Flare (23 page)

Ash’s father died not knowing that the flare would cleave the world in two. He had warned Ash of life’s many hardships, but not this.
Though he didn’t warn me of the flare, perhaps he prepared me for it.
I’m alive, and so is Heather. Ninety percent of this earth may have perished, but both my father’s children are still alive.

Ash realized that if there was any sense to be made of the earth’s events, it wouldn’t be made wrapped in lead curtains in the middle of the desert. It might be made at the so-called
Salvation
, or it might never be made. Or perhaps …

There may be sense behind all this, a grand reason that might explain everything, something that can be wrapped up neatly in a sentence, or even a single word.
But this reason might not have humanity as part of its plan.

Despite all these thoughts, Ash couldn’t help feeling good at the moment.

Right now, within these lead curtains, things are right
,
and there’s truth to that … perhaps a universal truth.

/***/

Ash was awoken by a gentle prodding, and his eyes saw spots. The spots cleared, and soon he saw Courtney’s face smiling at him, and she was backlit by a sky the color of diamonds.

“Hurry,” she whispered. “It’ll be gone soon.”

Ash crept out of the bag and the world was lit, perhaps a bit too harshly, but he could see everything. He got up, hand in hand with Courtney while she stared off into the horizon. They could see their RV in the distance, about a thirty-minute walk away. Courtney had already made a crude arrow towards the vehicle with rocks, and Ash felt he could relax and just concentrate on the moment.

Ash looked around and the sunset land was just as Courtney described but
better
, in the way that nature’s visible beauty was always infinitely superior to any words attempting to contain it. The world glimmered with the strength of an overpowered sun, and the light had been diffused perfectly by the angle of the earth’s edge.

The ground sparkled too, brilliantly and in every direction, and much more so than Courtney had described. It was as if the stars not yet visible in the night sky were being birthed in the dirt, and decided to shine once more before ascending upwards for their evening watch.

“This makes it all okay,” said Ash. “No matter how many people have died, it’s somehow
worth it
now. Just the fact that we get to see this … it makes the cost worth it.”

The words sounded cruel as they poured out of Ash’s mouth, as if they were standing on a pile of corpses for a breathtaking view. But as the glimmering evening turned to a deep red, the light seemed to wash away the underlying reality of his thoughts, leaving only the beauty of his sentiment. Courtney stepped in close to him.

“Watch this,” she said.

A green drop of light detached itself from the sun and then spread outwards, like a phoenix spreading its wings. It paused for a moment and then accelerated upwards, and Ash could have sworn that he felt the green light warm him as it scattered across the sky, like an angel weaving itself into the atmosphere to protect the last remnants of humanity for one more night.

The sun disappeared and the world lay golden, and Courtney pointed into the horizon, slightly west of the RV. There was a pack of deer walking across the plains, followed by another pack of animals. Ash squinted at the trailing creatures and guessed them to be wolves, but they weren’t in pursuit of the deer that they trailed.

“Where do they go during the day?” asked Courtney. “Where do they go at night?”

“I don’t know,” said Ash. “But they’ve found a way to survive this. We can’t deny that anymore.”

Neither of them had any more words, so they just held each other in the soft glow of dusk and stared into the horizon, just two people enjoying a harmless evening. Ash remembered his thoughts when he had left Heather, that in times of severe stress people bond together, but there was another level of connection,
one that transcended simply facing adversity together.

Whatever that level was, he felt he now had that with Courtney. They were sharing more than just a common desire to keep the other alive. He didn’t quite understand what they had together, but he couldn’t bring himself to think of a world in which she had no part.

/***/

They walked up to the RV hand in hand, and Heather smiled when she saw them. She was feverish but not overly so, and Ash handed her his backpack filled with medicine. She opened it up and showed a look of relief. He had brought the right materials, and she looked confident in her recovery.

She took a pain pill and grimaced before cleaning the cut with water, moistening the gauze and then packing the wound. After she completed the process, she breathed deeply and then let out a small laugh.

“So you guys are …
together
now,” asked Heather, phrasing the question as a statement.

“I guess we are,” said Courtney, giving that soft smile that Ash was so happy to see.

“That’s good,” said Heather. “I always wanted Ash to meet someone, and I guess now is as good a time as any.”

They went back into the RV and got everything ready to go again. Ash volunteered to drive, and Heather decided that would be a good idea. Heather lay down in the back to rest, and Ash started the RV with Courtney in the front seat, her sunglasses back on and her face calm.

/***/

They drove three hours and got a flat, and the RV’s spare tire was flat as well. They were fifty miles from the Salvation and ten miles from the nearest city, so they decided to limp into the town and see if it had any big trucks with tires that they could take. They were on the last leg of the journey, so even a tire that fit imperfectly might do.

They approached the town an hour later and saw that it was alive with activity. There were lights flickering on the horizon, and Courtney took her binoculars and saw that the lights moved as if carried by people.

“We can’t trust anyone,” said Ash. “Not here, and not without a working vehicle.”

Courtney and Heather agreed, and they parked the RV a half-mile away from the town, behind a dead tree. They grabbed a tire iron and a jack from the back, and Courtney brought out three rifles. Ash and Heather were still clumsy with the long barrels, so Courtney went back into the RV and gave Ash and Heather one knife each, instructing them to keep their blades hidden and sheathed. She then slung her own rifle across her back comfortably, looking less like she had a gun and more like an archer carrying a quiver of arrows.

