haven’t retreated by now.” He veered the van to the left. “Is Lucy still the same as before?”
“Yeah,” Kenneth replied. “So what are we going to do when we reach Redding?”
“We’ll see when we get there.” Logan took another look at fuel gauge. “I dare not go too …” He hesitated as a large shape formed in front of him. Only by his quick thinking and movement on the wheel was he able to avoid the stationary vehicle. “As long as this green smoke covers the area, I can only go so fast. How is everyone holding up back there?”
“Molly and I are okay,” Derek said. “But I can’t see how we are going to travel far when we can only go at this speed?”
“Well, the smoke will only last for so long.” Logan craned his head as he looked up into the sky. Green smoke was all he could see. “Sooner or later, the smoke will clear, especially if there’s a change in the weather. But until then, we must continue on as we are.”
Silence reigned for over two hours as the car crawled toward Redding. As time passed, everyone started to cough.
“The smoke must be coming in somehow,” Molly piped up.
Kenneth glanced around at the windows, looking for any obvious holes. “Yes, but I can’t see any gaps, so at least it’s coming in slowly. But it’s another reason that we can’t go farther than Redding.” He looked at Logan. “Shouldn’t we be almost there by now?”
Logan shrugged. “According to the last sign I saw, we reached the outskirts of the city, but with the smoke the way it is, I don’t—hey, I think it’s lifting.” He increased the speed of the vehicle and eagerly scanned his eyes forward. He began to see more and more of the surrounding area.
Everyone else was also looking out of the van windows, and they all smiled as the minutes passed and the sky became visible. But instead of the clear blue sky they had seen before the green smoke, there were dark, black clouds.
“Looks like a storm is about to hit,” Molly commented.
“Yes, which is why the smoke dissipated so fast,” Kenneth said. “Most thunderstorms are preceded by strong winds, so that has helped blow the toxic chemicals away.” He glared at the rearview mirror. “There’s still green smoke behind us, but as the storm moves that way, I expect that will fade away.”
“At
least now we can drive faster,” Molly said.
Logan poured on the speed. Before long, they arrived at the main street of Redding.
“I knew it would be pretty bad, but not like this,” Molly muttered.
Logan sighed as he navigated the van around the wrecked cars and fallen buildings. “I thought there would be a chance that we’d find the military here, but it looks deserted.”
“Everyone must have fled when the attack came,” Kenneth stated. “But I am surprised that I can’t see a single soul. You would have thought …” He snapped his arm to the left. “Hey, I just saw a man climb into that car.”
Logan bobbed his head and twisted the wheel left. “I’ll follow him and see where he goes.”
“But he could be heading anywhere,” Molly said.
“Yes, he could,” Logan admitted, “but he might also be heading to his home or some gathering point for locals. Either way, it’s clear that in the state that Redding is in, there is no use staying here any longer.”
He followed the white sedan through the town, traveling left after the first intersection and then straight ahead after the second intersection. The debris faded away as fields of green and trees began to appear.
The sedan suddenly turned up a dirt road and Logan followed suit. However, he had to quickly brake hard as the white vehicle came to a sudden halt. The man climbed out of the vehicle and strode over, a shotgun in his right hand. He wore a half-torn baseball cap and had a handlebar moustache, jeans, and a striped shirt. The man growled like a dog as he approached. “Why are you following me?”
“You’re the only person I saw in Redding, so I followed you, hoping that you would have some answers about where everyone went,” Logan replied.
“They were either captured, killed, or fled,” the man said.
“What about the military?” Kenneth asked, peering out from one of the side windows.
“The ones who weren’t wiped out in the first bombing fled before the smoke came,” the man said.
Logan frowned. “But that doesn’t make sense. How did they know that the smoke was coming?”
“They didn’t.” The man glanced around at the trees. “If you want to survive, I suggest you drive away from here as fast as possible.” He hopped in the sedan in one flash.
As the car bounced down the dirt road, Logan rolled his head back at the others. “What do you think we should do?”
“Do we have enough gas to get to San Francisco?” Kenneth asked.
“No, but we should have enough to get to the coast,” Logan replied. “Then, if we can find a boat, we’ll be able to make our way to the lodge.”
“I wonder why the military fled early,” Derek said.
“They must have gotten scared,” Molly said.
“I believe there is something that the man wasn’t telling us,” Logan said, suddenly starting the van. He punched his foot down on the pedal and the van shot forward.
“What are you doing?” Molly asked.
“Finding out what the man didn’t tell us.” Logan continued driving down the road, slowing down as a whirlwind of dust spiraled up to his left. He bounced down the dirt track, following the sedan, and closed the distance as the man arrived at a farmhouse.
As the man clambered out of his vehicle, he gazed at the approaching van. “You all just stay here while I have a little chat. Won’t be long.” He climbed out and advanced on the stranger, both fists clenched tightly.
Chapter 21
“I thought I told you to get out of town,” the man said.
Logan loosened his stance. “Yeah, but I want to know why you said that.”
“Just do it.” The man grabbed a container from his trunk and rushed over to the barn.
Logan chased after him. “Why aren’t you getting out?”
“I am.” The man put the container on the ground and pushed one of two doors open.
Immediately, Logan spotted the small plane over his shoulder. He jerked his thumb at the container. “I can guess what’s in there.”
