Unsure how long he had let his mind drift, Jack looked up again to realize they had already walked several miles. Though they still had a long way to go, with every step the town grew clearer on the horizon, and it became that much more evident that they would have no choice but to seek shelter within the town itself.
Up ahead, perhaps ten miles, stood the twisted and broken skeletons of what had once been buildings that stood stories high. Now, little more than twisted steel and rubble stood as evidence of the once pristine buildings, and the skyline appeared more the carcass of a rotting thing than the remains of a once thriving community. Jack shivered at the thought, knowing very well that something might dwell within the ruins that even now could be watching them approach, waiting for them to fall victim to its trap. Shaking his head, he knew that there was nothing else he could do but keep going, lead them to the settlement ahead, and hope for the best. If they did get into trouble, he would just have to do his best to keep them safe. The same thing he had been doing since day one. Squaring his shoulders, Jack lifted his head and walked forward defiantly. If something or someone was watching them come, he would not let them know he was afraid.
* * * * *
Sam didn’t like the look of the town ahead. It reminded her a lot of her first sights of Chicago when they had emerged from the vault. As they grew nearer and nearer to the ruins, more became visible and distinct and the less she wanted to keep going. Something felt wrong here. Eerie. She couldn’t put her finger on what exactly it was, but something was off. Step after dreadful step she continued on with Tammy at her side, following behind both of her brothers who walked ahead as if they were invincible. Boys… always acting macho.
As the miles passed beneath her, Sam again cursed her selection of boots. It had been days since she had been forced to walk long distances, let alone run, but even as broken in as her boots were, they simply weren’t comfortable to wear. Maybe, just maybe, somewhere ahead there would be a pair of shoes that wouldn’t hurt her feet. All she had to do was find it…
“Holy crap!” Sam almost shouted, causing everyone to stop suddenly and look at her.
“What?” Jack asked, turning his head this way and that to make sure there wasn’t something he missed.
“This is stupid.”
“What is?” Tammy asked before Jack could respond.
“All this walking. I don’t have to walk. I can get to the town ahead, and find us a place to hunker down for the night way faster than this.”
She couldn’t believe she had overlooked it. They all had. She was their own perfect recon team. She could blink ahead into any place she could see. From here she could be to the edge of town in an instant and then to any place she could see from there. Within moments she could scour the town and decide if it was safe to venture in, and she might even find out if there were other people or aliens lying in wait.
“You going alone sounds dangerous,” Jack said, but Sam had already made up her mind.
It was dangerous, venturing anywhere alone these days. Of that she was certain. But it was far safer for her to do it her way than all of them simply walk into the place blind as to what may lie hidden ahead. Turning her eyes from her older brother who still protested against the idea, Sam focused on a point between two buildings ahead.
Blinking rapidly, she fought the dizzy swirling sensation in her head and got her bearings. Just ahead of her, to her left, stood what was once a four or five story apartment building. Now, however, it was little more than vertical and horizontal beams of steel and pipe, coated by ash and soot with a pile of rubble surrounding it at least twelve feet thick. Unless something hid buried in the rubble, there was nothing of concern there.
Opposite the first building, to Sam’s right, stood a smaller, though less damaged building. It could have been a small warehouse or store at one time, but now much of it had collapsed. Two of the exterior walls still stood, leaning inward, appearing that they would fall at any second. From her vantage, she could not tell if the building was constructed of steel or cement, but realized that it really didn’t matter.
Waiting for several moments, listening and looking for any sign of movement or danger, she risked a look back over her shoulder to her siblings and Tammy far behind her. Though she couldn’t be certain, it appeared they were now running in an attempt to catch up. Turning her attention back towards the town, she focused on a cluster of other buildings several streets ahead that looked to be in decent shape. Concentrating, she again blinked out of sight.
Steadying herself, Sam peered about at the rubble-strewn streets all around her. Movement to her left catching her attention, she turned in time to see large flakes of ash settling to the ground as a cool breeze blew across her face and neck. With a shiver running down her spine, she looked up to the buildings around her. Though from afar they had looked more or less complete, it was apparent now that the two story brick buildings were worse off than she had imagined.
Probably built as store fronts in the fifties, the four buildings, each accompanying one of the four corners of the intersection, were little more than piled debris, just waiting to crumble to the ground. Held together by some kind of wire frame hidden in the mortar, whole sections of the walls hung out from the buildings, slowly waving this way and that in the breeze. Huge cracks climbed the walls on all four buildings and sections leaned this way and that, ready to crumble away and shatter upon the ground. All four were death traps. Nothing with half a brain would even consider using them as shelter. Sam looked about for a place to teleport to.
Realizing she needed a better view of the town around her, Sam spotted a structure just down the road that appeared to have an intact roof. Though much of the walls had crumbled, the main structure of the building looked fit enough and as such, Sam concentrated and blinked across the distance in an instant.
Unexpectedly, as soon as Sam reappeared, a blast of wind slammed her in the back, driving her towards the edge of the building’s roof. Twisting as she fell, thrown off balance by the wind, Sam collapsed to the tar and pebble roof, the wind breaking over her as she struggled to calm her pounding heart.
