Wipeout | Book 2 | Foul Play

by Richards, E. S.

  Samuel nodded. He was incredibly proud to have been able to reunite the young girl with her family. It was moving to see her go from a frightened child hidden underneath a road sign to one with a beaming smile on her face. He often found it hard to connect with family men due to his own upbringing and how little affection was shared within his close family. But the few conversations he had shared with his father following Trident’s collapse had started to change that in some ways.

  Samuel had always longed for a better relationship with his parents. At times he had blamed them and their strange marriage for keeping him from finding a partner. But his sister had never had any trouble there, so Samuel knew he had to take some of the blame himself. It had always been harder for him in a way though. Jessie had never struggled with forming friendships and relationships, while Samuel found it difficult to get comfortable with certain people. He was often misunderstood and that pushed him into a life of loneliness.

  His vow to become a better person in this new, post-currency world wasn’t just him deciding to help other people more. Samuel also wanted to better himself and allow himself more opportunities in life, instead of being held back by his fears and reservations. Family was important to him and he wanted one of his own someday. Everyone he crossed paths with seemed to have someone else to care for beside themselves. He wanted that responsibility, too.

  “How old did you say he was?” Samuel asked Austin following his sentimental train of thought. “Your son?”

  “He’s almost seven. It’ll be just over a week now until his birthday.”

  “What’s he like?”

  “He’s incredible,” Austin smiled, picturing his little boy in his head and almost feeling him in his arms. “He’s such a smart kid, fascinated by history and animals; dinosaurs in particular. Dante bought him this robotic stegosaurus last Christmas that he’s practically tied to at the hip. Honestly, I don’t know where he finds these things out, but almost every day he’s got another fact or figure to tell us. Certainly doesn’t get it from either of us.”

  They both laughed. The two men had been together for over a week now and yet they hadn’t really shared many details of their personal life with one another. Samuel knew the basics about Austin just like Austin knew about his parents in Long Island and his sister in Hawaii, but they had never really talked beyond the basic details. With everything else going on it wasn’t really the time for them to unearth feelings and emotive memories, their lives much more focused on practical requirements.

  However, as they walked through the quieter streets of New Jersey in search of a vehicle, both men found they had this opportunity and Samuel was keen to discover more about his partner and the people they were journeying toward. He felt weirdly close to Austin for a man he knew so little about, they had run for their lives together and dodged bullets, and yet, Samuel didn’t even know where Austin lived or any of the mundane details of his life.

  “How long have you been with Dante?” Samuel asked next, hoping he wasn’t being too intrusive with his questions. Austin didn’t seem to have any problem with answering, the two men having now been with each other for long enough.

  “Nearly ten years now,” he answered. “We’ve been married for just about eight years, adopted Bowie not too many months afterwards.”

  “Did you adopt him as a baby?”

  “Yes. It’s quite a sad story actually. A friend of Dante’s was pregnant but didn’t want to keep the baby. She just didn’t have the means and had always struggled with alcohol after an abusive relationship. She managed to stay sober throughout the pregnancy and then Dante and I adopted her little boy. The plan was to have her involved as a friend. She was in rehab. She was getting much better.”

  “She died a year later. She just couldn’t stay off the booze. Dante found her in her living room surrounded by a pool of vomit, paramedics said she’d passed out and then choked on it.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Samuel breathed, shocked by the story and Austin’s openness when sharing it. “That’s awful.”

  “It was hard,” Austin nodded, not looking at Samuel as he spoke. Emotion leaking out in his voice. “Dante was pretty devastated by it, but we had to keep reminding ourselves that she wasn’t truly gone. There was a part of her in Bowie. We’ve both agreed that one day – when he’s old enough – we’ll tell him about his mom and what happened to her, but until then he’s our little boy and even after he knows, nothing will change that.”

  “You really miss them, don’t you?”

  “More than anything,” Austin murmured in response, swiping at the tears in his eyes. “I can’t wait to see my boys again.”

  Samuel reached out and rested a hand on Austin’s shoulder, doing the only thing he could think of to comfort his friend as they continued along the New Jersey streets. When he’d asked his original question, he had never expected to uncover such a harsh truth about Austin’s past. He was incredibly thankful his friend had shared that story with him though, Samuel feeling even closer to him than before.

  It also instilled even more determination in the pair of them, especially now that they believed they were through the hardest part of their journey. They had made it into the more residential part of New Jersey, surrounded by family homes. A much more peaceful environment than the highway they had entered on. Hopefully somewhere the two men could find a car.

  “Do you think there are people living in these houses?”

  “Some of them definitely,” Samuel confirmed. “Look up there on the left,” he nodded in the direction of one house, pointing out two young children watching them through one of the windows. “You think their parents are around?”

  “I hope so,” Austin answered. “This place seems weirdly quiet. I figure we just grab a car and get out of here. We need to cover some ground north before it starts getting dark again.”

  “Okay. Which one though?”

  The two men stared at the road ahead of them. It was a picturesque American street with white picket fences and kids’ bikes propped up against them. Any number of SUVs lined the sidewalk and sat in driveways. The only question was which of the houses with available cars were empty? Both Samuel and Austin knew they were being watched and the last thing they needed was to start taking a car only for the owner to step outside and apprehend them.

