Released (3 page)

It had taken much longer to get through town. We would occasionaly get out to move a car out of the way and other times we would have to take side streets, which we wanted to avoid as much as possible. There were too many places for things to hide.

As we neared the center of town, the tal brick buildings loomed over us. I got the feeling that something was watching us, but no matter how many dark windows I looked into I couldn’t find anything. Crossing over the Spokane River, I saw that a car had gone over the side of the bridge. I tried to look down into the car as we drove by but it was too hard to see.

“Where are we?” Max asked from the backseat.

“Spokane, but once we get through here and Coeur D’Alene it should be an easier drive for a bit. Hopefuly,” I said. “You feeling better?”

“Yeah thanks. Damn, this place looks like a war zone,” he commented while looking out the window.

“Shit, the entrance to the interstate is blocked off,” Carter said as we approached I-90. A huge semi had flipped onto its side across the entrance.

“I’m sure we can find another ramp to go up,” I said as I pointed to my left. “Looks like that road folows along the interstate, let’s take that until we can get on.” Carter put the Bronco in gear and we started our way down Mission Avenue. Max and I pointed out things along the way. Vandals had written eerie sayings on buildings, announcing that the end of the world was near or that the devil had come to earth. I didn’t want to think that they were probably right.

After a good number of blocks we found an entrance and made our way onto the interstate.

“Wow, look at al the smoke,” Max said and we al looked. Towers of black smoke rose up throughout the whole city.

“Max look over here,” I said as I tapped my finger on the window. He scooted over to the right side of the car and looked out the window.

“What am I looking for?” he asked.

“Just above the tree tops,” I said. “There are birds.”

“Crap.” Carter let out an aggravated groan and stopped the Bronco.

“What?” Max and I both turned in unison and saw what Carter was looking at. The whole road was barricaded with cars.

“How are we going to get through that?” I asked.

“We are going to have to back track, go back on the surface streets until we can find an entrance past this,” Carter said.

“That doesn’t sound like a good idea,” I said. I punched the dash and stepped out of the car, shutting the door as quietly as I could.

“What the hel Abby!” Carter tried his hardest to yel at me and whisper at the same time. He ran his fingers through his greasy blonde hair and headed toward me.

“What do you want me to do, huh?”

I looked at the Bronco and saw Max sitting up, staring through the windshield at me, giving me his best what the hel are you doing look.

“I just don’t want to go back on the streets Carter, I have a bad feeling. Can’t we just move these cars like we did the other ones?” I asked.

“There are too many Abby,” he said with his voice ful of annoyance.

“No… we just need to make enough room for the Bronco, we don’t have to move them al.” I waved my arm toward the pile of wreckage in a Vanna White type motion and started walking toward the smalest car I could see, a bright yelow beetle near the shoulder. I peered inside and saw the keys were stil in the ignition.

“Wel?” Carter asked creeping up behind me with his fists resting on his hips, looking very much like how I thought out mother looked.

“The keys are in the ignition, if we can move this beetle and maybe that truck we can squeeze through, what do you think?” He eyed the space I was proposing and then looked back at the Bronco and then back again. “Maybe… but we got to do this quick Abby. I think we are going to have to move the cars at the same time while Max drives the Bronco through. I’m guessing we have one shot at this,” he said as he jerked his head toward the hil I had seen the birds. “Before they notice.”

I knew Max was up for my idea before we even told him. It took some time to get him into the front seat and I had to move his injured leg for him and place it on the clutch. Max placed his hand on Carter’s shoulder and I let them have some space, while I’m sure Max was vowing not to screw anything up and Carter was being overly technical trying to tel Max what he needed to do.

Looking at the two of them you would never guess the two were best friends. Carter was six foot, super slender and a geek to his core while Max was the tal, dark and brooding type. The captain of our high school’s footbal team and until everything happened he was on track to join the marines. When they were young, Carter saved Max from drowning at the public pool and they have been inseparable ever since.

