The Last Gallon (5 page)

Mark was in the hangar early the next morning. The scientists marvelled at the hole the slug had torn through the door and several engineers were busy patching it. “We will see what we can do to make this a bit stronger” one of them told him.

His former boss was in the back corner of the hangar waiting for Mark to finish debriefing the scientists on the car’s performance. It apparently was the first time such a vehicle was used. They were confounded that the car only averaged 23mpg until Mark fessed up that he had bartered away 12 gallons total. That made them happier though it was against protocol to do so. He said it was either gas or giving up his cargo so he bartered away the gas. The excuse was good enough for the time being.

Mark approached the ex-boss who was holding another ominous envelope in his hands. Next to him was a petit
e teenage girl who was bound at the wrists and ankles and gagged. “Meet your next mission” he said as he pushed the girl forward. “This is Cindy and she belongs to Gayle Levins in DC. Before you deliver her to that wildebeest you need to deliver this envelope to Philadelphia. When you get to DC you will report to headquarters and receive your final mission.”

That wording was interesting Mark thought to himself. He took the envelope from the boss and looked Cindy over. The poor thing, she was probably Joey’s age, had shoulder length blonde hair and cute little freckles around her nose. The fact that she was going to a rough edged dominatrix lesbian in an intoxicating position of power was just chilling. Mark really hated the prospect of completing this job but he had to take it, there was no other choice. He could figure things out with Kara while they were on the road.

“Get out of here” the boss snipped. Mark nodded and took Cindy by the shoulder to lead her towards the car. The engineers were finishing up with the patch-work when he got back. “Don’t go messing with it while it cures but you can go ahead and take her, she should be harder than ever by sun-up tomorrow” one of the guys explained. Mark thanked them and tried to figure out what the hell to do with Cindy. One of the guys brought some cuffs over and hooked them onto the roll-cage. “Use these” he said and threw Mark the key after securing the girl.

Mark drove off and when he was out of sight of the hangar he pulled over and got out of the
Armadillo. He walked over to Cindy’s door and opened it. She started making noises through her gag like she was trying to scream and tried to pull herself out of the cuffs. “Calm down” Mark said, “I’m not going to touch you.” It seemed to calm her a little bit but she was still very tense. He removed the gag and she snapped her teeth at him. He slapped her and grabbed her chin “Look, I told you I wasn’t going to harm you so knock the shit off ok?” She nodded. “Prove you can be trusted to not act like an animal and I won’t treat you like one, dig?” She nodded again. He left her cuffed and shut the door and returned to the driver’s side.

“We’ll get you out of those cuffs when we get home and if you behave all night you can stay out of them until we get close to your destination” he told her. She started to curse him and thought better. “Fu....
ur sure mister” she managed to spit out and save herself. Mark laughed.

Mark escorted Cindy into the apartment and Kara exclaimed “What the hell is this? You are a regular Don Quixote aren’t you mister?” Mark squinted at her and asked “Don’t you mean Don Juan?” she laughed and said “Don who the hell ever, what’s with the chick?” Mark explained that she was part of the mission. Kara looked her over and said “Joey’s
gonna love you honey” then she said “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up and presentable. You smell like you lived in a cage” Mark punched her arm and said “She did live in a cage.” Kara blushed and Mark slipped her the key for the cuffs as she led Cindy to the bathroom.

About 15 minutes later Mark heard a scream and then two loud thumps. Kara came out shaking her arm; blood was running down from her wrist. “That bitch bit me” she exclaimed.
  “Where is she, did she escape?” Mark jumped up out of his chair. “No she’s laid out on the bathroom floor. Poor little thing bumped her head as I tried to help her sit down” Kara said wryly. Mark smiled and shook his head. He checked her arm and then went to the bathroom to check on their “guest”.

Joey beat him to it and was coming out of the bathroom as Mark was about to head in. “Dad there is a naked girl knocked out on our floor, what the hell have you and mom been up to?” Mark laughed and told him that Cindy, the naked knocked out girl was their next job. Joey shook his head and walked out muttering something about naked girls and his parents.