  “See that place a little further down on the right?” Austin asked as they continued walking, both men in the middle of the road, their voices low and drawn out. “It doesn’t look like anyone has lived there for a while.”

  “It’s as good a bet as any,” Samuel nodded. The SUV in the driveway was more battered and bruised than the others and, even better, it wasn’t locked. “Let’s just get out of here. This place is starting to give me the creeps. How long do you need to get it started?”

  “Should only take a minute or so,” Austin replied as they drew closer to the vehicle. “Keep an eye out will you?”

  “Sure.”

  Samuel stood by and kept his eyes peeled on the street in both directions as Austin shrugged off his rucksack. He’d known how to hotwire a car since he was fifteen years old; it wasn’t something he’d done for nearly as many years, but he hoped the mechanics of it hadn’t changed too much. As he climbed into the driver’s seat, he only hoped Samuel was keeping a close eye on their surroundings. He was vulnerable now and it wasn’t a feeling that Austin was very comfortable with.

  Austin leaned down and pulled a handful of wires from under the dashboard. When he was younger, he had hotwired cars with his brother and friends for fun, driving away in their parents’ truck at night to go to the movies or pick up girls. It was very different knowing he was stealing this car in order to try and save his and his family’s lives. His moral compass was pointing in a much straighter direction than it had in his youth, even if he had wound up in the same position behind the steering wheel.

  After picking out the ignition wires, Austin twisted two of them together and the engine sparked to life. �
�Yes!” He cheered and turned to Samuel. “We’re good to go.”

  “Alright,” Samuel replied without looking at his friend. “Let’s get out of here then, we’ve gathered quite an audience.”

  “What?” Austin’s excitement shifted to fear as he focused on the windows Samuel was looking at. “Why didn’t you say something? How long have they been watching?”

  “I didn’t want to disturb you,” Samuel replied. “Besides, no one has come outside. They’re just watching. And I don’t think this thing belongs to any of them. I think we just need to take it and go.”

  “Okay,” Austin replied, “come on. I’ll drive.”

  Samuel and Austin sat side by side in the cab as Austin put it into drive and rolled out of the driveway. People had come to their windows in about half the houses on the street, but only stood silently watching the two men as they drove down the street.

  It was spooky, like the residents were frozen in place in their windows, watching the deed unfold but unwilling to do anything to stop it. Samuel wondered who had lived in the house where the truck was parked and whether it was someone these people knew or not. The place seemed unlived in for some time, but with the vehicle in the driveway, he knew it couldn’t have been entirely abandoned – not for long at least.

  Once they had turned the corner and were navigating their way out of the town, both Samuel and Austin began to feel more relaxed. Samuel leaned back in his seat and adjusted the headrest, letting it mold to his body and provide his back with some relief. Carrying the heavy rucksack wasn’t something he was used to, and it felt nice to just sit back and let the world pass him by without having to worry about it for once.

  The roads leaving the city were much quieter than back in the center. They passed a fair number of cars also fleeing to the safety of the unknown, but they were still able to drive, only being stuck in gridlocked traffic on a couple of occasions. Some cars were abandoned or crashed, but most were moving, everyone trying to escape what was happening in the city.

  “Music?” Austin asked after they’d made it out onto route ninety-five and were heading north toward Poughkeepsie.

  “Good idea,” Samuel smiled, turning the knob on the old radio in the truck and trying to find a signal. He wondered if there was anything even broadcasting anymore. It took several seconds of static and white noise before a voice finally broke through the crackle. Samuel fiddled with the dial to tune in the signal.

  “…is just the start of the government’s plan to get rid of us and make room for their elite race. They think that we will all just die out and they can hide away in their towers and in their tunnels and we don’t know what they’re doing. They underestimate us. They don’t give us the credit that we deserve.”

  “What is this?” Austin asked as he raised his eyebrows and looked at Samuel.

  “I have no idea,” Samuel shook his head. “Sounds like some conspiracy theorist to me.”

  “Must be a bootleg radio station,” Austin concluded. “I don’t know who else would be broadcasting now.”

  “Me neither,” Samuel shrugged.

  “We have been stupidly sitting by and going about our daily lives for too long now without asking questions and look what has happened to us! They expect us to believe that all the money has just vanished – where has it gone? Money can’t just vanish into thin air. It’s out there and it’s just lining the pockets of the men who fed us this story. That man from Trident, Samuel Westchester, he’s one of them! He thought he could fool us with his words, but we know the truth. We know who the guilty ones are, and we will make them pay!”

  “What?” Samuel looked at Austin, horrified.

  “Oh, don’t listen to it, Sam,” Austin said, reaching over and turning the radio off. “That man is a lunatic. No one will be taking him seriously. He’s crazy.”

  “But he named me.”

  “Yeah but you’re not wearing a nametag, are you? He can’t get your face out to people on the radio and the people that do know you will know you’re not to blame for all of this. Don’t worry about it. That’s just one idiot’s opinion, you shouldn’t let it bother you.”

