{"id":423,"date":"2009-08-28T08:01:56","date_gmt":"2009-08-28T13:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greatsociety.org\/?p=423"},"modified":"2018-10-30T21:23:43","modified_gmt":"2018-10-31T01:23:43","slug":"judgment-day-part-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/?p=423","title":{"rendered":"Judgment Day: Part 11"},"content":{"rendered":"

Miss a chapter?\u00a0 You can navigate easier right here<\/a>.
\n<\/p>\n

He pulled out the dead woman\u2019s cell phone and began dialing numbers again. Nothing went through. She watched him, saying nothing, and swallowed nervously when he flashed her a weak smile. He set the phone down beside him and crawled into the space between the two front seats to stick the keys in the ignition. He spun the radio through both frequencies, up and down the band. The best he found was an EBS signal on an AM news channel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are dead.\u201d Molly said when he came back to his position behind the passenger seat. <\/p>\n

He opened a bag of cookies from the groceries and took a few out, handing the bag to Molly. \u201cYou\u2019ll make yourself crazy thinking about it. We survived, those people in the first car survived, so others have to be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd how many survivors will be killed by\u2026\u201d Molly swallowed and brought shaking hands to her face.<\/p>\n

Daryl closed his eyes, visions of his fight with the creature screaming into his head. If he had moved faster, would that child be alive right now? He opened his eyes slowly to look at Molly. And is surviving worth the effort? If those creatures were in for the long haul, they\u2019d have no trouble bumping normal people a few notches down the food chain. Hell, life without the cities, the armies and the technology of civilization would move them down to the bottom, anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not special,\u201d he told her, \u201cOthers will hide and get away.\u201d <\/p>\n

Molly looked like she was about to fall apart again. He tried to smile, tried to keep the shuddering edge out of his voice. \u201cGet some rest. We\u2019ve put in a hard commute home.\u201d <\/p>\n

She glanced at him, \u201cYou can joke? Are you crazy?\u201d<\/p>\n

He shrugged. <\/p>\n

\u201cHow can you act like this is just part of your day?\u201d<\/p>\n

He shook his head. But his mood shifted as he thought about it. \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d He sighed. \u201cYou know, ever since I was a kid, I\u2019ve dreamt of the apocalypse. Not something horrible or Biblical or anything. Nothing like this. Just my friends and I alone in the world. Stupid fantasies, too many bad movies\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Molly\u2019s eyes darted to the floor, \u201cLots of kids have those dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEscapism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I suppose.\u201d She seemed calmer as she talked, drifting through nostalgia. She was exhausted. They both were. As she spoke, she seemed to drift towards sleep.<\/p>\n

He tried to look for that calmness inside him, the great come down after a battle. It wasn\u2019t a calm, really. He was confused and scared, but there was a deeper feeling. Thrilled, maybe. Edgy. Talking of stupid childhood fantasies burned in him and he almost felt guilty for feeling that he had finally met a challenge that wasn\u2019t the day-to-day nothingness of the train ride and work. Countless dead, civilization in ruins and no explanation. Yet Daryl felt like a child on Christmas morning. For the first time in a very long time, he didn\u2019t know what to expect. He felt in total control of his life, even though everything around him had literally become an out of control train wreck in the space of a few heartbeats. But it wasn\u2019t the right reaction. Perhaps it was a descent into madness.<\/p>\n

\u201cToo much sci-fi when you were a kid.\u201d Molly said, watching him. \u201cWhat\u2019s that movie you mentioned earlier\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNight of the Comet<\/i>. 1984. Catherine Mary Stewart. Comet vaporizes everyone, excepting those who were shielded. Partially exposed folks turned into mindless monsters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJesus,\u201d Molly replied, \u201cSo your brain is swiss-cheesed with sci-fi trash. There\u2019s your problem. So what\u2019s next, Mad Max?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n

