The drive to Jack’s hometown was long and jerky. The dirt ‘road’ we drove on was filled with more potholes than I cared to think about, and water had worn little streams that pulled the tires down and away. It was also apparent that the car’s suspension was shot, and we had to drive slowly to keep our bones from jumping out of our skin.
Jack had clearly had the heat on on his way here, but between the people and the cats, the sunlight streaming through the window started baking us to a crisp. I was disappointed but not surprised when Jack revealed the car’s air conditioner didn’t work. To breathe, we each had to grab the little handles beneath the window and manually roll the windows down so we didn’t suffocate in the oven that was his car.
As the other’s windows rolled down easily, mine stayed put no matter how many times I rotated the gear.
“Sorry, Hayden,” Jack said, catching my movements from his review mirror. “That one’s broken.”
I slammed my head against the headrest with a huff, letting my fingers fall from the plastic. I could already feel my face approaching the color of my hair as the heat got to me. Sweat gathered over me, dripping onto the cloth seats.
Gross.
While I slowly died in the back seat, Mattie took to the car like a fish to water, delighting in the rush of wind against her face (though, at our speeds, it was really more of a breeze) and laughing as the car dipped and jumped with each pothole and bump. Her favorite part, apparently, was the way the car skidded forward on the dirt when Jack slammed on the brakes as he dodged one thing or another.
Coincidentally, Jack suddenly needed to brake more often after that.
This only brought me closer to death in the back seat. The heat, combined with the jolting movements and the empty acids in my stomach, was quickly mixed into a recipe for severe carsickness. There came a time when I feared so much as opening my mouth might make me vomit, and I released Ani to grip the car door tightly. Though I mused if I did vomit in the car, it would only serve him right for this torture.
Cove, next to me, had unbuckled himself to brace his knees against Jack’s seat, slouching so his back was angled between the seat and the backrest, his chin dipping onto his chest. His eyes were closed, and his breathing indicated that he’d somehow managed to fall asleep that way. Ranch piled herself onto his stomach, her tiny claws digging into his jeans to prevent herself from slipping.
I envied him.
I also hoped he’d wake up sore with minor scratches all over his chest from Ranch for leaving me to suffer alone.
It wasn’t completely out of the question, with the way the car leaped into the sky and slammed back down with the natural speed bumps.
The torture died down about halfway when the dirt road met with a poorly kept concrete one. But even the poor state of the concrete road was far smoother than the dirt one had been, and my stomach thanked the heavens for it.
Mattie ooh’d and ahh’d as Jack explained that they’d been steadily working on getting civilization back to where it was when the A.I. first appeared.
“This is only a little bit of what we’ve been doing,” he explained, taking his eyes off the road briefly to watch Mattie, “you’ll see a lot more soon,” mischievously, he continued, “ I don’t want to ruin the surprise.”
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Mattie’s looked back at him with a grin brighter than a ten thousand-watt lightbulb.
Finally, the ride from hell was almost at an end. I watched out the window, suddenly grateful for the glass, as Jack wound our way through a weary mountain pass. The drop-off was mere feet from the car door, close enough to make me dizzy.
As he turned around a bend in the road, the trees brushed aside to reveal a valley nestled between mountains, filled with thousands of new-looking buildings, some so tall they might be considered skyscrapers. A grid of streets stretched across the valley from the city’s center, bridging over a river that spilled down the mountain across from us, skirting around the edge of town to collect in a massive lake that pooled at the bottom of a mountain to our left. A dam sat at the edge of the lake, holding it in place and perhaps even providing the electricity that powered the town.
If Mattie had been bright before, she was brighter than the sun that pounded through the car windows now. She leaned so far forward she nearly banged her head on the dashboard, “Wow,” she said, her voice overflowing with awe. “Is this what Maple used to look like?”
Cove stirred at her words, stretching his arms up and almost dislodging Ranch.
Jack laughed. “Close, but on a much smaller scale.”
I turned to Cove and mouthed, ‘Maple?’
He blinked, taking a few seconds to register what I’d asked, then leaned over and whispered, “What she named the city. She based it off of an old road sign near the river.”
Ahhh. And Jack knew what she was talking about because he knew about What Lies Ahead.
Details were getting complicated enough that a lesser man may have had trouble keeping track of who knew what. I nodded to acknowledge that I’d heard, and Cove pulled away, leaning forward to look through the windshield at the city unfolding before us. Now that we were in the city limits, the roads were smoother, and I leaned against my window, my breath faint against the glass as I watched the sign saying ‘Welcome to Oakwood’ pass by.
I wondered how realistic this situation was. If our society could collapse and rebuild so quickly.
An unsettling image of Chicago empty and rotting popped into my head. I shook my head empty of the thought, tossing it in the same pit I’d thrown the rest of the things I didn’t want to think about. Instead, I busied myself with observing the locals, watching as they went about their lives, similar to those back home. I listened with half an ear as Jack and Mattie debated on where to start before Jack took his ‘driver privileges’ and decided where to stop without input.
This entire situation felt like it went from a life-or-death apocalyptic scenario to a family road trip, leaving me feeling off-kilter. Mattie was still taking everything in stride, drinking up all the information she could milk. Her ability to flex instead of break underneath all the new information thrust before her eyes said a lot about her willingness to change, and I thought the world might be a better place with more people like her in it.
Jack pulled into a parking lot outside a large building with an incredibly wide staircase that narrowed into a doorway, with lions standing guard on posts on either side of the staircase. Massive concrete columns held a triangular roof above, the exterior of which proudly proclaimed its status as a history museum.
For Mattie and I, who had only had a brief introduction to the history of this world, this was perhaps the best place to start, and I looked at Jack in a new light. Jack and Mattie had both seemed like more ‘outdoorsy’ people, and I’d assumed that we would be going to a park or walking the city. Instead, he’d taken her somewhere where she would be exposed to all the information she’d wanted to know under one roof.
He must have been planning this for quite some time.
Our eyes met in the rearview mirror, and Jack’s expression flickered, growing dimmer like a candle before Mattie dragged him into a conversation once again.
He probably resented the fact that his first date was marred with the presence of two other men, one of which his future girlfriend was attracted to. As most people probably would.
As soon as the car was in park, my body betrayed me. I’d opened the door and was outside before he could even turn the engine off. In a way, this had been worse than the carriage ride–the carriage, at least, had been built for airflow and hadn’t half-baked me alive.
As soon as he parked, my body betrayed me, and I was out the door before he could even turn the engine off, seriously tempted to kiss the ground after the unpleasant ride. It’d been worse, in a way, than a carriage, as the carriage was built for airflow and hadn’t baked me alive.
Ani clearly felt the same, darting away from the car.
A cool wind tussled through, caressing us with a relaxing breath of fresh, cool air. I stretched my stiff muscles as the rest of them took their sweet time getting out.
Jack patted the car door as he exited, giving the death trap a fond look. “My great-grandparents escaped Maple in this very car.”
I dodged his knowing gaze as he led us across the street. His sentiment was my torture.
We walked up the concrete stairs and through the metal door of the building. Once inside, we lined up, and Jack purchased tickets for us, somewhat resentfully in Cove and I’s case.
Most likely, he didn’t want to leave us alone, uncertain of our objectives and how much we knew.