Carter and I crawled into the cars and we gave each other a final glance before we started the engines. He was going to have to move the truck first before I could move because the front end of the beetle was wedged underneath the bed of the truck. As Carter started to pul away he dragged me with him making a loud scrapping sound as the weak metal of the beetle scrapped against the pavement. He looked back at me, a flash of panic playing on his face and I saw him try to peer over at the birds on the hil.

Then we heard their low shrieks as the four birds formed together and shot down the hilside toward us. I put the beetle in gear and slammed my foot on the gas trying to pry myself free of the truck. My wheels spun sending white smoke flying behind me and the smel of burning rubber into the air. We were stuck and I was starting to worry, knowing this was my bad idea.

I looked over to the Bronco, wondering if I should make a run for it when I saw Max signaling Carter. Max was hurtling toward us and aimed the Bronco for the side of the truck. I braced myself for the impact as it came crashing into me.

Max then drove the Bronco into reverse and Carter took off in the truck squealing its tires. I shook off the shock of what had happened and moved the smashed up beetle as fast as it would go. I jumped out and ran for the Bronco as fast as I could. I heard Carter yel my name and I looked at him as he pointed a handgun at me.

“Down!” he shouted.

I dropped to the pavement, scraping up my arms as I tried to break the fal and heard Carter let out four bulets, folowed by the loud shriek of a demon bird and an explosion of black feathers. The beating of their huge wings was terrifying and I felt strong arms grab me by my shoulders and pul me up toward the back of the Bronco.

“You ok?” Carter asked giving me a quick look over then shooting back at a bird that dove at us. “Get in the car!” he shouted.

I crawled in through the back window and grabbed my shotgun as Carter jumped in the front seat. Max took off through the gap as fast as he could, clipping the side view mirror on another car, but we made it. Three of the birds folowed after us and I shot at them through the back window. After a few miles they gave up their pursuit.

“Holy crap!” Max cheered once we were sure they had gone. “That was damn close.”

“Too close,” I said. “We should probably stop soon Max and get you out of that driver’s seat. You need to rest up that leg.”

“I’m fine,” he said as he waved me off.

“Next time wil you go with my idea Abby?” Carter asked as he turned around to face me.

“Hopefuly there won’t be a next time,” I said.

We decided that we would wait until after the next city to pul over for a break. Making it through the rest of the city was quicker than we had thought as the roads were more open, but the tal pine trees lining the roads seemed to tower eerily over us.

It was afternoon now, but the sky was overcast and a light drizzle of rain started to fal. As we drove along lake Coeur D’Alene I watched a fog rol in and silently prayed that the rest of the journey would go more smoothly. About twenty miles outside of Missoula we puled off the road to go to the bathroom. I was stil shook up from earlier, so I wasn’t too fond of the idea of going very far into the woods to pee, so I found a nearby tree not caring about privacy at the moment.

Walking back up the embankment I saw Max leaning against the front of the Bronco. He had changed into a clean flannel shirt and was cleaning his fingers nails with the tip of his knife. I looked at him for a moment before approaching him, admiring how handsome he was.

“How’s the leg?” I asked as I rested my back on the front of the Bronco beside him.

“Fine. You hungry?”

“Starving.” I hadn’t realized it until he had asked. “Let me see what we got.”

I walked over to the back of the Bronco and found some canned peaches and beef jerky. With three cans and a bag of jerky in hand I walked back up to Max and deposited the items on the hood.

Max opened a can for me and one for himself and we both ate in silence until Carter joined us.

“So I was thinking, there is a summer camp not far from here, we should hold up for the night there,” Carter said while wiping peach syrup from his chin.

“You don’t think we should try to drive through the night?” I asked yanking a big chunk of jerky off with my teeth and handing it to Max.

“Yeah, I thought that was the plan,” Max added.

“It was, but after al the action” - he made air quotations with his fingers at that word – “we’ve seen today, I think it might do us some good to lay low for a little while,” Carter said.

Max and I looked at each other and he shrugged his shoulders.

“Look,” Carter said as he puled the map from his back pocket. He unfolded it and held it out for us to see, showing us where we were and where the camp was.

Or where he thought it was.

“Carter what if it is not even there?” Max asked.

