A Cold Black Wave

by Scott, Timothy H.

  Grey clouds rolled in and a cool rain started to fall. As he waded through the grass the long blades wobbled and bent away with every swat of his arm and hack of his machete, parting through it and leaving a trampled wake behind him. After seemingly getting lost in the morass, he broke through to open ground and the road appeared in front of him. Josh kneeled down at the edge of the grass line to rest his ankle and examine his new surroundings.

  The road was a four lane highway. The asphalt was in complete disrepair. Pot holes were everywhere, and entire chunks had cracked and broken away from the years of waxing and waning temperatures of heat and cold. Thick weeds stuck out from a million crevices. Nobody had traveled this road in years, probably decades. Directly across from him on the other side of the road was an off ramp that led past three buildings lined up next to each other and in varying states of blackened decay.

  From where he was, Josh spotted four vehicles abandoned in or on the side of the highway. He decided it was safe to stand and with much pain, followed the road left and towards the closest vehicle to him. As he approached the weathered vehicle it amazed him how old it appeared. The rubber on the tires and rotted entirely away, exposing a disease-like rust all over the metal rims. The paint had faded or been worn away by the years.

  The glass was surprisingly still intact on all of the windows. The engine was under the hood in the trunk, which was propped slightly ajar. He lifted it with the barrel of his gun until it swung open. The engine had an odd, circular and minimalist design. Whatever liquid had been inside of it had leaked out and corroded the ground. A large hole had developed underneath the engine some two feet deep.

  He closed the hood and looked through the driver side window. A skeletal driver was slumped over entirely into the passenger seat. The encased interior of the vehicle happened to preserve him fairly well, but the body was so old the clothing had nearly turned to dust. Wiry hair stuck out of the exposed skull and mummified skin stretched across its face. The eyes had shriveled away and the rotted teeth exposed.

  It was clear to Josh now that it no longer mattered which planet they were on. Something catastrophic happened here and he worried that there wasn’t anyone left around to tell its story. If there was a government operating nearby, there would have been reconstruction. Roads repaired, debris cleared. Everything had been left as it was when it had all ended. He left the car and hobbled across the highway and to the abandoned buildings.

  He had little hope of finding anything in there, and he was correct. What appeared to be a refueling station as the spouts, which looked as though they would have gushed forth gasoline on earth, were shaped like batons that had a conical tip and a simple button that was in easy reach of his thumb. Josh pressed it but nothing happened. The other two buildings were entirely empty, but one had been what looked like a general store from earth and the other a small convenience store of sorts. Food had been in there once, anyway. Josh didn’t fail to realize the places had been looted.

  Someone may have survived after all.

  Josh rested and drank his water and listened to the melancholy breeze. A metal sign dangling from the overhang of the general store, hung by a single metal chain, tapped lightly against a shard of broken glass that jutted out of the side of the storefront window.

  Josh circled around the back and followed the off ramp further as it rose in height with the hillside. He couldn’t see what was on the other side and dedicated his last task of this short exploration to getting to the apex and surveying the land around it. He didn’t want to leave Leah alone for much longer.

  He labored along the pock marked road, careful not to twist his ankle further in some unseen hole. The energy bars were sustaining him but his stomach growled for real food, and it hit him all at once how close they were to running out. He could use the machete to perform a hack job on the bear and get a fire started to roast it, maybe even dry and smoke some of the meat to take with them. His thoughts turned away from food as he reached the top of the hill and saw something that dropped into the pit of his stomach.

  There, in the foggy distance, the signs of a metropolis stood out as the tops of skyscrapers pointed towards the heavens. Josh pulled out his binoculars to get a better look. His heart sank. The skyscrapers were nothing but steel bones. The steel beams were still standing but nothing else. Below, smaller buildings were either in piles of debris or in various states of decay. Josh couldn’t believe what he was seeing. If a city this large had been annihilated, the entire planet could have met the same fate.

  Josh had seen enough and hiked back to Leah, his slim grasp for hope dissipating with every step. He couldn’t shake the loneliness inside of him that was like a cancerous black hole, as if his mind was racing ahead to the day when Leah was no longer here and he was wandering the empty cities of some dead civilization with no purpose left in life except to die.

  Josh limped back to camp and as he approached, Leah heard footsteps and called out, "Josh?"

  "It's me," he expelled with exhaustion, lifting the tent flap as drops of rain pattered against it. He peeked in with heavy, tired eyes. "You okay?"

  She was huddled under the blankets again, "Comes and goes, but I'm hanging in there. Why don't you get out of the rain?"

  "No, its okay, I don't want to bother you."

  "You're not, I promise. Please come in ... you're going to get sick!"

  He ducked under and sat across from her, his head dripping water. Leah lay with her hands under her head and looked at Josh with concern. Bags hung under his eyes and his thousand yard stare spoke to her. "Don't worry," she whispered through the sound of the rain. "We'll get through this. Everything happens for a reason."