“I can’t afford flying on just half a tank, so I had to pop into Redding to get some more.” The man popped a latch on the wing and poured gasoline in.
Logan drummed his fingers on the wing. “Which direction are you flying in?”
“North. My brother’s in Canada, so—”
“Logan!” Kenneth suddenly yelled out.
Logan spun around and saw that Kenneth had now stepped out of the van. He was pointing upward at the dark sky. In amongst the clouds, several Conquerors could be seen slowly making their way across the sky. “Damn!” He took a menacing step toward the man. “You knew they were coming, didn’t you?”
The man hurried forward so he could gawk up at the sky himself. “I hoped that I would have time to fly away before they came.”
“Is that why everyone left?” Logan questioned. “Because they knew that they were coming?”
The man nodded. “The military spotted them on their radar, and knowing that there was no way that in their depleted condition they would stand a chance against them, they left the area and told everyone else to do the same.”
“Do you know where they were going?” Kenneth asked.
“On the coast somewhere,” the man replied. “The lieutenant I spoke to said something about meeting up with the USS Philadelphia.”
“Isn’t that an aircraft carrier?” Logan frowned. “Didn’t San Diego get hit in the initial attack?”
The man just slumped his shoulders as he hurried back to the aircraft. “I have no idea. All I know is that I’m getting out of here now.”
Molly, who had been listening from inside the van, suddenly stuck her head out. “I see a Striker!”
Everyone jumped to their feet as a Striker streaked out from the belly of a Conqueror. Then another emerged from the aircraft next to it. As the fighters began to swoop toward Redding, Logan growled, “They’re scanning the area for survivors!”
He ran toward the van and climbed in. He gunned the engine and drove straight into the barn, narrowly missing hitting the aircraft. He screeched to a stop and climbed out. “We need to close the barn …” He paused as he caught sight of the man as he left the barn. “Where are you going?”
“I have to get my money from the house,” the man shouted over his shoulder.
Everyone gawked as the madman ran across the dirt toward the farmhouse. They stared back and forth between him and the Strikers, now speeding above the treetops and firing red bolts every few seconds.
“We need to close the barn doors before they see us,” Kenneth muttered.
“We have to wait until the owner gets back,” Logan said. “Just try to stay out of the sunlight. That way, we shouldn’t be spotted.”
A minute later, the man emerged from the farmhouse and ran back to the barn. Hearing a noise, Logan glanced to the left and saw a Striker diving toward the farm. “Hurry!”
The man twisted around, but by the time he saw the Striker, red bolts were hurtling toward him. He dived to the ground and the bundle of money that he was holding flew to the ground. As the green notes scattered in the wind, he attempted to pick up as many as he could.
Kenneth punched the air in desperation. “Leave the money, you fool!”
The man waited another few seconds before he stood up, but as he ran toward them, the Striker swirled around and spat out more red bolts from the front-mounted cannons.
As soon as one hit the man, he fell to the ground. Logan shifted his weight, preparing to rush over and drag the injured guy to cover, but another red bolt cut the man in two well-done halves. As the Striker gained height, the brothers used the time to shut the barn doors.
Once everything was tidied up, Logan climbed into the bright red plane’s cockpit. It was in fairly new condition. “We’ll have to wait until the Strikers are gone, but once they’re finished, we can use this to get the hell away from here.”
“I didn’t know you could fly,” Derek stated.
“I can�
��t, officially,” Logan admitted. “However, I took some training lessons with Dad.” He sighed as he rubbed his hand against the propeller. “We were planning to fly up to Seattle that weekend when Dad and Mom decided to go to Africa.”
“So is this the same type of plane that you were learning to fly?” Molly asked.
“It’s a slightly different model, but the instrument panel looks exactly the same, so as long as I can recall everything that Dad taught me, we should be all right. However, the biggest issue will be space. As you can see, it’s only a four-seater.”
“Derek and I don’t take up much space,” Molly stated.
“That might be true, but I would feel much safer if I made two trips, as it would be impossible for you two to have a seat each, and if a Striker were to come after me, I’d have to make evasive maneuvers, and I don’t want one of you flying through the windshield.” He fiddled around near the instrument panel and pulled out a map. Unfolding it, he laid it on the wing. “Looking at this, it’s going to take me roughly three hours to get to Stinson Beach.”
“What if you head for the coast instead?” Kenneth suggested. “You heard what that man said, about the Philadelphia.”
“Doesn’t matter. The aircraft carrier could be anywhere along the coast, and I don’t have time to find out where it is. The lodge at Stinson Beach has everything we need—well, almost everything. It doesn’t have a doctor, but that can’t be helped.” As he folded up the map, he glanced at the teens. “I can’t see how I’ll find my way back here in the darkness, so whoever is left behind will have to stay here overnight.”
“Hey, I just thought of something,” Kenneth said. “Why don’t you fly Lucy to Stinson Beach while the teens and I drive to the coast in the van?”
“I’m not sure how much gas is left.” Logan skipped over to the van and switched on the engine. As the needle hovered just above zero, he ground his teeth until something chipped off. “It’s not going to be enough to get you to Stinson Beach, let alone the coast.”
“I’m sure we’ll be able to find some gas along the way.” Kenneth looked at the teenagers. “What do you think?”