The school falls behind them, growing smaller in the rearview mirror. A grouping of buildings emerge on the right. Izzie slows down as they approach the fire and police stations, and the county medical center, but if the broken glass and open doors don’t deter her the bodies on the ground do.
Joseph lifts up in his seat to see above the taller trucks in the medical building’s lot, but he can’t make out the shape of an ambulance. He knows that is what Izzie is looking for. The emergency room entrance is open, the automatic doors closing until they bounce off of something he can’t see and then opening again. The bay doors on the front of the fire station are all open. Two firetrucks are inside but no ambulance. “I don’t think she’s here. I don’t see it.”
The car speeds up for another mile, then Izzie begins to slow to turn.
“Call Mom,” she orders her phone again. The phone begins to ring as she pulls into the wide open fields where the County Fair is held every year, slowing to a stop but keeping the car turned on. The call switches to voicemail, and she takes a deep breath before leaving a message. “Mom, if you get this, I'm okay. Get out of town, and send me a message telling me where you go. I'll meet you there.”
She stares at the phone after ending the call, then leaves the same message on her dad’s voicemail. Just in case. “There are so many narrow, wooded roads. I can’t go down every one looking for her.”
Joseph nods, not needing the explanation, but understanding why she needs to give it. If she was alone in her car, if he had been able to get to his, she would probably be doing just that. Driving up and down every road trying to find her mom. Knowing her, she isn’t reminding him that she is sacrificing for him. She is telling herself that she has to get him to safety first.
“Do you see anything,” she asks, twisting in her seat to look around rather than relying on the mirrors. The closest structure something could be hiding behind is a squat rectangular building at least a hundred yards in front of them, at the far end of the parking area. To the right, in the direction of town, the tree line is twice that distance, and to the left it is much farther. With the empty field across the road there is clear lines of sight on all sides for some distance.
Joseph murmers a negative from his side, head whipping back and forth to check. Izzie sucks in a deep breath, holds it, shifts into park and turns off the car.
“What are you doing?” He grabs on to his seat belt, as if the little strap will keep the car moving. “Just because I can't see doesn't mean something isn't there!”
“I know, and I am trusting that you will help me watch.” Izzie breathes the words out, her body taut. “I said I am low on gas. We can't just drive around, at least not until I get more. And turning the car off will help cool the engine a little.”
She rolls down her window partway, and, after a second, Joseph does the same. The temperature inside drops immediately, and he shivers. “It is going to get colder in here if we let out the heat coming off of us.”
“I know.”
They sit and wait, neither saying anything more while they continuously look around for movement. A minute passes, then two. Finally, Izzie breaks the silence. “Call your mom if you know her number. We can go get her, but we need to get to a gas station, first.”
He reaches for the phone, fingers hovering just out of reach. “Can we get gas if nowhere is open?”
“Pop's always leaves the power on to their pumps even when there aren't any attendants. I'll swipe my gas card, it'll be fine.”
His fingers don't reach the last inch to pick up the phone. He thinks of Schrodinger’s Cat. Sometimes he sneaks home books on astrophysics and the thought exercise was listed in one. As long as he doesn’t place the call, his mom might still be alive.
Izzie pulls the phone from its stand and hands it to him. “Pop’s is on the way to the res, and the fields around it will be harvested by now. So not many places to hide. And he closes by 6 the day before Thanksgiving so he can make the drive to Duluth to see his family. There might not be any of the creature’s around if there was no heat. I don’t think there'll be anywhere better to stop for miles.”
Joseph hesitates after entering his mom’s cell phone number. He looks around, making sure nothing is approaching, and hits the call button.
The phone sends out its signal. With each ringing tone from the speaker, his stomach rises farther into his throat. He wants to know. He doesnt want to know. On the third ring, there is a click, and the screen changes to connected.
“Hello? Can you hear me?” The woman on the other end sounds tired, her voice raspy as she calls out. It is the most beautiful voice he has ever heard.
“Mom? It’s me, are you alright?”
Tears gather at the corners of his eyes, and from the sound of her breathing she is having the same reaction. “Jojo, you didn’t answer me, but I knew you were still alive. You had to be.”
“I’m in Izzie’s car. We were stuck at Rusty’s when these things attacked, and it was too dangerous to try to get to my car and my phone.”
“Rusty, that-” her voice is vehement as she lists out expletives that he didn’t think she knew how to say before devolving into a coughing fit. The sound is wet. Joseph looks around, scanning the treelines in the distance. “I always thought that was a stupid rule, not letting you all have your phones. It isn’t like you would be standing around in the aisles watching videos.”
“Yeah,” his voice trails off. “Are you at your office? We're going to come and get you.”
“Don't!”
Izzie jumps, and Joseph is startled enough by the vehemence in her voice that he he fumbles the phone, catching it before it can hit the floor.