“It is! Trust me. I was supposed to go there my sophomore year and be a camp counselor, but I failed shop class so my dad wouldn’t let me.” I held back a snicker and said, “Yeah, Mr. Brooks was a real jerk. He didn’t like you much.”

“I would have had straight A’s that year if it weren’t for him, but that doesn’t matter now. How are we on gas?”

“Um…” I said as I ran back to the Bronco and turned the key, “a little more than a quarter tank.”

“Ok, that should get us there, but we are going to have to get gas soon. You grabbed the hose, right Max?”

“Yeah, but if we are going to be siphoning gas often, I say we take turns,” Max said as he tossed his empty can of peaches into the brush.

“Fine with me,” I said as I hoped into the driver’s seat.

“You say that now, but you have no idea how terrible gasoline tastes,” Max replied.

We drove on quietly, as a light summer rain pelted the Bronco. I was starting to think this whole thing was a bad idea, and I was sure everyone else was too. What were we thinking? I was a magnet for trouble and Carter was al brains and no brawns, but Max, he could make it I thought. He was tough and strong, but I knew the responsibility of taking care of Carter and me, must be weighting on him.

I stole glances at him as I drove down the highway. He sat silently, surveying the landscape making comments about a particular wrecked vehicle or the amount of garbage that littered the streets. I never said anything, feeling that the comments were more of him just thinking aloud to distract himself from what was realy on his mind.

Carter sprawled out in the back seat, wel, as much as a six foot person could sprawl out in a back seat. He had read through his book multiple times, asking for our opinion occasionaly but was now drifting off to sleep with the book resting tightly in his grasp.

“Do you realy think there are people stil in New Mexico?” I blurted out to Max without even thinking.

After a long pause he said, “I have to Abs, if we can’t believe in that then what are we even doing?”

“It’s hard for me to believe in anything anymore,” I said as I gripped the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white.

“Listen Abby, you are too hard on yourself. I think you are a lot tougher then you realize. You were raised by two men, a retired marine and your big brother.

You’re a tough cookie and a bit of a tomboy,” he said.

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” I hated being reminded of it. Being a tomboy was always the kiss of death in my relationships. It was comforting to know that Max thought I was tough, but little did he realize that it was al a charade because I was too afraid to let anyone know how sensitive I realy was.

“I don’t know how you were friends with that Heather girl, she was a little Princess that one,” he said scornfuly.

“Me? You dated her Max,” I said playfuly.

“Yeah, wel only for like three weeks and besides she tricked me, I didn’t realy like her to begin with.”

“How does someone trick you into dating them? Did she tel you she knew the secret to winning the state championship or something?” I smiled at him.

“Something like that, yeah,” he said.

I watched him scratch at his growing beard and wondered what would have been.

“What are you thinking?” he asked.

“What makes you think I am thinking something?”

“You are always thinking something Abs,” he said.

“I was thinking about Prom,” I said, eyeing him, waiting for him to start laughing.

“What?”

“No witty reply to that one?” I was actualy quite shocked. Al my life Max had teased me every chance he got and now in the middle of a demon apocalypse, I was thinking about the Prom and he had nothing to say about it.

“Ya know Abs…” he said slowly, “I was actualy thinking I was going to ask you to Prom.” My heart started pounding in my chest and I realized I hadn’t said anything when I heard Max say, “Helo Abby, anybody home?”

“Sorry.”

“So that bad, eh? Next time a guy tels you he wanted to ask you out, you might want to let him down a little easier,” he said almost amused.

“No… I… uh..” I started stuttering not knowing what to say. I wanted to tel him how I felt, that I thought he was the hottest thing on earth but when it came to men, at least sexy men, I was a total wimp.

Max started to laugh and when he looked ahead his face fel. “Abby stop the car!” he shouted. “Stop the car, stop the car!” he repeated quickly.

“What?” As I said it I saw what he was seeing and I slammed on the brakes. Just around a bend in the road about a hundred yards ahead of us, a minivan was flipped over, but that wasn’t the worst part. Three birds were pecking at a body on the street and they just drew their attention toward us.