Brett Battles - Sick

Ash couldn’t believe it. He was looking at his kids. They were alive.

He grinned broadly and held his arms out, but instead of hugging him, they drew back.

“Who are you?” Josie asked, sounding scared.

“It’s me, baby. Dad.”

“You’re not my dad,” she said.

The bandages. The surgery. Even the contacts. He must look like a stranger to them.

“It’s me. I swear. I’ve just had…an accident. We can talk about it later. We need to get out now.”

Reluctantly, they let him guide them out of the room.

He had no idea how much time they had left, but he knew it was probably less than a minute.

“You see that door?” He pointed at the airlock.

They nodded.

“Go in there. I’ll be right behind you. I just have to help my friend.”

They both looked over at Chloe, then back at their father, more confused than ever.

“Go!” he said.

That got them moving.

He knelt down next to Chloe. “Put your arm around me,” he told her.

Once she did, he started to lift her, but then remembered there was one more thing he had to do. He moved over to the doctor.

“I hope you enjoy your trip to hell.”

The doctor forced a smile. “You can’t stop anything, you know that. Your kids would have been better off to go now instead of being alive to witness the world they know melt into nothing.”

“I have a feeling you’re the only one who’ll be doing any melting in the near future.”

“Humor’s not one of your best traits, I’m guessing.”

Ignoring him, Ash said, “Before I go, I have a message for you from an old friend.”

The doctor looked at him, a smirk on his face.

“Olivia says hi,” Ash said. “I got the feeling from her she wasn’t too happy you left her to die. Pointed out something about the irony that you’ll be dead before she is.”

“Olivia? But she’s-”

“Goodbye, Doctor.”

Ash lifted Chloe off the floor and headed for the airlock. Just before he passed through the door, he yelled to the other two men, “Once we clear this airlock, I suggest you get in it, if there’s still time.”

It turned out there wasn’t.

It wasn’t the starting of the truck that woke Tamara and Bobby. It was the pothole they hit sometime later. According to the clock on the camera, it was 7:12 a.m.

“Do you think whoever’s driving knows we’re back here?” Tamara asked.

“I don’t know,” Bobby replied. “I would think so, though. Wouldn’t you?”

The world seemed to have flipped on its end, so she didn’t know what to think anymore.

“I wonder where we’re going,” Bobby said several minutes later.

“Can’t be far.” The quarantine would prevent any long travels.

But either they drove around in circles or she was wrong, because six hours passed before the engine was turned off for the first time. After a few moments, they could both hear fuel flowing into the tanks.

“Maybe we should get out now,” she suggested.

“We haven’t heard the knock.”

“Maybe there’s not going to be a knock. We’re not on the base any more.”

But neither of them made a move to open the door, and soon they were on the road again. Nearly seven more hours passed before the engine cut out once more. This time, though, there was no sound of tanks being filled. In fact, except for the opening and closing of the cab door, there wasn’t much sound at all.

After thirty minutes of not moving, Tamara said, “I’ll bet we’re in another parking lot.”

“If nothing else, we’re going to get a great story out of this,” Bobby said.

“If we have a job.”

Bobby was quiet for a second, then, “Do you…do you really think Joe is dead?”

She was silent for a moment. “They killed Gavin, didn’t they? And those kids in the desert. So…”

A few silent minutes passed.

“How far do you think we’ve come?” she asked.

“Impossible to know.”

They broke out some food, and had a dinner consisting of apples, bread, and some kind of deli meat. As she’d done all day, Tamara only took a couple sips of water. Even though it was dark in their hiding space, the idea of peeing in front of Bobby had zero appeal to her.

Tap-tap. Tap.

The knock had been on the side of the truck, right behind her head. Tamara nearly leaped forward in surprise.

Tap-tap. Tap.

She wanted to scream, “We’re here! We’re here!” But she held her tongue.

She could hear Bobby already working the door latch. As he opened the door, they could see that the back of the truck was still open, and outside it was night.

“You wait here. I’ll check,” Bobby said.

“Hell, no. You wait here. I’ll check.”

She pushed past him and walked stiffly to the back of the truck. It was cool out, much cooler, in fact, than it had been when she and Bobby entered their sanctuary, making her realize that the box had actually been heated. She crossed her arms and ran her hands up and down her biceps as she stepped onto the back bumper, and then hopped to the ground.

They seemed to be parked on a small grass clearing in the middle of an evergreen forest. Pine trees encircled the part of the clearing she could see. One thing was for sure-they were certainly not in the Mojave Desert any more.

She looked over her shoulder as Bobby stepped down to join her.

“Where the hell are we?” he asked.

She was about to say she had no clue when a voice from near the front of the truck called out, “Hello?”

Tamara and Bobby exchanged a look, then walked over and peeked around the side.

Standing by the cab were a smiling man and woman.

“Oh, good,” the man said, taking a couple steps forward. “I was afraid you guys might have wandered off. I wasn’t looking forward to hunting you down.”

“Hunting?” Tamara said.

“Oh, no, no, no,” the man said with a chuckle. “Bad choice of words. Searching is more what I meant. Come on. You probably want to get out of here.”

Still leery, Tamara and Bobby stepped around the side and walked halfway up to the cab.

“Who are you, exactly?” Tamara asked.

“Me? I’m Mike.” The man closed the distance between them and extended his hand.

Bobby shook it automatically, while Tamara did so with more reluctance.

“And that’s my wife, Janice.”

Janice waved, but didn’t come closer. She looked as cold as Tamara felt.

“So what are you doing here?” Tamara asked.

Mike shrugged. “Offering you a ride.”

“I hope you don’t mind,” Janice called out. “I’m going back inside. It’s too cold out here.” She started walking around the front of the truck. “Coffee should be ready by now, so whenever you’re ready.”

“Coffee?” Bobby said.

Mike smiled. “Sure. Janice makes the best on the highway.”

When Bobby gave him an odd look, Mike smiled and motioned for them to follow him to the front of the truck. From there, they could see an old Winnebago RV parked fifty feet away.

Bobby glanced at Tamara. “Come on. They’re obviously here to help us.”

Tamara looked at the Winnebago. “Do you have a bathroom in that thing?”

“We do,” Mike said with a smile.

She could feel her tension ease. “Then a cup of coffee sounds great.”

“Excellent,” Mike told her. “After you.”

It was a struggle for Martina to open her eyes. When she did, the brightness of the new day made her shut them almost immediately. She could feel the congestion in her nose, and the rawness in her throat. When she’d fallen asleep, she’d felt fine. Now, not so much.

Her last morning. She was sure of it.