The Way Back (Book 1): The Way Back

by Giancioppo, Danny

“We were just shouting, Jeremy was bleeding out in the rain, and you two are drenched. We’re in an open field of death and destruction, Jeremy reeks of blood, and we all just broadcast ourselves to the entire surrounding area by shouting,” Cody explained. “What else could it be?”

  He was right. He had to be right. The news had said way back when that the Goliaths seemed to be all but blind, and found people through smell and sound. The guys were ants in comparison, but the rain was enough for something like that to smell them like they hadn’t showered in months. Which, to be fair, they hadn’t, much to Chris’s dismay. Either way, with that, plus Jeremy’s wound, the odds weren’t in their favor.

  They all stood there, afraid; purely and simply afraid. It was times like these when reality kicked in for them that they were still just kids. They could play tough and live out on their own all they wanted. Cook and clean and hunt and search and drive wagons all the livelong day, but when the cards were down, they knew the truth: They were just a bunch of scared kids, terrified for their lives.

  Those were the times in which someone needed to step up. Most of the time it was Luke, but this time, something different happened.

  “Alright, everybody listen. Here’s what we’re gonna do,” Cody decided, pacing in between everyone. “We’re gonna go building to building, all the way down all however-many blocks, a bridge, and then some more blocks. Nobody says a word; we don’t want to bring any unnecessary attention to ourselves. The less tracking the better. The rain will be tough; we’re gonna smell a lot more, especially Jeremy, so we’ve gotta stay in the buildings as much as possible.” Cody paused. They all looked horrified.

  They had learned minimal amounts of information on everything new through the tv when it was still on, and even then most of it was just conjecture. Still, it was all they had to go off of, true or not. Chris knew that, as he was sure Cody did, even if he was horrified too.

  “We stick together, no man left behind. I’ll take point. Ready?” Cody waited. As did they.

  “Ready,” they all said, nodding through their fearful trembling. Cody gave a reassuring smile.

  “Alright… Now!” He ordered.

  They burst out of the building as fast as they could, booking it to the right. Unluckily for them, however, with a lot of the smaller, more numerous buildings gone, they didn’t have much to mask themselves with from the rain. There was a loud rumbling in the distance, and Chris glanced back, only for a moment, to see what it was.

  It wasn’t his fault, really. It was a gut reaction. What he saw made him scream, as anyone would. It was still fairly far away, but nevertheless, the Goliath was converging on one, specific point. Them.

  Everyone had tried to silence Chris, but by then it was far too late. There was another roar, and the group was then being directly pursued. Cody grimaced, and signaled to go off track.

  They took another right, straying from their otherwise straight shot. They went down a road about 4 blocks, and then left through an alleyway. They fled about another block down, before they banked another left, then a right, went down 2 blocks, and then another right. All the while, not having gone through many buildings in the process, as most of the ones they passed were in shambles.

  Finally, they reached the bridge, and paused for a moment to discuss where they had to go after crossing it.

  “The wagon’s close by, right?” Luke whispered.

  “I think so; just a ways further down the road,” Derrick responded, equally as quiet.

  “Then what the hell are we waiting for?” Adam asked. “Let’s go!”

  Everyone nodded, and they began to run again down the bridge. Their small conversation cost them time, however, and as Chris peered behind his shoulder, he saw a claw like appendage, at least twenty feet tall, slam down onto the road behind them, turning a corner to face them.

  “Go! Go! Go!” he shouted through gritted teeth, still trying to keep his trembling voice down. Some of the others glanced back as well, and some just stared forward, picking up the pace.

  They made it across the bridge, but just as they did, they heard another roar, and then a massive crashing sound. All of them ducked down and recoiled in fear, then turning to see the massive beast fall into the water on the crumbling bridge. The bridge must not have been able to hold its weight.

