No one responded. The question was left to go sour in the air. Aby couldn’t even look at Jake now. She loved him with all her heart, but sometimes, he scared her more than she could express. Their lives had turned so dark in those past few days. She wondered what kind of man he would become the further along they went.
Aby kept driving. It was dark out on the road. The moon had disappeared behind the clouds, so it was just the minivan’s headlights proving any light at all. It made Aby anxious, like something dark and scary was going to jump out at them from the side of the road. The way things had been lately, not much would surprise Aby now.
That’s why it didn’t surprise her that much when the car began to splutter and slow down. She felt anger and fear rising inside her. Why were so many bad things happening to them? Were they being punished by the world somehow? She hit her palm against the steering wheel in frustration as the car stopped entirely.
“What happened?” Megan asked.
“We’re out of gas,” Jake murmured. Aby shook her head.
“How has this happened? The needle hasn’t even moved, it still says we have an eighth of a tank…”
“The gauge must be broken. It’s an old vehicle. I guess we should’ve prepared for the worst,” Jake sighed. He sank back in his chair for a second and Aby scrabbled for some ideas of what to do. They were stuck in the middle of the road with no gas. There was no obvious solution, but she knew there had to be something. Anything.
“Alright,” Jake said, reaching for the door handle to the car. Aby frowned.
“What the hell are you doing now?”
“What do you think I’m doing? I’m going to find us some gas. We can’t waste any time, we’re too exposed here. Hell, we’re not that far from that guy’s house. We need to get back on the road again as soon as we can. So, yeah. I’m going for gas.”
Aby felt her stomach twist. Yes, she was angry with Jake. Yes, she was getting a little tired of his relentless bravery and need to fix everything for them. But he was her Jake. She loved him more than anything in the world. She loved how hard he was trying to protect her and Megan. Without him, she’d be dead.
And now he was leaving her again. Now, he was taking on the risk of never coming back again. She didn’t want him to go when she’d spent the past few hours furious with him. It felt like there was bad blood that she couldn’t wash away. She didn’t want the last time they saw each other to be on bad terms.
Seeming to understand, Jake reached out to touch her cheek. “Don’t worry. I’m coming back. And even if I don’t...we’re okay. These times are hard. Things are crazy. And I know I’ve done things you don’t like. I know you’re not happy with how I’ve handled everything. But I’m only doing these things because I love you and I want you to be safe. It was my fault for not checking the gas before, even if the gauge is faulty. Now, I have to fix this.”
She nodded. She knew if she spoke she would end up in tears. She hated feeling this way so constantly. She wasn’t a woman who was often overwhelmed by her emotions in normal scenarios. But Jake was constantly putting his life on the line, and who wouldn’t be scared and upset about that?
“Is it okay for me to go?” Jake asked her gently. Aby sniffed, looking out into the darkness.
“You don’t know what’s out there...it’s dangerous.”
“I know.”
“I’m scared you won’t come back.”
A pause. “I know.”
He didn’t try to convince her again that it would be okay. It wouldn’t help. The pair of them were realists. They didn’t appreciate false promises.
Jake leaned in to kiss her. The kiss was fleeting but sweet. Then he pulled away, his face stern once again. He was back in survival mode.
“Before I go, we should push the van off the road a little. We can conceal them a bit in the trees up ahead. Megan, you come too.”
The three of them got out of the van and with a joint effort, they managed to push it off the road. They would still be visible to anyone with a working car or flashlight, but there wasn’t much else they could do. Aby knew that the longer they waited, the chances of their survival lowered. Time was ticking and it wasn’t on their side.
Jake cupped her cheeks once again. “Stay in the car. Keep your knives and guns ready. Wait twenty-four hours. If I don’t come back by then...start thinking of new ideas.” He paused. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to leave you.”
Aby leaned into the palm of his hand. “I know.”
“I love you.”
“I know. I love you too.”
The kiss on her forehead felt like a million words they wanted to say to each other but didn’t have time for. Then Jake disappeared into the dark. Aby swallowed, trying to ignore the lump in her throat as she got back into the car. Megan got on the backseat too.
“You should sleep a while. I’ll keep watch,” Aby said. Megan nodded, resting her head against the seat. Aby took a deep breath, telling herself to remain strong. She had to stay focussed if she wanted to survive. And that meant forgetting that Jake was out there in the dark, risking his life. It meant forgetting that she was afraid.
It meant switching off her feelings entirely.
Three
Jake
Jake was getting reacquainted with the feeling of fear in his heart and adrenaline in his veins. After a relatively quiet forty-eight hours, they were now knee deep in trouble again. Jake knew that the survival of Aby and Megan depended entirely on him coming back with more gas.
It was a lot of pressure, but he was willing to take it on. The last thing he wanted was for his fiance to suffer. It was hard knowing that she was angry at him for stealing the hosepipe, but he was doing it for her good. He knew his moral compass might be a little skewed at times, but he always did everything with her in mind.
He clutched his knife in one hand and his flashlight in the other. He had concerns about how long it would be before his flashlight gave up, but he hoped it had some life in it yet. If not, he was going to be left in the dark. He didn’t like the idea of being out alone without anything to guide his way.
