Evolution

Chapter 21

                                                                          Chapter 21
   It was to the tune of “The Musical Fruit” It didn’t make sense, It didn’t rhyme, nor did Alex care. It was somehow calming. She sat in the cab of the truck batting at the keys that were now dangling from the ignition. She watched them sway to and fro and never broke her gaze. They reminded her of the Newton’s Cradle that used to adorn the desk of her school therapist. The metallic steady clank and the unyielding movement of the metal balls always put her at ease. She would do anything for that feeling now. A Newton’s Cradle. Even a Metronome would do the trick. All she had was a song, a steering wheel, and a confused stare from her brother.
   Her hand tightened around the wheel until her knuckles turned white. Alex sang softly under her breathe and tried to figure out the puzzle pieces of the events and how they fit together. Why did Granny Mae walk when she had a truck? Why was the truck still full of gas? Was she scared of driving? How did she know which direction to go?  The question that bothered her the most. Shouldn’t she be back by now?
    “Decisions, decisions, the musical fruit, the more you think the more you toot.”
She batted the keys once more and jumped in fright as Boomers meaty hand darted towards her. With a quick grip he twisted the keys in the ignition. She listened  to life fill the engine. A mighty roar and the beast was awoken. Boomer just smiled at her, almost mockingly.

“Oh is that so? What makes you so sure that’s the right decision?”

    She shifted uncomfortably in her chair, the long pause to contemplate their fates had left her bottom tingling. Asleep. Tiny sleeping pins n needles spider webbed their way freely around inside her stationary buttocks.
    Boomers fat finger tapped the green neon numbers on the digital clock on the dashboard. His answer was simple and genuine.

“So she should have been back by now? Are you sure?”

    Alex stared into her brothers eyes for a long moment, struggling with the decision. Her face turned into a confused pout.

“And what makes you the boss mister man?” she said playfully

    He rolled up his sleeve and flexed his arm, letting the large muscle knot in a proud display. She just giggled and grabbed the door handle, flinging it open and stepping out. The obvious look of confusion and the tug on her shirt told her Boomer didn’t understand.
    She pulled his hand away gently and smiled at him, fixing the ugly crinkle on her close she took a breath and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself. Between her nerves and the pins and needles she needed to stand for a few minutes anyways.

“We need supplies if we are leaving.”

