Getting Out

24

“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” said Mandy.

“No,” said Max. “But I don’t know what else to do. There aren’t any other roads here.”

“Maybe we should turn around,” said Mandy, peering down at the maps. Her flashlight had already died, so she was using Max’s, ignoring his pleas for her to conserve the battery as much as possible. “I don’t know. I just don’t have any idea where we are.”

“It’s hard to tell in this storm,” said Max.

The high beams of the Jeep were barely cutting through the night. The Jeep was wracked by the wind, shifting from side to side constantly. The rain pounded onto the roof and the windows, making so much noise they had to almost shout to be heard by each other.

“How do you think he’s doing?” said Mandy, looking back at Chad, who was passed out in the backseat.

“He’s fine,” said Max gruffly.

“I hit him pretty hard,” said Mandy. “I hope I didn’t hurt him too badly.”

“He deserved it,” said Max.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t turn around?”

Max didn’t answer. He kept driving. He was hungry and tired and his wrist was killing him.

Tensions were rising between Max and Mandy. Max had insisted that they keep driving all night, and then they could rest in the morning.

Mandy, on the other hand, had wanted to hole up in the Jeep and wait out the storm.

Max was feeling a constant urge, a constant pressure to push forward. He was done with being extremely cautious. They had run into too many problems already. In his mind, the sooner they got to the farm house, the better. There, they could relax, they could eat. They could rest up and plan for what was coming next.

Max didn’t know how long it would be before more people arrived from the city, provided they were able to get out at all. But he didn’t want to wait around to find out. He didn’t want to be traveling the open road when they came. He wanted to be safely at the farm house.

He already had plans for some rudimentary defenses that he was going to set up. A ditch surrounding the property, for instance, would slow down intruders. And once he ran out of gas for the Jeep, he might be able to use the car battery to create an electric fence. He didn’t know if there would be enough power or how long it would last for, though.

Unless the farm house had been raided, there was food there, and guns. But as far as Max knew, no one had been to the property in a few years. Who knew what had happened to it in that time. He didn’t have any idea what kind of condition it would be in, whether it would be boarded up. Would the water work after an EMP? Max simply didn’t know.

Max had wanted to save time, to push on through the storm. But even he had to admit that they were probably headed the wrong way. They might be headed farther away from the farmhouse now. He had no idea. But he was stuck somewhere in his own stubbornness, and his foot kept pressing the accelerator pedal.

“Look!” said Mandy. “Lights!”

Max peered through the windshield. He could barely make out some lights ahead.

“Headlights, you think?” said Max.

“I don’t know,” muttered Mandy.

He couldn’t see the road, and he didn’t know whether the lights were coming from the road or off the road.

He was so tired his brain didn’t seem to be working correctly. Lights… he was thinking. That’s kind of strange. Isn’t all the power out? He knew he was missing something, but he wasn’t sure what it was.

“They must be headlights,” said Mandy. “Should you pull over? We don’t want to run into them.”

Max grunted a negative.

He didn’t want to get off the road now. The sides of the road had become flooded mud ditches, from which the Jeep might never return if it entered there.

The lights got closer.

“They’re definitely headlights,” said Mandy.

“I think you’re right,” said Max. “They’re still really far off…”

“Wait,” said Mandy. “What happened? They’re gone.”

Sure enough, the headlights were completely gone now.

“Did they turn them off?” said Max.

“Shit,” said Mandy. “We’ll never see them if they have their headlights off…”

Max slowed down as he drove forward, doing his best to keep his eyes glued to where the phantom car might appear.

Turning their headlights off was a bad sign in Max’s mind. The car had been far off, but it must have seen their own lights. If they were good people, Max couldn’t imagine them turning off their headlights, However, if they were bad guys, maybe they’d turn their headlights off in an attempt to ambush Max and Mandy.

Max drove on. Ten minutes passed.

There was no sign of the oncoming car.

“That was really weird,” said Mandy, in a hushed and worried voice. “What do you think happened to them?”

“No idea,” said Max. “We just need to keep going. It’s better to get out of here, especially if there’s another car in the area. We don’t know anything about them or what they want.”

“That’s your solution to everything,” said Mandy. “You just want to keep going and going, even if we don’t know where we’re headed.”

Suddenly, the Jeep was filled with bright, powerful light.

It was the headlights again, but they were coming at them from the side.

It was too late. Max realized at the last second what had happened. Without realizing it, they had driven right through a crossroads.

The other car, with its high beams still on, was coming at them from the side.

The other car T-boned them.

There was the horrible sound of the collision. The sound of metal crunching. The sound of screams.

The other vehicle hit the Jeep’s engine, pushing it sideways in a horrible jerking motion.