“They're in the building,” she continues, calmer. “Graham ran for his car and didn't close the door. I turned off the heat this morning, thinking it might make them leave. They see heat, Jojo.”
“I know they do, Mom.” Her voice sounds weak after her outburst. Joseph grips the phone tightly in his hand. “Are you hurt, Mom?”
“I'm fine. My car is right out front. You two head south. I'll meet up when I can. I have Izzie’s number.”
Stolen novel; please report.
“Mom-”
“Joseph, that's enough. Get going. Don't stop until you pass Illinois. Do you hear me?”
Joseph stares out his window, the still trees in the distance a blurry haze. “Alright, we'll meet you down there. We need to get gas but then we'll go south.”
“Go to Pop's. Wouldn't have been anyone around there last night.”
“That's what Izzie said too.” He tries to inject a smile into his voice, but he doesn't know if it works. “I love you, Mom.”
“I love you too. I always will.”
The phone goes silent, the call ended. Joseph’s finger trembles over the screen, wanting to call her back, but he knows she won't answer. He slides the phone into its stand and allows himself the luxury of closing his eyes. Izzie removes the phone from his grip, replacing it with her hand. The engine ticks, metal cooling in the late Autumn air. Eventually, guilt takes over. Joseph opens his eyes and apologizes for making her watch on her own.
“No, it's alright. But I think we should get moving.” She starts the car and rolls up her window.
“Yeah. Pop's might close before we get there.” He shoots her a tiny smile to show he is joking. To his relief she smiles back.
“It could! It's-,” she pauses, brow furrowing as she looks at the time on the dashboard display. “Is it really only 9am? I can't believe…”
She trails off, shaking her head as she eases the car into gear. “After everything that's happened since we woke up I thought it was later.”
The drive to Pop's Gas Stop is short, barely a half mile down the road leading out of town. The last thing anyone sees when leaving Happy Springs. At least, the last business they see. There are plenty of fields and trees, of course.
Pop's sits in between two such fields, beautiful when the soybeans that are grown there are green and growing. The little gas station at the center of a verdant sea. No cars sit to the sides in the limited parking spots, nor at the pumps. Izzie pulls up quickly, stopping at the pump closest to the exit and idling while she looks around carefully.
“It looks closed.” Joseph peers across Izzie, frowning at the door to the white plaster building. “No lights on inside or out. Do we drive around it?”
“I can't exactly offroad with this,” she says with a grimace. “If you want to hop on around back I will just wait here.”
Joseph rolls his eyes. “What do you want to do?”
“Wake up.”
He has nothing to say to that, so he stays quiet. Her hand moves to the fire extinguisher between them, fingers tapping out a random pattern on the metal handle.
“Stay here. I’ll leave the keys in the ignition. If something happens, leave.”
“What? No. I’ll guard you-”
Izzie sighs. He never imagined a sigh could be so heavy, and yet devoid of any hope. He can see it in her face, she has withdrawn into herself, body on autopilot.
“Stay here. There isn’t enough room for both of us to maneuver between the car and the pumps, it'll be more dangerous.” She pauses and tries to smile. “I’ll be right back.”
Every muscle in his body fights to get out of the car when she does, but she's right. If both of them are crammed in the little gap between car and pump neither will be able to defend themselves. If he stays on the opposite side of the car, he won’t be able to respond to her side quickly, and she will be distracted. The argument between his rational brain and the one that is balking at the girl he likes putting herself in danger frantically plays out in his head, both sides yelling to be heard. The clunk of the cover opening and the pump nozzle fitting into place makes him jump, and he realizes he hasn’t been paying attention. The road is empty, the trees across the road sparse enough that he can see between them. Nothing moves that he can see, and he looks to the opposite side to see how Izzie is doing.
For a second, he can’t see her, and his heart stops. Joseph scoots across the seat and she comes into view, crouched down against the pump, fire extinguisher clutched in her hands. He frowns, then ducks quickly when something flickers at the edge of his vision. Head low, eyes clearing the door only enough to see out the window still, he peers through the gap between the gas pump and the stone column supporting the roof-like canopy. A shadow flickers at the corner of the white building. No, not a shadow, but dark as a shadow. An inky black snout moves out into the open, then pulls back. It happens twice more, before the body moves out with it. His hand shakes as he pulls the door handle, opening the door a crack.
“Izzie! Turn it off and get in!”
She shakes her head emphatically, eyes so wide they are mostly whites. “We need more! Otherwise we’ll get stuck miles from anywhere!”
“That’s better than being eaten here!”
She shakes her head again, strands of hair slipping out of her band and slapping her on the face. “The sun’s out, and the air is warmer even in the shade. I think it’s seeing the slightly warmer engine and confused. Just…move into the driver seat, and I’ll jump in the back seat as soon as we have enough gas.”
