Pretty Much Invincible

by Carey, Stephen

  The leader aimed his revolver at Sally’s forehead and cocked the hammer. “Is that right?” he grunted. “You’re a brave little girl, huh?”

  With no fear in her eyes, Sally nodded.

  For a moment, the leader thought about pulling the trigger. Instead, he decided to strike Sally on the head with the butt of the gun. The force knocked Sally to her back, her head bounced off the floor. She immediately sat back up with a smile on her face. No pain, no damage. The leader and his two henchmen took a step back out of shock. The little girl should be unconscious!

  “What the fuck?” the leader said, perplexed. As the girl stood, he fired a shot, hitting Sally’s chest.

  She stumbled back but did not fall. Baffled, the leader held up his revolver and stared at it. He then threw his weapon to the ground and grabbed a shotgun off one of his puzzled henchmen. Before the cannibal leader could take aim, Sally dashed forward and punched him in the chest. He flew through the air, landing three rooms away. The two henchmen were frozen with bewilderment.

  “If you don’t run right now, I’ll beat you senseless!” Sally screamed at the men.

  The frightened men exchanged a glance, turned, and ran away.

  The little mouse was now a ferocious beast.

  CHAPTER 4

  It was impossible to make sense of it all. His own daughter could punch through a wall with ease. Apparently, bullets did her no harm whatsoever. So strong. But just how strong? Shane glanced at his daughter and wondered what she was capable of. He then stared at the road ahead, his mind full of questions. The biggest question of them all being, What is the origin of these new powers? Was she just born different and these abilities were always going to develop? Did something happen that granted her this power?

  Sally was in the passenger seat daydreaming, a smile from ear to ear. Superhero.

  Shane stopped the car and said, “How strong do you think you are?”

  It took Sally a moment to realise her father had said something to her. She then noticed he was staring at an overturned van on the side of the road.

  “You think you could lift that up over your head?” Shane asked.

  “Definitely,” Sally replied. “No problem.”

  They got out of the car and approached the van, which lay on its side in front of what used to be a pub. Sally squatted down and dug her fingers in under the vehicle. With ease, she lifted the van up off its side, and then, after adjusting her little hands, she raised it up over her head. Her father was astonished.

  “Let me see,” Sally said merrily as she looked down the empty street. “I bet I could throw it all the way to that hardware store.”

  Sally hurled the van—her father watched it sail through the air—and it crashed down right in front of the hardware store, which was over three hundred meters away.

  “Unbelievable,” Shane mumbled to himself. Such strength. He turned to face his daughter. “That is unbelievable!”

  “I know. It’s so cool!” she said with a wide smile.

  She’s powerful, Shane. And that means you are powerful.

  “How is this possible?” Shane asked.

  “No idea.” Sally looked over at the apartment complex across the street. “Can we go look in there for supplies?”

  “I have no gun,” Shane realised. “We should have taken one from those fucking cannibals.”

  “Language, Dad.”

  “Sorry.”

  “We don’t need guns, not with my powers.”

  “Yeah,” Shane said, thinking. “Still, I’d feel better if I had a gun.” For one thing, if someone were infected, it would be best not to engage in hand-to-hand combat. Then Shane wondered if his daughter could get infected. Did her powers grant her immunity?

  Look at her. She can not get infected. She’s too powerful. The darkness can not get inside her.

  Skipping across the street, Sally said, “It’ll be fine. Let’s go have a look.”

  “Wait, Sally. Shit.” Shane followed along.

  Sally kicked the door in and they entered the apartment complex. It was strange for Shane—letting Sally lead the way. But he was unarmed and she was now superhuman. They made their way down the dusty hallway and tried to enter the first room they came across. Locked. Sally kicked the door open and then checked to see if the place was clear. Seemed to be.

  “Come on, Dad,” she said. “It’s safe.”

  Shane entered the apartment and Sally ran into the bedroom to look for anything useful. In the kitchen, Shane opened drawer after drawer, finding nothing worth taking. He leaned on the counter and lowered his head as his mind wandered.

