A deep roar assaulted Drew’s ears like a gunshot and deafened him. He threw the axe to the side, rushed forward, grabbed the gun off the wall, and turned to run. The pack bounced on his back as he rounded the corner and sprinted out the door. Drew ignored the crunch of the broken glass beneath his feet as he sped for the open door of his van. He flung himself inside the open door but rebounded.

Crap! My pack!

To his frustration, he had to stop outside his van and unclip the fasteners of his pack before he could jump inside.

Putting the pack on was stupid!

After the last snap was undone, he threw his pack onto the passenger seat and sprung inside. Drew slammed the door shut and sighed in relief.

I made it.

Out of the corner of his eye he spied a huge shape that headed right for him.

*BAAAAM*

The entire van lifted up off the ground and almost tipped over before it rocked back on its wheels. Pain exploded from his left leg. He watched in horror as something huge and sharp slid out of his pierced leg.

Outside his van stood the largest living thing he had ever seen. It massed more than an elephant and had two huge horns on top of its head, one of them coated in blood.

Is that a triceratops?

Before he even realized what he was doing, he put the van in drive and floored the gas pedal. In the mirror, Drew could see the beast frozen in shock, almost like it was confused how he survived. That did not last long.

Must go faster. Must go faster.

The race was on. Drew sped towards the interstate as fast as possible, limited by the streets filled with abandoned cars. He needed an open road to get up to speed if he was to have any hope of outrunning it. Eventually, he made it to an exit ramp.

Screw it, no one’s using it right now anyways!

Drew ignored the wrong way signs and turned onto the exit ramp. He was not worried as there seemed to be no one else on the road. The mirror on his left showed no beast so he checked the passenger side mirror. It showed nothing as well.

Did I lose it?

*BAAAM*

Drew was thrown back into his seat as he was rammed from behind.

Shit! I always jinx myself!

His speed slowly crept up, 70mph and then 80mph. When he topped out at 82 mph, he looked into his mirror and found the monster still kept pace, just thirty or fourty feet behind him.

This is ridiculous! That thing is running at least 80 miles per hour!

His arms shook, and not from his cured disease. The adrenaline started to wear off and the pain from his pierced leg returned. He kept pressure on the deep wound, but he did not know how much longer he could hold on.

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How much longer can this thing keep up?

The freaky triceratops-like beast still followed him, and it had been over thirty minutes. Drew had assumed it would follow for a few minutes and then fall behind in exhaustion. That did not happen.

The blood loss from his wound had slowed, and now the hole only seeped. Drew hoped it was because it was clotting, and not because of overall blood loss. It was more difficult to keep his eyes open now, which he knew could not be good.

Come on! Just leave me alone!

As if the monster heard his plea, it finally turned away. Drew’s eyes followed its path in the mirror and watched as the beast bulldozed through a fence as if it were not there. It slowed as it entered a newly installed solar farm.

What’s going on? Why would it chase me for so long only to be distracted by some solar panels?

This was the second time he had seen a monster try to get to solar panels.

There has to be some reason they are going after solar. What is so special about it? Maybe it isn’t the solar panel itself, but the electricity it produced? But why wouldn’t they just go after a powerli… Oh yeah… All the power is out, no power in the lines. Duh!

The more he thought about it, the more his new theory solidified. After the beasts somehow arrived, they must have gone after the power lines and power plants. Once the grid went down, they spread out to go after people and whatever else they wanted. That left the only source of power generation solar panels, wind turbines, and generators.

Crap, if they’re attracted to electricity, my alternator is producing a lot of it. How far away can they sense it?

Drew continued down the road for a few more minutes until he was sure there were no beasts around. He noticed smaller beasts occasionally during his escape, but they had fled before the huge monster that chased him.

Looks like they don’t want to mess with it either.

He slowed the van to a stop so he could treat his wound and re-arm himself. Once he put the van in park, he assessed his situation. The driver’s seat was soaked in blood, his wound still oozed, and the closest hospital was in Phoenix.

I hope Phoenix is doing fine or I might be screwed.

It was just his luck to discover the fountain of youth, to finally be cured, only to die from blood loss.

Drew pulled the hunting knife from the pack and cut a strip off his jogging shorts. He searched his van and found some napkins in the glove box. Slowly he created a makeshift bandage and winced as he applied it. He hoped he did not tie it too tight, if he cut off circulation he could lose his leg.

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With that taken care of, he reloaded his pistol and familiarized himself with the rifle. He had shot rifles before, but every rifle was slightly different.

The process took far longer without a manual, but he eventually figured out that he needed to cock the hammer before he could move the safety lever.

That’s so weird, why couldn’t it just be a button you slide up or down with your thumb like my pistol? The stupid lever is awkward.

Now came time to test fire the rifle. He would never trust that it worked unless he shot it at least once. Drew exited his van and hobbled around in pain.

Let’s hope this rifle is awesome, my running days are over.

There was nothing but empty desert for miles. Drew spotted a speed limit sign over a hundred feet away, leaned against the van, and aimed down the sights toward it. He pushed the safety lever forward and breathed out. Slowly, he squeezed the trigger.

*CRACK*

The sharp sound of rifle fire echoed in his ears.

I gotta get some ear protection or something.

