Getting Out

8

“They’re coming!” screamed Mandy. “Go! Go! I thought you were going to go!”

“We can’t leave him,” said Max. He was looking at this guy who was supposedly named Chad.

“But they’re coming!”

Mandy was watching them in the rearview mirror. They were sprinting as fast as they could towards the car.

Chad was standing at the driver’s side window, panting, covered in sweat. He looked like a mess. His hair was matted and drenched. His employee golf shirt was ruffled, like he’d been grabbed.

Mandy didn’t understand what was going on. Max had been dead set on leaving them all behind and just going. Now the roles were reversed, and Mandy knew they needed to get out of there.

“Chad?” said Max. “Chad?”

But Chad didn’t respond. He didn’t say anything. He looked like he might have been in shock, or maybe on drugs. He had that glazed look on his face, like he didn’t really know what was going on.

Max opened his door and got out.

“What are you doing?” screamed Mandy.

The people rushing towards them were getting closer. Two of them had something in their hands, baseball bats, sticks, or rudimentary clubs. She couldn’t tell. But the way they were running terrified her. They’d already turned into animals.

Max had been right—they needed to leave.

“Come on, Chad,” said Max, grabbing his friend and shaking him. “Wake the hell up.”

Chad didn’t respond. He just gazed at Max vaguely. There wasn’t a spark of recognition on his face.

If there was anybody that should be left behind, thought Mandy, it was this guy Chad. What good would he do them? What purpose would he serve them?

Max opened the door to the backseat and started grabbing bags and supplies and throwing them onto the road.

“We need those!” screamed Mandy.

“He’s too big to put in the front seat with you,” yelled Max.

He slammed his body into the wall of supplies and stuff that was piled high in the backseat. He pushed his body against it, trying to cram everything into a tighter order so that it wouldn’t take up so much space.

“Come on, Chad, buddy,” said Max, trying to push the big man into the Jeep.

“They’re coming!”

The men weren’t far away at all. She could clearly see one waving a metal baseball bat wildly. His face looked insane—pure animalistic anger.

Mandy couldn’t believe it was all coming true. Society really was already falling into complete chaos.

“There you go, Chad,” said Max, slamming his weight against his big friend in the backseat. Finally, Chad was in. Max slammed the door and hopped into the driver’s seat quickly.

“Go!” shouted Mandy.

Max didn’t hesitate for a single second. He jammed the car into gear and they were off. He didn’t even bother closing his door. He simply let the acceleration of the car close the door for him.

The crazy men were only a few feet away. Mandy thought maybe one of them had touched the bumper.

She watched them in the mirror, disappearing as Max, Mandy, and Chad sped away.

Something hit the back of the car, making a small crack in the rear windshield.

“Someone threw a baseball bat,” said Max.

“Do you want to tell me what that was all about?” said Mandy, looking at Max. Now she looked at Chad in the backseat. Now that he was in the car, she could smell him. He stunk of potent weed mixed with sweat. It wasn’t a good smell. He stared blankly at the headrest in front of him. He was still panting.

“He’s an old friend,” said Max, not looking back at Chad. “He must be shocked. We barely got him away from those animals.”

“And stoned,” added Mandy.

“Probably,” said Max. “He always had a bit of a problem with substances…”

“So you thought you’d risk our lives for some drug addict? What’s he going to do for us?”

“I thought you were the one who was all about saving people,” said Max angrily.

“I thought you were the one about being practical and ruthless.”

“He’s an old friend,” repeated Max. “I couldn’t leave him there.”

“But how much of the gear did you throw out to fit him in there?”

“I don’t know,” said Max. “Truthfully, I don’t even know what I got rid of. But I had to do it. Look, it was my decision. I’m the one bringing you along. Remember where you’d be without me? Dead, or even worse.”

“Maybe so,” said Mandy. “But now that I’m here, it’s no longer just you making the decisions, because it’s my life on the line too.”

Max started to chuckle. It surprised her.

“What does that laugher mean?” she said.

“I’m impressed,” said Max. “I think you’ve finally realized how serious this is. And don’t worry, we’re not going to be making any more dangerous stops. I’ve already picked up two stragglers, and I’m not picking up any more.”

“Good,” muttered Mandy. “So what’s the plan, anyway?”

“The plan,” said Max, as he continued to drive into the dark night. “Is to get as far away from this area as possible. I want to drive all night. You can drive stick, right?”

