In the Aftermath: Burning of the Dawn Page 31

  “Like I said,” Mary spoke solemnly. “Alternative model.” The highway was beginning to make its turn around a large hill of sand and rock. The abhorred thing that Mary despised was just around the corner. Not wanting the McCoys to be unpleasantly surprised by the forthcoming monstrosity, Mary decided to warn them. “There’s something ahead,” she motioned towards the winding road. “Just around this turn.”

  “What is it?” Serena asked.

  “Something horrible, but don’t be afraid… it’s long dead.”

  Uncertainty and the unknown had no appeal to Serena. Mary’s games of words, riddles, and secrets were a source of discord that she and Mary would have to remedy in their future time together. Nevertheless, Serena trusted Mary. She could tell that the odd girl was either concerned or afraid, yet not necessarily both. Something disturbing was down the road, but it was not likely to be dangerous… so she hoped.

  “Dead?” Anthony questioned. He pulled himself forward in the seat to better see the road ahead. “Somebody or something?”

  “Something,” Mary answered as she rolled down her window. “You’ll see it soon enough.” As the vehicle rounded the long curve she pointed into the distance. “There.”

  “Oh,” Anthony felt his voice go stale. Mary’s pointing was not necessary; the dead thing in question was massive.

  “Good God…” Serena echoed her son’s stale sentiments. She held the road, despite being transfixed on the wreckage of a giant alien ship lying ahead of her.

  Large dunes and mountains of sand were wiped off the landscape from where the alien ship had crash-landed into the desert. The ship was a bomber that consisted of two equally sized segments: one on the left side and one on the right side. Size-wise, they were a few city blocks in length, yet over a mile long in width, each. The two sections joined together to form a wide V-shape that covered an attack area that was nearly two miles wide. The alien invaders had sent these monstrous ships to rain silent death on major metropolitan areas of the world. It was not their desire to destroy the cities; they only wanted to rid them of their inhabitants. The payload in the bombers was not fire or explosives, but poisons: a neurotoxin derived from Sayona venom that proved to be extremely effective. Fortunately, the large size of the ship also made it an easy target once humanity mounted its counterattack. The ship was immune to heat-seeking missiles and electromagnetic pulse attacks, yet a simple 155mm round accurately fired from an M109 howitzer had severed the left section of the alien ship in half, thus ending its reign of death.

  “Probably on its way to Carson City,” Mary commented. “Fucker didn’t quite make it.”

  “Good,” Serena added. “We’ve never seen one before, but… we know what they did.”

  “We got hit by one,” Mary referenced her time in Denver. “Maybe even this one. But those beautiful Colorado blizzards botched their attack. Most of that poison shit was blown clear of the city before it even reached the rooftops. Some people were still killed, but they didn’t wipe out the entire population, like they usually do.”

  “Guess you got lucky on that day.” Anthony spoke, still semi-mesmerized by the downed alien ship.

  “Pff, I wish it were luck,” Despite multiple ecclesiastical-esque tattoos adorning her body in various locations, Mary was an ardent, life-long atheist. However, odd events over the last two years had slightly weakened her resolve on the matter. “Blizzards in Denver, tornados in S.L.C., and sandstorms in Ely: let’s just say weird acts of Mother Nature keep saving my ass. It’s gettin’ a little annoying; not that I don’t appreciate it, I guess.”

  “That’s even better than luck,” declared Anthony. The car slowed as his mother drove them beneath a broken section of the alien ship that bridged out over the highway. The ship was dark and gray; Anthony could not make out any real details as the impact against the parched earth and the elements of the desert itself had wrought wholesale havoc upon the alien aircraft.

  “It feels more like a prank gone wrong to me, but hey, what’s life if not a really bad joke.” Mary unraveled Amy the Axe’s ribbon as she watched the alien ship wither away in the passenger side mirror. Serena sped up the vehicle as they left the macabre craft behind them. Mary was grateful. Her feelings of dread and despair were hastily replaced by subtle elation and a queer contentment. She had this strange yet very welcomed feeling that she would never have to see that wretched ship ever again.

