“I returned them all,” Noah’s voice comes from beside me.
I take a few steps back, startled. “You’re here.”
“And you are here…” Noah adds with a laugh. “Now that we’ve established that—would you look at those stars?”
“What does it all mean?” I ask as I look to the shimmering sky above. It is more beautiful than anything in nature I’ve seen in my life. “I don’t understand, what was all that about shapes, and stars—was that all just an act?”
“I suppose,” Noah says as he shrugs his shoulders and laughs. He places his hands against the side of the boat and looks up. “You know, you get caught up in things sometimes that you miss details—or you see what you want to see. If you look hard enough at something, you’ll start seeing shapes and patterns and all kinds of strange stuff.”
“Is that what happened to you?”
“Sure,” Noah says as he pats me on the back. “It’s your interpretation.”
“Is it the right one?”
“Does it matter?”
“Why did you choose me?” I say as I look to Noah. “…seriously, why me out of… everyone…?”
“You’ve been asking yourself that a lot lately.”
“Well, it’s pretty relevant. “
“You know what you should be asking yourself instead,” Noah says as he lets out another laugh.
“What?”
“Why not you…?”
“I’ve failed though, you know,” I say as I hang my head down. “Whatever plan you had for me, I’ve failed. You died for nothing.”
“Plans fail,” Noah says as he smiles. “I’m not god.”
“But I don’t even know how to complete what you had me set out to do,” I say as I shake my head.
“You know how can start, Ethan?”
“How…?”
“You should wake up, Ethan.”
“Ethan, wake up,” Claire whispers. “Please get up.”
“What’s wrong?” I ask as jolt awake.
“They’re coming,” Claire says as she panics. “Seats up.”
“How…? I mean we’re out so far,” I say as I look around, confused. “What are they doing out here?”
“I don’t know—they’re drawn to me. I guess… there were some in the area… I don’t know. They’re so angry. I don’t… I don’t think I can calm them down.” Claire says as she looks around in the darkness. “Robert…”
“I’ll get him,” I say as I step out the car.
“Hurry,” Claire says as her eyes are wide.
“Robert!” I shout as I make my way to his tent. I give it a sharp kick with the side of my foot to stir him. I know it is rather rude, but now is no time for good manners. “Robert! Get up!”
“Christ,” Robert mutters as he unzips the tent. “What is it?”
“Get dressed quickly,” I say as I place my black glasses on and scan the area. I do not see any sign of life out there… yet. “You have to get in the car.”
“I don’t like small spaces…”
“Just get to the fucking car,” I say as I continue to look around. “Aggros are coming.”
“Out here?” Robert asks as he puts his suit back on. “How did they get all the way out here?”
“Don’t know,” I say as I begin to run with Robert back to the car. “Claire can tell though—she knows when they are getting close.”
As I climb into the car, I get an idea. “Claire can you get into the back and hand that gun of Robert’s up?”
“Yeah,” Claire says as she squeezes through the center console and hands the assault rifle to Robert who climbs into the passenger seat.
I lock the doors—I know the car is bullet proof. I have no idea if it is Aggro proof. I see a few flashes of orange between the trees. I turn on the car and begin to drive along the dirt road. I come to a dead stop as an Aggro woman lets out a loud scream; she is carrying a large long, dragging it behind her as she stumbles her way towards us.
“Should I roll down the window?” Robert asks as he looks to me.
I throw caution to the wind and floor it, I knock the Aggro to the ground and with a few rather uncomfortable bumps we drive over her.
“You’ll have to back up…” Claire says as she looks behind us. The red tail lights of the Mazda illuminate the woman as she attempts to get back up.
“Damn it,” I mutter as I throw the car into reverse and hit the gas. Two more bumps shake the car as I roll over the body. I stop, and throw it into drive—once again I repeat the process. I look behind me and see a bloody mess.
“Yeah, you’re good now,” Claire says matter-of-factly as though this is no big deal.
I navigate the roads and come across a group of three more. They are all unarmed, however they are large males. I doubt that the car can take on three at a time. I start to reverse as I pull the handgun from my pocket. “Windows down.”
Robert Climbs halfway out the window and begins to spray at the three men approaching. They take a few hits but keep on coming. I help by firing a few shots off a well. He sprays one more time into the group and they fall like trees.
“This ain’t so bad,” Robert says as he laughs and reloads his weapon.
“Don’t jinx us,” I moan as we another corner and come face to face with a mob of about ten of them.
“They’re coming from behind as well,” Claire says as she looks behind the car. “Two of them… one male one female… pretty average size.”
“They’re charging at us…” Robert says as he places the nozzle of his rifle and aims ahead.
“Save your ammo,” I say as I put the car into reverse.
Robert reaches for the door handle. “I’ll buy you guys some time—try and make a hole. You bust through and make it to that boat of yours, just finish… finish what you’ve started.”
I shake my head as I lock the doors. “Just stay in the car, Robert.”
“Stay in the car…” Claire whispers from behind me.
“I’m taking us back—there’s no going ahead,” I say as I rev the engine and keep my other foot on the brake.
“Let me be brave…” Robert says as he messes with the door. “You can keep going.”
“There’s a difference between being brave and being suicidal,” I say as I press the pedal down to the floor. A loud thump causes the car to buffet wildly as the rear bumper sends the Aggros flying back. I keep my foot down. A few more bumps rock the car as we make our way over the two Aggros. I quickly do a turnabout and head back the way I came. I know that this means we will be very close to a few unavoidable highly populated cities… there is just no helping it at this point. I drive as fast as I can, always weary for any signs of movement from my black glasses.
“We’re losing them,” Claire whispers as she stares out the back window.
Robert takes his assault rifle from the window and places it between his knees. “I could have made a path. Now we’re in trouble, right?”
“It’s a possibility,” I say as command for the windows to roll back up. “Enough people have died needlessly. If we can find another way, we should do that. We still need your help—we may need it even more when we reach our destination.”