“Stay together and don’t stick out, and we’ll be fine,” she said. “Hiding’s better than confrontation, because these weapons will be useless if they have more.”

They left the RV behind them, and with its deflated tire it looked like any other abandoned vehicle by the side of the road. It was upright and unlooted, but they had seen other vehicles like this so they felt comfortable leaving it hidden but unprotected.

They walked towards the town slowly and saw that others were on the road with them. They looked behind and saw a small chain of people trudging forward, some with flashlights, some with homemade shelters, and one with a tent made of the silver material that Ash had seen so much of recently. Courtney motioned that she wanted to talk with one of the passersby, and Heather motioned to Ash to see what he thought. He looked at the people on the road and they looked like travelers, some weary, some seasoned, but none seemed threatening. Ash motioned Courtney to go ahead and talk. She found two women walking with a child and an older man, and decided to speak with them.

“Excuse me, ma’am!” yelled Courtney.

One of them looked at Courtney and acknowledged her, though the woman kept her distance.

“We’ve been on the road awhile, but what is this place?” asked Courtney. “Where’s everyone going?”

“The dockyards!” responded the woman.

“What?”

The woman spoke privately to her party and after they nodded, she came towards Courtney but still kept her distance.

“This town is just a stop on the way to our final destination,” said the woman. “This is the town before the dockyards.”

“What are the dockyards?”

“It’s a place that holds a lot of people, with hangars and ships and crates. Big place that’s protected from the sun.”

“Oh,” said Courtney. “Thanks.”

The woman nodded and went back to her group.

“What do you think, Ash?” asked Heather.

Ash looked at the woman who had spoken to them, and he looked at the others walking towards the town. There were all types of people, young and old, but most looked haggard, and they didn’t seem excited about their destination. Ash listened to the sounds from the town ahead and heard angry yelling.

“Let’s get our tire and leave,” he whispered. “The dockyards might be some sort of safe haven, but it’s not the Salvation.”

/***/

They found the perfect vehicle just outside the town. It was an equivalent-size van that had been kept inside a garage attached to a house. They could see its roof poking through the top of the garage’s window, and they found that the garage was open. The house had long been abandoned, so once inside they closed the garage door, jacked up the van and got to work on the tire. Courtney knew her way around an automobile and how to remove the tire, and they detached the wheel without trouble.

They left the garage and decided to roll the tire back to their RV on the main road. It was awkward walking against the slow stream of foot traffic with a tire, but it was the only way. There were no other roads back to the RV, and the tire was too awkward to carry by itself. They had some curious stares, but most of the people were too tired to say anything.

They had made it back to the RV and set the tire down when they heard a rumbling in the distance. They saw lights and realized it was a vehicle coming towards them. Courtney beckoned the group to walk behind the RV and put themselves in a defensive position.

They saw an old El Camino approaching with an artificially shaded front window that obscured the driver’s face. Two men with guns sat in the car’s bed, and they both jumped out as soon as the car stopped. One man was thin and wiry, and the other was thick and angry-looking. The angry one pointed his gun at them while the thin one spoke. The driver stayed in the car.

“Hello!” said the thin man.

The man had a commanding voice. No one responded, so Ash decided to speak.

“Hello.”

“You guys headed to the dockyards?”

“No,” said Ash.

“Then where ya headed?” asked the thin man quickly, as if he were trying to trap Ash in a lie.

“Just passing through,” said Ash.

“Passing through.”

The thin man spat on the ground and let the awkwardness of that statement linger for a moment. Ash wouldn’t take the bait and refused to speak in return.

“Passing through
to
…
where
?”

“We don’t know,” said Ash.

“You don’t know?” asked the thin man, accusingly.

Ash looked over at his sister, and she was at a loss for words. She still held the role of protector, but not in this situation, not in the face of the thin man and his accusing questions.

Time to take the lead,
thought Ash.
This is your time now.

“No, we don’t,” said Ash. “And I don’t quite understand your tone, so state what you want and let us be on our way.”

The confrontational words came out of Ash’s mouth awkwardly, too polite to carry any threat, but too straightforward to go unnoticed. The thin man laughed, and then his face became grim. Ash didn’t show it, but he was nervous.
In times of absolute chaos, all power goes to the fiercest, the most ignorant, and those unafraid to commit cruelty.
I’m none of those, and I’m out of my element. We’re not taking tests any more, and these men have no interest in the Salvation.

“What do you guys want to know?” said Ash. “Please tell us.”

“We need vehicles,” said the thin man. “Coupla passersby said you were pushing a tire.”

“Maybe we were,” said Ash.

“A tire means you have a vehicle,” said the man. “A vehicle that works.”

“I wish,” said Ash. “We found this RV a while ago, abandoned here. We used it as a fort, and now we’re hoping to fix its tire, and then hotwire it.”

The thin man stared at them.

“Care to help us out?” asked Ash, genuinely. “I’ve never hotwired a car before myself.”

The thin man stared at them more, and Ash clenched his rifle. He wasn’t prepared for a shootout, and wouldn’t know what to do if one began, but he still clenched the rifle. The thin man nodded, buying Ash’s story, but there was a muffled sound from inside the main cab of the El Camino. The thin man rolled down the window, and Ash heard a voice say that Ash was lying.

“He says you aren’t telling the truth,” said the thin man. “He says you have a working vehicle.”

Ash thought for a moment before responding.

“I’m not lying, and I hope to get it working soon,” said Ash. “If any of you know how to hotwire a car, please help me out because—”