Taking a deep breath, she looked out across the devastated scene surrounding her. Just as it had been in Chicago, everything was burned, destroyed, and in ruins. It was sickening, that all life that had once flourished was now gone. There were no dogs barking, no horns honking, no sounds of life anywhere. All of it was gone.
Turning to face the opposite direction, Sam was careful not to turn her body into the wind when she saw something she had not expected. There, just six or seven blocks away was a vehicle in the road, the likes she could recognize even from here. Painted to match a desert terrain, a giant tank sat beside a military Humvee with matching paint, the two taking up the entire road as if placed as a barricade. Straining her eyes further, she could see other vehicles parked in such a way as to block other streets as well.
Turning her eyes both this way and that she located not only vehicular barricades, but sandbag barricades and razor wire here and there as if… was it possible? Had they found a military base? Sam blinked off the roof.
Ducking low beside the tank’s tread, she peered out between it and the Humvee to the nearest ring of stacked sandbags. Now that she was closer, and the setting sun wasn’t in her eyes, she could see the barrel of some sort of large gun thrusting out of the sandbag post. All about, large wooden structures shaped like childhood jacks but made out of wood were scattered about the streets and stretched between them in twisted coils was razor wire.
Fearing she might get herself shot, Sam peered into the darkness of that nearest sandbag structure and ported into the makeshift defense. Blinking her eyes, hoping to adjust to the darkness quickly, she found little more than some trash, a canteen, and an abandoned helmet. Empty. They were gone.
Sam knew that the military wouldn’t simply leave a bunch of tanks and other vehicles along with super-sized machine guns just laying around in the street unless they were
either all dead or too afraid to come and get them. She had no idea when, but it was apparent that at some point the military had tried to put up a fight here and lost.
Climbing out of the defensive ring of sandbags, Sam walked down the street and around the corner to view a long sprawling building with the same defensive structures placed all about it. It was the reason for the vehicular barricades and all the razor wire. It was a long and low building comprising of but a single story that stretched on for the whole length of the block. At first Sam assumed it was a military base, here in the center of town. She had seen such buildings containing National Guard members, but her theory was quickly dashed as she made her way towards the front of the building. There, engraved into the concrete wall of the structure was the true purpose of the only building that she could see that had survived the blast. Milton Elementary School.
Built from concrete, cinder blocks, and brick, the building had nearly completely survived. Looking across its face, she could see that all the windows and doors had been replaced by plywood or metal panels, covering all places where the glass had been broken. Likely an attempt to fortify the building by whatever military force had once tried to defend it. It would be the perfect place to spend the night, assuming of course that no other inhabitants already dwelt there. There was only one way to find out.
* * * * *
Will was running. Again. He was tired of running. Again. The only difference this time from any other was the fact that they were for once running towards something instead of away from something. He guessed at least that much was good. At least now he didn’t have to worry about his asthma. He could simply order his body to breathe right and it would. Then again, he could simply order Jack and Tammy to stop running and that would be the end of it, but he couldn’t. Not because he promised not to use his powers on them, but because Jack was right. Sam shouldn’t have gone into the town alone. It wasn’t safe. Even with special abilities.
So here they were, running again, but Will’s shorter legs just couldn’t compete with his track star brother or even Tammy’s longer limbs.
“Jack. Slow down. I can’t keep up,” Will shouted ahead, panting between the words.
“C’mon, Will, we can’t leave her there alone.” Jack retorted.
“Then fling me or something,” Will suggested. “Use your power and carry me.”
“I don’t know if I can do it while running. It’s not that easy to control. I have to focus.”
Will gave up. He didn’t want to order Jack to do it. Well, he kind of wanted to, but he wouldn’t. He had no choice but to keep pumping his legs, striving to keep pace with the others.
It must have been two miles. Maybe fifteen, Will wasn’t sure, but it seemed like forever, when Jack finally slowed and veered off the street. There, parked in the driveway of a burned out home was a jeep. Though the top was missing, and the char marks and bubbled paint were proof that the thing was not about to run, Will watched as Jack trotted up to it.
Gulping as much air as his lungs would let him, Will shook his head at his older brother. All the running must have starved his brain of oxygen or something. Without warning, Jack jumped up and into the jeep and pulled the shifter on the steering column down two positions. Then, Will watched as Jack put his hands on the wheel, and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath of his own. The jeep rocked backwards. No way!
Will stared on in astonishment as Jack’s grip tightened on the steering wheel to the point his knuckles turned white and the jeep began to roll slowly backwards towards the road. Jack was using his power to push the jeep. No way could he push them all the way to the town ahead. Could he?
Back and back the jeep came as Jack turned the wheel, sweat already dripping down his face.
“Hop in,” he said through clenched teeth.
