Searing World

Real People

The road was littered with a sight of cars that were not parked, they had been abandoned. Families drastically trying to get away from nightmares that surrounded them left everything behind. For Lee and Buck, daylight was leaving soon and the night was not much further away, but the sanctuary of the bunker was. Looking forward or looking back made no difference. All that Lee and Buck could do is head away from which they came.

"Well, we can't just keep going!"

"What do you suppose we do, go back?"

Lee kept looking at the floor as he ran unsure how to respond to Buck. While wanting to go back to help Caden and Erin, there was little point. Unarmed and under supplied, getting back to the bunker was the only plan they had, the only order received that made logical sense. They would never make it back like this, with what they have.

"We have to check the cars. Just look! Surely there's something we can use?"

They both slowed down and gradually came to a frantic halt. Buck looked exhausted as he glared at Lee, looking for all the answers. Lee was more than half Bucks age but that did not matter. Buck had spent his life as a philosophy teacher working in a secondary school. He was not cut out for this world, not so close to his retirement. Looking to Lee, a boy born into this world, made more sense than anything else that had happened recently. Buck acknowledged lee with a drained look of command and spoke softly

"Sounds good to me Lee. I'll start on this one"

Pointing to a car, Buck made his way over and started opining doors and suitcases. Lee did the same. While there was some stuff on the floor, there was nothing that warranted the time spent to rummage it. The sun's immense heat had destroyed anything that had not been kept in shade. The paint on the cars crisped over like it had been buffed with a cheese grater, while the raw, hot steel poked through trying to return to the earth. The only salvage worth looking at lay in the protective shade of the cars. With nothing that had any use Lee took a moment to gather his thoughts.

Lee has a sense of dread. The sense that cannot be described but only felt and never understood. Before Lee had a chance to understand what was going on in the far reaches of his  peripheral vision, Buck was being knocked on the ground. Lee turned his head to understand what was going on, he too was being pinned to the floor in a meaningful silence. No noise, no talking. Even Buck was being quiet which worried Lee more than anything. All he could feel and hear was the leather on his neck, creaking with the movement of fingers, human fingers. They were people, real life people.

Lee could not believe it, he had never seen anyone that was not in the bunker. With no idea how to react to this new stream of information rushing through his head, Lee struggled to find the words. But the man holding him firmly to the ground gave him little time to think, unless it was to answer his questions. From a strong, muffled voice came the first words Lee had heard from a stranger in his whole life and they were not what her was expecting.

"Now then, boy. Where the fuck you come from and what you do'in on my road"

Please comment. I found this section difficult as its the first split in the story. Feed back welcome