- Text Size +

~ 12 ~

 

 

 

 

 

The Middle of the Road

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Place: 20 miles or so outside of Philadelphia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

+ AJ +

 

 

 

Even though we know he was driving as fast as he could, we all still felt the need to scream at Kevin to drive faster. The ground was shaking beneath us as our car sailed down the road at speeds which would have brought the entire police department out in force, but like I said, it still felt like we were going a little too slow and what ever was on our tail was going to catch up to us. That’s the thing; we didn’t know what was chasing us exactly. We didn’t see anything, but the sound was scary as hell. I have never heard anything like it before and believe me; I’ve heard a lot of interesting sounds.

 

 

 

“What the hell is going on?” Howie asked again. He has said that about fifteen times in my estimation.

 

 

 

We all swayed when Kevin made a very sharp right turn onto another big road. There were no other cars driving at all, in fact on this particular road there weren’t even any left abandoned. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

 

 

 

“Do you hear it anymore? I don’t hear it anymore.” Brian said, answering his own question but he was right. The horrible sound that seemed to be chasing us, was gone…for now at least.

 

 

 

“What the hell is going on?”

 

 

 

“I wish I knew…” I don’t like when Kevin sounds as flustered as he does now. When he was panicked or nervous about something it usually meant we all should be. Not that I wasn’t already perfectly aware that we needed to be alarmed by what was going on because…what the fuck, right? But still, it would have been a little helpful if Kevin seemed to think he at least knew what was going on since I can tell you I have no freaking clue myself.

 

 

 

“We’re just going to keep driving until we see some sign of life. There has to be someone around who can help us out.”

 

 

 

“Where is everyone?”

 

 

 

“AJ, I wish I knew.”

 

 

 

“I mean, you can’t tell me the entire state of Pennsylvania isn’t home.”

 

 

 

“Something big must have happened while we were in the air.”

 

 

 

Kevin looked back at me through his mirror, at least let’s pretend he was looking at me and not looking for whatever it was that was following us earlier. Either way, I didn’t like the look.

 

 

 

“If something that big happened, don’t you think we would have heard about it before we even took off? It’s not like the trip to Philly took 10 hours or something.”

 

 

 

I was thinking exactly what Rok just said.

 

 

 

“Brian, I have no clue, we’re just going to have to be patient for now.”

 

 

 

Howie was in the front seat next to Kevin and was once again trying his cell. “Still no signal,” He closed it and put it back in his pocket.

 

 

 

Glancing out the window, things looked normal to me. The trees were still green. The sky was blue, well minus the snow falling to the ground in May, which was odd. “Can you put the heat on Kev?”

 

 

 

He answered by turning the heat on full blast. “I don’t get why it’s snowing.” I muttered under my breath.

 

 

 

Brian who was sitting next to me just kind of gave me a shrug. I could tell he was freaking out but also trying not to let on that he was. The half eaten fingernails told the whole story. Nick was sitting on the other side of Brian and was looking out the window. I noticed that since we got into the car, he has said nothing.

 

 

 

“You okay Kaos?”

 

 

 

When he didn’t answer, Brian gave him a little nudge. I could see Kevin once again look at us through the mirror. “Yeah.” Was the only answer we got but at least he said something and that was a plus?

 

 

 

A sign pointing right said Philadelphia 20 miles, so Kevin took a very sharp turn in that direction. He was driving as if he has never driven a car before. If the circumstances were different I would be making fun of this, or if not me, definitely Nick, but nobody said a word.

 

 

 

“I hope we have enough gas to make it.”

 

 

 

“How much is there in the tank?”

 

 

 

“Less than a quarter.”

 

 

 

It’s been so long since any of us have had to drive ourselves around I had no clue if that was enough for 20 miles or not. In fact, I wasn’t even sure how much it would be to fill up a car. Not that we’d be able to do that anyway, what with everyone mysteriously gone and all.

 

 

 

“People!” We all looked out the window where Howie was pointing and sure enough there were about five people roaming on the road. When they saw the car they scattered and ran off into the woods.

 

 

 

“Why are they running?”

 

 

 

Kevin pulled off the side of the road where the people were last seen, “I have no idea, but I think we should go look for them.”

 

 

 

“Really, because they seem to want no part of us.” I wasn’t about to go out on some goose chase only to find ourselves smack in the middle of Deliverance or Misery.  Unfortunately Kevin didn’t seem to have the same concerns. He got out of the car and gave us one of his “well what are you waiting for,” looks.

 

 

 

I wasn’t really looking forward to getting out of the car and back into the snow. Yes, I’m trying to ignore the fact that it’s fucking snowing in May. There are so many things I’m trying to ignore right now.

 

 

 

Once we were all out of the car, Kevin felt the need to pick up his pace to a slow jog. Yes, let’s jog in the snowy woods off of the highway. What could go wrong, right?

 

 

 

“Where do you think they were going?” Howie asked as he tried catching up to Kevin who was now moving at a slightly faster pace.

 

 

 

“I think the better question is why do you think they were going?” Brian moved passed me and quickly did the same to Howie.

 

 

 

I stopped and turned around to see if Nick was going to pass me as well but he was still standing by the car and looking completely lost and out of it. “Nick?” I yelled back. Only then did he start moving towards us at a really slow pace. Maybe he was thinking what I was thinking as far as the woods were concerned.

 

 

 

Kevin stopped and Brian almost ran into him. It looked comical from here and I actually let out a small laugh. Funny how we all have different ways of dealing with stress seems like mine is laughing inappropriately.

 

 

 

“Let’s go guys!” He was shouting at Nick and I because we weren’t running into the unknown like the rest of them.

