<\/p>\n
Daryl ran towards Molly just as Martin\u2019s absurd looking, 1960\u2019s-style piece of shit pick-up bounded into view. It sent a spray of water flying in the air as it hit the shoulder, then it took to the center of the road and began bearing towards the gas station. It was an unreal site. Everyone always said it never happened like it did in movies, but if it never happened than no one would know how to depict it, would they? Even the wildest dreams come from some outside image or influence. The pick-up cut through the rain, the windows blank, but Daryl still knew that his friends had miraculously survived and were coming to the rescue in the final reel. Impossible, beautiful, perfect. Of course, the pick up was aimed right for Daryl. He laughed, an edge of nervous hysteria spilling out as he grabbed the woman. <\/p>\n
\u201cOh-ho, sunshine! Here\u2019s your evolution! We\u2019re gonna have ourselves a party!\u201d She was shocked, turning from the pick up and staring at Daryl. He spun her away and she started to scream something at the creature standing over Molly, but Daryl hit him first, grabbing him in a bear hug and falling to the ground. <\/p>\n
Martin\u2019s truck squealed onto the gas-station apron and veered towards the police car. The cop, taken off guard, screamed something unintelligible and turned to run towards the service bay. But Martin\u2019s target wasn\u2019t the car, the pickup zipped past it and hit the cop and the creature that had been holding Daryl, plowing them down and breaking right before it slammed into the Honda. The cop was beneath the van, the creature flew into the rear window of the Honda with enough force to pass right through into the backseat. <\/p>\n
Daryl slipped away from the creature\u2019s grip and danced away. It lunged towards him and he fell backwards, crying out. <\/p>\n
A man in fatigues and headgear jumped out of the passenger side of the pick-up and spun a rifle around towards the woman, who tensed, then turned to run. He didn\u2019t hesitate, though, and the creature\u2019s head vanished in a fine greenish mist. With that, the monster attacking Daryl lunged back up to his feet and started backing away, a look of pain crossing its face, then it rushed towards the pick up. Daryl watched as his old friend Martin stepped out of the driver side, wearing a pair of almost comical chain gang boss sunglasses, and calmly flipped up two big revolvers. He fired them in quick succession and the creature flew backwards. A third shot to the monster\u2019s head sent it to the ground in a lifeless heap.<\/p>\n
Daryl blinked in the rain, staring dumbly at his two friends who looked as if they had just walked off some low grade movie set.<\/p>\n
The man in fatigues, removing his headgear, walked over and squatted down beside Daryl. Azizi, his college buddy from Iran was second generation American. \u201cYou still alive?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daryl wanted to hug him and start crying like a small child. \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLife is fleeting,\u201d Azizi said, \u201cIt\u2019s hard to tell, sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs this for fucking real?\u201d Daryl sat up, his hands bleeding, his head pounding and, as he looked at his friend\u2019s face, he did finally burst into tears. All of the emotions since the subway crash came flooding through him. He hugged Azizi tightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cJesus, Daryl,\u201d Azizi muttered, trying to pull away.<\/p>\n
Martin laughed, coming up to them. \u201cYou boys want a room?\u201d He looked up, \u201cHey, does this mean I get the naked girl?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMolly!\u201d Daryl let go of Azizi and turned towards her. She was unconscious, lying on the ground where the creature had dropped her. He struggled to his feet and went over to her, kneeling down and cradling her head in his arms, trying to block the rain. <\/p>\n
\u201cWow, true love at work, Azizi.\u201d Martin said. \u201cWatch carefully. I expect you to hold me like this later tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daryl carefully lifted Molly and took her over to the van, putting her in the passenger seat. He wiped the rain and blood from her face with his sleeve. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo the world ends,\u201d Martin said, coming up behind him, \u201cAnd you get the little coffeehouse girl? That\u2019s got to beat all\u2026 I was looking forward to this shit just so I could get some Adam and Eve action. Instead I\u2019ve been sitting with Azizi in a shed for two days.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s more of a mansion,\u201d Azizi muttered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are you guys talking about?\u201d Daryl whispered, his eyes never leaving Molly\u2019s face.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt all began in Fourth Grade,\u201d Martin said. <\/p>\n
\u201cHow the hell did you guys survive? This is impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martin snapped his fingers, \u201cOh, shit, we meant to ask you that question! Can we start over?\u201d<\/p>\n
Azizi shook his head, \u201cBest we get under cover. We took care of the other squad, but this will tip our hand.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the hell is going on?\u201d Daryl asked.<\/p>\n
Martin replied. \u201cThey came in and blocked the ramps early in the AM. Part of our post-apocalyptic neighborhood watch program is to keep an eye out for suspicious activity. Usually we wouldn\u2019t bother a truck, since commerce is what makes the world go round, but this truck was driven by mind-sucking jelly-beasts with an axe to grind, so we thought we\u2019d investigate when they started reenacting scenes from The Road Warrior. And here you be.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe do be here,\u201d Azizi added.<\/p>\n
Daryl turned towards the van. It had been banged up more than he thought.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoddamned happy to see you alive, D.\u201d Martin said softly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is impossible,\u201d Daryl muttered, \u201cThat all three of us \u2013 \u201c<\/p>\n
Azizi coughed lightly. \u201cYes, yes, it\u2019s astounding. Look, they blocked the exit ramp like they knew someone was coming. There\u2019s more to this than a simple end of the world story. And we should go. I remember mentioning that a minute ago.\u201d <\/p>\n
Martin grabbed Daryl\u2019s shoulder, continuing his narration of events. \u201cThen you reenacted a few scenes from Duel<\/i> and, because you\u2019re a movie junkie, you subconsciously headed to the truck stop to make your last stand against the machines. It was beautiful. We would\u2019ve stayed put if you hadn\u2019t of gotten your candy ass whipped.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cActually,\u201d Azizi said, \u201cMartin said we had to get involved because some coffeehouse chick was being stripped down.\u201d <\/p>\n
Martin shrugged apologetically.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeriously,\u201d Azizi continued, \u201cI\u2019d like to go back to the leaving the scene of the crime idea. These things are organized. I don\u2019t fancy standing out in the rain and having a reunion if there\u2019s an army coming down on us.\u201d Azizi grabbed Martin and started pulling him towards the pick up. <\/p>\n
\u201cFollow us, D!\u201d Martin shouted back, \u201cWe\u2019re going down a rabbit hole!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nachos-lousy-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}