Mark woke Cindy up with a bucket of cold water. “Now what the hell did I tell you girl?” he asked. She looked at him pathetically. He shook her and asked again and she began to weep. He picked her up and carried her out to the living room where Kara awaited. “Oh hell no, don’t be bringing that thing to me for sympathy” she said wagging her finger. Mark dumped Cindy unceremoniously on the couch and threw a blanket to her.

“Look,” he said “we don’t want you to be a
sex slave either and if we can figure something out we will but if you continue to be a pain in our asses then it will be our pleasure to deliver you to your new mistress, are we clear?” Cindy nodded yes and Mark continued “Kara and I will do what we can but no more fighting, no more bullshit and definitely no more biting.” Cindy agreed and looked at them through tear swollen eyes. “Why would you help me?” she asked. Kara piped up first. “Honey we are slaves just like you, we just do a different kind of job. If we can find a way we will all just get the hell out of here.”

Mark and Kara felt like they had an understanding with Cindy but they decided to cuff her to the bed for the night. It was either that or stand guard and they all needed as much sleep as they could get.

The sun rose early and everyone stirred awake. Mark uncuffed Cindy who was still a bit sore about being restrained. “Get over it sister, you ain’t earned your freedom yet” he reminded her. She smiled coyly and said “yes massa, I be earning my freedom” Mark shook his head and couldn’t help but smile. “Smart-ass” he said and tussled her hair a little. She rolled her eyes and cracked a little smile.

The new and even more dysfunctional family ate a quick breakfast and prepared to hit the road. The first
stop was Philly and it was rumored to be an even bigger shithole than it was before the world collapsed. Mark wasn’t sure how that could be possible but he was a firm believer in the term “never say never” when it came to the dregs of humanity.

Everyone loaded up in the car and Mark turned to Cindy. “Do we need to restrain you?” he asked her. She pouted and tried to put on a sweet voice. “No daddy” she said sarcastically. He rolled his eyes and turned to Joey. “Son, put a bullet in her head if she so much as thinks about pulling anything” Joey nodded but had a wild eyed look. Something in his raging teenage hormones wouldn’t allow him to kill a possible lay. Mark chuckled and thought to himself “One bite will change your position on that matter son.” Kara read his mind and snickered to herself as well.

Within the half hour the family was cruising down the god-forsaken New Jersey turnpike. Yes, it was still just as awful as before and instead of being run by government thugs, it was run by street thugs. Each toll booth was “owned and operated” by different gangs and they had an agreement to only mildly rob you at each stop so they could all profit. Luckily the company had given Mark a sack of gold coins for the trip.

They pulled in to the first booth and four men with AKs stepped in front of the
Armadillo. A guy appeared from inside the booth and tapped on Mark’s window with the barrel of his gun. Mark popped the gun port open and dropped a gold coin on the concrete. The thug was not impressed and demanded more. Mark stuck the muzzle of his 220 through the port and Joey popped up with the SAW charged and ready and the gangsters quickly changed their tune. Suddenly the payment was more than adequate. Hell, one of them even thanked Mark. Of course, being thugs they also took a pot shot at them as they sped off. Joey contemplated ripping off a few rounds in their direction but Mark told him not to bother, they would likely need every single round in the cities they were visiting.

Thirty three toll booths later they were finally clear of the turnpike. Mark actually still had a coin left over because one of the booths made the mistake of firing a shot at them as they approached. Joey turned their crumbling hut into a crumbled hut with his
armor piercing rounds.

Philly, like Boston, used a river as one of its major borders. Luckily on this side of town there was no outer wall so entry into the city would mean safe passage until they were on their way out. Of course crossing a river means crossing a bridge and in this brave new world crossing a river meant some scumbag was going to extort you. The Betsy Ross Bridge was no exception. These guys even had
armored vehicles. Mark saw no choice but to see what they wanted. He turned to Joey and said “I think I will request a missile launcher next time Joey, what do you think?” Joey smiled and gave him the thumbs up.