He doesn’t move, eyes darting back and forth between the approaching shape and the girl crouched behind the small bit of metal. With a groan, he eases over the hump between the foot wells and slumps as far down as he can while still being able to start the car and take off. Through the crack in the door, he can hear Izzie whispering, “Come on, come on, go faster.”
The gas nozzle clicks, and she darts forward to pull it from the car, dropping it on the ground afterward in her haste. In the side mirror, Joseph can see her hands shaking as she screws the gas cap back on. The creature rounds the support pillar and leans its head toward the car front, then snaps it to the side when it senses something much warmer.
“Shit, get in the car Izzie, now!”
Izzie fumbles for the fire extinguisher instead of the door handle, spraying freezing white foam erratically in front of her. White globs land on the windows and ground, but the pressure is almost used up and the head of the monster is only partly covered. She swings the metal canister at it, smacking into its leg as it swipes a massive paw her way, claws bared. With a scream, she drops the extinguisher and backs toward the rear door, her arm clenched to her chest.
Joseph throws what weight he can on the still cracked door next to him, and it hits the creature with a satisfying thump. As soon as he hears the back door open and close he slams his shut and starts the car. The tires squeal and the engine revs as they tear out of the gas station and back onto the eastbound state highway.
“Are you okay? Izzie!”
“I’m fine. Go!”
He risks a glance in the rear view mirror, but the monster has given up the chase already, falling quickly behind them. The road ahead is clear at the moment, but with trees moving in to border both sides of the highway he doesn’t dare to keep looking behind them. The speedometer hovers at 70mph for several more heartbeats before settling at 60. As much as he wants to push the car to its limits he doesn’t know what those limits are, and the faster he goes the harder it'll be to avoid anything that runs out ahead of them.
A hiss pulls his attention to the back seat. The sound of a zipper and then something is waving around in the rear view mirror. He glances at it and sees a wrinkled t-shirt being pulled from a backpack.
“Izzie, are you alright?” He directs his eyes ahead, trees and the occasional sign flying past.
She hisses, but her voice is steady when she speaks. “Claws got my arm a little. It’s fine, wrapped it in my gym shirt. And before you say it, yes I had to fill up as much as I could. Who knows how things are in other places? It could be better, yeah, but it could be worse.”
Joseph doesn’t have an answer to that. He didn’t plan on yelling at her, but she had scared him and he didn’t want it to happen again. He hears a sigh as the rustling in the back seat stops and decides not to say anything. The silence stretches out, long and empty like the road ahead.
After a while, houses begin to peak out from between the trees. Signs alert them that the speed limit is decreasing, and Joseph gently presses on the brake pedal. A police car is blocking the intersection of two highways that intersect in the tiny hamlet they have entered. The lights are flashing, and he slows down more, hoping to ask for help. A dark shape moves beyond the glass of the windshield, something not human, and he speeds up again. They pick up speed as they avoid the vehicle, flying past a little Stop ‘N Go and continuing out into the wilds of Northern Wisconsin once more.
“Do you think it’s like this everywhere?” His voice catches, and he hates the weakness he hears in it. “What if there is nobody else? Where should we go?”
“I guess…” Izzie pauses, the words hanging heavily in the air. “I guess we head south, where it's warmer. Take 141 when we get to it, and get as far south as we can before we have to get more gas.”
He nods, not pointing out that she only answered one of his questions. Maybe the others don’t need answers yet. “We'll need food at some point. I wish I'd thought to grab some stuff from the vending machine before we left.”
“Not like Leslie gave us time to do more than run. I find myself not at all shocked that she ended up being completely murdering-people psychotic.”
Even though he can’t see her in the mirror, he can hear the disgust in her voice. “Do you think she made it out?”
“I don’t know. She’s like a cockroach, if there was a way to survive I bet she did. She’s not our problem anymore. And she’s alone, at least we have each other.”
Twenty-four hours ago, that statement would have sent him over the moon in a way that his dreams of working for NASA couldn’t have. Now it causes a flutter in his chest, but mostly there is just relief. He doesn't respond. His eyes stay trained on the world around their car as they drive the empty highway, watching out for moving or abandoned cars and anything moving amid the shadows blanketing the ground around the trees lining the road.
Eventually Izzie's ragged breaths even out and she falls asleep where he can see her in the rear view mirror. Joseph lets the calm he's been faking slip away into the cold air. His hands tighten on the steering wheel, knuckles white and muscles bunched. Every flicker of light from the corner of his eyes is a possible danger, and the gas tank needle hovers at 3/4 of a tank. His brain rolls ahead of them, trying to figure out a good place to stop where they won't be ambushed as soon as they get out of the car. How many times will they have to stop? What route will offer the most wide open spaces to stop and let the car cool down before going through more densely populated areas? The road ahead doesn't offer any answers. There is nothing he can do, at least for the moment, except continue to drive.
-Vignette End-