  It still took the Goliath several seconds to fully trip into the water beneath it, it’s limbs and tentacle-appendages whirling about all the while. The wave it made was like a small tsunami, and before he could look any further, Jeremy quickly tapped on Chris’s shoulder, and they continued to sprint away.

  The problem was, the group took a couple wrong turns after the bridge, Cody being uncertain exactly where they had come from, and so they just kept running. They took turn after turn after turn, and went building through building. They hardly took another moment to stop and breathe, and if it weren’t for the adrenaline, they would’ve never been able to keep on without one.

  Suddenly, they all realized: they’d been running for far too long. It hadn’t taken them this long to get there initially, even walking. By this point, they’d likely passed the wagon at least once, if not several times over. They were killing their precious time to survive.

  They all looked around, trying to understand where they were, all while hiding under a piece of hanging rubble to stay out of the rain.

  They were still in the Bronx, that much they knew; a much more urban environment, smaller buildings, it fit the bill. Still, they had no idea where in it they were. They were lost, and they couldn’t afford to be.

  There was yet another outcry from the monster, and a loud, large, earth-shaking tumble. They saw dust off to their upper left, and recognized what had happened instantly. A building, collapsing. The monster had left the seas. Their time was running thin.

  However, the group also regained a sense of direction. If their predator was coming from their northwest, and the building was only a block or so away from the bridge, then all they had to do was move toward their predator, and find the building before it found them. Get the wagon, haul ass back onto the highway, and they could leave. Easy.

  There was only a small moment of hesitation between the group as they came to this realization, but Chris believe that they all knew that in reality, that was their only choice. They couldn’t just keep this up all night, and they couldn’t afford to leave all the supplies they had in the wagon. So they ran.

  They sprinted harder and swifter than they had up until that point. Harder really than they had for a long time, perhaps in their lives. They went as swiftly as they could, and within a terrifyingly droning handful of minutes, the highway was in sight, as was the building.

  They reached the side of the building, and leant on it, facing the highway. They all stopped for a moment, and tried to catch their breath. Some of them smiled, and had almost forgotten about the impending danger surrounding them.

  Then, they were brutally, bashfully, reminded. There was another booming roar, they all jumped back toward the highway, and the building was crushed. Crushed under the weight of its appendages– a handful of them, really; there was only seconds for the horses to react enough to even screech.

  The guys all stood in complete shock, being thrown for a total and utter loop. No one moved. Not because they didn’t wish to, surely, but Chris believed because they were simply staring death-incarnate right in the numerous, glowing, bloodthirsty eyes, several hundred feet above them.

  Derrick reacted first, breaking away from their spell of stillness and sprinting toward the highway, jumping over the railing separating it from the rest of the city. Chris couldn’t speak, even to call out for him, though he desperately wanted not to let one of his oldest friends go off on his own. So instead, he and the others just briefly looked at each other, and then swiftly followed. They darted along the road as fast as they could, ducking behind car parts and signs, until they were on the other side of the highway. Their sporadic heartbeats like a timer that they had to
outrun to survive.

  They looked around, but couldn’t see Derrick anywhere. Luke turned back, and the building was long gone now; he couldn’t see anything of the wagon, or the horses for that matter. The Goliath was confusedly still, smelling all the food– as well as the horses– that it had just demolished, giving them more time. The group had moved fast enough and hid well enough to get to the other side of the road, but what now?

  Then, Chris felt something grab his leg. It was an ice-cold, iron grip, and Chris shot his view down, his heart stopping in certainty he had reached his end.

  It was Derrick’s hand. He was hiding in a dip under the edge of the highway. He let go of his leg and signaled Chris, as well as the others, to come down and hide, and they followed his lead almost instantaneously.

  Piling in, they were cramped, soaked, horrified, and all pressed against each other, packed into this small hiding spot under the highway. Though that was the least of their concerns at that moment. Cody signaled to remain quiet, and he closed his eyes, shaking. Everyone else did relatively the same. Hearts pounding, breaths trying to stabilize, and remain quiet, yet inadvertently shaking uncontrollably. And, though none would admit it, a number sniffles, accompanied by tears. All while the Goliath continued to screech and bellow just a few yards away from them, smashing all the smaller buildings in its way.