 

 

 

“Come on Nick.” I gently urged almost grabbing onto his arm and walking him towards the rest. Not sure why I felt the need to be so nice to him, but he seemed like he needed it.

 

 

 

“This all can’t be happening AJ.”

 

 

 

“We don’t know what’s happening.”

 

 

 

“I know, but whatever it is, it’s not good. This isn’t right. It’s like we’re not where we’re supposed to be. That’s what it feels like to me that we’re not really here.”

 

 

 

As much as I wanted to tell him he was being stupid for thinking that way, I kind of had to agree with him. I was feeling it too. I came to the conclusion that this wasn’t a dream but it felt nothing like reality either. Even as we walked further and further into the woods it felt more like a set of a movie than what it was. I almost wanted to bend down and feel the grass under the snow. Maybe it was Astroturf, maybe the snow was Styrofoam. Maybe this was a set or something.   

 

 

 

I felt him staring at me so I looked up and smiled, “Dude, I have no idea. I wish I could tell you something, but I got nothing.”

 

 

 

“We shouldn’t be doing this. We should go back to the car before it’s too late.”

 

 

 

I was inclined to agree with him again, this was another thing highly unusual, when Nick and I are on the same page about something. I felt myself suddenly slipping as the slope of the small hill started to decline. Instinctively Nick grabbed for my arm and caught me before I fell on my ass.

 

 

 

“Thanks.”

 

 

 

“Are you guys coming or what?” Brian asked at the bottom of the hill waiting for us to catch up.

 

 

 

“Brian, I don’t think we should be following those people.” Nick was making his case again, not that Brian had any more pull than I did.

 

 

 

“We have to do something; they were the first sign of life we’ve seen since we landed.”

 

 

 

Nick nodded as we all began walking towards Howie and Kevin, “Yeah maybe…I still have yet to see a bird or a squirrel.”

 

 

 

We really should have seen at least something now that we were smack in the middle of the woods. “Something isn’t right…” Nick whispered again, just in case we hadn’t heard him the last fifty times.

 

 

 

Kevin and Howie stopped walking and once again we were all caught up to each other. “Do you hear that?”

 

 

 

I nodded at Howie. The sound of people talking started wafting through the air just out of reach to where we were. That’s when my nerves really kicked in.

 

 

 

“Hello? Is anyone there? We need help!” Kevin yelled before any of us had time to second guess this whole plan of his.

 

 

 

The talking came to a sudden halt. They heard us, but said nothing. That’s probably not a good sign.

 

 

 

“Our plane had an emergency landing and then blew up. People are dead. We just need to call for help and let our families know we are okay. Hello?”

 

 

 

Again silence.

 

 

 

“Maybe this isn’t a great idea Kev. Maybe we should just go.” Howie urged when he saw Kevin growing impatient with the obvious disregard for what he was saying.

 

 

 

Instead of listening to D, he started moving even closer to where the people were hiding. “I know you can hear me, please…we really just need a land line. Our cell phones aren’t working and we need to call the police.”

 

 

 

I felt Nick staring at me so I turned to see the look of apprehension on his face. I was feeling it too, just as a middle aged man stepped out from behind the trees holding what looked like a rifle in his hands.

 

 

 

“Whoa…” Kevin said as he quickly put his hands in the air and stepped back, “We don’t want to cause any trouble…”

 

 

 

“I don’t care what you want. You all best just turn around and get out of here. If they find us because of you I swear to God I’ll hunt you all down and kill you!”

 

 

 

The viciousness in his tone as he held the gun squarely pointed at Kevin was enough for me to almost wet myself. He was freaking aiming a gun at one of us. What the HELL?

 

 

 

“I’ll give you to the count of ten to turn around and get out of here. I’m not asking again.” He looked over at me that time and I am sure I winced and backed up.

 

 

 

“Okay, sorry…” We all turned and started toward the hill but I was afraid at any time I’d hear the blast of a gun behind us.

 

 

 

None of us said anything until we were back in the car and moving. Brian was the one to break the silence.

 

 

 

“Where are we?”

 

 

 

“I wish I knew,” came the solemn answer from the driver’s seat.

 

 

 

“He was acting like he was scared for his life.” Howie added.

 

 

 

“Maybe they are on the run from the police or something.” As the words came out of my mouth, I didn’t believe them.

 

 

 

“Oh great, is that water in the middle of the road?” We looked in front of us where it seemed like the road was almost non existent it was so covered with water. Although it was hard to tell under the layer of snow that was beginning to pile up on the road.

 

 

 

Kevin slowed the car to almost a crawl as we got closer to the flooded area, trying to access if it was safe to drive on.

 

 

 

“Jesus Christ.” Howie whispered in almost a cry.

 

 

 

“What?” I asked before I saw it for myself.

 

 

 

Kevin stopped the car and we all just sat there for a few seconds. No one really wanted to get out but we all knew we had to. This was something we had to really see with our own eyes. From a distance in the car wasn’t good enough.

 

 

 

“There are so many of them…” Nick said as we all got out and ventured closer.

 

 

 

It wasn’t water that was under the snow. It was birds, a massive amount of them, and all lying dead in the middle of the road like they had just dropped from the sky. There were so many of them we couldn’t even tell where the bodies ended.

 

 

 

None of us had one word to say as we just looked out at the sea of dead birds in the middle of the road. After a few minutes, I took my eyes off of the scene and looked past the road where there was a green sign that originally said Philadelphia 15 miles, but someone had spray painted over it. What it said now, is what I was really beginning to feel.

 

 

 

This is the end.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter End Notes:

Hope you enjoyed. I didn't have you wait for that long this time! YAY lol Thanks for reading!