  Maria. Your little girl just threw a goddamn van down the street. She kicked the shit out of a group of cannibals. She’s fucking bulletproof! She’s just like one of those characters from...

  “What do you think?” Sally said joyfully.

  Shane turned to see Sally standing in the bedroom doorway, hands on her hips. She had found herself a cape in the form of a red bed sheet, which she had ripped and tied around her neck. She had ski goggles on her eyes, and she wore a pink hoodie, with the hood up. On her hands, she wore yellow rubber gloves—the kind you would use to clean toilets. This was her superhero costume.

  The first thought that entered Shane’s head was, You look silly.

  But he smiled and nodded. “Great.”

  Sally had a pretty good idea what her father was thinking, but she didn’t care a whole lot. If he had read more comics over the years, maybe he would have reacted a little differently. Sally did a twirl and then threw her hands up into the air with a big, goofy smile on her face. “Super Sally!” she bellowed.

  Shane forced a smile. “Very good.”

  ---

  They had found a couple of tins of beans and some tins of dogfood in one of the apartments. They put the tins on the back seat of the car and then continued their journey. But where the hell were they going? The hope was that they would come across a group of people similar to...

  Goddammit!

  How long, Shane wondered, until everyone on this planet was gone? A year? Two? Could mankind fully recover from this catastrophe? He glanced at his daughter and fought the urge to tell her to take off the silly costume.

  They were nearing the edge of town when they spotted a man lying on the side of the road—another man standing over him with a pistol. Shane stopped the car—the two men didn’t notice the vehicle. The man with the gun had a shaved head and broad shoulders. He was tall, dressed in leather, and he stood next to a motorcycle. The man on the ground—pleading for his life—was skinny, fairly old (late fifties, maybe).

  “We have to help him,” Sally said.

  Shane was silent for a moment. Then he said, “OK. Disarm him, give me his gun.”

  Sally nodded and opened her door. Now, she felt nervous—a mistake could mean the death of that man. She crouched down, getting ready to sprint. “You got this,” she whispered to herself. Deep breath.

  “Please,” the skinny man on the ground said. “I’ve told you all I know.”

  “Well,” the tall man said with a grin, “unlucky for you... it’s not enough.”

  After taking another deep breath, Super Sally dashed forward with incredible speed and (using her shoulder) knocked the tall man over. The pistol flew out of the man’s hand. Shane got out of the car and hurried over to Sally.

  Puzzled, a little dazed, the tall man crawled toward his gun. Before he could reach his weapon, Sally grabbed the big, tall man by the collar and tossed him back. Shane quickly took the gun. Sally extended a hand and helped the skinny old man to his feet.

  “T-Thank... y-you,” the skinny man said, not quite believing what he had just witnessed. “Umm...”

  The tall man in leather grumbled in pain as he got to his feet. How in God’s name did the little girl do that?

  Sally marched over to the tall man and yelled, “Get the hell out of here or I’ll... I’ll hurt you real bad!”

  “What the fuck?” the
tall man whispered to himself.

  “Language!” Sally bellowed. “This man is under my protection! Get lost, creep!” She folded her arms, staring into the tall man’s eyes.

  Shane aimed his pistol at the man in leather and yelled, “Go!”

  That’s it, you tell him!

  The tall man put his hands up and slowly walked over to the bike. He mounted his motorcycle and stared at the strange little girl. “Who the hell are you?”

  With her hands on her hips, Sally smiled and replied, “Super Sally!”

  “Right,” the tall man said, bemused. He started the engine, and drove off, leaving a trail of dust.

  The skinny old man approached Sally and extended a hand. “I don’t know how you did that, but thank you... Super Sally.” He smiled with gratitude.

  “You’re welcome.” Sally shook the man’s hand. She had quite a grip.

  Shane ejected the pistol magazine (almost dropping it) and checked it for ammo. Two, only two bullets. One in the chamber. Total of three shots. Not great but it would have to do.

  “Tell me...” the skinny old man said to Sally. “How is it you are able to throw a full-grown man the way you did?”

