Jake chewed his lip. “Do you really think it might work?”
“I think we have to try. If we don’t, we don’t know what lies ahead. The other cops might catch up. If we head through the fields, the tall grass will hide us a little, too.”
Jake glanced over his shoulder at Megan. “What do you think?”
Megan chewed her thumb. “I think we should try...I really don’t want them to catch up, Jake. I don’t want to have to shoot anybody.”
Aby heard Jake sigh. She knew he was concerned about the plan. But a bad plan was better than no plan. After a moment, he nodded.
“Alright, let's do it. Hold on tight. Once we get off the road, it slopes quite a way into the field. Then it's going to get pretty bumpy.”
Aby had already prepared herself. She was becoming accustomed to the bumpy roads of life. She wanted to close her eyes, but they stayed firmly open. Fear was suddenly keeping her wide awake.
Without much warning, Jake turned the steering wheel and the car dived into the tall grass. Aby tried not to gasp as the tyres hit hard against the ground. Within moments, they were speeding through the field. The tall grasses whipped at the windscreen noisily, making Aby feel uneasy. But they’d done it. They were off the road.
As they flattened the grass with the car, Aby looked over her shoulder to see if there was any sign of the cops following them. She hadn’t thought about the possibility that they were making the chase easier for them by flattening the grass to make a clear path. Aby’s heart jerked and she wondered if she’d made a terrible mistake. But minutes passed - or maybe very slow seconds - and there was no sign that they were being followed.
Aby heard Megan’s audible sigh of relief. With every second that passed, they relaxed a little more. Jake sighed happily and reached over to squeeze Aby’s knee.
“What would I do without you?” he murmured. Aby let her head rest back on her seat.
“Don’t thank me yet. We’ve got a long way to go.”
The drive was tough. It was impossible to see where they were going because of the grass blocking their view. The car was noisy and Aby missed being able to hear properly. Her hearing had always been good, and she’d relied on it back in the cabin to know when danger was near. She doubted they’d come across anyone in the field, especially in the dead of night, but she had no idea what waited for them on the other side of the grasses.
“Maybe we should stop and see where we are!” Aby shouted to be heard over the crunching grass. Jake shook his head.
“We can’t stop. The second we go still, we’re going to be vulnerable. We need to keep going.”
Aby disagreed with him wholeheartedly, but she didn’t have the energy to tell him so. She tried to relax, telling herself that while Jake was driving that was her only chance to rest, but the chaos of it all proved to be too much. She simply had to keep watching as the endless grass folded back before their eyes.
It was about an hour before they made it out of the grass. They must’ve only driven a few miles - the grass was slowing them down more than Aby could perceive - but the abrupt end to the grass seemed like it couldn’t come soon enough. And then, all of a sudden, they were in a wooded area and twigs were snagging at the car. It was overgrown and wild.
Jake tried to slow the car to match the terrain, but as he tried desperately to weave through the trees, Aby knew it wasn’t sustainable. The forest was dense and quiet and there was no sign of civilization. It was good in one way. They were out of sight of the cops. On the other hand, they were at the mercy of nature.
The car dipped into a rut in the ground suddenly, jerking Aby so badly that she bit her tongue. She gasped, pain rushing over her. But the car didn’t move again. Jake put his foot on the pedal and tried to drive forward, then backward, but the car was stuck. He slammed his palm against the steering wheel.
“Damn it! We’re stuck.”
“Maybe we should get out of the car and push,” Megan said. It felt strange to hear her voice after the noisiness of the grasslands. Aby nodded.
“Yeah. It’s got to be worth a shot.”
But even as they all tried to move the car, they realized it was useless. The car didn’t want to move forward or backward. The ground beneath their feet was marshy and wet, sticking to the wheels and their shoes. It became clear to Aby in a few seconds that they might as well have been standing in quicksand. There was no escape.
Jake cursed, shaking his head. “This is no good. We need the car...we won’t make it far without it.”
Aby didn’t say anything, not wanting to worry Megan, but she was concerned too. The supplies in the car were their lifeline. If they went off on foot, they’d have to abandon them. Plus, the car offered shelter. Without it, they didn’t even have a car roof to cover their heads.
The reality of it was sickening. They’d run away from one problem and straight into another. Aby knew that they could’ve avoided this if they’d gotten out of the car while they were still in the field to look around, but she knew rubbing it in wouldn’t do them any good. There was no going back, after all.
“What are we going to do?” Megan asked mournfully. Jake shook his head, out of ideas for the first time.
“I don’t know, Megan. I’m sorry.”
“I thought we were meant to be safe now,” she whispered. “We left the cabin...we were supposed to leave our troubles behind. We got away from those cops...and now this. How are we going to survive if we get stuck here?”
Aby put an arm around Megan who began to sob uncontrollably. It was the last thing they needed to be dealing with, but Aby had to be sympathetic toward her. She wished she could break down too. She wished someone would come and save them, giving them all the answers to how to survive this. But in that moment, her outlook was bleak. Her hopes were dwindling into nothing.
They were in real trouble.