  He took his gloves off and wiped his nose, "Is that what your book tells you?"

  "It tells me," she paused, fingering the pages in thought. "It tells me that you and I have a great purpose. Together."

  He took a deep breath, "I’ve been thinking.” He said, staring away at nothing. “About how we came to this. What ever made them believe we wouldn’t destroy it all again Leah? If we were given another chance? To ... to, what? People never learned from their mistakes. A generation would pass, that’s it, and they’d forget everything. Everything! The academy made us believe we had a chance at saving ourselves, that we could ... do it all over again, differently. Better."

  Leah worried over his countenance which had overtaken him with brooding and dark landscapes, “What did you see out there Josh?”

  The look of sorrow on his face gave away his emotions to her. He felt terrible having to relate what he had just witnessed and couldn’t bring himself to tell her. He cast his eyes down, “Not much. There’s a road we’ll be able to follow, but you need your rest first.”

  Leah erupted into a coughing fit. A gargling sound rasped from her chest as phlegm collected in her lungs. “That doesn’t sound good does it?” she wheezed sardonically once the coughs had been suppressed.

  Leah reached over and interlaced her fingers with his, pulling his hand closer to kiss it.

  They sat together in comfortable silence listening to the rain dance on the thermal wrap. For a moment everything was at peace and Josh felt good being with her. Her touch alone quickened his heart and injected into his blood a mystical energy that gave him hope and energy. Her grave situation tempered those emotions though and he gave way to sadness, gripping her hand even more as if to keep her from slipping away.

  Leah eventually dozed off again and Josh put the back of his hand against her forehead. Still hot. Not as bad as the first night though. The antiviral were buying her time, but now that they were gone...

  Josh sat with her awhile longer to admire her so at peace with the world despite the death that flowed through her veins. He brushed her hair back behind her ear and tucked the blanket around her neck. Once she was in a deep sleep he left the tent. The storm clouds had receded and only a small drizzle fell now, interspersed with rays from the sun. Josh eyed the soaked bear lying in a pathetic, cr
umpled posture. It was a beautiful creature that didn’t deserve to die and he felt remorse for having been in its path, and being forced to kill it. Had they not been here it would still be alive.

  As he stood, reflecting and listening to the trickle of water near him, it dawned on him that the stream had changed. The water had risen at least a foot and was already lapping up against the bears corpse. The color of the water had turned cloudy and full of thick, swirling dark sediments. The flow had increased as the water rushed by faster than usual. He looked to the mountains in the west, and which provided the supply of water to this low creek, now were surrounded by voluminous blackish clouds. Lightning flashed underneath them like white, jagged wounds opening in the sky. Moments later, thunder claps so loud he swore he could feel the shock wave pass over him.

  The water was only five feet from their tent now. Josh hurried over to start gathering loose items left inside, a half-eaten energy bar, Leah's water, gloves and parka. “Leah,” he said as he grabbed things. “Let’s go, get up, get your gear.” She moaned and pulled the blanket over her face.

  Not wasting any time, he slung his pack and his gun and jogged for a sandy berm that he had found earlier. It wasn’t the best spot to climb but it was the quickest way up. Once he made it up to the ridge he slid the pack off and dropped his things and started back down. Then there was the distant rumbling again, but this time it wasn’t thunder. A sustained commotion shook the earth and the air, and the roar of what sounded like a thousand crumbling mountains grew louder.

  Josh threw his gun next to his pack and slid down the berm, "Leah! Get up! Get up!" He ran, not caring of his ankle, and dove into the tent, pulling her out by the arm. She screamed in terror and flailed as he dragged her out of her blankets. She screamed, "What are you doing?”

  “Come on!” She was on her feet and stumbling alongside him. He exhorted her forward, “Keep moving!”

  “My book!” She broke free and scrambled back to search for it.

  He ran after her and flailed to grab a hold of her before she got away, “Leah!”

  She threw the tent flap open and turned the blankets inside out looking for the book but it wasn’t anywhere.

  “Where is it?” She screamed.

  Her hands groped wildly, searching for it in the blankets and even as Josh seized her she found the strength to push him back. Once he had a solid grip on her shoulder, he yanked her backwards and dragged her in the opposite direction as she gained her feet and kept pace. The oncoming sound had become so loud that it filled the air as if some rapidly expanding firestorm was rolling towards them.

  Josh had a death grip on her arm and ran. She looked back, "My pack!"

  "Run!”

  She could barely follow along as he pulled her, and then the flood waters came. A destructive brown and black wall of water burst from around the bend and crashed towards them with blinding speed. Josh didn’t hesitate. He grabbed her diminutive frame with both hands and with every ounce of strength his body could muster, heaved her with a violent thrust nearly ten feet up onto the ridge. Leah screamed in horror as the powerful wave instantly swept him away, her arm outstretched in a vain attempt to summon him back. Waves gushed high and splashed against her at the edge of the ridge, so she rolled away into the grass.