    Boomers eyes widened and his hand gripped the long doorhandle. With a mighty push Alex cringed as the door slammed into the wall of the garage. A loud echo filled the room and Boomers whole body slumped apologetically.
    Alex smiled warmly at her brother.
“It don’t matter what it looks like as long as it drives. Come on, lets get our bags and as much food and household goods as we can fit in here.”
    The mans large feet clomped the cement floor as he took large strides across the garage. Alex followed right behind him, listening to the roar of the engine in the background.
Engine?
    She turned and went back to the truck and opened the door, killing the engine she pocketed the keys, her brother in the doorway waiting.
    “We can’t waste the gas, I’m hoping we can find Trevor and Granny Mae and make it to the next city by nightfall.”
    After an hour of rummaging and finding some very peculiar items packed in her brothers bags, Alex was convinced they were ready. Boomer was the first to jump in the cab, eager to leave, like a kid on his way to the toy store on his birthday. He gently thumped his foot against the floor mat making his leg vibrate in a most annoying manner.
    She fumbled with the seat, trying to figure out how to fold it over. She bent down and reached into the scary abyss beneath, feeling blindly for any kind of lever. Her hand slid up the carpet backing until finally, she found a tiny thumb slide. Pulling it down, she felt pride as the head rest greeted the steering wheel.
    Their bags went in first to assure easy access. Then the grocery bags filled with supplies. As the put the last one securely behind her seat she couldn’t help but let her mind wonder. Inside the last bag was toothpaste, a water gun,  three candles, some sort of horseshoe shaped piece of leather.
She pictured Boomer making a  death ray from these materials. She laughed as she pictured an onslaught of pod creatures running for their life. As it turns out, Pod creatures have a weakness for fluoride ammunition being squirted from a u shaped water gun.
    Shaking the vivid image away, she clicked the seat back in place and hit the button on the wall, opening up the world at large. Slowly the sunlight crept into the garage, one sliver at a time until the world was fully exposed and their safety net was stripped away completely. As the whirring stopped and the garage door hung above the truck, Alex swallowed hard. Her nerves were jump roping in her stomach.
    She hopped in the cab and shut the door. She turned the keys in the ignition and brought the beast to a roar once more. Clueless on what to do she tried to remember the tiny things her father used to do. Like adjust the mirror.
    She adjusted the mirror until she could see her reflection. Instinctively, she fixed her messy hair and looked at herself for a long moment.
    You’re stalling Alex you can do this. She scolded herself and reached to the pit of her soul for a large handful of bravery. Her hand gripped the long metal gearshift and her foot stomped on the brake. She pulled it slowly, listening to the clicks until the tiny red arrow of doom pointed to the “R”.
    “Here we go!”
    She looked over her shoulder and slowly released her foot. The truck starting rolling backwards, gaining more speed than she thought it could. She slammed her foot on the brakes and the truck stopped instantly, thrusting her body into the seat belt hard.
    Boomer flung his large arm out in panic, holding the dashboard. His left arm clung to the handle near the door, the one she remembers her father so lovingly calling the “Oh shit” handle. Boomer shot her a glance, one of anger and of fear mixed together in a paint can stare.
     "Cut me some slack will you? I never done this before!”
Her hands were shaking and her leg muscles twitched from the amount of weight she applied to the brake. She took a deep breath and tried again, letting her foot off slowly, she turned the wheel and put a tiny bit of pressure on the gas pedal. After ten minutes of micro adjusting and stop and go with the pedals, one nasty grinding sound and a  ten inch gash in the driver side door, Alex and Boomer made it out in the daylight.
    It was odd being behind the wheel on roads with no traffic. It almost seemed easy. The red arrow no longer seemed ominous resting on the “D” and the gas pedal seemed friendly. Alex was starting to enjoy herself. She gently swerved to the left and right, avoiding the wreckage and purposely running over the road kill pod creatures.  The wet smoosh and tiny bump in the road was somehow satisfying to her and although it was very unladylike, she had an urge to spout obscenities as she did so.
    She could catch sight of pod-creatures hunting prey near the road, yet she felt safe in the cab of the truck. Maybe it was how high up she was, maybe it was the metal doors separating them from the rest of the world. Maybe it was just the illusion of safety. Either way, for a moment she almost forgot the world was a very dangerous place.
    It was the change in the birds that reminded her. In a single day, the green birds that were simple crows, simple knock off versions of a blue bird, now lined the branches as Pod-Vultures. They seemed to have evolved.

    Her pleasant mood became soured. Her illusion of safety was shattered. She started to pay attention to what was hunting. Not just the green blurs that dotted the sidelines of her fun filled rollercoaster ride in her new found love for driving.
    Less Baboons. That was what scared her. Less baboons and hardly any rats at all. Mountain lions, Pod-Bears, large tigers that were once very rare seemed to be everywhere. The creatures have evolved into unmanageable proportions.
    Her foot felt heavy as she watched the needle on the dashboard dance.
Forty. Fifty five. It was screaming in panic as the red needle touched seventy.
    Boomer was tugging her shirt, trying to get her attention, wanting to show her an atrocity that she could live without. She was too busy gawking in terror at her sunny day ink blotted into a nightmare. She felt a pinch. A hard pinch on her arm. The pain gave way to anger and she turned to yell at him. The look on his face stopped her dead in her tracks and her eyes followed his finger to the trees shaking in the distant.
    There was four of them. Only four. She pretended like that mattered for a second. She watched the trees shake once more and saw their large green feet sink deep in the grass as they stampeded into the unknown.
    Not the unknown. After food. After Trevor!
She jerked the wheel instinctively, almost losing control. She felt the wheels leave the smooth surface, and feel the harsh slam of her body bouncing as the truck jumped over the ditch. She did not care. It was a race. A race against time, a race against mother nature, and most importantly, a race for survival.
    She did not know what was beyond the ditch.
    Four Pod-Elephants had come into existence and they were stampeding towards Trevor. She had to follow them. Beat them. Or die trying.