Twenty-Four
Jake
Jake paced up and down by the car, wondering how the hell he was meant to get them out of this one. He’d managed to get them through every single problem so far, but he was worried that he’d mostly been lucky. Maybe now was the time that his luck would run out.
“We can’t stay here,” Aby said, still comforting Megan as she cried. “The cops won’t hold back forever. The path we took through the field might as well be a giant arrow saying ‘we’re here’...”
“I know,” Jake said, running a hand through his hair. “And we haven’t made it far enough to be off their radar...but that car isn’t budging. We’re going to have to leave it.”
“But our supplies...we’ll never make it without them.”
“I know that,” Jake said, feeling irritation rise in him once again. “I know. But we need to do something and we need to do it fast. I’m not going to die here. I’m not.”
Megan’s wailing increased and Jake knew he wasn’t helping by saying his own worried thoughts out loud. Think, Jake, think…
Maybe they could set up a camp of some sort. The woods were like a jungle. They wouldn’t come across any other humans, and the wild animals would be a good source of food. But they had no way of catching and killing them. Their precious bullets had to be savoured in case they ran into trouble with people. Jake had heard of snares, but he didn’t know how to make them.
No, they couldn’t stay where they were. They would be safe from humans, but they were in unfamiliar territory. They’d get themselves killed if they messed with the ecosystem here. Who knew what might be concealed in the trees...any number of wild animals out there could hunt them and kill them. Jake had been relatively well prepared for this strange new world - or at least more than most - but he didn’t have a clue how to live in the wilderness. He didn’t want to get cocky and get them killed.
“If we can’t use this car, we need to find another,” Jake said. “One that can at least get us out of this mess...maybe I should go. If I can find one for us then we can take our supplies with us…”
“I can think of a million
reasons why that’s a bad idea,” Aby said sternly. “You can’t walk around a place like this on your own at night...you’ll get lost. And then if you do make it out of the forest, finding a car that still works is nearly impossible. Plus, what if you get caught? Do you really want to give the cops another reason to hunt us down?”
“What choice do we have, Aby? The longer we stay here, we’re just sitting ducks. If we walk off and leave our supplies, we’ll die. This is the only way.”
Aby’s bottom lip wobbled as he watched her fight off the urge to cry. “I don’t like this, Jake. Splitting up again seems like a bad idea...I’ve already nearly lost you once today. I don’t want to do it again…”
Jake stepped forward to cup her cheek. “I know. But I’m doing this for you. You know it makes sense. And this isn’t the same. I’m not going out there to kill some thugs. I’m just going to get us a car. It’s our lifeline, Aby.”
She closed her eyes. “I know…”
“So do you agree? Should I go?”
She turned away from him as though she couldn’t quite bear to look at him. “I know you’ve already made up your mind.”
Jake hated leaving her on bad terms, but he knew he was doing the right thing. He wished he could kiss her goodbye, but he could see that the frustration was getting to her too much. As he turned to walk away, his heart was heavy, but he still, he kept walking.
He decided to follow the path that their car had taken back to the main road. It was better than trying to navigate the forest alone, and at least he’d see the cops coming if they decided to pick up their trail again. He patted his belt where his gun was holstered precariously. He didn’t want to use the darn thing ever again, but he knew if it was a choice between life and death, he’d pull the trigger without a second thought.
The only light to guide him was the dim light of the moon. The world truly had gone dark. Jake wondered if they’d ever recover from the EMP. Not just in terms of getting the power back on, but the things that had happened since they lost the power were crazy. Jake imagined that there were plenty of others out there who had similar experiences to him. People who had lost people the way he’d lost Deron. People who’d been forced to defend themselves by killing someone, the way he and Aby had. People who had teetered on the edge of madness...the way Jake had.
His mind felt calmer than it had a few hours before. When he was making his way back to the cabin, he felt like there was some monster living inside him, trying its hardest to get out. Was he a bad person for the things he’d done? Or was he just a survivor?
He didn’t want to dwell on it, but those thoughts stayed with him as he walked back through the field. It was going to be a long night and he didn’t want to be contemplating his own morals. He’d acted the way he thought he should in the moment. Whether he was wrong or not...only God could decide.
The walk back to the road took him a long while, even though he jogged for some parts of the journey. He wished he had some other way to gauge the passing of time other than the colour of the sky. It was creeping slowly toward morning and Jake didn’t want to still be out alone when morning came. He’d feel far too exposed. No, the sooner he could get back to the women, the sooner they’d be able to escape and start over again.
Jake wondered if he was trying and trying for nothing. Was it possible that he was trying to do the impossible? Were they already doomed in this world? He really didn’t want to believe that was the case. He had to keep pushing. They were only a few days into this thing, though it felt like years since he’d left his work building, and he couldn’t afford to lose hope. Yes, he’d been through a lot. Yes, he was scared of the person he might become. But he’d rather be alive than dead, and that was what he focussed on.
When he reached the road once again, he saw a lone house up ahead and walked toward it. As he got closer, he could see that there was a car parked in front of it. Jake’s heart was racing as he considered whether he had the guts to steal it. He had no idea if anyone was in the house, or what kind of people might own the car, but he knew that his survival was his own priority.
