Nathan Hystad: The Survivors: Books 1-3

“I figured a smaller truck would mean less stops for gas. This one is almost full and I know we’ve been hauling all those gas cans.” He tossed me the keys. “You don’t mind being the driver, do you?”

I’d always felt more comfortable driving than being a passenger, and I wasn’t sure I was going to be much help when it came to the computer device side of things.

“You got it, boss,” I said.

The roads were fairly clear as we moved west on a connector road that would lead us to the I-95. On to Philly from there. Day two of the adventure and I was still scared of what was to come. I glanced back at Carey and then over at Ray. At least I wasn’t alone anymore, and it felt good.

T hings were going well for us, and we were making good time. We stopped for some food at a grocery store and found some of the refrigerators were still keeping the food slightly cool. I was sure in another day or two, we might be talking about another story. We got some ice bags from the bottom of the freezer and added them to a couple of coolers we found, and set ourselves up with some food for the trip. Ray convinced me we needed to spend the effort to make some coffee, so we started the generator and brewed a big pot of coffee while we filled up the truck.

From there we drove down the highway, two fast friends with thermoses of coffee and a goal in mind but no firm plan, short of trying to meet up with whomever we overheard on the radio.

“Why do you think it was us, Dean? Of all the people in the world…why were we left to do this job?” Ray asked quietly.

“I really don’t know. There are so many questions that I don’t have the answers to. I was married to a woman who gave me this necklace and knew what it meant! It just confounds me…and upsets me at the same time. Who the hell was she? Who was your girlfriend?”

“Kate was a wonderful woman, an assistant at the plant I worked at. We started dating a couple months after she started there. She was always really interested in the engineering side of things and loved to pick my brain. I think she wanted to be an engineer herself, but thought she was too old to start college. I tried telling her she should start at Penn U, that I’d support her through it.” He was quiet for a moment. “Then she got sick. Coughing up blood; had the doctors lost for words on what it was.”

A lot of things had been making me pause in the past two days, and this was just another to add to the list. “That’s the same thing that happened to Janine. She was gone in six months. We’d been married for four years,” I said, knowing this was no coincidence.

“This is just freaky, man. Sounds like our timelines match up pretty well. We never got married. I was for it, but Kate didn’t think we needed to label ourselves. No kids, either. She wasn’t ready. I loved her, man, I really did. But deep down, I guess I should have known something was totally bogus with us. Now, as I look at our life together through a rear-view mirror, I feel like an idiot for not wondering before. And then the ring. When she told me to wear this god-ugly ring, I almost laughed. Then I saw the deadly serious look she gave me and heard the pleading tone in her voice. I said I would, and I never took it off. Now I’m not sure if I wish I’d just been taken with the rest of them or not.”

I was sure that being here was better than wherever they were moved to. I just hoped they were being handled without aggression. I pictured my mother being cornered by a horrible alien in space…I tried to shake off the thoughts of torture or the destruction of the race.

“The message we were left said we can save them still, so let’s do it. No moping around, no worrying about what the hell our ladies had done. Maybe we were tricked and they used us for some crazy intergalactic strife…I don’t know, but I do know we’re going to kick some ass, save the world, and feel bad for ourselves after this is all done.” The words hit me hard as they left my mouth, but I knew what I said was true. I had to hold on to the fact that Janny had loved me, she had told me that no matter what happened, to remember that, so I would assume she’d done what she did because she had no other choice.

Ray stuck his fist out and I hit it with my own. “Deal, brother. You sure you’re an accountant? You’ve got a little Tony Robbins in you. When Earth is back to normal, I’m going to get you on TED Talks .”

I saw a sign saying we were closing in on Philly in a few miles. The best move was to head around the city and keep moving south towards Washington. If possible, we would be able to find the mysterious radio people and meet up with them there.

Ray and I agreed on the plan, and we spent the next few hours avoiding abandoned cars on the road, driving through various side roads and ditches until we were well clear of Philly altogether. The CB radio occasionally stopped its routine hissing and cracked for a bit instead, but we didn’t hear any voices. Once we were through that, we found a secondary highway that would lead us close to Washington, and it was near empty as evening neared, and Baltimore signs came more frequently.

We wouldn’t have much farther to go, but light was rapidly disappearing from the sky. The two hundred miles had taken us most of the day, dodging vehicles and watching for gray ships in the sky.

“Well, what do you think? Do we make a stop in Baltimore or keep going to Washington? I think we can make it there without lights. Once the sun is all the way down, we’ll be screwed – it’ll be tough to see cars at a complete stop on the road, though we may be able to do it at a really slow pace,” I said.

Ray was about to answer when the radio cleared and voices came across. He turned up the volume, and Carey barked once when the woman’s voice came over again.

“ We are in Washington, D.C. If anyone is out there, we are at the intersection of I-95 and I-495 Springfield. There are two…Crackle…”

“ Come in, Washington. We are on the way. Repeat. We are on the way. Be there in T-minus one hour. Over.” Ray’s hand shook as he held the radio button. There was no reply, and the hissing was back.

“Damn. At least we know where they are. I say we have to go for it now,” he said excitedly.

“Is there any chance we might be walking into a trap? Who knows what kind of crazy things these aliens are doing? Do we just trust anyone we meet?” I asked, not sure I wanted to hear his answer.

“We trusted each other, didn’t we?” he asked as he petted Carey on the head.

“Yeah, we did, I guess. I just feel like such a fool for not knowing my wife that I’m second-guessing everything. You’re right. What choice do we have? We need help, and I’m not missing out on that opportunity. Let’s do this.”

I was excited to see someone, even though I’d been a semi-recluse for the past few years. Just spending some time with Carey and Ray made me remember how much I liked people. It had only been a couple days, but the idea that there were more of us out there had me so happy, I couldn’t wait to meet them and hear their stories.

The sun was going down behind the trees on the side of the road, but I figured we’d be cutting it close at this point. At least this way, we would be going around the main city and heading to the west side. It had been years since I’d visited Washington. The monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and Capitol Hill. All pivotal icons of American history and politics; history I liked, politics was something I’d never cared a whole lot for.

“Ray, I know we aren’t going to do this, but just for fun. We’re alone, or almost alone, in the world. Where do you go?” I figured we might as well waste some time.