“Yeah,” said Mandy, although truthfully she wasn’t totally sure. She’d never had a car with manual transmission, but she had driven her friend’s car home once or twice from the bar. She’d gotten them home in one piece and only ground the gears a bit.

“Good,” said Max. “I’ll need to sleep at some point, and then you can drive. But I’ll drive now. I have no idea what we’re going to encounter. If we run into trouble, I’m prepared for it.”

He lifted his shirt to show her the gun.

“I already know you have a gun,” she said sarcastically. “Remember earlier? I saw you shoot two guys with it.”

Max nodded.

“So should we do something about Chad in the back?”

“We just have to wait until he’s functional again,” said Max.

“You mean until he sobers up.”

“I guess,” said Max. “When he’s lucid, he’s a smart guy. He might have some good ideas that could be useful for us.”

“I think you’re just making excuses,” said Mandy. “I just don’t see him as anything but a liability.”

“You know I can hear you, right?” said Chad from the backseat.

Mandy was so surprised she jumped in her seat.

“I thought…”

“I may be high as a kite but I can still hear.”

“How’s it going, Chad?” said Max, glancing at his friend in the mirror. Not that he could see much with the darkness that seemed so pervasive, penetrating not just the car but their own bodies and thoughts.

“I’m all right,” said Chad. “Thanks for grabbing me back there. I just froze up.”

“I noticed,” said Max.

“I’m sorry,” said Mandy, turning around to speak to Chad. But she couldn’t help wrinkling her nose as she smelled the full brunt of his intense stench. “I didn’t mean what I said… I’m just really freaked out…”

“She your girlfriend or something?” said Chad, speaking obviously only to Max, ignoring Mandy.

“Just met her,” said Max.

“Nice,” said Chad, looking at Mandy, and eyeing her up and down.

“Eww,” said Mandy, turning back around as Chad’s eyes fell to her ample chest.

“Look, man,” said Chad. “If you could update me or something, I honestly don’t know what the hell is going on. I was working the closing shift… I remember that the power went out, so I decided to just have myself a little party there in the shop… The owner is down the shore for the week, so I knew I had the place to myself… I must have passed out, because the next thing I knew, people were breaking the windows… I mean, you saw it. It was like a full fledged mob. Man, that was unreal.”

“Truth is,” said Max. “We don’t know what’s going on either. I think there was an EMP.”

“Oh,” said Chad, as if he knew what that meant.

“So does everyone know about these EMPs except me?” said Mandy.

“You don’t know what they are?” said Chad.

“I do now,” said Mandy defensively.

“So the shit’s really hit the fan then?” said Chad. “Man, I’ve been expecting this for some time…”

“Do you have any supplies, provisions back at home?” said Max.

“Nah, man,” said Chad. “I’m staying with my friend… Just crashing on his couch. I didn’t have any money for stuff like that. Looks like you’re pretty well equipped, though.” He started poking at the pile of provisions in the seat next to him. His body was jammed up against it all, and when the car turned he had to brace himself against the weight of it all.

“Great,” muttered Mandy. “At least I brought some stuff along.”

“Hey man, I really appreciate this,” said Chad. “So what’s the plan anyway?”

“We’re headed to my family’s old farmhouse,” said Max.

“I don’t get it,” said Mandy. “You two are old friends?”

“Yup,” they said together.

But they couldn’t have seemed more different. Max was clean cut and in shape. He didn’t seem like he’d ever touched pot in his life. Chad, on the other hand, was the epitome of a lazy stoner. Not that she had anything against pot. She’d smoked it a handful of times, usually when she was too drunk to really realize what she was doing.

“So what route you taking?” said Chad.

“I was going to try 21,” said Max. “It’s a smaller highway, and there aren’t any tolls or anything… so I don’t think anyone would think to block that.”

“Sounds good,” said Mandy. “I could see that working. And then we’ll head west for a while until we head north?”

“Yup,” said Max.

“I don’t know,” said Chad. “Do you remember when we were kids, Max, and we had that mini tornado?”

“Mini tornado?” said Mandy. “What’s that? Is that even a real thing, or some pothead day dream?”

Chad ignored her.

“It was real,” said Max. “Some kind of freak storm. What about it, Chad?”

“Well,” said Chad. “When that happened, everyone was freaking out and we all got stuck on 21, remember?”

“Where were you going? Why were you leaving the area?”

“The power was out for like two weeks,” said Max. “Everyone wanted to go stay in hotels.”

“That’s not going to be happening now,” said Chad. “No hotels are going to have power either… Shit, I wonder if this is all over the country or just here in PA, or just on the Eastern seaboard or what.”

