Dark Sky

21 - The Cover of Darkness

Chapter Twenty One

The ground crunched under his feet as he stumbled through the charred undergrowth that used to be flourishing woodlands. Charcoaled wood disintegrated to black powder as the weight of his body crushed them under foot, stepping deeper into the burned trees.

Joe was injured and losing blood from a wound in his torso. A piece of sharp metal protruded from him on his right side just below his rib cage and he knew if he didn't find help soon he would probably die.

He had chosen to make his way though the woodlands after waking up in the mangled wreck of a car he had crashed earlier. It was the middle of the night and he figured that if Travis was still searching for him, he stood a better chance of evading him under the cover of the trees.

It was a difficult choice.

He didn't know if he would find the help he needed before he became too weak venturing this way but if he had stayed out on the road he ran the risk of being found by his pursuers. Then he would be dead anyway.

Leaning briefly against a blackened tree, trying to breath through the pain in his lower chest, he brushed his hand through his hair. He was immediately alerted to another pain that he had not noticed until that moment and his head felt like it was suddenly on fire. Looking curiously at his hand in the darkness of the night he saw a curious dark fluid smudged into his palm, he guessed in daylight would look red. He needed to find help or medical supplies as soon as possible, realising he had quite a nasty head injury too.

Pushing himself clumsily away from the tree he began to stagger on into the woods blindly. Not knowing how far he would have to walk before he found what he needed. Or if he would make it at all.

Joe tried hard to think of anything that would take his mind off the raging pain that currently coursed through his body and found himself thinking of times before the bombs.

The world had taken everything for granted then, normal everyday things that would now be a luxury. Right now before the bombs he would be sleeping off a night of drinking beer ready for another day at work.

His life had been pretty routine really. Boring even. But right now he wished he could get that dull life back. It was better than the perils he faced now.

The one person he had met since the apocalypse began that he had clicked with, was gone. The chances of ever seeing her again were slim. Leila could be anywhere by now.

At least she had escaped the madness of Dinford.

Joe was brought back to reality suddenly as his foot disappeared down an old abandoned rabbit hole twisting his ankle awkwardly. His leg gave out from under him and he fell to the ground heavily in a cry of pain.

The cry turned instantly to a scream as he knocked the shard of metal that was protruding from him on the way down. As he lay breathing erratically on the floor he felt a warm sticky flow of blood ooze from the wound and then the dark trees around him faded away from his vision and he began to black out.

***

The battered and old pickup screeched to a halt in the darkness as Travis spotted the thick black skid marks etched into the surface of the road.

Exiting the cab he was joined by two of his followers who had jumped down from the flat bed on the rear of the truck. All baring shotguns they followed the tyre tracks to the edge of the road.

Travis shone his torch into the trees and he immediately spotted what he had been looking for for the last two hours. The car his prisoner had stolen laid upside down and bent around a tree, steam still rising from the broken radiator.

"Come on." Travis commanded his men to follow as he crossed the ditch to the wreck.

Shining the torch through the mangled drivers door it was immediately clear Joe was no longer in the vehicle. He quickly shone his torch all around the surrounding area to see if the escapee had been thrown in the crash.

Nothing was there.

Joe was alive and on foot, which actually pleased Travis. He wanted to kill him personally and up close.

"Get the equipment from the truck!" Travis ordered turning to his followers. "We have to find him."

The first follower looked a little concerned. "You want us to go in there now?"

"That son of a bitch killed Jeb!" Travis growled looking back into the woods. "Your damn right were going in there now!"