The Way Back (Book 1): The Way Back

by Giancioppo, Danny

  He saw Derrick and Jeremy, ironically, both lying down, moaning in the weeds beyond the road. The others were now stirring angrily, and grumpily getting up.

  “Morning boys. Let’s get a move on, we’ve got places to be,” Cody said.

  “Cody, do you have any idea what time it is?” Adam groaned, rubbing his eyes.

  “No, do you?” Cody said. Adam paused.

  “No,” he admitted.

  “Good, then you have no excuse,” Cody decided, smiling. “We talked it over, and we’ve got to get going. Move on down the road; maybe look for some working cars. The longer we stay here, the worse things’ll get, so we gotta go now.”

  “But why?” Chris whined. “We’re safe under here, let’s just… just sleep a few more minutes…” He wandered off, so Cody grabbed a stray shoe off the ground and tossed it at him. It hit him in the face, but not hard enough to incapacitate him like the others. “Ow!” Chris yelled. “What the hell, man!?”

  “Stay focused!” Cody cheered. “And get up out of this hole, it’s dirty as shit!” He walked away, knowing through confidence that they would soon follow.

  Back in the day, before everything went the way they did, and before their group fell apart, Cody used to be one of the few of them that could always round everyone together. It probably had something to do with his general enthusiasm and optimism. Derrick assumed so, at least. Even though they’d all get annoyed at times by it, Cody’s energy was one of few things that could lift almost anyone’s spirits, and deep down they were all grateful he maintained it so consistently.

  “I really hate you,” Nolan muttered, walking up to Cody. Deep down.

  “Wah,” Cody mocked, wiping away fake tears. “We need to get a move on! And look, the thing is… we don’t, and someone else might take a working car before we do.”

  “Who? Who else is even around!? Last people we saw were crazy child killers, and that was almost a month ago!” Nolan pointed out. “What’s the likelihood that we’re ever gonna see people again?”

  “I don’t know, but better to be prepared than taken by surprise,” Cody insisted. Nolan said nothing, and just looked out sullenly at the long-since abandoned road.

  Derrick, as well as Cody, knew that meant he was thinking about what Cody had said, taking it in. Which was good, but they were going to go either way, so ultimately not a huge deal.

  Five minutes later and they were on the road again. Derrick and Jeremy had been helped up, and after a light scuffle, they were off walking. So far, the road was fairly barren; there were maybe one or two cars every five hundred or so feet, and all of them were either empty, or broken beyond use.

  That, however, didn’t let their spirits down, as they partook in their favorite pastime once again. Fruitless, yet ever jestful arguing.

  “No, listen! Elvis Presley made the same like, two or three songs, over and over again, just with a few different words! That’s no king!” Jeremy spouted.

  “Oh so what, a man whose signature move was to grab his dick and yell like a girl, and who put it into every single song, is more of a king than Elvis?” Adam debated.

  “Yes!” Chris shouted, backing up Jeremy’s claim.

  “Elvis was called The King!” Luke argued.

  “Yeah, but Michael Jackson earned that title!” Nolan said. “He deserves it!”

  “He diddled kids!” Adam yelled. “That’s no king!”

  “Allegedly!” Jeremy yelled back.

  “Allegedly!? My ass it was allegedly!” Luke said, shocked at Jeremy’s claim. “The hell do you call Wonderland then!? A fun project for the family!?”

  “The King can do whatever he wants,” Chris said.

  “He can’t diddle kids!” Derrick replied. “Not even Elvis would have been able to do that.”

  “Yeah, but you know what, too?” Adam added, backing Derrick’s point. “He never did, and he never would, because he’s a real king. He wears the crown, plain and simple.”

  “Dude, I’m about to kick you in the crown jewels if you don’t shut your face right now,” Jeremy threatened, pointing at Adam menacingly.

  “Guys, stop,” Cody interrupted. “Look.”

  He pointed out, and up ahead, not too far down the road from them, about 50 cars all sat, scattered throughout the road. It was far too far to see if they were in any kind of good condition or not, but it was something.