But when he reached the house, he found it empty. He found a set of keys for the car and his heart soared for a moment, until he realized that the car was electric. He cursed under his breath, wondering why he’d let himself get so excited over the first car he saw. He was naive to think this would be easy.
His body was sagging with tiredness as he continued his journey. He was deliriously tired, but unwilling to stop. He knew the second he lost his momentum he’d never get it back.
The road he walked along was soon swallowed up by the forest, throwing him into the darkness. He thought at least he’d be able to see if anyone was close by if they had any kind of light source. The darkness made him feel strange as he walked, as though he couldn’t trust his own balance.
But eventually, after hours of walking, he came up to a house that showed promise. The interior was pitch black and there seemed to be no movement within. A minivan was parked in front of the house and when Jake stumbled onto the porch, he found the set of spare keys in a plant pot, buried just underneath the soil. He quietly crept back to the vehicle and tried out the key. To his simultaneous horror and delight, the car opened.
Jake stopped himself in his tracks. He knew that he shouldn’t take the car from whoever was at the house. That would make him a bad person, for sure. Every decision he’d made so far was to save his own skin, but only when other bad people crossed him. Now, he was considering stealing a car from potentially innocent people.
Without a car, those people might not have any means of escape. Without a car, they might be stranded in the middle of the forest. But without a car of his own, Jake and his makeshift family would never make it. They’d die out in the wilderness.
Jake knew he could never allow that to happen. He knew he had to shove his moral compass to one side and do what was right for him. It might be a decision that bought him a ticket straight to hell. It might be one he’d regret as much as he regretted killing the men he’d come across earlier. He didn’t take any pleasure from it, but it had to be done. He had to save his own skin.
Before he could change his mind, he hopped in the front seat and started the engine. He knew he had to be quick if he didn’t want to be caught so he backed out of the drive quickly and hit the road even before his headlights were on. He tried not to think too much about what the people at the cabin would do without their car. After all, it was survival of the fittest.
He made his way back to the field and paused by the tracks his other car had left. Even though the pickup had cleared a path for the next vehicle, Jake was sure the minivan wouldn’t make it across the bumpy terrain. His heart fell. Another obstacle. But he would make it. He’d made it this far, after all. His whole body was begging for sleep, but he just needed one final push. He got out of the minivan, pocketing the keys and beginning the long walk back to where he’d left his wife and Megan.
A million things could still go wrong. He could be faced with someone trying to take the minivan from them. Megan and Aby might have ran into trouble. They might not be able to drag all of their belongings across the field. But his heart was still beating in his chest. His lungs were still hungry for air. His mind was still focussed on their goal of survival.
It was going to be okay.
Twenty-Five
Aby
Aby’s stomach was twisted in a knot. It had been hours since Jake left to try and find another car, and Aby was left alone with her thoughts. She’d told Megan to get some rest and she’d happily agreed, napping on the backseat of the stuck vehicle. But Aby had never felt so awake.
She couldn’t stop thinking about how she’d acted before Jake walked away from her. She’d been cold with him when he was only trying to do something for them and make sure they survived. She knew now how petty she was being. She knew she should have kissed him goodbye. What if she never saw him again?
But the fact was, she couldn’t g
et used to this new way of living. The constant fear, the possibility of losing her husband at every turn. More than that, there was always the possibility that she’d lose her sanity too.
She couldn’t relax knowing he was out there alone. What would they do if he never came back? They couldn’t wait there forever hoping. But how long should they wait? They barely even waited for Deron for a few hours. Should she harden her heart to stone and leave now while her life was still in her hands?
She could never leave Jake. That’s what made it so much harder that he kept leaving her. She knew it wasn’t personal. She knew it was because he trusted that she’d find a way to survive without him, even if he was always the first person to run off and try to play the hero. She was just as tough as he was, even if it was in different ways, and he knew she could make it alone.
But she didn’t want to. What was a life without him, after all?
The trees creaked around her, making her anxious. Every little noise made her feel jumpy. It didn’t help that she couldn’t see much. She kept looking in the dark, her eyes playing tricks on her. She rubbed at her eyes, suddenly very tired. Perhaps the fatigue was getting to her more than she thought.
Another hour passed. Megan woke up from her nap and got out of the car, leaning on it beside Aby.
“You should sleep,” Megan said kindly. “I can keep watch, I promise. I’m much more alert now…”
“It’s okay. I have to wait for Jake,” Aby said, even though her eyelids were drooping. Megnn nudged her arm.
“Hey. It’ll be okay. He’s a survivor. If there was anyone destined to get through this whole thing, it would be him.”
Aby smiled. “Thanks, Megan. You’re really good at making people feel better, you know that?”
Megan blushed. “Well, I’ve got to be good for something. I know I’m the weak link of the group. Don’t even try to deny it to make me feel better...I don’t have much to offer. But you guys have been so kind to me. The least I can do is return that favour.”
The End of the World Series (Book 1): Survive The Collapse Page 14
