The Moonless Road

The devastation was greater than I could have imagined.  You don't realize what extreme heat will do to cement and flesh until you see it first hand.  After we departed, I lay in the back of the car and tried not to make eye contact with anything that was illuminated by the last of the sun's rays before the midnight sky blessedly engulfed us, shielding us from the decay and ruin.

There are no clouds now -- just hazy streaks of cloud-like remnant that hover meters above the surface; as if the atmosphere has shrunk in girth.  I watch the haze whiz by as we drive silently along the road; swerving every now and then around debris, bodies, and cracks in the foundation. 

Mildred is a good driver.  Annie knits away in the passenger seat.  None of us have tried to turn on the radio.  It would be a clear reminder of how alone we are.

Here, laying in the backseat I adjust my gaze so that I don't notice that treetops, rooftops, and telephone poles are missing from the frame I've created.  I simply stare at the haze, wondering what affect it will have on my body -- and when.

I clear my mind of everything that I was before, and hope that this new person I'm about to become has the strength to endure.  I don't know what we will face; or if I have the ability to overcome it....or if I want to.

I listen half-hypnotically as the bump in the axle of one wheel thumps melodically along.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Thwomp.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

The sound lulls me to sleep for what seems like a second, but when I awake I realize that we are now out of the city.  The road that we chose did not fail us.  Zombies did not thwart our escape.  In a less dramatic fashion, we simply fixed up an old car and drove --hopeful that the further we were from the devastation, the more forgiving the landscape would be.

We drive on into the night with minimal conversation.  From here on in, we will have to be nocturnal to avoid increased exposure to the chemicals in the air.  In a few hours we will take salvage in a house we find along the way.  But for now, we drive.  Each of us staring ahead on the moonless road with no clear indication as to what Destiny will unveil; or if she is willing or able to help us at all.