At the End - a post-apocalyptic novel (The Road to Extinction, Book 1) (10 page)

Maggy ran around to the driver’s seat. “You
coming?” She eyed the four newcomers.

Penelope looked at Mike, then turned back.
“Yeah, we’re coming.”

Mike grumbled about it, but after the attack
he seemed too scared to make any decisions and complied with a
nod.

I helped Jacob into the front passenger’s
seat, as he could barely move, expending all his strength on the
wild, life-saving maneuver. “You did it . . . you saved my life.
Thanks, dude.”

He nodded. “Just trying to help.”

Félix and I crawled over the backseat,
moving the bags aside. Mike climbed in after us. It was a tight
squeeze. Penelope and her sisters sat comfortably in the three
backseats.

Maggy powered on the electric motors and
began bumping cars out of the way. The brightness of the low beams
worried us that we would be spotted, but it was difficult to see a
thing with them off. She did her best to navigate the road for as
long as possible without light, but eventually she had to turn them
on.

Mike stared at us for a while, disgruntled.
He looked as if there was something he wanted to say, but he never
said a word, just narrowed his irritated eyes at us.

Penelope calmed her sisters, who had been
screaming and crying since the alion landed on the car, even more
so once it was dead. Now they just sobbed, clinging to their older
sister, one to each side of Penelope, crying into her jacket.

Maggy pulled off I-5 when she saw the sign
for Sea-Tac Airport. She parked in a driveway to a single-story
duplex, shut off the motor, and sighed heavily. “We shouldn’t go
too far in the dark, it’s too easy for them too see the lights. We
can try to sleep here.”

“You want to sleep here?” Mike asked
sharply.

“That’s what I said.” She hopped out,
grabbing her axe. She split the door by the handle, shoving the
door backward, motioning everyone through. I couldn’t believe how
tough and resilient she was.

When I passed, I noticed the marking with
three lines, which none of us had yet to figure out. The living
room was spacious, with a long, three-cushion sofa, a love seat,
and an inviting recliner. Maggy and Félix inspected the house for
people and alions.

“Nothing here,” Maggy reported, taking a
seat on the loveseat next to Félix.

I wanted to plant myself in the recliner but
gave it up to Jacob, who sorely needed it. Instead, I found a
rocking game chair, pulling it up to join the circle. I stared at
Maggy and Félix, not openly cuddling, but pretty damn close, their
shoulders grazing. I switched my vision to Penelope, who was
probably even more out of my league than Maggy. “So what happened
to you guys? How did you manage not to get taken?”

The four newcomers sat together on the long
sofa, Mike on one end and Penelope on the other, with the twins in
the middle. Penelope looked at me with hard, tired eyes and
swallowed. “Have you seen the symbols with two lines on the
doors?”

“Yeah, we have. Why?” I think I was ogling
by that time. I could tell that Mike hated it; I tried to stop, but
it was a problem I had, a big one, eyes that lingered.

“You haven’t figured out what they mean?”
Her puzzled face drooped.

“No, have you?” Maggy said.

“I have a pretty good guess,” Penelope
replied. “We were the only house on our block that had one,
everyone else had three lines, and they were all taken the first
night. All of my family was in the house; we all survived. But the
second night . . .” she stammered. She broke into a sob.

“The second night was bad,” Mike said. “I
had been staying there for the week, looking for an apartment,
luckily, I guess.” He paused and swallowed a long, sour gulp of
bile. “The second night, they came for us . . . to hunt us.”

Félix choked on some water. “They came to
hunt you?” He coughed in a fit, clearing his throat.

Mike glared at Félix, his jaw tight. “They
leave the people with the two lines alone, so that they can come
back and hunt. They’re smart . . . and they like to play with us
like a game. They’re pack hunters, just like the lionesses in
Africa.”

“How do you know that’s what the two lines
mean?” Maggy asked.

“We met a couple who had the two-lines
symbol on their door. They managed to kill three of them, and they
fled down to the minimart we were staying in. This was last night.
They didn’t make it today. Anyway, they told us the same story . .
. the same hell we went through on the second night, so it fits, I
mean, I could be wrong, but I don’t think I am.”

“My house had two lines on the door, they
didn’t hunt me down,” Jacob said.

