Moribund

Five

    "Go! Go!" the man urged as he waved his hands, rapidly approaching us. My knees locked up and I began to feel nauseous, that can't be good. The chubbier man swooped up the jerry can that rested by my feet and started towards my truck. What the hell do they think they're doing? He waltzed right up to the tattered truck and began filling it hurriedly as if the old man had said something I didn't hear.

   "What are you doing?" I asked cautiously.

"What the hell are you talking about? We have to go," he responded tautly as he closed the gas cap and tossed the red container to the back.

"I told yo-" I was interrupted, yet again by the blue-eyed man,

    "There's a whole fuckin' army roundin' the damn block! C'mon, please just let us squeeze in, I been fighting for us to live since I was your age," for once, I saw some pleading emotion from the man. My mind kept telling me to say no, so my mouth didn't move at all. But my heart kept telling me that it would be the right thing to spare them, so my body moved for me. I opened the driver's door, nudged my head towards them to signal to enter, and the ginger, followed by the grandfather, clamored into the small cab. I squished my already thin body into the over capacitated three-seater and slammed the door. I tried to start the truck but it gave me only a strong sputter, no, c'mon ole girl. you can do this. This failure prompted me to look over at Gramma, whom I hadn't acknowledged in minutes and had the same eyes full of confusion and fear as before. I felt my eyebrows raise as I gave her a defeated look, "Go on, Honey. You got this," she urged, sounding like she had an impressive amount of faith in my ability to 'rescue' us. Her voice reminded me of whatever I could my mother's was, the almost syrupy-sweetness of it, and the smooth flow that accompanied it. I got a surge of adrenaline, and my head shot around, looking to the corner we had expected them to arrive from. And, sure enough, they were. From only a few individuals leaving, a horde of grotesque beings returned, each and every one with their own disfigurement. My shaking hand began turning the key in the ignition and held it there for a few seconds. The truck sputtered in an effort to start, and, eventually, the old engine to began to run. My tires left marks as I sped out of the police station parking lot, unknowing of 'point B'.

"Oliver, what's going on, what were those... those things?" Gramma broke the short silence with a question that, although I knew inevitable, I still resisted.

"I-I don't know-"

"Oliver, dammit!" Gramma shockingly exclaimed, "This is indubitably serious and it's obvious you aren't telling me something! Now, I might not be all the way there in my mind to you, but I can see something is wrong and you know how I feel about significant things being hidden from me!" I had an inkling that she wasn't as clueless as she was seeming and her retortion revealed that to be true.

"Gramma, I'm sorry. And I know how you feel about secrets. But I just didn't want to burden you with a bunch of unnecessary things. But, I guess none of it was unnecessary and I should've let you know," I began telling her of the night before and the horror I had witnessed in just a few mere hours. Her face spoke every word her mouth couldn't and a bony hand covered her mouth in a stupor. The men sat silently between us, intrigued by our conversation. They were so quiet, I would've hardly noticed them if their weight wasn't pressing on me at every other second. The silence resumed and I could see Gramma getting emotional out of the corner of my eye. I found it difficult to break the stillness as I noticed we only had maybe another twenty-five miles left in the truck. Piece of shit. I felt guilty for not telling Gramma, seeing as I had threw it all into her face at once. Not only that, but now the men knew that I had hidden things from Gramma and they may view me as untrustworthy. I've already turned this whole situation to absolute shit. I suspect whatever trust those men had for me has disintegrated. The men. I don't even know their names and they're in my car?! What am I doing? How could I put Gramma into a situation like thi-