  Sally shrugged. “No idea. Before today... I was just a normal kid.” She flexed her tiny biceps. “Now, I’m super strong, bulletproof—”

  “Bulletproof? Did you say bulletproof?”

  “I did.”

  “No way.” He slowly shook his head in disbelief. “You sure about that?”

  “Absolutely.” She tapped herself on the forehead. “Took a bullet right in the head and hardly felt a thing.”

  “That’s incredible.” The skinny man’s eyes were wide for a moment, then they narrowed as a thought came to him. “Are there more people like you?”

  That was not something Sally had considered. “Um... I don’t know.”

  “Well, I’m very glad you came along when you did, Sally. My name is Bill, Bill Barnes. Nice to meet ya.”

  Shane was eager to move on. “Listen, um, Bill... you got any food, water? Anything?”

  Bill glanced at the yellow car close by, then shook his head. “I’m sorry, nothing I can spare.”

  “Come on, you got to have something you can give us.”

  “I only have half a bottle of water and one tin of beans.”

  Sally did not approve of her father asking for something in return. Heroes save people and do not ask for anything in return.

  “We’ll take the water,” Shane said. The old man owed them something.

  Bill looked at Sally and said, “I’m sorry, I can’t...”

  “That’s OK,” Sally reassured him. “There’s no need—”

  “Hold on,” Shane interrupted. “We saved your life.”

  “And I’m very grateful,” Bill said.

  “If you’re grateful... then give us something in return.”

  After a long, awkward silence, Bill made his way over to his car, opened the back door, and took out the half-empty bottle of water. “Here,” he said bitterly. “Take it, then.”

  Shane, feeling somewhat guilty, took the bottle from Bill. Sally shook her head in disapproval.

  “So... where you two heading?” Bill asked, letting go of any ill feelings.

  “Don’t know,” Shane replied, despair in his eyes.

  “What about you?” Sally asked. “Where are you going?”

  Looking down the street, Bill said, “That way. I made a promise to someone. I...” A painful memory came into his mind and he did not wish to talk anymore. “I better go. Goodbye, Sally. Thanks again.” He shook Shane’s hand and then got into his car.

  As Sally watched the car drive into the distance, she said, “Heroes don’t ask for rewards, Dad.”

  “Sally,” Shane said sharply. “This isn’t a game. We need to do whatever we can to survive.”

  “But...”

  “Enough. Please. Let’s get a move on.”

  Shane opened the bottle of water and gulped it all down in one go. He then realised that there was no water left for Sally. Shit. He convinced himself that he had needed it a lot more than his super-powered daughter.

  CHAPTER 5

  “I wish Mom could see what I can do,” Sally said, staring out her window, watching ruined building after ruined building pass by.

  Shane’s body tensed as he recalled Maria’s final moments. “Yeah.”

  “If I was like this a little while ago, maybe...”

  “Maybe.”

  But Maria had died and there was nothing they could do to change that painful fact.

  “What do you think she’d say, if she saw me throw a van?” Sally smiled slightly.

  “I really don’t know.”

  “Do you think she’d—”

  “Listen, Sally,” Shane said, somewhat angrily. He did not want to think about his dead wife right now. “I need to think. Would you mind just... being quiet for a while.”

  “Sure.” Sally lowered her head and frowned.

  Mom.

  ---

  Not long after exiting the town, Shane and Sally spotted a gas station on the side of the road. Shane parked outside the gas station and said, “We’ll load up on supplies. Come on.”

  After getting out of the car, Shane realised he had not taken his pistol with him. Stupid. He quickly fetched the gun from the glove compartment. Never forget your gun.

  Sally, still in costume, got out of the car and said, “You want me to go check the place out first?” She pulled her ski goggles down over her eyes and smiled.

  The question entered Shane’s mind once more—could Sally get infected? He would bet that she could not—not anymore. He nodded in agreement. “Go.”