  A few minutes later and twenty miles further west down lonely Lincoln Highway, Serena, Anthony, and Mary reached the city of Fallon. Although neglect had clearly taken its toll on the place, the city itself held few vestiges of war or violence. Serena was still tense. She observed her surroundings vigilantly and kept her vehicle moving at a brisk pace. Other vehicles and scattered debris plagued the city streets, but Serena had little trouble getting around these obstacles. Her anxieties were eventually picked up by her son. Anthony remained quiet and cautiously examined the surrounding city through each window of the vehicle. Mary was unaffected; eventually she broke the silence with a long, lingering yawn.

  “You sure this place is safe?” Serena asked Mary.

  “Ha! No,” Mary answered. “Of course it’s not safe.”

  “Are we in danger?” Serena rephrased her question.

  “Not yet,” Mary examined Serena with an impish sort of stare. “Stop the car for a minute.”

  Serena did not want to do that; this place had an eerie essence about it that she wanted no part of. Still, she did as Mary requested. She brought her car to a stop in the center of a cross-section. Various buildings were on every corner, including a jaded inn on one side of the road and a historical, Queen Anne style manor-house across from it.

  “Turn the car off, would ya?” Mary entreated. Serena did so, hesitantly. Mary then opened her door. “So, you hear that?”

  Mother and son both listened. The wind was finally beginning to die down, but it still whistled through the forsaken streets of Fallon. Other than that, neither of them could hear anything.

  “I only hear the wind.” Serena stated.

  “Okay, let me rephrase: do you feel that?” Mary asked; she then reached down to the street below her and picked up a thin, but heavy, piece of rubber – a shard of shredded tire.

  The question was odd, but what was even odder was the fact that Serena understood exactly what Mary was talking about. She knew that was an understanding that wouldn’t happen very often. “Yes.” Serena answered.

  “Good!” Mary delighted. “Remember this feeling; it could save your life.”

  “What are you guys talking about?” Anthony squalled. “I don’t hear or feel anything.”

  “The rules have changed, little brother.” Mary spoke as she tied Amy’s ribbon around the tire shard. “The land of man is behind us now and the realm of monsters lies ahead. When it comes to men, you have three choices: you can run, you can hide, or you can fight. When it comes to the monsters, you only have one of those choices. Think of it as a one-sided game of Hide and Seek.”

  “And you can feel them near us?” Anthony felt frightened, but not as much as he thought he should.

  “The Sayona? No, it isn’t them we’re feeling.” Mary forged a happy face. “It’s their victims… they’re watching us.”

  Anthony forged his own smile, but Mary’s statement did not comfort him in any way. He preferred the idea of her sensing the Sayona, not the ghosts of the people they had killed and eaten. His mother was equally unnerved by Mary’s revelation. Serena didn’t believe in ghosts, but she had no explanation for the feelings she was feeling. It was as if they were being watched, but not by anything human. She didn’t feel she had the time to rationalize this strange phenomenon at the moment… and she didn’t want to either.

  “Can we go?” Serena pleaded.

  “Ready when you are, Mama Bear!” Mary dropped the ribbon-tied tire shard back into the street and closed the car door. “Daylight’s a wastin’!”

  In little time, the city of Fallon
was behind them. The urban sprawl ended and the desert was back again. Soon Highway 50 split: north to Reno and south towards Carson City. Serena turned south. Her concern did not wane. In fact, it increased. Her vehicle was down to less than one-eighth of a tank of fuel left. Mary’s plan had to succeed.

  Anthony felt more at ease now that the city of Fallon was behind them. Humans, aliens, and monsters give chase; he hoped that the ghosts would not. He found himself looking at Mary, again. She seemed perfectly at ease in her seat next to his nervous mother. Anthony wasn’t sure if Mary was pretty or not. He found her attractive, for sure, but much of that had to do with her uniquely eccentric personality. She was small, yet muscular; her body was firm, but her figure had little form; her face was pretty, but it was stained with dirt, sweat, and bits of dried blood. It’s rude to stare, Anthony silently scolded himself. He looked out the window to his left. A large body of water was there – Lake Lohontan. The sandy shore was littered with boats that were torn and tattered and left desolate in the desert wind. The lake was once a reservoir that could be drained for irrigation purposes. That duty was no longer necessary.

  He was glad to be free from Fallon, yet Anthony had a nagging question on his mind. “Why didn’t we look for supplies?” He asked. “In the town we just went through?”