He sighed to himself. He was exhausted. He’d barely slept in days. He’d taken a nap in the back of the minivan a few times, but he never fully slept, feeling every bump in the road and hearing every sign of possible trouble. He was too alert to rest for real, but now, as he made his way through the woods alone, he felt the weight of weariness pushing down on him.
They couldn’t go on like this. He knew that. But they were running out of options. They’d already seen that staying put in one place was dangerous, especially around people they didn’t know. But if they kept going on the road, they’d have to keep finding ways to get gas. Plus, as time went on, he knew that their working vehicle would become something of an object of desire. It was a resource not many would have, but would do anything to get their hands on. If he wasn’t careful, he knew that someone might be willing to kill him for what he had.
That was if he was even able to find gas. He cursed himself for not checking the gauge sooner, even though the needle was broken. He should’ve guessed that they were running on fumes after the distance they had driven. But the past was the past now. He just needed to find a vehicle to siphon some gas from and a container to carry it back to the minivan. Someday, maybe they’d laugh about this little blip in their journey.
Maybe.
He forced himself to keep going. With the hose wrapped around his waist, he was at least able to keep a hand on the Glock. He didn’t know what to expect when he emerged from the trees. They were in completely unchartered territory, as far as he was concerned. He just hoped he’d be able to find what he needed by dawn. He knew that the night concealed him better than anything could in the day. He wanted to remain incognito, unregistered by whatever community he might be about to disturb. After all, siphoning gas was a crime. He was about to disturb the peace with his thievery.
And if he was caught, there would be violence. The EMP had
only happened a few days ago and things were already starting to get ugly. Most people were still alive and only just becoming aware of the troubles they might face. They would be fiercely protective of anything they owned. Looting would start at stores and no one would blink an eye, claiming they were looking out for themselves. But stealing from the common man...Jake knew that folks would see that act differently.
He had to tell himself that he mattered just as much as anyone, if not more. He had the means to survive, and the stronger will to do so. He’d come prepared for an event like this in a way so many hadn’t. Half of the population were probably still thinking they’d just had some weird powercut or something, totally unaware that they were being thrown back into the Dark Ages.
But Jake knew those people would be the first to die. They’d be the careless ones who opted not to ration, to learn to hunt, to take care of themselves. They’d be the ones denying their apocalyptic reality until their dying breath. They’d be the ones unprotected and oblivious to the world around them until it was too late.
People would soon start fighting in the cities for scraps. Others in the rural areas would die without clean water and lack of supplies. People would hold their firearms as sacred and shoot over the smallest things. Millions would be wiped out by stupidity, lack of preparation and anger.
Jake didn’t plan to join their ranks. He planned to learn from his mistakes, starting right that second. He didn’t know what that would mean for his plan of action just yet, but he was going to adapt to the scenario as much as possible. He was lucky that he and Aby had made it out of the city before things got really bad. He was lucky to have been smart enough to survive the turmoil so far, especially given the things he’d been faced with. He was lucky that the company he kept was made up of good people. Even now that they’d lost Derron, they were a small, but strong unit, willing to adapt to the life they’d been handed.
Jake tried to keep his faith strong within him as he walked. He walked for hours until his feet hurt and he was delirious from the lack of sleep.
But he made it out of the woods. In the early morning light, he emerged in a town. He breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn’t certain he’d even know how to get back the way he’d come, but at least he had a good chance of getting what he came for. After all, most people weren’t even able to drive their cars anymore. Yes, he was stealing from them, but he was stealing something completely useless to them. They weren’t missing out on anything.
Jake kept telling himself that as he walked around the town, searching for a vehicle. He soon came across an old house with a beat up Ford sedan parked out front. Jake was pleased with it and approached it cautiously, but the area was quiet. It was like the whole place had been abandoned a few weeks ago, not just in the time since the EMP. The car was so old that it didn’t even look like it could handle being on the road. With that in mind, Jake felt much less guilty about the thought of stealing gas from it.
But as he wandered around the front yard looking for a container to siphon the gas into, he came up with nothing. There wasn’t a single can or container on the scruffy lawn.
“Damn it,” Jake muttered to himself. He had hoped that the process of getting the gas would be quick. He wanted it to be an in-and-out kind of job so that he didn’t risk running into anyone. But it was looking less and less likely that he was going to be able to make a quick getaway.
He wished he’d just brought his own container. Another mistake he’d have to learn from. He pressed the heel of his hand to his head. He was starting to get a headache.
“Think, think, think,” he muttered to himself. “What else can you do?”
If he couldn’t siphon the gas, maybe he could take the car. It was a bit of a wreck and it would waste a bunch of gas getting back to where he started from, but at least he’d be back to Aby sooner. The thought of her made his heart ache. He’d already been away from her for much longer than he wanted to be. He didn’t really want to steal the car - in fact, he wasn’t even sure if it would run, given the EMP - but he knew that he had to make a quick decision. With the sun creeping up over the horizon, he was running out of time to get out unseen.