Mandy crossed her arms in annoyance. She didn’t understand how this fat stoner was so easily grasping exactly what was happening. It had taken her much longer to grasp the seriousness of the problem, and she felt silly and stupid now. Plus, Max had this rapport already with Chad, whereas she’d just met Max. So far, she was impressed with him. The fact that he saved her life probably had something to do with that. Frankly, she was a little jealous of Chad.

“We’ll avoid 21 then,” said Max. “Good point, Chad. Even if people aren’t going to hotels, they’ll be trying to leave… for somewhere. But my suspicions are that this is something that happened all over the country, not just here.”

“How do you know?” said Mandy.

“There’s no way to know,” said Max. “Not without communication.”

“Maybe we could get some smoke signals going once we make camp,” said Chad, chuckling at his own joke.

“I bet you’re an expert at that,” said Mandy.

“I’ll just keep driving west on these back roads,” said Max. “Mandy and Chad, you guys check the atlas there and the maps that you brought. It’s a good thing you had those. See if you can find a good route. I know my way around here, but there might be something better…”

They drove on through the night in silence.

There weren’t many cars on the road now.

Mandy realized that it was very good that Max had extra gasoline in the back of the Jeep. She could smell it, and the smell made her a little sick, but if this EMP was a reality, then she doubted the gas pumps would work.

Mandy figured that people had realized that this wasn’t just a blackout. This was something more. The mob back at Chad’s store proved that.

But what she was confused about was why there weren’t more cars on the road. It was eerie, especially considering how black the night was. She had never seen darkness like this. The headlights from the Jeep barely seemed to cut through it. They just drilled little holes of light into the night in front of them, holes that disappeared a moment later, swallowed by the darkness.

Maybe if people realized it wasn’t a blackout, they would also realize that they didn’t have much gas left. Maybe they weren’t driving around because they wanted to save their gasoline. Another factor was that they were no longer driving on the main roads at all. And it was the middle of the night… Still, something was strange about it. Maybe people were barricading themselves in their houses… Maybe they were terrified to leave…

Mandy wondered what she would be doing right now if Max hadn’t come along. Well, she’d have been raped and possibly killed. But if that hadn’t happened, she couldn’t see herself venturing out of the apartment building, let alone her own apartment. Maybe that was why people weren’t on the road—fear, pure and simple.

But what about that mob?

Mandy shuddered as she thought about the animalistic anger she’d seen on that man’s face as he rushed towards the Jeep.

“You guys mind if I light up?” said Chad.

Mandy could hear him pulling something out of his cargo pocket.

“Yes,” said Max simply.

“You sure?” said Chad. “I’ve got enough for all three of us. Could help us relax, you know?”

“Are you crazy?” said Mandy.

“I’m not crazy, just trying to relax.”

“I take back what I said about being sorry,” said Mandy. “You really are going to be a liability. Are you just going to be interested in getting high while the world ends?”

“Mandy,” said Max, trying to calm her down.

“What?” she snarled at him. “I’m not allowed to speak my mind?”

Suddenly, the Jeep ran over something. There was a thud that didn’t sound good as the Jeep bounced on its suspension.

“What was that?”

“Shit.”

Max didn’t say anything.

He slowed the Jeep to a stop.

“I think we blew a tire,” he said. He put the Jeep into neutral and engaged the emergency brake.

Mandy noticed that he didn’t kill the engine. And he didn’t get out of the car yet. Instead, he killed the headlights and studied the darkness that surrounded them.

“You think someone’s out there?” whispered Mandy.

“Can you see what it was we ran over?” said Max in a low voice.

“No,” she said.

“I can’t see anything either,” said Chad.

Max and Mandy both ignored him.

“You think this is a trap or something?” said Mandy. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she peered into the darkness around them. She couldn’t see anything, but that didn’t mean anything.

“I don’t know,” said Max. “Could be. Might not be. I don’t know what we ran over.”

“Don’t get out of the car,” whispered Mandy.

“I have to,” said Max. “Someone’s got to change this tire.”

The car was noticeably sagging on Mandy’s side.

Max flicked on his flashlight, on the lowest setting. Mandy saw him reaching for his gun. He had it in his hand now.

“What do we do?” said Chad.

“Stay in the car,” said Max. “And don’t you dare light that joint. I need you as lucid as you’re going to get.”

Mandy’s heart felt like it was beating so fast that it would burst right through her chest.

She watched with terrible anxiety as Max slowly opened his door.