FOUR

A Chapter by Maddox

Tall buildings like giants peered over the horizon. The office buildings of Seattle loomed over her as she got closer. Broken out windows and abandoned streets were what was left of the once great trading city. Jake slowed down slightly so she could see what was passing by. Returned lumbered along the cracked and shattered sidewalk.

“What is it Hielo?” she asked, the dog was sitting in the passenger seat still, with his paws resting on the edge of the door. His ears were at high alert. She knew that the Returned set him on edge but if there was something else, she needed to know. He turned his head, looking at her briefly. It was just the number of Returned around. She kept driving. The car neared the top of a tall hill.

The world seemed to be laid out in front of her. In between several tall buildings was the ocean, wide and sparkling. Seemingly untouched by the plague. Ever since she was a child, Jake had wanted to live by the ocean. If things didn’t turn out great here she hoped to go east. There was a Sanctuary in Ohio. Where the old Ohio State Campus used to be. It was said to be the largest Sanctuary built. The truck sputtered, pulling her out of her daydreams. She looked at the fuel tank. Nearing empty. Just what she needed. There was an old Shell gas station coming up on her right. Pulling in she slowed up to one of the cleaner pumps. Sometimes the gas stations had gas left. As she got out and grabbed the pump, this was one of those times. The smell liquid flowed into the waiting gas tank. Flipping the switch to make it stay, she grabbed the gun from her boot and walked around the bed of the trunk.

Meandering down abandoned streets were solitary Returned. Their decaying bodies soaked in the blood of some unknown victim. She wondered what happened after all the flesh was rotted off. Would there just be skeletons wandering around attacking people? Or would they just be gone? Did she just have to wait this out and all the returned would be gone? It was a dream but she knew how long it took a body to fully decay. Let’s just say, she wouldn’t be holding her breath.

Crouching down, she kept her eyes open for any Returned that might get too close. She stayed there for a while, waiting for the click of the pump telling her that her tank was full. If she ever had to come back she’d have to remember this place, fuel was important if you wanted to travel without being stopped for too long. She replaced the pump and climbed back into the truck. Rounding the corner of the truck had alerted a Returned to her presence. Jerkily turning the car on, she sped out of there as fast as she could. The Returned chased sluggishly after the truck. The attention started attracting a larger and larger crowd. A roaring noise came from behind the pack of Returned. Glancing in the rearview mirror she saw that same black suburban gaining on her. Groaning she hit the gas even harder.

“Great. First the returned and now these goons are back.” She grumbled. She ducked as she heard gunshots once again. What she didn’t hear was the sound of those gunshots denting the back of her truck. Taking a chance, Jake looked in the mirror. Only to see the boy leaning out of the window again, only this time he was shooting down the Returned behind her. Taking the opportunity, she spun down a side street and tore around corners, trying to lose the trail of those two. She spun into an old parking garage. Driving up the levels she locked the doors and started throwing things onto the floorboard.

“Hielo. Down.” She commanded. Hielo immediately curled up on the floor, next to all their stuff. She was definitely ahead of the other two; she spun around the last level ramp and pulled into an empty spot. Abandoned cars surrounded her. She slid down and curled up on the floor, gently above Hielo. She kept her head down waiting for the roar of their suburban.

Soon the expected thunder came. Jake could only wait as the thunder continued. Then it was louder than ever before. The suburban passed right by the truck. It didn’t seem to stop as the thunder disappeared back down the ramp out of the parking garage.

“I guess this will do.” She said. She pulled herself off the floorboards and climbed into the small back seats. Jake pulled out her soda and a can of Spaghetti O’s and pulled the tab up. She grabbed a plastic fork out of one of her bags and dug in. As soon as she finished the cold spaghetti, she opened the front door and dropped the can out on the ground. Chugging the last of her soda, she threw that out on the ground next to the spaghetti can. Locking the doors she grabbed her blanket and curled up in the back seat.

ADRIAN

“She has to be around here somewhere,” he grumbled.

“Yeah but there are two exits to that parking garage. Maybe she found the other one.” Said his sister. Adrian shook his head in anger. They had been looking for that girl since they ran into her in northern California. Mistakenly, they had shot at her. Until she got into the truck, they had thought that she was a returned. As soon as they realized that she was alive they had tried to stop her. Needless to say, they weren’t having any luck.

When Richelle noticed the same Ram truck that the girl drove off in, they tried to catch up with her. Adrian was sure the girl thought they were Unstables. Unstables were people that went off the deep end, so to speak. They thought everybody was a Returned and tried to kill them. Basically there were just crazy. Not all people who went crazy became Unstables, only the ones that tried to kill other living humans. Unstables were usually cast out or treated as threats as bad as the Returned. Nonviolent mentally unstable people were put in special care, and treatments were tried to help them.

“We can always keep trying to find her. Or we can follow Jake to Vancouver. He should offer some protection.” Said Richelle. She reached over Adrian and opened the glove box. She pulled out a crisp clean letter and a handful of old, more wrinkled letters.

“Yeah great. Vancouver. What if the Sanctuary there failed?” questioned Adrian.

“Then we go there to help Jake. He never says where he is going after Vancouver so he can come with us to the Ohio Sanctuary.” She said hopefully.

“Aura I’ve been thinking about it. What if Jake isn’t a guy.” He paused and looked at his older sister. “I mean, doesn’t it seem like kind of coincidence that we keep running into that girl. And plus, since we’ve run into her here. We haven’t found a letter.”

“I don’t know. Well if that is her, than we can still help her right?”

“Yeah, whatever you want.” He said, ending the conversation. They drove in silence for the time being. It reminded Adrian of the trips they use to take with their parents. When they would drive up to the lake house and spend their summers there. How Mom and Dad would start an argument and Dad would end it by just not talking anymore. Mother hated it and just stopped coming with them on the summer trips. She would stay with her sister in Alabama. Adrian had started to think that maybe their mom didn’t really have a sister in Alabama. He didn’t want to believe it was true but it made sense. A year before the return the arguing picked up, more and more. And then she was just gone. They never heard from her again. Just gone.

Pulling his black beanie down over his eyes, Adrian rested his head against the tinted window and went to sleep.

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