  Without hesitation, Sally entered the gas station. With a tight grip on his pistol, Shane waited. After a moment or two, he heard voices—Sally was talking to someone. It was difficult to understand exactly what was being said. Was his daughter OK? Of course she was, she was superhuman.

  Sally exited the building, looking rather disappointed. “Sorry, Dad, but Wilson owns the place,” she said. “We can’t take anything without trading something.” They did not have a whole lot to trade. “He did like my costume, though,” she added, smiling. “Seemed like a friendly guy.”

  After thinking for a moment, Shane said. “Well... let’s go convince him that we need supplies.”

  “He was pretty clear.”

  “Sally, we need more food and water,” Shane said firmly. “Let’s go!” He paused. “Did he have a gun on him? Any weapons?”

  “Don’t think so. Didn’t see any.”

  Shane held the pistol behind his back so as not to alarm this Wilson guy.

  They both entered the gas station, Shane leading the way. Wilson, a large, bald man wearing a checked shirt, sat behind the counter reading a magazine. “Hello,” Shane said, with a friendly tone.

  “Hi, there,” Wilson said, looking up from his magazine—a big smile on his pudgy face.

  Seems awfully calm and cheery, Shane. Keep your guard up!

  As Shane came closer, he noticed that the cover of the magazine had a topless woman on it. Jesus, Sally had probably seen that cover. Shane kept the pistol behind his back, out of sight. “L-Listen,” he said nervously. “We could really do with some food and...”

  “Trade,” Wilson interrupted. “You want something, you give something.” He cleared his throat and continued to read his magazine. Not so much read as stare at the pictures of half-naked women.

  Lot of supplies in this store—a surprising amount. How did he have so much? Doesn’t matter how, focus. A lot of supplies, Shane—you can’t just walk out of here empty handed.

  “I’m sorry, but we don’t have a lot to trade,” Shane said.

  “I’m sorry too,” Wilson said, not looking up from the magazine. “Can’t do anything for ya.”

  There was no getting through to this big idiot. Shane glanced over his shoulder, Sally was eyeing some candy bars. “My little girl...” he sa
id to Wilson. “Come on, she’s...”

  Wilson slammed the magazine down onto the counter and stood. “Are you fucking deaf?” he yelled. “You want something, asshole, you give something!” He cleared his throat. “People can’t just come in here and take whatever they fucking want!”

  “OK,” Shane said, backing up slowly. That was it. No more asking nicely. They could take whatever they wanted and this Wilson asshole wouldn’t be able to do a damn thing about it.

  Yes, take! You are the big man now, Shane! You have the most powerful weapon in the wasteland. Take! Make Sally take!

  Suddenly, Wilson reached under the counter and pulled out a shotgun. “Don’t even think about it!”

  “W-W-What...?” Shane began to shake.

  Sally’s eyes widened when she saw the shotgun. She froze.

  “I see that look in your eye,” Wilson said. “I’m pretty sure you have a gun and you’re planning to use it!”

  “Look...” Shane began.

  “Shut the hell up! Drop the gun, or I’ll blow your head off!”

  “Wilson,” Sally said. “Please don’t hurt my dad.”

  “I’m sorry about this, kid,” Wilson said. “If he drops the gun and leaves, I won’t hurt him.” He appeared to be sincere.

  Shane was frozen in place. As soon as he heard his daughter say, “Dad?” he dropped the gun.

  After clearing his throat, Wilson said, “People think they can just do what they want, take what they want. It ain’t right.”

  “I’m sorry, Wilson,” Sally said. “My dad was desperate.”

  “We’re all desperate, kid. No excuse. No goddamn excuse at all.” Wilson went into a coughing fit and then spit out some blood.

  “You’re infected,” Shane said, taking a step back.

  “We’re all slowly rotting away,” Wilson said, sorrow in his eyes. “But just because we’re all fucked, doesn’t mean we should give up hope!” He broke out laughing. “Just because there is absolutely no way of fixing any of this, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to fix all this.” More insane laughter. “Just... ha... just because everything is hopeless, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t all hope for the best!” The laughter suddenly ceased. Wilson began to sob like a child.