Ike Hamill - Extinct

“We’ve banded together to accomplish something we can’t do on our own,” Robby said. “We’re trying to help everyone , not just the people in this room. We have to be willing to make hard decisions and sacrifice.”

“So if I disappear tomorrow, you’re not going to spend one minute looking for me?" Pete asked.

“You’re the only one who can keep those tractors moving, Pete,” Romie said. “We’d spend at least one minute looking.”

Ted came back to the living room empty-handed. “Nothing.”

“I’m not going,” Pete said. “I was willing to risk my neck, but only because I thought we were watching each other’s backs.”

“Okay,” Robby said. “Nate, can we assume you’ll drive one of the rigs?”

“Yup,” Nate said.

“Great,” Robby said. “Is everyone else in?”

Nobody responded. Their eyes shifted around, stopping short of eye-contact. Sheila looked down at the table where the empty bottle of whiskey still sat.

Robby pulled the envelope from his back pocket. “None of us are indispensable. I’ve rewritten all the notes I lost in the fire and pulled together all my theories. If I’m lost, I expect you all to proceed without me so I recorded everything I expect to lead us north and what to do when we get there. Lisa? Would you keep these notes?”

“Yes,” Lisa said.

“So you’re in?”

“Yes,” Lisa said.

“I’m in,” Ted said.

“I’ll go too,” Romie said.

“Good,” Robby said. “We really need at least six drivers or this trip will take forever. Are you coming, Sheila?”

She didn’t answer. She shifted her gaze from the table to the window, where the sun was just starting to brighten the sky.

“Brynn can mostly drive,” Nate said. Brynn didn’t say anything. “We’ll have to show you how these things operate, but you can handle it,” Nate said to Brynn.

“That’s a good fallback position, but if we can I’d like to…” started Robby. He was cut off by Pete.

“Fine, I get it. I’ll go,” Pete said.

“You’re sure,” Robby said. He said it more like a statement than a question.

Pete nodded his head.

“Sheila?” Robby asked.

She dragged her eyes from the window over to Robby.

“What? Of course,” she said.

“Good,” Robby said. “We’re back to seven, and with Brynn as a backup. Let’s get moving.”

BRYNN PUSHED THE SLIDER another sixteenth of an inch to the right, raising the temperature in the cab of the tractor yet again. Robby unzipped his coat the rest of the way, trying to stay ahead of the sweat beginning to form under his clothes.

“It’s good to talk to another kid,” Robby said. He’d been trying for an hour to strike up a conversation with Brynn. “It sucks talking to adults all the time.”

When they were loading up the tractors and getting ready to head off, Nate and Brynn approached Robby. Nate made Brynn state the request—Brynn wanted to ride with Robby. This was his chance to finally learn something about Brynn. He figured since Brynn wanted to ride with him, they would talk. This assumption proved to be incorrect. Brynn hadn’t said a word to Robby since climbing in the cab.

“You talk like an adult,” Brynn said.

Robby was startled by Brynn’s sudden statement. He almost forgot to answer.

“Yeah? What makes you say that?” Robby asked.

“Pull over. I gotta pee.”

“Sure. Well, wait, I can’t really pull over. You remember how much trouble we had with the soft snow near the edges of the road before? I’m afraid if I veer off this course at all we’ll get mired again.”

The journey started very slowly that morning. Just north of Portland, the snow became incredibly deep—ten to twenty feet in spots—and it got worse as they continued north. Pete, at the head of the convoy, guided the group along the right side of the road. There, the crown of snow on the northbound lanes looked a little less deep. The massive tracked vehicles punched right through the snow, bogging down to a crawl.

Pete radioed back that he would scout a better path. About halfway back in the line, Robby didn’t see Pete until he crested the hump of snow which followed the highway north. Pete was nearly swimming in the snow until he reached the top, where the crust had some integrity and supported his weight. After they maneuvered the tractors up to the top of the hump, they moved much more easily.

“Pull over,” Brynn repeated.

“Like I said, I can’t. I can stop if you want to just go off the side or something. Nobody will watch.”

Brynn shook his head.

“You want a cup or something? You can go in the back seat?”

Brynn shook his head.

“What do you want to do?” Robby asked. The boy wasn’t offering any suggestions. They rode in silence while Robby considered the problem. The cloud cover was even thicker here, north of the city. It was about noon, but the sky had the same grey, gloomy look it always did. Robby wondered if anyone else needed to go to the bathroom and then he thought about the women of the group. They couldn’t just leave the tractor in gear and piss out the window. That’s what Nate said he would do when the time came. The women might also want to pull over, but how would they?

Robby picked up his radio handset. “Anyone else need a bathroom break?” he asked.

Lisa’s voice came over the radio first, but she was interrupted by Romie—“Sure do.”

“Me too,” Lisa said.

“Already taken care of,” Pete said.

Robby turned to Brynn—“Grab those snowshoes from the back seat and start putting them on.” He sensed Brynn would really want some privacy. Brynn slid over the seat and started to rearrange the food and gear to make enough room back there to maneuver.

Robby kept his speed until he saw Nate’s sled in front of them start to slow. Before embarking they agreed to maintain a certain distance between tractors at all times. The line of tractors stopped. Brynn threw open the back door, aligned the edges of his snowshoes on the step and then jumped down into the snow. After a quick roll, Brynn was back on his feet and reaching up to close the door behind him. Robby grabbed the other set of shoes and made his way onto the track to put them on. Ahead, he saw Nate rounding the back of the corpse-loaded sled in his boots; gingerly putting each foot down so he wouldn’t punch through the crust of packed snow.

Robby cinched the last strap and paddled his snowshoes over to Nate.

“Brynn have to pee?” Nate asked.

“Yeah,” Robby said.

“I should have warned you—Brynn needs privacy,” Nate said.

“No worries.”

Robby slipped out of his snowshoes, climbed up the back of Nate’s trailer, and stood on the seat of the snowmobile lashed there. From the head of the convoy, Pete was whisking an even pace towards them. The big man showed his dexterity on snowshoes. Romie, Lisa, and Sheila formed a group to walk towards a small clump of branches—the tops of trees sticking out of a deep mound of snow. Brynn was disappearing over a snow bank at the edge of the road.

“I don’t see Ted,” Robby said as he dropped down from the back of the trailer. He tried to land light on his feet, but he sunk down to his knees. Nate helped pull him out of snow.

“He radioed that he was going to stay in his cab—you didn’t hear?" Nate asked.

“Nope, but I left pretty quick to put on my snowshoes.”

“I don’t know if those things help or hurt. I’ve never had much use for them,” Nate said. “Pete’s the exception. He moves like a goddamn gazelle on those things.”

Robby nodded. He collected his own snowshoes from the back of the trailer and debated whether he should put them back on. Instead, he decided to use his break wisely and he moved a few paces away from Nate and turned his back. As he urinated in the snow, he heard Pete and Nate greet each other.