  They all sprinted toward the vehicles, calling out which ones they were going to each individually check, and tried their best to find whatever they could. They were mostly rusted, with broken windows littering the path formed between them. All the same, they did have supplies, and that was worth something. Plus, with enough random parts, maybe Derrick could make something useful, like a makeshift umbrella, or a lockpick made from coat hangers, or something.

  After a solid thirty minutes spent scavenging, the guys were only about 75% of the way through the graveyard of crusty, corroded cars.

  “Okay, update!” Luke announced. “How’s everyone looking?”

  “I got a backpack!” Nolan shouted out, “It’s got two cans of beans, and a dim flashlight. I also found a jacket! Seems like it’s still good!”

  “Found a swiss army knife, and a big one too!” Adam declared, still with his head in a car.

  “A few jackets, a blanket, and a package of water! It’s like three-quarters empty, and it’s hot as satan’s dick, but it’s something!” Jeremy tallied, holding all his findings in the water pack, beginning to walk away from his recently searched car.

  “I’ve got a box of rations here!” Chris shouted. “Looks like maybe a week’s worth if we split it well! Unless its like six months expired or more, then its all you guys.”

  “Found a couple bullets, and a bat!” Derrick shared excitedly.

  “Great, maybe you can swing the bullets at people!” Jeremy mocked. The others all chuckled, Derrick scowled.

  “Well maybe you can shove your water three-quarters up your own cynical ass!” Derrick mocked back. He knew it wasn’t his cleverest shit-talk, but he always prefered being first than being cleverest.

  “Well, maybe not, because I found another gun!” Cody revealed, holding it up in the air. “Der, those pistol bullets?”

  “Huh? Uh yeah, think so!” he replied after inspecting them briefly, immediately dropping his beef with Jeremy.

  “I call it! It’s mine!” Adam shouted, running back toward the group, all of them now converging on Cody to see the gun.

  “No way! I found it!” Cody argued, holding it away from Adam.

  “I’m the best shot, I should get it!” Jeremy said.

  “You hardly ever even have the pistol, who says you’re the best?” Derrick countered.

  “Years of us playing Call of Duty says, you ass!” Jeremy insisted, flipping Derrick off.

  “I actually always did better than you, to be fair,” Chris said, baffling Jeremy.

  “Let me have it! That way I can dual-wield!” Luke said, holding his fingers in the air like two guns and firing them off. Derrick was ashamed on his behalf.

  “That’s the worst argument yet!” Nolan insulted. “Let me have it, you guys are too emotional! You’re no good with guns!” The others all looked at Nolan, blown away. They all then excessively berated him on his comment. As they did, Derrick slipped away, deciding it wasn’t worth his time to argue.

  He made his way back over to the cars, determined to continue checking them all out. Maybe there’d be another gun in one of unsearched ones too. At least something worth a good defense; better than a new bat, anyway.

  He saw a red sedan; it looked pretty good. The paint was scratched off a little, but not too bad The metal was only somewhat rusted. The gas nozzle was closed, unlike most of the other cars they had already seen. It had four doors, five seats, a working trunk (by his description: “working” as in it could open and close, rather than stay one way or the other, as much of the other cars once again were like).

  The driver’s side
window was open just a crack. Derrick attempted to open the door, but it was locked, so he decided to improvise.

  He grabbed a somewhat rusty coat hanger that he’d found off to the side of the road a ways. It was skinny, and stiff, but still long enough to reach in and grab the lock. If he was lucky, that is.

  With some struggle, he curved the top of it, and tied it into a small circle. Then he placed it into the window, and slowly slid it down to the lock. He looked up into the slowly greying sky, trusting on his instincts to aim correctly.

  He motioned down until he felt the side of the car door, and careened the hanger left and right until he felt the side of the lock. He lifted a bit alongside the lock, and then pushed back down, hard. He tried to maneuver the hanger, as to better get it locked into place, and have it looped properly around the lock.

  Once he thought he had it, Derrick jerked up. He heard nothing, felt nothing, and immediately knew he had not gotten it. He didn’t even try opening the door. He had failed, much to his own disappointment.

