The birds were competing for the loudest noise around as we finally stepped off the hiking trail. The parking lot was cramped with all the debris and bloody pieces strewn around. Now, it was easy to tell that the body by the car was a tall man. And that was all I was able to discern from what remained of him. Even his face was not spared. I hurried to look somewhere else when I spotted teeth peeking through the jugged whole in a cheek.
Andy was bent over by the bush, puking his guts out. I was close to joining him. But my mind dulled with exhaustion and blunted the reality enough to cushion my reaction. Becoming overly familiar with Andy's insides earlier today probably had something to do with my desensitization, too.
Quiet sobs from the car confirmed my suspicion that the second hiker was hiding inside. I approached the passenger door and knocked on the cracked window.
"Dinosaurs are gone, you can come out."
The sobbing had stopped, but there was no movement. The door was locked, so I knocked one more time. No one answered. Andy approached the other side, drinking from his water bottle.
"Two tires are busted," he commented. "Even if they use a spare, this car is not going anywhere without an evacuator."
"We should get going. Who knows how many of those things will be here soon?"
"What about this girl?" He pointed towards Volvo's back tinted windows.
Only now I spotted someone curled up in the space behind the driver's seat. I took a deep breath. Exhausted and in pain, I had no patience to deal with whatever breakdown she had.
"I will go wash the blood off my face. You have ten minutes to get her out of there. After that, we are leaving with or without. This body smells, and it will attract more monsters."
"Wow, Chlo, that's dark…" Andy commented on my instructions, but I ignored him.
It was surreal to step into the clean pit toilet and see my state in the mirror. I knew I must look bad, but this was a whole other level. I was covered in dust from head to toe. My face was a mix of dried blood, caked with grime and streaked with sweat here and there. Even my brown hair was no longer brown. It was the colour of the dusty soil of the trail. My grey eyes stood out like white voids on all this mess.
I couldn't resist my curiosity and tried to unwrap my headbandage. But it was stuck to the patch of dried blood, and I didn't want to reopen the bleeding, so I just left it be. I did my best to wash the dirt and keep my head wrapping dry. There was a large bruise over my left ribs, and somehow seeing it made it hurt more.
The water tap was one of those annoying timed push taps. It took countless pushes to get clean. Everything in my vicinity was covered in pink water splashes. But this bird bath helped me feel more human and centred my fraying mind.
I drowned all the small cuts and scrapes on my hands in the remainder of my sanitizer and stepped back out.
Andy and a skinny, tall blond in an Alo Yoga set were going through the Volvo trunk. It took a conscious effort to look anywhere but at the dead body by the car.
I came up closer, zipping my windbreaker over my sports bra.
"What are you looking for?" I asked when I was near them.
Andy jumped and turned around. It seemed that two fights with monsters didn't teach him to pay attention to his surroundings. There was nothing subtle about my limping gait.
The blond continued frantically digging through the compartments.
"Jess is looking for something to wrap her husband's body in."
"We can't just leave him here! I have to bury him. With his family. That's what he would have wanted," she said in a strained voice.
I looked around. The wind was picking up, and the Sun was starting to move to the other side of the sky. We should hurry up.
"We have a blanket in the trunk, don't we?" I suggested. "I used it to wrap the tripod on the way here."
"Oh, yes," Andy hit himself on the forehead and went towards his car. Jess followed him. I stayed beside the uprooted trunk.
It had all kinds of things inside: hiking shoes, walking sticks, flashlights. I picked up a dark duffle bag, full of workout gear, threw out the shoes, tennis racquet and other useless items, stashed the flashlight in there and started going over the rest of the things. None of my companions were in the mood to be practical, so I guessed that role fell on me.
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By the time they had wrapped and hauled the dead body into the trunk, I had sacked a first aid kit, two bottles of water, one Gatorade, two protein bars, walking sticks and a roll of paper towels. With high hopes, I went through the glove compartment and the middle console, but there was nothing that could be considered a weapon. Not even a multitool.
There was a pink backpack on the backseat, and I brought it over to our car. I loaded all the bags onto the backseat. My backpack was a menace to society, though. So after some thought, I transferred things that were relatively free of pepper spray into the duffel bag and put the backpack into the trunk.
Jessica and Andy were busy figuring out how to fit the body in the compartment. Jessica's husband must have been well over six feet, and the Ford's trunk was just too small to accommodate the body in the beginning stage of rigor mortis. Definitely not a situation I ever imagined myself in, nor wanted to help with. So I just left the bag in Andy's care.
I sat on the front seat of the Ford, applying band-aids from the first aid kit to the cut on my leg. After a hushed debate, Andy and Jess figured something out and loaded into the car. Jessica sat in the back seat, and Andy fell behind the steering wheel.