Molly shrugged, \u201cYou know how all the movies end, what do we do now that we\u2019ve survived?\u201d<\/p>\n

He laughed. She read him well, and he had been thinking of the next step. \u201cSupplies, and we\u2019re going to look for my friends, my housemates. I don\u2019t know, they\u2019re probably dead.\u201d He looked up at her, \u201cOr worse. But I don\u2019t have any family left; those guys are all I got.\u201d His eyes met Molly\u2019s and he held her gaze for a moment. \u201cAnd you?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd me\u2026?\u201d she answered slowly.<\/p>\n

\u201cFamily?\u201d<\/p>\n

She shook her head, \u201cI don\u2019t have anyone. A sister in California\u2026\u201d she shrugged.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one at all?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat if your friends are\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen we head to the country, find some place where we can keep our heads down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHide? Is that all we can do? That\u2019s not how it works in those movies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daryl was still feeling short of breath. His neck and back were aching and there was a growing pain behind his eyes. \u201cIf a combat ready airborne division had been on that train and survived, I think we\u2019d have a few options. The two of us\u2026 We\u2019re babes in the woods.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few minutes passed while Molly sullenly nibbled on a cookie. Daryl began sorting through the rest of the groceries. After a while, he glanced back up at Molly. She was staring off to the side as she took mousy bites. \u201cYou ever watch Scooby Doo? Looks like we\u2019ve got out own Mystery Machine, eh?\u201d He flashed her a smile and she returned a weak smile of her own.<\/p>\n

He popped a cookie in his mouth then turned the cell phone on again. \u201cI like the way Scooby and the gang were always on a road trip. Stuff never happened in their hometown. I don\u2019t think they were ever in their hometown, were they? They were always driving through the bayou, or going on a ski trip or driving through some New England town to visit someone\u2019s aunt or uncle or grandfather, who happened to live in some haunted place. Or they\u2019d just be driving and they\u2019d run into a headless horseman, or stop to help Abbott and Costello change a tire. That sort of stuff. Bizarre show, really.\u201d<\/p>\n

That got a bit more of a smile. Molly finished the cookie then drew her knees up to her chest and hugged herself again. He spared a furtive glance at her thighs and underwear, and she did nothing to cover herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really is modern art, you know. The cartoon, I mean. The social ley lines exposed by pop culture\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI never watched that much TV.\u201d Molly finally said. <\/p>\n

Daryl nodded, \u201cBest parent I ever had.\u201d He popped another cookie in his mouth. \u201cI share a house with these two guys, Martin and Azizi. They\u2019re as bad as I am when it comes to this pop culture nonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow\u2019d you meet them? Your friends?\u201d She was seeking normalcy through him, and he was surprised to actually realize that. People\u2019s reactions tended to be a mystery to him. <\/p>\n

He dialed 911 for the fourth time and listened to the circuits are busy message while he answered. \u201cWe met in university. I didn\u2019t have many friends, so I was kind of glad when the school assigned us all to the same suite. I hate meeting new people, you know? We got along, we kept in touch, we all ended up in the DC area. Why not try to recreate the old college days?\u201d Daryl shrugged. \u201cWell, it was cheaper, anyway. This is an expensive town.\u201d<\/p>\n

He closed his eyes and, immediately, saw the dead from the subway car. Images that would never leave him. He looked over at Molly, who smiled thinly and then looked out the moon window, another mirrored window, her reflection bouncing back again as it had every day on the train. Her face was smudged with soot and her hair was a singed, scattered mess. They both smelled of the subway fire \u2013 an acrid, electrical smell, that vicious smoke clinging to them. <\/p>\n

He watched her as she drifted into a restless sleep while, outside, the rain grew in intensity. Daryl turned and stared out the windshield at the lights of the city, listening to the pattering rain against the van, straining to hear anything suspicious. It was a normal world out there, the rain beading and rolling down the glass as the sodium lights flared in the chilly darkness. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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