  Derrick sighed heavily. He knew he had limited chances. If he tried too much, or pulled too hard, the coat hanger would inevitably break, being as worn-down as it was, and the group didn’t have time for him to do this all day.

  He took a deep breath, and dropped it back down on the lock. His eyes laser-focused this time on the loop, trying to better position it; to make sure it was really hooked. He locked it around the car lock as tight as he could, and after a moment of pause, he pulled up again.

  This time, he heard a snap, as well as what he thought was a click. Derrick quickly pulled the coat hanger out, and it was broken. The entire upper quarter of had been snapped off. He looked at the door, and desperately grabbed at the door handle. He paused, breathed, pulled… and it opened.

  “Yes!” Derrick shouted, throwing the rest of the coat hanger up into the air with glee.

  He looked around, but the others were still arguing over who got to hold the gun. Luke was now waving his up and down, almost pumping it up into the air like a fist.

  “Ugh…” Derrick sighed, “Idiots…”

  He entered his reward, and sat proudly in the driver’s seat, searching around. There was no gun. In fact, there wasn’t really anything from what he could tell. Some CDs, a pair of pliers in the center console, and old, molded, crumpled up receipts in the driver’s door pocket.

  He was disappointed, but then he had a thought. What if the car worked? It was in great shape, all things considered, and one of them were bound to run for at least a little while.

  Derrick became quickly re-determined, and was filled with a new sense of hope, deciding to look around again for a way to start the car.

  There were no keys anywhere to be seen. Not on the dashboard, not in the sun visors; not in the glove compartment, not in the center console. Luckily for him, however, there was the pair of pliers. And Derrick just happened to have a distinct knowledge on how to hotwire cars.

  “Thank you, Father Stevens,” he muttered under his breath. The guys had an… unorthodox priest back at their church, but Derrick used to work for them all the time, and at least one of his lessons were finally working to his benefit.

  He went to work, and within an uncomfortable few minutes, he had it done. The car turned on, and Derrick shot his head up, shocked at his success.

  “Guys! Guys look!” he shouted, leaning out the car door and looking back at the others. They were still arguing. Derrick sighed angrily. “Guys, shut up and look at this!” he yelled again, still trying to get their attention. Once again, it didn’t work. He groaned, and slammed the door shut. He shifted the car into drive, and turned it around in a half donut. He paused, turned on the high beams, and floored it, slamming his hand on the horn.

  The others were, as expected, in complete shock. So much so that no one even thought to shoot, or even shout. Were this a seriously dangerous threat, it would have been an entirely different situation for the group; quite possibly their last. Luckily for them, however, it was just their unreasonably tempered friend.

  Derrick sped closer, and just as he was getting a bit too close, he broke. Hard. Luckily for Derrick, he didn’t die from slamming on the brakes. He stopped a few feet in front of them, and, after a pause, he got out of the car.

  “Dude, what the hell!?” Jeremy shouted, “You could’ve killed us!”

  “You could have killed yourself!” Luke chastised.

  “What if that horn just attracted some more god damn monsters back to us, man!?” Nolan yelled nervously, darting his gaze all around them.

  “Well you guys were so busy arguing over that stupid gun, you weren’t listening to me!” Derrick retorted. “I got a car to work!”

  “Holy shit…” Adam muttered in amazement, walking over to the car and shoving Derrick out of his way as he did.

  “Hey!” he shouted in protest. Adam ignored him, and sat in the driver’s seat, inspecting every tiny detail he could find on the inside.

  “Guys, you know what this means?” Cody asked. “We can get home in like, half the time!”

  “How much gas does it have?” Luke questioned.

  “Not a ton. Like less than half a tank, I think,” Derrick said, looking back to the car over his shoulder, arms crossed proudly.

  “Forget the gun, I call keeping this thing!” Adam decided, laughing.

  “Alright well, we all keep it,” Chris pointed out. “It’s not just yours.” Adam, however, completely disregarded him, as he tended to do.

  “I get to drive it. I haven’t been able to drive in like, years!” He continued excitedly.