  Pursing his lips and leaning back in his seat again, Samuel tried to find comfort in what Austin was saying, but he was still horrified by what he had heard. He was still being victimized for the news report that had been aired just before Trident was set on fire, the very news report where he had tried to warn the world about what was happening, where he had tried to do the right thing.

  The reaction to it at the time had been bad, but with everything else happening in New York and across the country, Samuel had assumed his name and what he had done would have been forgotten by now.

  As Austin drove and put more and more distance between them and the city, he was forced to come to terms with the knowledge that even though he was leaving New York City behind, he was not leaving what he had done there behind as well. His actions would follow him and now more than ever, he had to make sure they were actions he could stand by and be proud of, no matter how other people saw him.

  Chapter 18

  “Hey Sam, wake up. Sam. Samuel!”

  Jolted out of his sleep, Samuel snapped his head from side to side quickly and looked around the cab of the stolen truck Austin was driving, suddenly remembering where they had gotten it and what they were doing. He wasn’t sure how long he had been asleep. The last thing he remembered was hearing his name on the radio when he was once more blamed for everything that had happened. Samuel was being made out to be a monster, no matter how far away it was from what he felt like.

  “What? What’s the matter?”

  “We’ve got a problem,” Austin replied as the truck shuddered underneath them, the old vehicle groaning as they continued to drive. “We’re running low on gas.”

  “How low?” Samuel asked as he looked out of the window at their surroundings. Thick trees lined the interstate on either side, the empty road cutting its path through a forest that spanned further than either of them could imagine. There wasn’t another vehicle in sight much less a town or rest stop. They were truly out in the middle of nowhere with nothing to rely on but themselves.

  The sound of the truck answered Samuel’s question as it shuddered and groaned once more, losing power and speed rapidly despite how flat Austin’s foot was pressed down on the gas. He was touching the floor of the car but it made no difference, both men watched the speedometer rapidly decline until the truck started to lurch forward instead of glide, using up the last of its fuel before rather gracelessly juddering to a halt.

  Once it stopped, Samuel and Austin sat in silence for a few seconds, neither of them sure of what to do next. They were in the middle of a State Park that ran for miles in every direction; Austin figured they’d made it about half way to Poughkeepsie, but that wasn’t nearly far enough. There was still a long stretch of America in front of them and without a car it could take them days to reach his family. Austin had no idea what was happening to Dante and Bowie, but he knew they couldn’t wait that long to see him again. One way or another, he had to find a way there and fast.

  “Why didn’t you check the gas sooner?” Samuel asked as they sat in the cab of the truck. As much as he tried to fight against the instinct, he couldn’t believe Austin had let them get to this point without prompting that they needed to stop and fill up. He may have been asleep, but surely Austin could’ve had that thought himself.

  “The gauge is broken,” Austin retorted, shooting Samuel a look of daggers and answering his question in an equally spiteful tone of voice. “It still says we’ve got half a tank. Look.”

  Samuel leaned over and looked at the dial, confirming with his own eyes what Austin was reporting. “Didn’t you notice it wasn’t going down?” He asked, still clutching at straws and trying to point the finger of blame.

  “No, I didn’t,” Austin sighed, “I’ve been watching the road and,” he paused, “thinking about other things. Perhaps you could’ve made the observati
on if you weren’t so busy sleeping.”

  “If you didn’t want me to go to sleep why didn’t you say something?”

  “It’s not that I didn’t want you to go to sleep,” Austin retaliated. “I’m just saying if you’re afforded the luxury of resting, then you can’t get angry at me not noticing a tiny detail, when I’m the one driving the truck and getting us out of danger.”

  “Danger?” Samuel growled, cranky from having just woke up and the sheer exhaustion he was feeling. “What danger? You mean that nice quiet street with the untouched row of houses? That didn’t exactly scream danger to me.”

  “Oh yeah? Well why didn’t you just stay there then? I didn’t ask you to come along. I don’t need you.”

  “Well you’re stuck with me now. It’s not like I can just drive myself home.”

  “Oh, give up!” Austin slammed his fist into the steering wheel, setting off the horn of the truck and causing a nesting flock of birds to all break into flight from their trees. The sound of the squawking and flapping of wings cut through the otherwise silent roadside and brought an end to the argument. Samuel and Austin seethed in their seats, their chests heaved up and down.

  Samuel felt his bottom lip quivering as he heavily exhaled through his nostrils, feeling his own warm breath against his chest. Opening his mouth, he drew in a lungful of air and tilted his head backwards against the headrest, looking up at the roof of the truck and thinking for a moment.

  “I’m sorry,” he spoke once the birds had quietened and the forest was once again listening to the two men. “I shouldn’t have blamed you. This isn’t your fault.”

  Austin opened his mouth to snap back at Samuel, but thankfully stopped himself just in time. He understood that Samuel was sacrificing a lot to help him reach his family and he didn’t want their relationship to come under any additional strain before they reached Poughkeepsie.

  “I’m sorry too,” he eventually replied, looking across at his companion and forcing a smile onto his face. “About what I said – I didn’t mean it.”