  “Not much left there, hon’.” Mary answered. “Friends of our friends from this morning drop by every once in a while. They don’t stay past sundown, but they still make occasional visits. After sundown, it’s the monsters that make the occasional visits.”

  “You really think the Sayona are less dangerous than humans?” Serena questioned.

  “The Sayona won’t be looking for us,” Mary answered. “Those men will be.”

  Mary’s reply did not answer Serena’s question, but Serena questioned her no further. She wished Mary’s confidence was contagious. Mary, however, had less to lose than she did, which allowed the wild girl to live life recklessly whenever she wanted to. Serena grudgingly drove on. She passed through a few more deserted towns and finally she and her passengers crossed the Carson City Freeway and the city itself was upon them.

  Carson City was similar to Fallon; the streets were quiet and the air was heavy. The wind blew steadily, but it made little sound as a familiar eerie silence permeated through the streets and over the entire city. The eerie silence was then brought to an abrupt and chaotic end as concrete, metal, and steel piping were flung across the broken lot of a Chevron filling station. It took three tries, two broken transport chains, and one resilient semi-truck, but Mary Murder was finally able to tear a barrel-sized hole into the underground gas tanks. Serena and Anthony had wisely taken cover inside the nearby service station itself. Mary’s plan, much like Mary herself, was borderline insane but effective nevertheless. She had found the semi-truck a few blocks down the highway crashed into the frontend of an auto parts shop; the shop seemed to have taken more damage than the truck did. The alien aggressors had rained down thousands of electromagnetic pulse attacks in advance of their invasion of Earth, which disabled billions of electronic devices all over the world, including most vehicles. Somehow Mary’s semi had managed to avoid being disabled by the EMPs and managed to restart with a quick jump from Serena’s car. The vehicle still had its scars. All but two of the tires had been torn open, all of the windows were smashed, and dozens of scratch marks covered both doors. The semi’s former owner had met a brutal end at the claws and teeth of the local Sayona. The monsters themselves had shut of the semi-truck (to kill the lights) and left the keys still in the ignition.

  Mary leapt out of the semi and left it behind; it had served its purpose. Serena and Anthony emerged from the service station and joined Mary by the big hole she had just created. Serena was more hesitant than her son; she was still anxious about her surroundings, which was nothing new, but she was also paranoid about Mary. The girl’s plan was going as planned, more or less, but was it safe? Tearing that hole into the underground fuel tanks was not done in a stealthy manner. At the moment, however, there were no signs of any Sayona.

  The hole in the ground echoed as Mary whistled into it. She knelt down to get a better view. It was easy to see that the large tank was at least halfway full, which was far more fuel than Serena’s car could carry. Mary sneered in satisfaction.

  “You all right?” Anthony asked, even though he could see that Mary was perfectly fine (by her standards).

  “Never better, baby,” Mary answered. “I’m all right in all the wrong places!”

  “That was pretty wicked.” Anthony looked around, admiring all the havoc that Mary had caused.

  “That was pretty noisy, too.” Serena added as she walked up behind her son. “You think they heard us.”

  “I wouldn’t worry about them just yet.” Mary then pointed into the hole she had wrought. “Will this serve for my passenger’s fee?”

  Serena peered into the hole. It was dark and the smell of fuel made her gag, but still, she was very pleased with what she saw. Fuel had been a constant concern ever since she’d taken to the road with her son. Mary more than delivered on her word. Serena almost smiled as she watched her faint, writhing reflection undulate upon the surface of the nearly twenty-thousand gallons of gasoline below her.

  “You don’t owe us any fee.” Anthony protested.

  “Gas, grass, or ass, darlin’… a girl’s gotta earn her way on the lonely road.” Mary rose from her place by the hole. “Now I’ve got two of those things covered.”

  Anthony had no immediate response.

  Serena eyed Mary curtly. She was mostly sure that Mary’s lewd innuendos towards her son were only in jest, yet with Mary nothing was for certain. “How’re we gonna get the fuel out?” Serena asked; she was already working on a few ideas of her own.

  “Hoses, pipes, buckets – whatever we can find.” Mary answered. “Shouldn’t be too tough to rig somethin’ up.”

