vwalkerwrites
Five years ago, Jason Thomas's parents died in a car crash and left him three things: a house in Michigan, a German Shepherd named Rainbow, and a 1984 Winnebago that has been rusting in the backyard ever since.
He has not started the engine in five years.
Three weeks ago, he started having dreams. New York choking on vines. A beach in California where the things coming out of the water have legs now. A stairwell at the end of a hallway, and something at the bottom of it that has too many teeth.
Last night he punched his girlfriend in his sleep.
This morning he watched her walk through airport security without looking back.
Tonight, on his thirtieth birthday, the Winnebago wakes up.
Tonight, something inside it starts talking.
Tomorrow, every dream he had will be on the news, and Gina will be two thousand miles away in a city that is about to die.
He is going to have to drive across what is left of America to reach her.
He is going to have to do it in a rusted camper that is no longer a rusted camper.
And in the quiet part of himself that he doesn't talk about, he already knows: he was losing her before the world started ending. He just didn't know the world was going to end at the same time.