  It had already been about three or more hours since they had ventured into the city. It was deep into the night, if not early morning, but they didn’t know. They wouldn’t realize it until hours later, but it was now Day 461.

  Day 461

  “A Road Trip”

  It was morning. Probably 8:00, maybe a little earlier. Though really, they had no way to tell for sure.

  Derrick was the first to wake up. He hazily glanced at his surroundings, trying to reassess where he was, when suddenly it hit him like a brick to the head. They were under the highway.

  There were no sounds of any kind of danger in the immediate distance, and the rain had stopped. They survived.

  They were also huddled all together still, and Derrick wasn’t one for close quarters. He understood when it was necessary, or maybe if he was with someone special… but not this. Seven guys? All up and close together? And it was these guys? No. This was not for him.

  He wriggled his way out of the group, and cautiously made his way out from under the highway dip. It looked like they were safe, for the time being at least. That… thing, the Goliath, it was gone. Gone out further into the city, Derrick imagined. And not far enough, at that. He had never been so scared in his entire life; he felt more certain he was going to die than ever before. Not that any of them would ever get to know that.

  The sun peered out from the clouds, emanating through the once rainy skies. The ground, while still lightly coated in morning dew, was starting to dry again.

  In the light of the new day, Derrick could see the building where the wagon once resided. He decided to make his way over to it, traversing over the highway, and looked around, seeing what he could salvage, maybe even repair.

  Even from a distance, the building was obviously in ruins. A shell of a shell of a former structure. So his hopes weren’t particularly high.

  There was a lot of blood, probably from the horses, Derrick imagined. It was just now starting to dry. There were scraps of wood lying around, probably from the wagon. It looked like half a wheel was sticking out from beneath some of the foundation. A number of bricks were strewn all over the place, and glass lay shattered on the ground around him, reflecting the glow of the sun back into his eyes. Even if he wanted to, there was nothing he could salvage here.

  Just looking at it made Derrick uneasy. That was one of, if not the worst things they have ever dealt with, ever. Danger wise, anyway. They had all been quiet, and it was an advantage, but even if it wasn’t, he couldn’t speak. He actually tried a few times when they were running, and when he went over the highway, but his mouth just went dry; he couldn’t find the words.

  Derrick heard footsteps slinking over from behind him, and he quickly shot his glance over his shoulder, heart stopping for a moment. It was just Cody, haggardly walking toward him, adjusting to the brightness of the day after having just woken up. He calmed down a little. Plus, Cody was always a friendlier face to talk to.

  “At least it’s not all on fire, right?” Cody groggily suggested, laughing a little as he did.

  “Yeah, thank God for the rain, I guess…” Derrick replied. They both paused, and Cody scratched his head, messing up his bristly blonde hair more than it already was. “What do we do now?” Derrick asked, legitimately unsure. He knew Cody was fairly uncertain himself, but maybe they could come up with something together.

  Cody was used to always be one for logical thinking in times of crisis, and even Derrick could generally keep a clear-head– side for some unneeded wise cracks–, but this was something completely different.

  They’d never had to deal with something like this before; he couldn’t get over that. This had left them in a completely, utterly, destitute frame of mind. Where would they go? How would they get there? Could they even make it home now? He wasn’t sure, but he was at least hoping they’d find out sooner rather than later. The more time they spent here, the more danger they were keeping themselves in.

  As they both stood there, deep in thought, Jeremy made his way over to join them, he having just woken up as well.

  “Hey,” Derrick said, acknowledging him.

  “Hey,” he replied, staring at the building, his hands in his pockets. “So I guess we know why people were flocking out of the cities by the hundreds. Why they said to go in with ‘extreme caution.’” Nobody said anything, mostly out of the sobering realization that he was right. “So what do we do now, huh?”

