Ryan Westfield - Getting Out

“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.