  She lay there shaking, confused, crying and calling out for him in desperation, “Josh! JOSH!”

  She tried to balance herself as she stood and felt her entire body trembling with weakness, but she ran, and she ran as fast as she could as she followed the water downstream. She watched the waters and kept calling to him even though she was so mortified she could barely breathe.

  “Josh!” She stumbled and fell to her hands but picked herself up and ran faster, crashing through bushes and climbing over knee-high rocks. All she could do was keep running and calling for him but the water was moving so fast, it would have already carried him too far away for her to find. Soon her body gave out and she went down to her knees and slumped forward, shaking and crying and crying into her hands. She wept for want to keep going but her body wouldn’t respond. He was gone.

  Chapter 11

  She didn’t know how long she had been lying there, nearly paralyzed with fever and weakness as her vision drifted with the clouds above. She forced herself up on her elbows and became dizzy as she steadied herself and held her sickened stomach. With every beat of her heart the disease attacked her immune system. The sweat drained from her pores, dehydrating her already weakened body. Her brain cooked from the 105 degree fever. Her breathing was rapid as her drowning lungs desperately sucked in air.

  She stood with much effort and swayed off balance, stumbling back to find Josh’s gun lying halfway in the tall grass and his pack sat undisturbed where he had left it. The tent was gone, along with her rifle and pack. The thermal wrap and blankets had been washed away. All she had now was her parka, which got soaked on the inside, boots, and gloves to keep her warm.

  She tried covering up with the parka but the matted wet interior gave her chills when it touched her skin. She slid her gloves on as if going through the motions, hearing Josh’s words echo in her head: survive! Night came surprisingly quick, but then again her sense of time had been turned upside down. The clouds were ushering in the darkness earlier than usual too and the ashen color sky cast a pall over the world. She had no choice but to fight on and believe he was alive somewhere, looking for her. Her eyelids slid over her rolling eyes as she gazed at the sky. Josh, where are you?

  Leah wanted to keep walking downstream to search for him but she could barely take five steps without falling breathless. She couldn’t leave the backpack and the gun either, but carrying those would be an impossible task. The wind blew in from the east now and the sea of nearby grass rustled about her. The forest beyond the stream cast deep, dark shadows that hid things unknown. For the first time since they arrived she felt despair and hopelessness as the world closed in over her dimming vision.

  She prayed, and she prayed so fervently all night that her mind retreated from the world around her and into a place of solitude. Her repetitious entreaties to God eventually lulled her to sleep and she lay against the backpack all night. The cold made her shiver and curl into a tight fetal position but there was little else she could do to warm herself.

  There were nightmares and hallucinations. The fever took a crimson hold on her in that bitter night and she woke more than once screaming and drenched in melting sweat.

  When she woke early that morning before the sun had risen, she felt deathly ill and her body was stiff and sore. Her forehead was blazing hot and she coughed up blood tinged mucus. Her teeth clattered together and objects and visions came in and out of her field of view. Her throat was so sore and dry that she couldn’t even swallow. Then her heart jumped as she saw Josh walking on the other side of the stream and she waved for him. “Over here! Here!” Then he was gone.

  With shaking hands she unzipped his backpack and desperately searched everything, looking for something. It was mainly food and ammunition. There was an extra pair of boots, gloves and a long tube about a foot in length. At the bottom was a thick string attached to a safety pin, and a diagram of a person aiming it skyward and pulling the string.

  She situated it against her leg, pulled the safety pin and then the cord but nothing happened. The next time she pulled so hard she ground her teeth together, and then the tube popped. A fizzing, shimmering red ball of light shot into the candlelit sky and hung up there at about a hundred yards.

  She watched it as it made a very slow descent, suspended in the sky for a good five minutes before it drifted south as the wind blew it out of view. There was nothing else she could do now except pray that Josh was somehow still alive and saw the flare. The thought that anyone else nearby could see it never crossed her mind, nor would it have mattered at this point.

  For the next hour Leah rested her head and tried to calm herself with silent prayers to God, watching the horizon as the blazing ancient sun, t
hat gaseous thing that illuminated creation out of the darkness, came into view and turned the horizon into a yellow hue until it crested and bathed the tips of the pine trees with golden light. Leah cried, for everything, for her father, for her, for Josh, for nothing. She was convinced that God had chosen her and had chosen Josh to be here and that there were no coincidences, for her faith made their purpose clear.

  Now as her mortal body slipped away, she questioned everything in a pleading case for God to provide some sort of answer. Faith had seemed easier before but now, dying here, alone, it made little sense that if they were the last humans alive, God would so easily forsake them. What ate at her the most, what killed her soul over a thousand times, was the moment she ran back to the tent to pick up the book that had given her such faith in the first place. Had she just followed Josh, and left it behind ...