"Can you call my mom while we are driving?" He asked, giving me his phone.
I pulled the fabric of my pants over a fresh bandage and took the phone.
"Sure," anything to make us finally go.
Jess was typing away on her phone, too.
Andy started the car and slowly drove out of the parking lot. The forest around us looked peaceful. Like nothing had happened, and no deadly monsters were lurking around.
After the third "All circuits are busy. Please try your call again later." I placed the phone in the cup holder.
"No luck," I said.
The fact that the call didn't even go through was concerning, and I wondered if it was due to a failing network or a high amount of calls.
"Can you text her?" he was gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
I took the phone and typed a text under his dictation:
Hi, Mom. Where are you? Are you safe? We got into an accident on the hike, but I'm fine. Going home now. Please stay inside if you are at home. I'll be there in an hour.
"Can I send?" I asked Andy after a re-read.
"Yeah, just…" he lowered his voice. "Write "xoxo, Drew" at the bottom. Otherwise, she will know something is wrong."
"For sure," I said, tipping it out.
Jessica was done with her typing, too and was now quietly sobbing in the back. The atmosphere was gloomy to say the least.
There were no other cars on the road, but it could have meant anything. On our way here, there were no cars, either. It was Friday morning, and everyone should have been working, not hiking. That's why I chose today to film.
I looked into the forest on my side of the road. A bright blue bird, the size of a large crow, hopped off the branch and flew into the sky. It could have been a Blue Jay, but I had never seen a creature with plumage this bright. Was this just an illusion created by a random sunray? Or was that bird also part of the monsters that would be hunting us from now on?
Compulsively, I pulled out my phone and opened the social media app to check if I had received any new likes or comments under my video. The Internet was slow enough for my mind to wander. Unsurprisingly, I didn't have any texts or missed calls.
Finally, the Studio page had loaded. There were no new engagements since the last time I checked it this morning. Right, the end of the world was probably happening everywhere. Who would be watching a workout video right now?
My finger hovered over the icon for another app, but I restrained myself. I only had twenty percent of the battery left, and I should probably preserve it in case I need to call 911 or Google another life-saving procedure. Usually, there was a portable battery with me anywhere I went, but I forgot it today. Out of all the days…
I locked the screen, and my face with the bloodstained bandage around the forehead stared back at me. I willed my Deck to open. The [Heal Wound] card had a timer over it. And I still had another forty minutes before I could use it again.
I tried to swipe right and left over the holo-screen, hoping to see some more information, but nothing happened. I remembered Andy droning on about it being similar to a game.
"Andy? You were talking about some Stat screens or something beside the Deck. Did you see anything when you got the system?"
"Didn't notice anything, but I didn't have much time to explore. The cards were different colours, though. My [Precision] is Green. You got any other colours?"
"Sure…" I scratched my knee and winced at the pain. There must be a bruise forming from all the abuse it took. "I've had a green one offered, but didn't take it. I only have blue and had a white. White was consumable."
"And what about the blue? Can you read the description of your [Leap] again?"
"Sure," I opened the Deck and read it out loud.
"Ok, I think I got it. My [Precision] is a permanent improvement. Like, everything I do, even peeing… khm, sorry. So I can do everything with more precision. It doesn't have a cooldown, and I don't need to activate it."
"Is this really the time to be discussing some games?" Jessica chimed in from the back.
I closed my mouth and gave Andy a look, unsure how to explain what was happening to us. We turned off the side road onto the highway, and Andy picked up the speed, without addressing Jessica's comment.
"Stop by the pharmacy if you see any," I asked him, changing the subject.
"Wait, where are you going? I live the other way around." Jessica said.
"Emm… Home," Andy said.
"Oh, I…" She started in a shaky voice. "I was hoping you could bring me home first."
"But I want to check on Mom. We can drop you off after?"
"And I need to get to the hospital," I supplied, indicating at my head.
"Please," Jessica made big eyes into the rear-view mirror. "I just can't imagine bringing Craig through town. The trunk doesn't even close. We can bring him home, where I can call the police. We have a line phone. Oh, goodness, I would need witnesses. Please, Andy." Her voice trembled. "It's just a fifteen-minute ride from here. And there is a small walk-in clinic along the way." She turned her attention to me.
"I am sold," I raised my hands. Andy's brows were furrowed, but it was obvious we were winning over him. There were still no cars around us. He slowed down and did a three-point turn. In the middle of a highway. The end of the world had its own perks.
Chloe's Deck (2/10):
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Blue Card: [Leap]
Instantly leap forward up to 6 feet. Beware of obstacles. Cooldown 30 minutes.
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Blue Card: [Heal Wound]
A small burst of healing for a single target area you touch. Cooldown 1 hour.