  “Not even a year and a half, actually. And none of us have, you’re nothing special.” Jeremy said matter of factly.

  “Hey if Adam gets to drive then I get the gun!” Nolan shouted, as though he needed to say it before someone else did. The guys just looked at him, bewildered by his statement.

  “That… makes literally zero sense,” Cody said.

  “Yeah you’re right!” Chris said tauntingly, “That adds up!”

  “Uh-Huh!” Jeremy added, raising his voice high, playing into the taunting.

  “Alright, I get it,” Nolan said regretfully, deflating.

  “No no Nolan, here, just take both of the guns. Here, take the food too, it only makes sense after all,” Chris continued.

  “I said I get it,” Nolan repeated, growing aggravated.

  “Here, take my clothes; if Adam is getting the car after all,” Jeremy persisted, unzipping his hoodie.

  “Alright!” Nolan shouted. Derrick and the others just laughed, amused by how easy it was to rile him up.

  “Okay, let’s get our stuff in there,” Luke said, getting back to the new task at hand.

  They all grabbed their things and stuffed them into the trunk. Some of it had to be put in the car with them, so they took things like blankets and water. Adam remained in the driver’s seat, and Luke sat in the passenger. Derrick and the other four all crammed into the three remaining seats. It was very evident that there was very little breathing room to spare, and Derrick was so close to mouthing off and complaining. He didn’t, trying to make the most of this idea of a change in attitude, but that didn’t stop others from speaking out.

  “This is such bullshit!” Nolan shouted.

  “I don’t think so,” Luke said, “the biggest get in the front, the smallest get the back.”

  “I’m bigger than you!” Nolan argued. “I weigh like, at least twenty pounds more than you, and I’m jacked!” Derrick and the others all just glared at him in shameful disgust. When he noticed, he recoiled a bit into his seat. “Well, you know what I’m saying…”

  “Hey they’ve got CDs!” Luke noticed, completely ignoring Nolan’s pompous comment. He reached into the center console and pulled one out. “Wonder if it even works…” he thought aloud, as he slowly slipped it into the track player.

  There was a silence, and the soft sound of the CD slowly spinning, the track clearly not having been used fo
r some time. Adam turned up the volume a bit, and then they heard that noise. That classic noise.

  The drums rhythmically beating. The guitar jumping in to make that fist-pumping, rocking feeling of energy and freedom. And then, the lyrics. Those breathtaking, life-fulfilling lyrics.

  “Oh-ho-ho shit! I love Back In Black!” Jeremy shouted from the back. Luke ginned, the others all smiled, and Adam shifted the car into drive.

  They were off, as they very ridiculously and cheesily rocked out. They drove off into the high sun and cloudy skies down the long, winding road. For the first time since they had gotten to New York, and honestly the first time in at least months for Derrick, they all felt damn good.

  A few hours later, they had parked the car, to take yet another pee break. It turned out that the previous owner of their newly acquired car was a big 80’s fan, and had a lot of rock music.

  They had already gone through the AC/DC album twice, and were so unnaturally excited for the next CD’s, it was almost all any of them could talk about. Even while they all stood shoulder to shoulder, peeing into the bushes. Well, Chris insisted on being a distance away, for “sanitary reasons.”

  “Aerosmith next! Calling it!” Derrick shouted.

  “Hell no!” Chris retorted. “Guns N’ Roses!”

  “Bon Jovi, man!” Cody said. “Listen, Wanted: Dead or Alive? Livin’ On A Prayer? Here’s the thing guys, you can’t beat that! I’m sorry but you just can’t.”

  “I say round three of AC/DC” Luke voted. “I’m loving the shit out of it.”

  “Agreed!” Jeremy said, raising his fist into the air. This lead the five of them to get into another heated debate over what to listen to next, each of them dishing out their own defenses for why their claim carried more weight than the others’.

  “Hey,” Adam muttered to Nolan, standing next to him, and not caring much for the musical conversation.

  “Yeah?” Nolan responded curiously.

  “I’ve been thinking, what if we do find another group of people? You know, along the way?”