G Hopf - Driver 8 - A Post-Apocalyptic Novel

Next to his arrangement, several buckets filled with water and detergent solution sat ready for them to clean any gear they couldn’t spare to lose.

“How’s it going?” he hollered to Barry.

“All good,” Barry replied from the back of the house.

Kyle entered the room and was about to help when he thought about the truck. He remembered seeing a detached garage off of the side of the house, it would be perfect to store the truck. “I’m going to park the truck, I’ll be back,” Kyle hollered running out, he saw the low tire and was reminded he needed to fix that first. Like a professional pit boss he had the truck lifted, punctured tire off and new one on in minutes. With the truck tire replaced the next thing was to get it into the garage. He pulled the truck outside the garage and ran to the door. He tried to lift but the door wouldn’t budge. He knew there had to be a side door, so he rushed to find it. Clearing the first corner he spotted it. He tried the knob but found it locked.

A strong gust of wind washed over him. It was a reminder the storm was nearing. He didn’t have time to waste. He stepped back, raised his right leg and kicked hard. The door exploded inward. He grabbed his flashlight, turned it on and peered inside to find another car in there. “Shit.” If he was going to get his truck safely parked inside, he had to first remove the old sedan. He found the cord that disconnected the motorized door lift and pulled. With the garage now able to open manually, he placed his hands against it and lifted. Surprisingly the door moved easily. With the door open, the next step was getting the car out. He walked around to the driver’s door and paused when he spotted a garden hose sticking through a slight crack in the window. His eyes followed it back to the tail pipe.

He was always curious to what happened to the homeowners of the homes he’d scavenge and for this one, he knew the answer. He reached for the handle but stopped short of opening it. He knew the keys were inside and all he needed to do was put the car in neutral and winch it out but something prevented him from even opening the door. Was it because this was their grave?

“Hurry up, the storms blowing in fast!” Barry hollered from the front porch.

Hearing Barry call out broke his resistance. He grabbed the handle and pulled. The door creaked open and out fell the clothed skeletal remains of the homeowner. Kyle didn’t bother to look around the car to see who else might be in there. He pushed the rest of the remains out and got behind the wheel. After years of experience, he knew he couldn’t just put the car into neutral by putting his foot on the brake and having the steering wheel unlocked. Modern vehicles now had lockouts on the gear shifts and he had to bypass it.

“What’s taking so long?” Barry asked suddenly appearing next to the driver’s door.

Not bothering to look up, Kyle asked, “Are you done inside?”

“Yeah.”

Kyle pulled out his trusty Benchmade folding knife and opened it. He slide the blade under a small cap on the gear shift column and lifted. The cap popped off and under it was a tiny button.

“What are you doing?” Barry asked curiously.

“Putting the car into neutral to get it out of here,” Kyle answered pressing the button while putting the gear shift into neutral. Before stepping out, he made sure the parking brake was off.

“Why did you have to do that?” Barry asked.

Kyle ignored him and got out. He pointed to the front of his truck and said. “Pull the winch cable over here.”

Barry stood.

Seeing Barry just standing, he gave him an odd look and asked, “Are you going to help or just stand there?”

Barry rushed to the truck, he nervously looked at the winch and called back, “How do I turn it on?”

“Oh, good, God,” Kyle said and ran over to do it himself. With the winch on, he unwound the cable. “Take this and hook it to something secure, not just the bumper, wrap it under something that won’t break off.”

Barry walked the unwinding winch cable to the back of the car, knelt and looked under. He found a secure spot, looped the cable around and connected back to the hook. “It’s set.”

Kyle turned on the winch. It strained at first but as soon as the car began to move, the stress lessened.

Barry began to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Kyle asked.

“The tires, they’re trashed, look,” Barry said pointing to the flattened and dry rotted tires.

Kyle ignored Barry’s comments. All he could think about was the storm barreling down on them and they weren’t finished yet.

Barry walked out in front and hollered, “You’re clear.”

Kyle unhooked the winch, secured it and without delay put the truck in the garage. He pulled the radio from the cradle and along with a battery, tucked it under his arm. He normally didn’t care to have radio contact while overnighting somewhere but since he had Number Two with him, he thought it best this time. As he closed the garage door a strong gust of wind swept through and blew his hat off his head. He darted for it but the wind pushed it along the dusty ground like a tumble weed. Back and forth he weaved trying to grab it but each time he came within reach another gust would push it further away. Frustrated he cried out, “C’mon damn it!” The hat finally came to a stop. He lunged and snatched it. “Got you,” he said placing the worn and tattered cap on his head. A chill shot down his spine when a stronger gust hit him. He could tell the air temperature had dropped another ten degrees. He craned his head towards the west and saw the black clouds closing in. Soon the precipitation and whatever else would be upon them and with it a massive amount of radiation. He cleared the last feet to the front door, ran inside and slammed the heavy wood door behind him.

“I found some food in the pantry,” Barry said with a big smile standing in the darkened hallway.

“Don’t eat anything until I can check it,” Kyle said looking around. His eyes danced around the room inspecting the work Barry had done. “No, no, no,” Kyle said walking over to a window.

“What?”

Kyle looked at the crumpled seam on a window and said, “This needs to be flat, you’ll never create an airtight seal like this.”

“I did the best I could,” Barry said.

Kyle had high standards but for a good reason. Frustrated he went to work to fix the areas he found lacking.

Kyle flattened the last seam with the palm of his hand and laid a strip of thick tape over it. Standing back to admire his work he said, “Done.” He looked around but Barry wasn’t anywhere to be seen. He went looking for him and found Barry in the kitchen stacking up cans.

“Look what I found?”

“We can check those later, time to get cleaned up,” Kyle said.

They proceeded to the bathroom to begin their decontamination procedures.

Barry went first; he stripped down naked and climbed into the bathtub. Wrapping his arms around him in an attempt to stay warm, Kyle turned on the water. The frigid water hit him, instantly making Barry shiver.

“Hurry up, it’s fucking cold,” Barry wailed.

Kyle took a long soft bristled brush and began to scrub Barry’s back while Barry bathed the front of his body.

“How do you know this water isn’t contaminated?” Barry asked.

“Cause I tested it. I figure a deep well feeds this, lucky for us,” Kyle answered.

“Oh, makes sense.”

“How is it possible you’ll still chubby?”

“I’m husky,” Barry countered.

“Is that what your momma told you so you wouldn’t feel bad about yourself?” Kyle joked.

“Fuck you,” Barry snapped. “When I see my father I’m going to tell him you’ve been disrespectful to me.”