“Yes they did, last night,” Maggy blurted.
“They weren’t at your house for us, bromigo, they were there for
you.”

Jacob reflected on that; it was hard for him
to think it through, since he had been passed out. He shrugged.

“So they are leaving some of us behind . . .
to hunt us,” Maggy said
sotto voce
.

“How did you survive the attack, did you
kill them?” Félix shifted on the cushions, making them roll in a
wave.

“Yeah, my uncle did. He had a classic
revolver from World War I, a family heirloom. I don’t know anything
about guns, but I know it was a Smith and Wesson M1917. They
displayed it in a glass case above their mantle . . . and he . . .
well he had to use it. It only had six rounds, you know, only six.
He used two on each one. After that, we had nothing but kitchen
utensils. About two klicks from us was a pawnshop, so all six of us
broke for it together on the second morning. There were no guns
there, all taken, I guess. We went to a grocery store, but all the
food was taken, but with nowhere else to go, we decided that the
fire station a block away would be safer. That was on the third
night, and they came for us again, as if they knew we had gone
there. My uncle fended them off with one of those giant axes, while
we escaped out the . . .” Tears were starting to slide down his
cheeks. “By the morning, it was just the four of us.”

All four of the newcomers were crying; it
was hard for them, a lot harder since they had watched their loved
ones murdered. It was slightly easier to cope, for me, as I didn’t
know what had actually happened to my parents. I assumed the worst.
But maybe it wasn’t the worst . . .

“I’m sorry,” I said. “That’s terrible.” I
was looking at the floor, shaking my head in disbelief and
empathy.

We all started eating portable food, bars,
fruit snacks . . . things like that. After a while, Penelope
studied us a little closer, then realized something. “Why are you
two covered in aluminum foil?”

“I’m covered, too, I just wrapped it
underneath my clothes.” Maggy lifted up a shirtsleeve and revealed
my handiwork. Félix’s aluminum foil, and my own, was starting to
fall apart, with holes, minor rips, and big tears. It was time for
a second application.

“But why?” Amanda asked, one of the twins.
Both of the little girls had bright, wide eyes.

“You said you had the mark with two lines.”
Penelope nodded at Jacob. “But you three didn’t. How did you
survive?”

“All three of us had aluminum foil above our
beds, so we figured that’s why we survived, and well, that led to
us dressing ourselves in it,” I explained. “We have enough for you
too.”

Jacob laughed. “Aluminum foil isn’t going to
save us.” He slid out of the recliner and dragged a bag to the
center of the circle. “These are going to save us.” He unzipped the
weapon bag. Six handguns, two quivers of arrows, boxes of bullets,
and knives galore stared back at us, disapproving of our ineptness,
our inexperience, our complete lack of control to handle such
deadly devices. Or maybe that was just what I saw.

Jacob turned his attention to the newcomers.
“If you want to join us and survive, you’ll need these, but if you
plan on leaving . . . well, we need these.”

“We all need each other,” Penelope spoke
up.

“Sounds about right,” Maggy said.

Jacob snatched up a handgun. “Then take
this.” He offered Penelope the gun.

She debated with herself whether or not to
accept the weapon, and by her slow reaching hand, it looked as if
her desperate, scared side was winning. “All right.” She finally
gave in and took the pistol.

“It’s loaded with nineteen rounds, so don’t
waste them. I’ll show you how to load it, and how to put the safety
on and all of that.” Jacob went through the steps with her, then
again with Mike when he chose a gun.

I went into the kitchen to see if the prior
occupants had left any bread. I found a loaf in the fridge. When I
closed it, there was Penelope just standing there; she startled me,
and I dropped the loaf.

She bent down and scooped it up. “Sorry. I
thought you heard me come in, it’s a creaky place.” She set the
bread on the counter.

“It’s all right. I’m okay. It’s just, well
you know. Don’t think my nerves will ever calm down,” I said, my
voice faintly cracking.

“Mine either.” She looked at me as if to
find solace, or maybe just a regular conversation.

“So, you played Our Descent. Did you play
online?” I asked.

“I was a two-star General, until the release
of Death Squad.”

I smiled at her. “You’re kidding, a
two-star, wow. I only made it to Colonel. You play Death Squad,
too? That’s awesome. IQ—I mean Maggy.” I wasn’t comfortable saying
her nickname anymore. “Is the only girl I’ve met who plays on a
regular basis.”