Jake made a snap decision and moved over to the car window, wiping at the dusty glass to try and see inside. He tried the door, but it was locked in place. He could break the window, maybe, but he couldn’t see the sign of any keys inside, so what would be the point? He did a quick sweep of the garden, looking under old plant pots and on top of the car tyres for a set of keys, but he had no luck.
He was beginning to think he might need to move on and find another car. He knew he was wasting precious time by hanging around and he really didn’t want to be caught out. Despite the gun at his side, he didn’t feel safe. He was exposed out here, and whoever he was stealing from had neighbors. They’d be more likely to shoot an intruder than to show him mercy.
But the further out he ventured, the more difficult it would be to make it back to the woods unseen. Plus, he’d already walked for miles in the dark. He didn’t want to run the risk of getting lost.
He groaned quietly to himself. This whole trip would’ve been easier with Aby’s reasoning to accompany. She would’ve known exactly what to say or do. Like it or not, Jake saw himself as the leader, but Aby’s smarts would’ve really helped him right there and then. Jake realized with another pang at his heart that he missed her.
He shook his head to himself. He was letting himself get far too distracted. He needed to find the keys to the car, or something to siphon the gas into. Those were his two options, he decided. He wouldn’t let himself get off-track again.
He turned to look at the house. It was pretty run down. Jake suspected that even if someone had been living there, it was more likely to be squatters, or someone who had abandoned it when things went wrong a few days earlier. Maybe there would be something in the house he could use. If he was really lucky, he might find the keys to the car…
He walked up to the front door and rattled the handle as quietly as he could manage. It was locked, but he wasn’t planning to give up that easily. He moved around to the side of the house and found exactly what he was looking for.
There was an open window. It was only open a tiny crack, but he’d be able to squeeze his fingers through the gap and force it open. He did exactly that, wincing as the hinges squeaked, but he waited and no one came. He hadn’t been heard.
He took a deep breath. The window was wide enough now for him to clamber up and get inside. Pulling himself onto the ledge with a grunt, he peered inside. The house was impossibly dark, but he had his flashlight. He patted his side and felt for his gun, too. He prayed he wouldn’t need to use it, but he felt much better knowing it was there.
He slipped inside.
Four
Aby
Aby had an awful sense of deja vu. Only a few days before she’d been through this torture before; waiting for Jake to return from a rescue mission with no idea if he’d actually make it back. She concentrated on breathing, taking long, drawn-in breaths before puffing them back out again. It was the only way she could keep herself from doing something crazy like screaming out into the woods.
Morning was approaching fast. Light was now filling the car up and Aby knew that anyone on the road would be able to see their vehicle now. The dark had concealed them for a long time and Aby had feared what might come for them, but the daytime was going to be just as dangerous, if not more.
“Try not to worry,” Megan told Aby kindly. “I’m sure Jake will come back. He has every other time. He’s sneaky...as long as he was quiet, he’s probably got the gas already and is on his way back.”
Aby listened for doubt in her voice, but it was hard to tell what she really thought. Megan was so gentle and caring that Aby was certain she was always just trying to make her feel better. In reality, Megan had no clue whether Jake would come back, just like Aby.
“Don’t get my hopes up,” Aby said quietly. “In some ways...it’s easier to fea
r the worst. At least then it’s not a surprise.”
Megan was silent. Aby knew that they were an unusual pair, her and Megan. They never would’ve been friends in any other scenario. Not because Aby didn’t like her, but because they were so different. Aby was a realist and Megan practically lived in a dreamworld. Of course, they’d only actually known each other for a few days so Aby guessed she couldn’t make too many informed judgements. But on the other hand, they’d been through things together that many friends would never endure in their lifetime. Aby thought that probably made them closer than most.
“I want to believe it’ll be okay. But if it’s not...at least we have each other,” Megan said. Aby felt a lump rise in her throat. It was true, she guessed, but not what she wanted to hear. She couldn’t imagine life without Jake after all they’d been through together. He was the love of her life and she didn’t want to live a life where he wasn’t there. Even though she was still angry with him, those harsh emotions were fading with every passing minute, replaced with the love and fear she felt for him. Just come back, Jake, she thought desperately. Please.
The sun continued to rise and there was no sign of Jake. But something did catch Aby’s eye. They’d parked very close to a crossroads, and when Aby squinted at the signs there, she saw that they were closer to a town than they’d thought.
“Hey, Megan...check it out. You see that? Dent, population of a hundred and thirty three people, is two miles down the road.”
“Yeah, I see it…” Megan chewed her lip thoughtfully. “Do you think maybe we should check it out? I mean, a town that small seems like a good bet. They probably have a tight-knit community...maybe they’d be happy to have a few extra hands on deck! We could help out someplace like that, don’t you think? Especially Jake...they’d probably love to know what he knows.”
Aby had to admit that the idea seemed pretty sound. If they could find a place to settle down then they’d be able to relax a bit. If they had other people watching their back, then they might actually have a decent night’s sleep once in a while. They might be able to get a bed to rest their head and stop running at the first sign of trouble. They could ditch the van and start getting used to the new world they’d been handed. No more stealing and scrapping with people they didn’t know. Jake could abandon his new-found hero complex and just go back to normal.
The End of the World Series | Book 2 | Survive The Onslaught Page 2