  “Okay, I’ll bring the car over.” Serena had parked her car in a service garage behind the service station to keep it safe from any fallout from Mary’s precarious plan to reach the fuel.

  “Right on,” Mary spoke as she placed her hand on Anthony’s shoulder. “Anthony, the-man-for-me, and I will start lookin’ for some useful shit while you do that.”

  “Sounds cool.” Anthony approved.

  “All right; be careful.” Serena surprised herself with that response. She would much rather have her son with her and have Mary go off and search for the useful shit on her own, but admitting that would be ungrateful towards Mary and humiliating to her son. Mary had earned her trust and gratitude, and her son was strong and sensible. Serena let them go in peace. She watched for a moment as Anthony and Mary crossed the quiet highway and headed towards the abandoned shops on the other side of the road. Serena looked to the sky; most of the day had passed. Time was against her now, so she moved quickly to her vehicle.

  Mary, too, was wary of the sun, but not yet concerned. They had at least a good hour left, which was easily enough time for them to get to the fuel. Mary’s plan did not end there, however; another piece of the plan had yet to fall into place. It was not a necessary piece, but it was one that Mary greatly desired. Not only would it keep the Sayona’s attention away from her and the McCoys, but it could also put an end to the rowdy, desert-dwelling degenerates she had been dueling with for so long.

  The broken, glass door squealed in disapproval as Mary forced it open. It was automated at one time, but the door was automated no more. The shop that Mary and Anthony had selected to explore was a former hardware store. Much of the supplies had already been pillaged, but a few useful items still remained. The hardware store, much like most of Carson City, had seen very few human visitors since the war ended.

  “Kind of a tight fit.” Anthony pointed out as he squeezed through the now open, formerly automated, door.

  “That’s what He said…” Mary commented as she followed Anthony inside. Her smaller frame had no difficulty getting through the door
way.

  “You’re funny.” Anthony saw that insinuation coming. He looked around the hardware store; it was quiet and dim, yet not as stale as he had anticipated.

  “In more ways than you know, little brother.” Mary spoke as she pulled thin sheets of cardboard off of the windows and threw them into the floor. “Let there be light!” She proclaimed, and light there was.

  “That’s a lot better.” Anthony remarked as he kicked away some broken panels, along with the remains of metallic shelving units that were cluttering the floor around his feet. Only one shelving unit had been destroyed; all of the others seemed to be intact. “This shelf has seen better days.”

  “Haven’t we all?” Mary added as she approached Anthony. “So, what’re your plans for the future?”

  “You mean like the immediate future?”

  “Mm-hmm, when you get to where you’re goin’.”

  Anthony chuckled. “I don’t know… I don’t even know where we’re going.”

  “Hmm,” Mary contemplated both vocally and visually. “You should always have a plan, man. Even a vague plan is better than no plan.”

  “You’re probably right,” Anthony answered, and then sought to riddle Mary with his own conundrum. “What do you think my plan should be?”

  “To trust me.” Mary answered directly. “Can you keep a secret?” She then asked. “Even from your mother?”

  “I don’t know,” Anthony was startled by Mary’s mysterious inquiries, and also very intrigued. “What kind of secret?”

  “I don’t know.” Mary smiled condescendingly. “Just curious is all.”

  Anthony did not buy Mary’s answer. “I don’t buy that. You’re up to something. I don’t know what it is, but yeah, I trust you.”

  “You’re a sweetheart.” Mary left Anthony and headed towards the back aisles. “Big sister might be crazy,” she called back to him. “But she is a fool only for love.”

  What the hell does that mean? Anthony pondered as he followed after Mary. She led him to the back corner of the store before she came to a sudden stop. A little further down the aisle was a door. Mary cautiously observed it for a moment before slowly proceeding forward. Anthony followed close behind. He had planned on conversing a little more, but he could see and sense that Mary was apprehensive about the mystery door that waited ahead. As they made their way closer, it was clear that the door was slightly ajar – closed, but not latched. Mary had Serena’s handgun on her, but she never drew the weapon. Anthony took notice of this fact and ascertained that it was not anything human that would be hiding in that room. As Mary neared the door, she silently dropped to her knees and gently placed her hand upon the tattered doorframe. She soon released a comforting sigh.