Max was thrown forward. The seatbelt caught him and jerked him back. His head whiplashed backwards, hurting instantly.

The airbag deployed, but only partially, filling up like some old stock stuffed with quarters

The airbag didn’t even touch Max.

He didn’t lose consciousness. He looked over at Mandy. There wasn’t an airbag on her side. But the seatbelt had saved her. She hadn’t lost consciousness, but she looked dazed.

A thousand thoughts ran through Max’s head at once. The Jeep. The damn Jeep. It was no doubt ruined. Without it, things were going to be a lot tougher.

But Max knew that the Jeep was a more long-term worry. The immediate, short term worry was who’d crashed into them and why.

Max cut his seatbelt with a pocket knife. He tried the release button of Mandy’s seatbelt, but it was jammed, so he sliced through that too.

People were shouting in the other car that had collided with them. Max could barely make out the sounds over the heavy rain and the frequent thunder.

Lightning flashed in the sky nearby, illuminating the entire car. But Max wasn’t able to see into the other car, except that it was an enormous SUV.

Max didn’t have time to evaluate the damage. He moved quickly. He took out his gun, holding it even though his wrist hurt like crazy. He was pretty sure he could hold it well enough to shoot. He’d never practiced using his left hand, and he cursed himself now for that.

He tried his door, but it wouldn’t open.

“Out,” he whispered to Mandy. “I’ve got to get out.”

“You’re going out there?” said Mandy. “Stay in the Jeep, Max.”

“I’ve got to see who they are,” said Max. “You can get in the backseat. My door doesn’t open. Just let me out.”

“If you’re going out there, I’m going too,” said Mandy.

Max didn’t like that. Mandy was unarmed. They’d given the guns back to the village idiots that Mandy had wanted to help. If things had gone Max’s way, he would have stolen the guns from them for what they did to them. But that was what compassion would get you.

Despite Max’s protests, Mandy got out of the car.

With her door open, the rain was even louder. It made huge crashing sounds as it slammed violently into the pavement.

Mandy was instantly soaked again. Despite the situation, Max’s gaze hung for a moment on her soaking chest.

But he tore his eyes away, and clamored over her seat to get out.

He held his flashlight with his left hand, his Glock in his right. He kept the flashlight on the highest setting, knowing that the batteries would drain fast, but he also realized that he hardly had any other choice. No other settings seemed to cut through the night at all.

Max was partially blinded by the raging high beams from the other car. All four headlights (two from each car) were still on, but they had been knocked askew, and they sliced through the night crazily. The headlights and the still-running engines made the night feel chaotic.

Max was instantly wet in the rain.

Lightning slammed into the trees nearby.

Thunder sounded.

Max moved around to the other side of the big black SUV.

He led with his gun, and Mandy stayed behind him. She held the big dead metal flashlight that Max always kept in the Jeep. Presumably, Chad was still passed out. Max hadn’t even checked to see if he was OK.

Two doors to the SUV were wide open.

Max pointed his flashlight inside. There was no one there.

There was some gear.

The people couldn’t be far…

Max spun around, looking for them, pointing his light through the night.

Suddenly, a powerful light shone on Mandy and Max. It swayed a little, but it stayed right on them.

“Don’t move a muscle,” came a tough sounding female voice from nearby.

Max froze.

“Don’t move,” he whispered to Mandy.

“Who are you?” came the voice. It was definitely female, but it had some gravely notes, as if the voice had been toughened and hardened over the years.

Max knew from the voice alone that he was up against a person who wasn’t going to take any bullshit. If he was honest with himself, Max was worried.

The last thing he needed right now was to run up against some group of tough women who would steal all their provisions.

“Drop the gun,” came the voice.

Max didn’t move.

He didn’t know what to do. Should he fight? Should he make a stab at shooting her? But there must have been more. Two doors were open, after all. There might be as many as six people out there in the night.

They might all have guns.

Max couldn’t even see the woman.

“I’m going to lower it, so there’s no chance of an accidental discharge,” called out Max, loudly. He had to speak loudly to make his voice heard in the storm.

Max did as he said he would, slowly placing the Glock on the pavement.

“Step away from the gun,” came the voice. “Who are you?”

“I’m Max,” said Max. He didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t like he had a serial number or something. And what good would his identity do in a situation like this? Things had changed. Things were different now. His old occupation didn’t matter, nor did his driver’s license or his library card. His credit cards were worthless, as was his bank account. Now it was just what he had on him. His actions had to speak for themselves.

“How many of you are there?”

Max turned his head a little, trying to see where the light was coming from. It seemed like it was coming from behind some trees off to his left… The people in the SUV must have abandoned their vehicle immediately after the crash. They must not have been injured. Max thought that he’d moved fast, but apparently it hadn’t been fast enough.