Will didn’t hesitate and neither did Tammy. Within a second both were inside the jeep as Jack again forced his power upon the jeep. Slowly, again, the jeep rocked, only this time it inched forward before beginning to roll. Will could hear Jack taking slow, deep breaths, inhaling and exhaling through his teeth as he focused. Second after second the jeep rolled faster and faster, gaining both speed and momentum. Jack seemed to relax, his features smoothing out as the breeze danced through his hair as they slowly picked up speed. Will almost couldn’t believe it.
“You’re doing it, Jack! You’re pushing the jeep forward,” Will exclaimed in excitement.
“No, little man. That would be too easy,” Jack said, finally relaxed enough to smirk. “I’m pushing the world beneath us backwards.”
The breath caught in Will’s throat. Could he really do that? Was Jack’s power that strong? Could he actually move the whole world?
Suddenly both Jack and Tammy burst out laughing. He had been had. Jack had tricked him.
“I knew you were faking,” Will shouted. “You didn’t trick me!”
“Sure, little man.”
* * * * *
They were the Star Children. They had to be. Tammy was certain for sure now. Who else could do what they were doing? It had to be divine intervention, didn’t it? They were the chosen of the prophet. They were the destined saviors of the world and likely all the races of men. Sam had teleported ahead to scout and now Jack was propelling them forward in a vehicle using nothing more than his mind and willpower. Tammy didn’t need any more proof. Even so, she couldn’t help herself but ask a question or two.
“Is it hard to move the jeep?”
“It was hard to get it moving, but now that it is moving it really isn’t that difficult,” Jack replied.
Tammy was glad for his answer. She didn’t want to run another moment if she didn’t have to, and all of them knew that Will wasn’t a fan of the exertion either. Now, none of them had to run. So long as Jack was up to the task, they had unlimited fuel. Things were looking up.
Grinning into the fading light, Tammy raised her arms into the air, feeling the wind across her skin and shouted. With no engine noise the only sound was the tires humming on the surface of the road, so it startled Tammy when her shout was echoed somewhere in the distance, only it came back deeper and more prolonged. Angry.
Cursing herself for losing sight of how dangerous the world was, Tammy could not believe her own stupidity. Something was out there, and now it had heard her. Looking to her companions it was obvious that they had come to the same conclusion, as both Jack and Will now wore grim faces.
“I’m sorry,” Tammy said, ashamed of her mistake.
“No help for it now,” Jack replied. “Let’s find Sam and hope she’s got a good place for us to hide.”
Again the jeep surged forward and Tammy strained her eyes and ears in all directions, looking for the source of the sound that had mimicked her. Minute after long minute she peered out into the growing gloom for any sign that they were being pursued but found none.
It was mere minutes later when they dodged a burned out car, swerving around it as they passed between the first pair of the town’s dilapidated buildings. Tammy knew that now, anything outside the town would not be able to see them and it gave her some comfort. Not even a full block inside the town, Tammy’s hopes were dashed as the deep resounding yell came again from somewhere in the distance. It was louder, more distinct.
Chapter Eleven
Sam eyed the school suspiciously. There was no telling what lay inside. It could be filled with alien invaders bent on eating her, or then again there could be some remaining military, just hiding out waiting for reinforcements. Focusing on the front door of the building, she ported past the lines of defensive barbed wire and grabbed ahold of the door. Pulling the handle slowly, she opened it only an inch before it stopped abruptly with a metallic clang. Looking down through the gap in the door, she could see the links of a chain that bound it shut. This wasn’t going to be as easy as she hoped.
Turning around, she vanished again only to reappear in the street standing atop the tank. There, further down the face of the building, was anoth
er set of doors. Tammy smiled and blinked across the distance, grabbing the door’s handle before she even got her bearings again. It was dizzying, the ability to instantaneously travel from one location to the next, as if the brain had trouble keeping up, but it sure saved a lot of walking.
Pulling this door slowly, in an effort to be quiet, she felt it give and watched as it slowly relented to her. Inch by steady inch the door opened without so much as a squeak of protest. Peeking inside she could barely see twenty feet down the corridor inside, due to the lack of light. Throwing the door wide, she illuminated the hallway as much as was possible.
Where she expected to find a disastrous mess, she was surprised that it appeared more or less untouched. There were no piles of discarded trash, so mounds of ash or soot. Nowhere from the door could she see rubble where something had collapsed or caved in, and better yet, no aliens or dead bodies.
Sam wanted to explore further, but wasn’t about to enter and let the door close behind her. Looking about, she couldn’t readily find anything to prop the door open. Out beyond the once manicured lawn of the school was a different story. In one instant she blinked back to the road, grabbed a sandbag from the nearest machine gun post and ported back with the heavier than it looked bag of sand.
Propping the door open, Sam slipped inside, tiptoeing across the tile floor. Clinging to the lockers upon the wall, she inched down the hall looking all about for signs of movement. Peering down the long corridor it appeared much the same as any elementary school, she supposed. This side of the hall was covered nearly in entirety with a row of blue lockers, only broken by the doors, placed in pairs at regular intervals. The opposite side was identical, except the lockers were red.
Children of the After: The Complete Series Page 33