Drew glanced nervously around to make sure he was still alone. Once he confirmed it was all clear, he limped toward the sign to inspect his shot.

After what seemed to take forever, he arrived at the sign and saw a neat hole directly above the number 75.

Hell yeah!

The pain from his leg would not dampen his mood or take away the smile from his face. He now had something he hoped could take out the armored beasts.

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When he was back in the driver’s seat he checked the gauges as usual and noticed he was running very low on gas.

Crap, I didn’t even think about gas. I hope there’s a station coming up soon. Will the pumps even work without power?

Drew shook his head and put off the problem. It would either work out or it wouldn’t.

No use dwelling on it.

After another twenty minutes on the road, he saw the familiar blue sign which advertised gas at the exit to Tonopah.

Thank God! I was not looking forward to walking.

Drew exited the interstate and saw that he had three choices. On the left and right were smaller sized gas stations, and further down the road was a travel center that was popular with truck drivers.

The closest station had glass windows that were shattered and a few vehicles in the lot with their doors left open. The power was definitely out.

That doesn’t look good.

He passed it and headed towards the other small station. The power was out on it as well, but at least the windows to the store were not shattered. Drew crossed his fingers and pulled into pump 3. He exited the van, new rifle in hand, took one look at the pump, and cursed. There was no power.

“Hey dude watch out!”

Drew whipped his head around and saw a young kid with his head out the door. The kid pointed to Drew’s left. He quickly scanned where the kid pointed and saw two ‘weasel-bears’ that stampeded toward him.

He set his feet apart to get in position and winced in pain. With a steady breath, he aimed and fired twice into the lead beast.

*CRACK* *CRACK*

The first beast fell and rolled, left behind by its friend. With the last beast now alone, his anxiety lessened. He breathed in and waited.

Wait for it… wait for it… Now!

*CRACK*

With only a single shot, the beast’s head sprayed blood as it tumbled to the ground. Drew hastily searched for other monsters, but he was alone for now.

He glanced up to thank the kid for the warning, but saw that he was already yelling something. Unfortunately, his ears were temporarily deafened and he could not make out what was said.

Drew pointed to his ears and shook his head as he limped toward the young man who leaned out the door. As he came closer, the kid yelled with careful annunciation, “THAT… WAS… AWESOME!!”

He grinned and had to agree.

“Dude! More … … coming! … inside with me!”

Drew figured out what he wanted from the frantic gestures and limped inside the store. The kid locked and bolted the door as if that could stop the monsters.

I should probably introduce myself.

“Hello, I’m Drew. Is anyone else around, or is it just you?”

“I’m Matt, fam! Just me ‘round here. I got stuck on shift when the crazy started.”

“So, you work here? Do you know how to get the pumps working without power?”

“Naw fam, the genny’s busted.”

“So they won’t work without power?”

“Nope.”

Drew sighed in frustration and leaned against the glass door. His leg hurt, he felt dizzy, and now he had no clue what to do.

This sucks!

“You don’t look so hot fam, but that gun slaps! You’re the G.O.A.T.!”

What the hell is wrong with this kid? Is he high?

“How old are you, Matt?”

“20.”

Is he touched in the head, or am I just old? Whatever. I gotta figure out how to get to a hospital. Or maybe I don’t? After all, the crystals cured my disease and made me younger, maybe it’ll fix my leg? It’s worth a shot.

“Hey Matt, I’m going to head outside and check something out, can you watch my back?”

“Sure thing fam!”

Drew paused for a second and decided not to loan Matt his pistol. He knew nothing about the kid and wondered if there was something wrong with him.

“Just yell if you see something.”

“You got it, Chad.”

“It’s Drew.” he corrected.

Does he have memory issues as well? Now I’m glad I didn’t loan him my gun.

Drew scanned the horizon after he exited the store. He did not quite trust Matt as a lookout. The area was clear, so he retrieved his new knife from the van and hobbled to the dead weasel-bear. Drew kneeled down and admired his aim. The bullet had entered its head slightly below the left eye and exited the back of its head. He assumed it took out a large portion of the brain on its way through.

That was a great shot.

Shaking off his self-praise, he got down to business. The cuts were much easier with the sharp knife and his new strength. What took at least fifteen minutes the first time was completed in only thirty seconds now. Drew reached in with his arm and quickly found the gem and retrieved it.

“EWWW! That’s nasty fam!”

He ignored Matt and cleaned the crystal with his shirt.

“Whatcha got there?” Drew heard the kid’s footsteps as he walked closer.

“I don’t know what it is, but they all have them.” Drew answered, distracted by another gem he could consume.

Come on! Work your magic for me again! I need to heal!

Drew swallowed the gem and visualized his wound. He imagined the gem magically healing his body.

“Woah! What the hell you doing? That’s so extra!”

Warmth filled his stomach and he ignored the gibberish spewed by Matt. He could feel the energy as it traveled down his leg and toward his wound. His leg started to itch badly and he had to stop himself from scratching it. Drew unwrapped the blood-soaked bandage he had pieced together and watched as his leg visibly knit itself together. When the wound closed without a scar, the warmth traveled the rest of his body and did… something, he was not sure.

When the sensation ended, he continued to ignore Matt and scanned his surroundings.

I’m glad I didn’t trust Matt.

A threat was headed right toward him.