G Hopf - Driver 8 - A Post-Apocalyptic Novel

Kyle stopped, picked him up and said, “Come on, buddy, no time to be lying around.” He got Tommy to his feet and could see he wasn’t doing well. His face was ashen and sweat was pouring down his face.

“I’m good,” Tommy said pushing Kyle to go.

The two began to move when a volley of gunfire came at them.

Tommy took a round in the back and fell to the ground hard, his face smacking the floor. Kyle spun around and returned fire. He grabbed Tommy by the collar and began to drag him. The stairwell door was only a few feet away but it seemed like a mile. More gunfire came their way but luckily it missed them. With one arm pulling Tommy, Kyle was firing back with his other. He reached the door, and kicked it open. “C’mon buddy,” Kyle said dragging Tommy into the stairwell. “How ya’ doing?” he asked.

Tommy coughed up blood but keeping with his tough as nails persona, replied, “Never been better.”

“Can you stand?”

A serious look came over Tommy as he coughed hard. He spit out a mouthful of blood and said, “Bro, I’m fucking done. Leave me. Go.”

“Never,” Kyle said reaching down to lift Tommy up.

“No, leave me.”

“Not going to happen,” Kyle said picking Tommy up in a fireman’s carry. The first few steps was difficult but soon Kyle adjusted to the added weight. One flight after another he went. He saw a sign posted about the parking garage. He passed the main floor and kept going down. Above him, he heard the door open and people enter the stairwell, their voices echoed down pushing him harder. He took the last step there was onto a landing, the sign on the door read, PARKING GARAGE. He opened it and walked in. The cavernous space was mostly empty except at the far end he saw a line of vehicles. He raced for them. His legs were fatiguing but he knew if he stopped they’d both die. Arriving at the first vehicle he checked to find it locked. Car after car he went, every one of them locked. He turned a corner and there like a shining gem was his truck. “No way,” he said out loud. All he could think was Barry had driven it over here to store. He ran as hard as he could towards it.

The door he exited at the far end of the garage burst open and guards poured out.

Hearing they were coming he pushed even harder until he reached his truck. “We made it buddy, can you believe my truck is here?” he asked placing Tommy carefully into the truck bed.

Tommy mumbled something unintelligible, his eyes shut.

Kyle knelt down and ran his hand under the lip of the truck’s body until he found what he was looking for, a spare key. He removed the magnetic canister, slid it open and let the key fall into his hand. “Thank God,” he said out loud. He unlocked the truck, jumped behind the wheel, and inserted the key. He pressed his eyes closed and said a quick prayer, “Start up, please.” He turned the key and the engine roared to life. Not wasting another second, he put the truck into drive and smashed his foot against the accelerator. The truck lunged forward. He turned the wheel hard left and sped towards the exit. In between him and escaping stood the seven guards who were in pursuit from the fifth level.

Seeing the truck coming at them, they jumped out of the way.

Kyle turned the wheel hard to the right and smashed through the gate and out onto the drive. He made a hard left and again slammed the accelerator down. The truck’s throaty exhaust roared like a lion. Ahead of him was the second gate. The guard saw him coming but didn’t know what to do except get out of the way. Like the garage gate, he plowed through that. The last remaining obstacle was the main gate. Like the others, Kyle’s plan was to run right through it. However this time, the guards were ready.

Two guards stepped in the middle of the drive and began to fire. The rounds hit the truck but weren’t enough to stop it. Unrelenting, Kyle pushed the pedal down as far as it would go. When the truck exploded through the heavy metal gate, he was going over ninety miles per hour.

The events of the past few hours turned out to be a complete failure. He’d risked it all and barely got out of there alive. The Underground would count the night as a victory but it came at a huge cost for Kyle. The one man who knew where Portia had been taken was dead and he was nowhere closer to finding her than he was hours ago.

Kyle cleaned Tommy’s multiple wounds, which totaled seven. He’d been shot more than he’d let on and had lost a lot of blood, so much, Kyle was having a hard time keeping him conscious. Seeing his old friend lying there, his breathing shallow and his skin pale, broke his heart. Out of the millions of miles he’d driven since the war, he never once came upon anyone he knew, now that he had, he was close to losing them.

Tommy shook for a second then opened his eyes to just above a slit. “Kyle. I’m thirsty.”

Kyle took a bottle of water from the table next to him and poured a little into Tommy’s mouth. “Hey buddy, do you want some meds. You know, pain stuff?” Kyle asked.

Tommy shook his head.

“You sure. Why feel the pain if you don’t have to,” Kyle said.

“Pains one of the few things that make me feel alive,” Tommy said, the tempo of his voice slower than it normally was.

“A glutton for punishment,” Kyle joked.

“That’s me,” Tommy said before coughing. “Argh, it hurts to cough, I hate that.”

“C’mon man, let me get you some pain meds,” Kyle insisted.

“No, I don’t want to die in a fog,” Tommy said.

“You’re not going to die, stop that talk,” Kyle said reassuring himself more than Tommy.

“I’ve missed you, brother. I’m sad that we didn’t run into each other years before but I’m so happy that we did when we did.”

“Me too.”

“There’s a place. Jacob found a map. They say it’s untouched. They say it’s paradise,” Tommy mumbled.

Kyle raised his brow in confusion . Was Tommy fading? Was this it?

“You should go there, live your life in peace,” Tommy continued.

“Maybe after I find Portia we all can go,” Kyle said playing along. He had no idea what Tommy was talking about.

“Portia is such a beautiful name. I never found anyone. I’m not meant for it. Was never good at it,” Tommy mused.

“Maybe when we all go to paradise you’ll find a hot blonde with huge tits,” Kyle joked.

A smile stretched across Tommy’s face, “That’s sounds nice.” He coughed and groaned in pain. “I’m so tired,” he said as he closed his eyes.

“Thanks for saving me,” Kyle said taking Tommy’s hand in his.

Tommy opened his eyes and said, “My phone, find my phone.”

“Why?”

“Jacob. He might have called,” Tommy said pointing towards the window.

Kyle went to the pack and found the satellite phone. He took it out and checked it. The screen didn’t show a missed call. “No calls.”

“Outside, go outside.”

Doing as Tommy said, Kyle went outside. As soon as he cleared the house, the phone beeped, he looked at the screen and saw he now had a signal. He stared at it hoping a notification would pop up telling him the phone had a message.

A second beep sounded. The screen read, 1 NEW MESSAGE .

Kyle hit the message button. The phone dialed a number, clicked twice and the message began.

“Tommy, Jacob here, we tracked down a truck that had come from The Collective. It made a stop in Salina and was on its way to St. George when it was hit by a tribe of Generates. We’re now tracking the Generates. They have a small settlement west of Richfield in the Fishlake National Forest. Heading there now. I’ll be in contact soon.”