Whatever It Takes: Mutations

Chapter Fifteen

Adversity 

October 2nd, 11:57 am

Current Location: Harrisonburg, VA 

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I woke up with my head resting against the window, and a painful kink was in my neck. Looking around, I could see a ruined town that stretched out in the distance. There were a few standing buildings, but most of them were either crumbled to dust or just about to collapse. 

The truck was also very quiet, too. Navarez looked pretty stressed out, while Dad was rubbing his knees every once in a while. That made me think back to when we first arrived in the bunker when Olivia said that she was worried about Dad going out to help with the Gouls in the city. At first, I wasn't noticing anything too out of the ordinary with him, but now that I've been watching him a little more than usual, it's starting to make more sense. I glanced over at Olivia, and she was calmly playing with a stuffed plush that I knew pretty well. I recognized it from a trip to Disney World a few years ago. I nudged her gently and motioned to the potato, and she shrugged. 

Suddenly, a huge headwind slammed the car without warning, causing Navarez to come to a stop. The wind was so strong that I thought that the windshield would shatter into the car. Navarez got out of the car, followed by Dad, then the rest of us. I gasped, noticing something that froze me in place. A huge, no, enormous spore cloud was charging towards us at an unimaginable speed. 

"Holy crap..." I mumbled. "There's no way in hell we're getting around that." 

We all just stared at it. Everyone was in a trance until the wind picked up even more, making us all stumble backward. "Get in the car now!" Navarez commanded. Scrambling to obey, I practically threw Olivia in the car with myself right behind her. When Navarez threw it into gear, the tires screeched as the truck took off. 

I looked behind me, and the cloud was barreling towards us. "We have to find somewhere to hide out until this passes." 

"You're right," Navarez said a little frantically. "Help me look somewhere." 

As we sped down the road, all of us were constantly looking around for some sort of miracle to save us from the deadly cloud. To be honest, I tried fighting the urge to look back and see the horror behind us, but I did anyway. It was tremendously closing in on us by the second. 

"Over there!" Dad exclaimed. "That'll be a good place to take shelter." 

Dad was pointing at a storm cellar that was built into a ground beside a two-story house. It was good that he saw it, but hearing stories about people getting trapped in those things made me want to say something, but the cloud was too close for that now. One sniff of it and I'll turn into a Clicker. 

Navarez swerved into the front yard of the house. "Will, grab the rifle in case a few Regulars are in there! Jeremy, get the kids to the cellar, quick!" 

I did as I was told. Grabbing Olivia and Braxton, I ran as fast as my legs would take me to the cellar. Dad and Navarez met up with us soon after, but we were running out of time. The cloud was at least fifteen seconds from being on top of us. In a panic, Dad pulled the lock open and let everyone in ahead of him. Once the four of us piled in, a huge gust of wind sent him flying away from the door. My breath hitched. 

Olivia screamed. "Daddy! No!" 

She tried to go after him, but me and Navarez held her back. We waited a few more seconds for him to come back, but Dad never appeared. Eventually, Navarez was forced to shut the door, ignoring Olivia's screaming and Braxton's crying. As the cloud roared overhead, I could only hold my siblings close to me.