As he pulled up to the checkpoint Mark realized this was going to be trouble.
The thugs running this bridge were the Black Panthers, the famous racist group Mark liked to call the Black KKK. “Shit” he said as he saw the uniform.

A “panther” approached the car and said “Good morning cracker.” Mark bit his tongue and did not reply with his own racial slur but decided to try to be pleasant. “Good morning” he said. “Open the door” the panther demanded. Mark smiled through the gunport and told the man he “would rather not” which really upset him. At this point Mark counted a dozen others surrounding the car. Kara quietly chambered a round and Joey made sure the belt-fed was ready. Mark calmly asked what the toll was so they could make their delivery and be on their way. “The toll is whatever I see and want in
yo car, now open the damn door honkey” the very agitated “soldier” said. Mark shook his head and said “Nevermind, we’ll go around.”

Mark put the car in reverse as the irate soldier shouldered his rifle. Mark stuck his 220 out the
port and put a round into the man’s arm. He spun around from the impact and dropped his AK on the concrete which caused a round to go off into the crowd that had gathered. This set off a frenzy of return fire and Mark gunned it and spun the car around. Joey popped the turret up and squeezed off about 20 rounds at the panthers as the Armadillo zoomed off the bridge.

“Well shit” Mark said as they sat on the side of the road wondering what the hell to do next. Kara looked at a map and was trying to find alternatives for them. “You know there is a train trestle just past the bridge right?” she asked. Mark didn’t know that but he was curious as to whether the car would make it across. “Hell why not?” he asked her and she just shrugged.

They drove down to the bridge and luckily it was a two track job that was plenty wide. They had to look around to find an entry point on the tracks and eventually did in an industrial park. Mark set the suspension to off-road mode and the Armadillo bounced along the tracks quite unhappily. The panthers spotted the car crossing the bridge and took some shots at them but they didn’t have a chance at hitting over 200 yards away with no training and little skill. Most hit the steel support of the trestle anyways. It was too dangerous to fire back so they just let it be and went on their merry way.

Their unauthorized entry kept them from burning an entry coupon as well so if for some
ungodly reason they ever wanted to return to Philly they could get in through the gates with no issues. Mark led them down the streets that Kara pointed out and they were in front of the company building in no time. As before someone was waiting on the steps and Mark handed over the envelope. The man gave him a briefcase this time and told him to deliver it to DC and to deliver it before he did anything else there. Mark nodded affirmative. The man handed over the usual envelope with gate passes and depot tickets as well.

Mark filled the car up even though it had only used a gallon and a half on their journey. He also topped off their magazines and thr
ew a couple extra rounds in the back. The route from Philly to Wilmington was almost completely company owned so other than sporadic check-points and card checks the route was safe and trouble-free.

Between Wilmington and Baltimore was a bit of a dicey stretch. It wasn’t populated enough to be under control and was full of thieves and bandits. There wasn’t much organized gang activity but the people were ver
y poor, starving and desperate. This was bad juju for a family in a very expensive looking automobile. There was also another god-forsaken river crossing. Mark began to feel like he was in the 80s game ‘The Oregon Trail’. He said “You’ve got dysentery” out loud and Kara gave him a confused look.

The family took the opportunity to get to know Cindy during the trip through the safe-lands. She seemed to be easing up and was finally ready to open up. Mark asked her how she ended up property of the company. She was silent for a moment but decided to tell the story. “My mom and I were free, living in the
Bad Lands and keeping to ourselves pretty much. Only mom got addicted to opiates and when the bottle that she found ran out she began seeking it out. It got to the point where she was more interested in finding drugs than food or shelter. We were in bad shape and one day she marched us up to the wall of Cincinnati and sold me for a bottle of oxy” she said trying to hold back the tears. “Jesus” Mark said and tried to comfort her “I’m so sorry Cindy.”