She laughed. “Now you’ve met two. It’s hard
to pry me away. I’m in the Tough as Hell faction. What about you,
are you in any well-known faction?”

I was still smiling. “No. We just made up
our own, the three of us and a couple others from school.” I
started to open the bread bag. “You want a sandwich, there’s peanut
butter and jelly.”

“No thanks.”

Maggy walked to the edge of the kitchen.
“Jelly, can I talk to you for a moment.”

“Sure,” I said. “I’ll be right back. I want
to know your rank on Death Squad.” She smiled as I walked away.

“Let’s go outside,” Maggy said, so we
did.

The air was fresh and cool. “You need
something?” I asked.

“Yeah, I have to tell you something,
something important that’s kind of hard to say.”

Oh man, I knew what was coming and I didn’t
want to hear it. I really didn’t. I pulled a chocolate bar out of
my pocket and began unwrapping it.

She saw that I wasn’t going to say anything
as I bit off a chunk of the chocolate. “Something happened in the
Apocalypse Room, something that was a long time coming, though . .
.” She sighed. “Though, I don’t think you’ve noticed.”

“You and Félix, yeah, I’ve noticed. Hard not
to, you’re my two best friends.” I paced towards the car. “It’s
pretty weird. I mean—” I stopped myself. I couldn’t tell her. I
held it in, pushed it down my throat alongside the chocolate.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean for it
to happen, it just did. It won’t break our friendship will it?”

I wanted to tell her to shove it, but I
couldn’t go sulk in my room; it was a different situation than
normal, different than any situation I had ever been in. “I . . .”
My sweating fingers let slip the chocolate bar. As it fell, I tried
to grab it, and my foot swung forward, kicking the bar under the
SUV.

“I’ll turn on the lights.” Maggy opened the
driver’s door and pressed the button for the vehicle’s underside
lights. Four small white lights illuminated the underside of the
SUV.

I crouched by the back tire, but didn’t see
it, so I lay flat on my stomach and spotted it near the wheel on
the other side. I jumped up and ran around, lying flat again,
sliding under the car. As I crawled backwards, chocolate bar in
hand, I noticed something weird-looking, as if it weren’t a part of
the car and wasn’t supposed to be there. I grabbed at it, tore it
loose, and brought it up with me.

“What’s that?” Maggy asked.

I fingered the sleek black object: it was
small, about the length of my pinky, and slightly thinner. “I don’t
know, it was attached to the car, but it doesn’t look like a car
part. I’m no mechanic or anything, but doesn’t it look
strange?”

“Yeah, it does.”

I met her eyes. “We should bring it in,
maybe Jacob knows what it is, or maybe that new guy knows something
about cars.”

“Good idea,” she said. I started for the
duplex’s door. “Jelly, wait. Are we okay? I mean, you didn’t say
anything, and you haven’t been acting like yourself at all
today.”

“It’s just weird, that’s all. I’ll get used
to it, I suppose. Don’t worry about me.” I walked off, into the
duplex. Maggy entered soon after I did. “What do you think it is?”
I asked Jacob.

Jacob inspected the tube, trying to pry the
ends open. “It’s not a car part, I can tell you that much. It’s
just a round cylinder of nothing, could even be hollow and
empty.”

Suddenly, one end flashed blue. “What was
that?” one of the twins asked, curious.

Jacob scrutinized the end that had blinked.
“Don’t know.”

“I can guess what it is, it’s a locator
beacon,” Mike said, nervous and twitchy.

“Uhrm. What?” I said.

“They’re tracking us, I’ll bet.” Mike
snatched the object away from Jacob and waved it around. “Those
monsters are tracking us!” His mood shifted drastically, now
frantic.

“When would they have put it on the car?”
Maggy asked. “We’ve only come across the one, and we killed it. You
saw it all happen.”

Jacob gasped, open-mouthed. “Yeah, we did
kill it, but after I shot it, and it was lying there dying, it took
one last swipe at my legs. It was a horrible shot, even bad for a
dying beast, but now that I think about it, it clinked its claws
against the bottom of the car.”

“You think it stuck it to the car then?”
Félix asked.