  “Yeah, good damn question,” Derrick spat, somewhat annoyed. He knew Jeremy couldn’t have heard him just say it moments ago, but still, it annoyed him. He supposed that was the very attitude that Luke was talking about…

  “Well, the way I see it we have a couple options,” Jeremy continued, thinking out loud. “We could dig through the rubble and try to salvage whatever we can, which would probably take all day, and God knows what we’d even find, and what you could manage to fix, Der. We could try to go through the city and scrounge for replacement supplies, but that’s pretty risky, considering. Or, we could just pack up and leave; head down the highway searching for working cars and any and all supplies lying around. We keep making our way back home.” Cody and Derrick stood quietly, and considered Jeremy’s ideas. “Or… we just give up on going home, and we head back.”

  Cody seemed surprised at Jeremy’s last comment. Derrick was actually not totally averse to it, but he decided to just move on regardless, rather than start something there was realistically no time for.

  “Uh, well…” Derrick responded. “I’d say going into the city is a no go, so cross that off the list. We could search through the rubble, but you’re right, it would take all day, plus more likely than not everything is ruined. We had canned food, that means inside is all liquidy and goop. If it was crushed, it’s gone. I think the best option is to just go forward.”

  “I agree,” Cody said, “but we should go now if we’re gonna go.”

  “Okay, well who’s gonna wake up the others?” Jeremy asked. They all looked at each other, and Jeremy and Cody slowly put their fingers up to their noses, staring Derrick down. Derrick caught on all but too late.

  “Oh, no! No I will not! This is not how we decide, guys! Children do this! We’re not children!” Derrick whined, not wanting to have to be the poor soul who walked into the inevitable hell that awaited him under the highway.

  Unfortunately, Cody and Jeremy stood firm, their positions locked in like statues. Derrick too tried to remain vigilant in his stance, but soon realized it was hopeless. He sighed heavily, walking away from them, and muttering harshly to himself.

  As with most teenagers, or young adults for that matter, none of the gr
oup were big fans of waking up early, or really at all. Alternatively to the norm, however, some of them really hated waking up. Adam and Nolan especially.

  They all knew this would not go over well. Especially considering that they sat petrified for most of the night, not able to fall asleep for a number of adrenaline-filled hours.

  “You think it’ll go over well?” Cody asked. Someone had to have faith.

  “Does it ever?” Jeremy replied, both of them watching as Derrick slowly creaked his way towards the other men, as though he was walking on an old wooden floor. He hopped down, and turned to face them, holding his hands out defensively.

  “Yeah but… I mean, this is different, you know? Different environment, different situation,” Cody insisted, trying to justify Derrick’s action, as well as the other’s reaction. “I don’t know, I think it’ll go over well.”

  They heard Derrick talking. From there it was only a whisper, but then there was a loud murmur. Jeremy was fairly sure he had heard the C-Bomb get egregiously dropped at least once.

  “It’ll go over fine,” Cody corrected, noting Derrick’s expression turn white with fear and regret.

  There was more murmuring, more cursing, and then a lot of shouting.

  “Okay…?” Cody rephrased, uncertain.

  All of a sudden, Derrick fell, immediately preceding a shoe being hurled at his head, and landing a perfect hit.

  “I…” Cody said, trying to think of anything else hopeful to say.

  “Just… don’t…” Jeremy shut down, regretfully moving toward the guys, sighing heavily. Cody watched as his friend made his way over, strongly believing Jeremy would bring the hammer down and get them all moving.

  However, as he watched, Jeremy quite visibly confidence; it was evident enough just in his walk. The way he trembled and hesitated at each following footstep. By the time he got over there, and presumably tried to tell them something, he too was pelted, this time with multiple shoes.

  “Breaking News: Friends turn on each other with shoes. Two fatally wounded. Is this the end of our heroes?” Cody muttered to himself, as he slowly headed toward the others.